Updated Apr 16, 2026 • ~13 min read
Chapter 18: Telling Sofia
Matthias
Saturday morning arrives with perfect weather—sun streaming through Luna’s apartment windows, the kind of beautiful spring day that feels like the universe is cooperating with significant moments—and Matthias is more nervous than he’s been for any business deal or investor presentation in his entire career, because today he stops being “Matti” and becomes “Daddy,” and somehow that transition feels more momentous than anything else he’s ever accomplished.
Luna lets him in at nine o’clock, earlier than his usual visits, and Sofia runs to greet him with her customary enthusiasm, chattering about the pancakes Mama made for breakfast and can Matti see the new drawing she did and does he want to play blocks or trains first.
“Actually, sweetheart,” Luna says, gently intercepting Sofia’s stream-of-consciousness planning, “Matti and I need to talk to you about something important first. Can you come sit on the couch with us?”
Sofia’s expression shifts to curious seriousness, the way children look when they sense something significant is about to happen, and she climbs onto the couch between Matthias and Luna with the unconscious trust of a child who’s never been given reason to fear adult conversations.
Matthias’s heart is pounding so hard he’s sure both Luna and Sofia can hear it, his palms actually sweating with nerves, because this is it—this is the moment when Sofia learns the truth, when he gets to claim her officially as his daughter, when their family becomes real in ways that go beyond biology and legal documents.
“Remember how you asked me the other day if Matti was your daddy?” Luna starts gently, and Sofia nods, her grey eyes—Matthias’s eyes—wide and attentive.
“You said you’d talk to me about it,” Sofia confirms, clearly remembering the promise.
“We want to talk to you about it now,” Luna continues, and Matthias can hear the slight tremor in her voice that suggests she’s as nervous as he is, as aware of how much this moment matters. “Sofia, Matti is your daddy.”
For a second, Sofia just blinks at them, processing, and Matthias holds his breath waiting for her reaction—will she be happy? Confused? Upset that they kept this from her for so long?
“Really?!” Sofia finally asks, her face breaking into the biggest smile Matthias has ever seen, pure uncomplicated joy radiating from her like sunshine.
“Really,” Matthias confirms, and he can feel tears starting to gather in his eyes because his daughter is happy about this, is excited about claiming him as her father, is choosing him deliberately instead of just accepting biology’s assignment. “I’m your daddy, Sofia. I’ve always been your daddy, we just didn’t tell you before because we wanted you to get to know me first.”
“I have a daddy!” Sofia announces, and then she’s throwing herself at Matthias with the full force of a three-year-old who’s just had the best news of her life, wrapping her small arms around his neck in a hug that makes Matthias’s carefully controlled composure crumble completely.
“You have a daddy who loves you very much,” Matthias manages to say through tears he’s not even trying to hide anymore, holding his daughter tight and breathing in the familiar scent of her shampoo and feeling like every broken piece of his heart from the past four years is suddenly being put back together.
“Can I call you Daddy instead of Matti?” Sofia asks, pulling back to look at him with those earnest grey eyes.
“I would love that,” Matthias says, his voice breaking on the words because he’s been waiting to hear “Daddy” from his daughter for three months, for three years if you count the time he didn’t know she existed, and now she’s asking permission to give him that title like it’s a gift she’s bestowing.
“Daddy,” Sofia tests out, and then again with more confidence: “Daddy!”
“That’s me,” Matthias confirms, laughing through his tears. “I’m your daddy.”
Luna is crying too, Matthias realizes, silent tears running down her face while she watches them, and when she sees him looking she reaches over and pulls both of them into her arms, creating a group hug that encompasses all three of them, tangled together on the couch in a moment that Matthias wants to freeze and remember forever.
“We’re a family,” Sofia announces from the middle of the hug, her voice muffled against someone’s shirt. “Mama and Daddy and me.”
“We’re a family,” Luna confirms, and when her eyes meet Matthias’s over Sofia’s head there’s something profound in that gaze, an acknowledgment that this moment changes everything, that they’ve just become something more than two people who share a child—they’ve become a family, however unconventional the path that brought them here.
