Hailee’s POV
Nathan unfolded the paper with slow fingers. The room had gone unbearably quiet; even the ticking of a distant clock sounded accusatory. He scanned the sheet, jaw working as if he were chewing a bitter thought. For a heartbeat his face was unreadable. Then sothing like pain — sharp, raw — flickered across his features.
"It... doesn’t match," he said finally, his voice as flat as stone. "The sample they compared—there’s no paternal match."
Relief hit first, hot and guilty. I felt my shoulders unclench as if I’d been holding my breath for a decade. I had tricked him. For now.
But the relief was small and shaful; it tasted of ash in my mouth when I caught the look on Nathan’s face. Hurt cut through him like a blade. He had expected—hoped?—and the result had ripped a splinter of sothing out of him.
He didn’t crumble. He looked up, eyes hard and dangerous again. "I don’t believe this," he said. "I’m not taking this at face value."
Dane’s hand tightened into a fist at his side. Callum watched like a coiled animal.
Nathan folded the paper back into his palm and said one word that made the room drop cold. "We’ll do another test. Blood."
A sick, panicked noise escaped . My throat closed. "No," I blurted, before I could catch myself. "You can’t—Oscar can’t—he hates needles. He’ll freak out—"
Nathan cut off, his voice iron. "Does he need to be conscious for it?" he asked calmly.
My answer stuck in my throat. I knew what he ant. My skin crawled as all the ways they could get what they wanted flashed through my head.
"No," he said, as if reading my thought. "We’ll have the dics. He doesn’t have to be aware for them to take a sample. This result is contaminated or fabricated. I won’t let a line on a page decide my son’s fate."
Dane cleared his throat and asked, "What sample did they use?"
Nathan did not look at when he answered. His voice was flat. "Hair," he said. "A strand from the comb she gave ."
Dane’s brow furrowed. He did not sound convinced. "Hair can be planted," he said. "It can be swapped."
Callum laughed once, a cold sound. He stepped closer, eyes burning. "Give it up, Nathan," he said. "Those boys aren’t yours. They belong to ."
The words hit like a blow. My hands clenched at my sides. I felt like I might faint.
Nathan’s face went very hard. He looked like stone. His jaw worked. For a second I thought he would say nothing. Then he snapped, "You can say whatever you want, Callum. I don’t care what you claim. I might not be sure about the other two, but Oscar—Oscar is mine."
His fist hit the arm of his chair so hard the wood creaked. The room snapped tight with the noise.
I opened my mouth to protest. But nothing ca out.
Dane stepped closer. "We will do blood," he said quietly. "All three. Properly taken. No tricks."
I frowned. "Why don’t you n get it? My sons have their father—my late husband. If you n badly need children, then go get a girl pregnant. Leave my sons alone," I spat.
Nathan scoffed, his pained eyes on . "No." He said firmly, "I am going to do a blood test, and this ti not just for Oscar but for the three boys."
Unease washed over , but I tried as best as I could to appear unaffected by it. "The result will co out the sa. None of you is the father."
Callum shrugged. "We will let the test do the talking."
My anger spiked. "What the hell is wrong with you three? Why can’t you three just move on? I have moved on."
Nathan snarled. "I have also moved on." He spat back at , but I knew it was a big lie—because the look in his eyes told he desired as much as I desired him, and we were both lying. "Once the test result is done, you can get the fuck out of my life. But until then, you remain here."
The room was already tense enough to snap in half: Nathan’s fist still pressed into the arm of his chair, Callum pacing like a caged wolf, Dane glaring between them. My stomach twisted, my palms damp with sweat.
Then the door creaked open. A guard stepped in, pale as the moon. His voice shook as he bowed low. "Alpha Nathan... Lord Frederick is here."
The na landed like thunder. My chest seized. I felt the blood drain from my face.
The guard swallowed hard and finished, "He says he’s here... for Miss Hailee."
The room froze. Three sets of Alpha eyes whipped toward at once, sharp and burning.
Nathan straightened slowly, his entire fra coiled. "For her?" he repeated, his voice low, dangerous.
Dane’s nostrils flared, suspicion flashing like lightning across his features. Callum’s head snapped toward , his expression a mix of rage and disbelief.
"How," Callum growled, stepping closer, "do you know Lord Frederick?"
The na on their tongues made bile rise in my throat. Frederick had found us... of course he would. He knew of Nathan, Callum, and Dane.
I clenched my fists, forcing my voice to remain calm as it cracked. "We... we lived in Frederick’s ho," I whispered. "After my husband’s death."
Their eyes stayed fixed on , sharp and full pf disbelief. My throat burned, but I pushed the words out before they could twist the story in their heads.
"He... he is my sons’ godfather," I said quickly. "That’s all. He gave us shelter when I had nowhere else to go. He fed us, kept us safe."
The mory pricked my skin like thorns, but I forced myself to keep speaking. "For years, after I lost everything, Frederick’s house was the only roof over our heads. Without him, I don’t know if the boys or I would have survived.""
The silence that followed was suffocating. Nathan’s eyes narrowed, hard as stone. Dane’s lip curled like he’d just tasted poison. Callum’s fury rolled off him in waves.
"You lived under him?" Dane demanded. "Do you have any idea what that ans?"
I opened my mouth, but nothing ca. My knees felt weak, my chest tight.
Frederick was here. He had co for . And if the alphas thought they were fighting before... this was about to beco war.
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