Matt was a high school senior dating Sharon Collins when we first met him. Nick Newman ended up winning Sharon from Matt, who hated Nick and called him "Rich Boy." Nick and Matt got into a fight, Matt kicked Nick's butt, and Nick's father Victor swore he would teach his son to box. To get even, Matt raped Sharon. Sharon told no one but a therapist, who tried to help her deal with it. Nick's former girlfriend Amy Wilson began dating Matt even though Sharon confided that Matt had raped her. When Sharon and Nick beat out Amy and Matt as queen and king of the high school senior Polynesian dance, Matt again took revenge. He told Nick that his virginal Sharon had given up a baby for adoption when she was 16. Nick didn't believe him and they got into a bad fist fight, and both were injured. Sharon admitted to Nick that it was all true, and Nick understood eventually.

Sharon and Nick were about to get married when Sharon admitted that Matt had raped her. Nick raced to Matt's apartment only to find him on the floor in a pool of blood. The police arrested Nick, who thought Sharon did it. When Matt came to, he said Nick was the one who shot him. Nick was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Sharon and the Newman family were devastated. Victor tracked down Amy who was suffering from a serious trauma. He was convinced it was caused by something that happened the night Matt was shot. Upon seeing Matt, Amy remembered she had shot him after he raped her. Matt fled, Nick was released from prison, and Sharon and Nick married.

Four years later, Matt Clark returned to town as Carter Mills, disguised by plastic surgery, and got a job at Nick and Sharon's coffee house, Crimson Lights. He teamed up with Nick's old cellmate Larry "Wartman" Warton, both bent on revenge, plus Matt wanted Sharon for himself. Carter date rape drugged Tricia McNeil into sleeping with him, and used her to help set up Nick and put him in jail for selling drugs. Carter became a trusted employee whom they even considered as manager of their next franchise, and Sharon's confidant while Nick was in jail. One evening Carter was invited to dinner at their home, so he arranged for Nick to be very late. While waiting for Nick to arrive, Carter put a date rape drug in Sharon's margarita. Nick arrived just in time as Carter was about to rape the semi-conscious Sharon. Thinking she had drunk too much, Nick sent Carter home and helped Sharon to bed. Weeks later Tricia caught Carter attempting to rape Sharon at a cabin in the woods where he lured her, but Victor arrived and sent him running. Tricia picked Carter up and drove off a cliff expecting to kill them both. She survived with cuts and bruises, but the evil Carter/Matt had severe injuries and was expected to die. Carter deliberately pulled out his breathing tube, committing suicide to make Nick look like a murderer. With his dying words, he viciously told Nick that he had raped Sharon on "margarita night." But Nick was exonerated by the testimony of Tricia and Larry Warton.

Nick, finally out of jail and without the threat of Matt, lavishly romanced Sharon to help her get used to normal life again. Months later Sharon realized she was pregnant. Both knew that if Matt had told the truth, the baby could be his. Nick demanded a paternity test, but Sharon decided the risk before birth was too great, so was willing to trust that it was Nick's and have her baby no matter what. During a fight about this, Nick knocked over a chair, slammed out the door in a huff and drove off, creating a loud bang as his tire exploded against the curb at high speed. Fearful for Nick, Sharon ran for the door, tripped over the chair, and landed on her stomach. Her baby girl was delivered prematurely and later died. A paternity test showed the baby was indeed Nick's, so the couple split up when Sharon was unable to forgive him for more or less killing their unborn child due to his attitude. Matt won - even after death!