Sofia asks questions after that—why didn’t they tell her before (Luna explains gently that sometimes adults need time to figure things out), does this mean Daddy lives with them now (not yet, but they’re working on it), can she tell Emma at daycare that she has a daddy (yes, absolutely)—and Matthias answers each one honestly, age-appropriately, with the kind of patience that three months of practice have taught him.
The rest of the day passes in a haze of happiness—playing with Sofia who keeps testing out “Daddy” like she’s trying the word on for size and finding it fits perfectly, making lunch together with Sofia insisting that Daddy needs to help, reading stories where Sofia corrects him every time he tries to change even a single word because apparently daddies need to read stories exactly the same way every time—and by the time evening rolls around and Sofia’s bedtime approaches, Matthias feels like he’s lived an entire lifetime in one perfect day.
“Goodnight, Daddy,” Sofia says when Matthias tucks her in, the words making his eyes sting with fresh tears because he’s never going to get used to how perfect that sounds, how right.
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Matthias says, kissing her forehead and pulling her blankets up the way she likes them. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Daddy,” Sofia says with the easy confidence of a child who’s always known love and is simply adding one more person to the list of people who deserve it. “See you tomorrow?”
“See you tomorrow,” Matthias confirms, because Luna has agreed to let him come over on Sundays now too, because gradually their boundaries are dissolving into something that looks more like an actual family instead of scheduled custody, because everything is changing in the best possible way.
He leaves Sofia’s room to find Luna in the kitchen putting away the dinner dishes, and when she turns to look at him there’s something in her expression that makes Matthias’s breath catch—desire and love and decision all tangled together in a look that says she’s made a choice and it’s him.
“She called you Daddy,” Luna observes, moving closer, and Matthias can see the nervous energy in the way she’s wringing her hands, the way she’s breathing slightly faster than normal.
“She did,” Matthias confirms, not moving because he’s afraid if he reaches for Luna right now he won’t be able to stop, won’t be able to maintain the careful control he’s been exercising for three months. “Thank you for giving me this. For trusting me enough to let me be her father officially.”
“Thank you for being worth it,” Luna says, and then she’s crossing the remaining distance between them and kissing him before either of them can overthink it, before all the logical reasons to wait and be careful can override what they both clearly want.
The kiss is like coming home after a long absence, familiar and new at the same time, and Matthias makes a sound that’s almost a groan as he pulls Luna closer, his hands coming up to frame her face the way he did four years ago, except this time it’s different—deeper, more meaningful, weighted with everything they’ve built together instead of just chemistry and attraction.
“Matthias—” Luna breathes against his mouth, and there’s a question in his name, a request for confirmation that this is real and not just adrenaline from the day’s emotional intensity.
“I never stopped wanting you,” Matthias says, the confession spilling out between kisses. “Four years, Luna. I never stopped.”
“Me neither,” Luna admits, and then she’s pulling him toward the hallway, toward her bedroom, and Matthias follows because he’s wanted this for so long, has imagined this moment a thousand different ways over the past three months as they slowly rebuilt trust and connection.
Luna’s bedroom is small and simple like the rest of her apartment—nothing like Matthias’s luxury penthouse with its designer furniture and floor-to-ceiling windows—but it’s perfect because it’s hers, because the bed they’re moving toward is where she sleeps every night, because this is real life instead of the fantasy they had four years ago.
They undress each other slowly, carefully, taking time to relearn bodies that have changed and stayed the same in the years since their first night together—and when Matthias finally lays Luna down on her bed and covers her body with his, the rightness of it steals his breath because this isn’t just sex, this is making love, this is building connection instead of seeking temporary escape.
“I love you,” Matthias says as he pushes inside her, watching her face in the dim light from the hallway, cataloging every expression and sound and small movement. “I love you so much, Luna.”
“I love you too,” Luna gasps, wrapping her legs around him and pulling him deeper, creating the kind of intimate connection that Matthias has been craving since the moment he found her again. “I think I always did. I think I never stopped.”
They move together with a rhythm that’s both familiar from their first night and entirely new because of everything that’s happened between then and now, because they’re not strangers finding temporary solace but partners building something permanent, because this time when Matthias says he loves her he means it with the full weight of three months of proof behind the words.
When Luna falls apart in his arms, Matthias’s name on her lips and her hands clutching at his back like she’s afraid he might disappear, Matthias holds her through it and whispers promises about tomorrow and forever—and when he follows her over the edge moments later, Luna’s name a prayer in the quiet room, it feels like the final piece of something that’s been broken for four years finally clicking into place.
They lie tangled together afterward, neither willing to move or break the perfect moment, and Matthias lets himself imagine what comes next—moving in together maybe, not immediately but soon, building a life where he wakes up next to Luna every morning and tucks Sofia in every night, where “family” means all three of them under one roof instead of coordinated schedules and carefully negotiated custody.
“What are you thinking?” Luna asks, her fingers tracing absent patterns on his chest.
“That I want this always,” Matthias admits. “Not just tonight. Not just weekends and scheduled visits. I want to wake up next to you and fall asleep with you. I want to make breakfast with Sofia on Saturday mornings and do laundry and argue about whose turn it is to take out the trash. I want all of it, Luna. The mundane and the magical.”
“That sounds perfect,” Luna says, and there’s wonder in her voice like she’s just realized that what she thought was impossible might actually be attainable. “Scary but perfect.”
“We’ll figure it out together,” Matthias promises. “One day at a time. One decision at a time. No rushing, no pressure, just moving toward what we both want at a pace that works for all three of us.”
“All three of us,” Luna repeats, and Matthias knows she’s thinking about Sofia, about how any decision they make has to account for the three-year-old sleeping down the hall, has to prioritize her wellbeing above their own desires.
“She called me Daddy,” Matthias says again, still marveling at it. “I’m officially her father now. Not just biologically but actually, really, in the way that matters.”
“You’ve been her father for months,” Luna corrects gently. “Today we just made it official.”
They talk for another hour, making plans that are vague and hopeful rather than concrete—Matthias will start staying over some nights, gradually transitioning toward living together rather than maintaining separate households; they’ll tell people they’re together, officially, instead of pretending to just be co-parents; they’ll let Sofia set the pace for how fast things change, making sure she’s comfortable with every step instead of overwhelming her with adult relationship timelines.
Eventually Luna falls asleep in his arms, her breathing evening out into the deep rhythm of exhaustion and contentment, and Matthias stays awake a little longer just watching her in the dim light, cataloging this moment, this perfect Saturday when everything changed.
He has a daughter who calls him Daddy.
He has a woman he loves sleeping in his arms.
He has a family that’s real and complicated and imperfect and absolutely everything he never knew he wanted.
And Matthias Wolfe, billionaire CEO who’s built an empire through ruthless strategy and careful planning, finally understands that the best things in life aren’t the ones you plan for or achieve through determination—they’re the ones that surprise you, challenge you, force you to grow and change and become someone better than you were before.
Four years ago, he spent one perfect night with Luna and thought that was the end of their story.
But it wasn’t the end.
It was just the beginning.
And the story they’re writing now—the messy, complicated, beautiful story of two people building a family despite every obstacle and mistake and missed opportunity—is better than anything Matthias could have planned or predicted.
Tomorrow morning he’ll wake up next to Luna.
He’ll make breakfast with Sofia.
He’ll start building the life he didn’t know he needed until it was already being constructed around him, one day and one moment and one choice at a time.
And for the first time in four years, Matthias feels complete.
Not because he’s achieved something or acquired something.
But because he’s been given something—a family—and chosen to deserve it through actions instead of just accepting it through biology.
This is what forever looks like, Matthias realizes as he finally drifts off to sleep.
And it’s better than he ever imagined.
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