Chapter 4 - A Birth Record Claimed Emma and Nathaniel Shared the Same Father—But the Truth Behind the Forged Document Was the Final Trap Designed to Break Cedar Hollow“No.”
Nathaniel said it first.
One word.
Flat.
Absolute.
Emma stared at the document.
Adrian Mercer.
Her stomach turned.
Nathaniel stepped away.
Every moment between them became unbearable.
The ballroom.
The penthouse.
The kiss.
The cabin.
“No,” he repeated.
Rebecca spoke.
“It’s false.”
Emma turned.
“You knew?”
“I knew someone altered your records.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I never knew whose name they used.”
Thomas struggled upright.
“Emma, I am your biological father.”
“How do you know?”
Thomas’s face broke.
“Because I was there when you were conceived?”
Despite everything, Daniel coughed.
Nathaniel almost laughed.
Emma covered her face.
“This is insane.”
Thomas continued.
“Rebecca and I were already married. There was never anyone else.”
Emma looked at Nathaniel.
He remained pale.
“Then why Adrian Mercer?”
Thomas understood.
“To separate you.”
Emma froze.
Thomas explained that Cedar Hollow records predicted something unusual.
Two compatible Alpha lines could produce a stronger command-neutralizing bond when paired voluntarily.
Whitmore and Mercer.
Adrian Mercer had secretly supported Thomas against Richard Holloway and Silas Vane.
The Vanes feared that alliance.
“If Emma and Nathaniel ever encountered each other,” Thomas said, “they needed a way to make the bond impossible.”
Emma stared at the forged birth record.
“Make us think we’re related.”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel’s expression became murderous.
Emma pointed at him.
“No killing.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
Marcus arrived with forensic results.
The birth certificate had been altered.
Original hospital microfilm listed Thomas.
Adrian’s name was inserted digitally years later.
Nathaniel sat down.
For perhaps the first time, Emma saw a man experience visible relief without attempting to hide it.
She sat opposite him.
“That was an unpleasant twelve minutes.”
“Twelve?”
Marcus checked his watch.
“Seventeen.”
Nathaniel glared.
Marcus left.
Emma almost laughed.
Then the deeper implication settled.
Someone expected them to discover the record now.
Celeste had been arrested.
Who remained?
Grant.
Daniel shook his head.
“My father didn’t have access to Montana records.”
Rebecca spoke.
“Someone else did.”
“Who?”
She looked at Nathaniel.
“Your council.”
Pinehaven.
Nathaniel’s own people.
The investigation moved home.
Nathaniel returned to Seattle with Emma.
This time she did not move into his penthouse.
She rented her own apartment.
Nathaniel did not object.
That mattered.
His council consisted of seven senior members.
One, Eleanor Shaw, had served Adrian Mercer.
Nathaniel trusted her more than anyone.
Emma distrusted people described that way.
She followed money.
Always money.
Eleanor’s finances were immaculate.
Too immaculate.
Then Emma found charitable donations routed through a Vane-controlled foundation.
Thirty years.
Millions.
Eleanor had been Silas Vane’s inside source.
She arranged Nathaniel’s proposed union with Celeste.
She leaked Emma’s location.
She planted the forged birth record.
And she had one remaining plan.
The Northern Council succession gathering.
If Emma publicly challenged the old system, Eleanor intended to provoke a violent confrontation and blame Cedar Hollow.
Nathaniel wanted to arrest her immediately.
Emma stopped him.
“We need her network.”
“You want to let her attend?”
“Yes.”
“Dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“I dislike this.”
“I know.”
He looked at her.
“Was that irritating when I said it?”
“Extremely.”
“Interesting.”
The succession gathering took place in Vancouver.
Seven territories attended.
Hundreds of wolves.
Nathaniel entered alone.
Emma entered separately.
Whispers spread.
She had become a story.
The payroll girl.
The lost Cedar Hollow heir.
The Alpha who broke commands.
Emma hated all of those descriptions.
She was still Emma.
She still liked spreadsheets.
She still forgot to buy toothpaste.
Power had not transformed her into mythology.
Eleanor opened the proceedings.
“Nathaniel Mercer seeks confirmation as High Alpha.”
Nathaniel stood.
“No.”
The room erupted.
Eleanor stared.
“What?”
“I withdraw.”
Emma looked at him.
They had not discussed that.
Eleanor’s face tightened.
“Nathaniel, think carefully.”
“I have.”
“You are the strongest candidate.”
“That is precisely the problem.”
He looked across the room.
“One person should not hold that much authority.”
Emma felt something warm in her chest.
Nathaniel continued.
“Cedar Hollow exposed what happens when power becomes hereditary, secretive and unquestionable.”
Eleanor’s expression changed.
“Emma has manipulated you.”
Nathaniel almost smiled.
“She frequently attempts.”
Emma glared.
A few people laughed.
Then Eleanor turned toward Emma.
“You think you’re better?”
“No.”
“Yet you would dismantle traditions older than you.”
“If traditions require kidnapped families and forged records to survive, they’re doing badly.”
The room murmured.
Eleanor released her command.
“Silence.”
People froze.
Emma felt the pressure.
She stepped forward.
“No.”
The command broke.
Eleanor’s composure vanished.
Security moved.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Northstar remnants.
Exactly as predicted.
Panic spread.
Emma climbed onto the platform.
“Listen to me!”
Her voice carried.
Not command.
Choice.
“Anyone who wants to leave, leave. Nobody stops you.”
That mattered.
People moved toward exits.
Nathaniel coordinated security.
Daniel, attending as Blackridge’s interim representative, helped evacuate families.
Madeline appeared beside him.
Emma had not expected her.
Madeline had broken with the Cross family after learning they had profited from stolen Cedar Hollow contracts.
She helped children outside.
People could change.
Not always for romance.
Sometimes because truth embarrassed them into becoming better.
Eleanor tried to escape.
Rebecca blocked her.
Emma’s mother smiled coldly.
“You took sixteen years.”
Eleanor stared.
Rebecca continued.
“I’ll take five minutes.”
She punched her.
Emma’s mouth fell open.
Thomas, standing nearby with a cane, looked proud.
Federal agents arrested Eleanor.
The succession vote was suspended.
Later, representatives agreed to replace the High Alpha position with a rotating council.
Nathaniel complained about committees.
Emma reminded him democracy was inconvenient.
He said so was she.
The crisis ended.
But Emma and Nathaniel still had unfinished business.
They returned to Cedar Hollow.
The cabin fireplace burned.
Emma stood beside the height marks.
Nathaniel waited.
“You withdrew without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if I discussed it with you, I might wonder whether I was doing it to impress you.”
Emma blinked.
“That is annoyingly self-aware.”
“Therapy.”
“You started therapy?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Emma smiled.
“Good.”
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“I also terminated our fake mate arrangement.”
“We never signed it.”
“I terminated it emotionally.”
“That sounds fake.”
“It probably is.”
Emma laughed.
Then Nathaniel became serious.
“I need you to know something.”
She waited.
“I don’t want Cedar Hollow.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want your command blood.”
“I know.”
“I don’t need your political influence.”
“I know.”
“I do, however, want you.”
Emma’s breath caught.
Nathaniel continued.
“And that frightens me more than any of the others.”
“Because of your mother?”
“Yes.”
“You think loving me means someday losing me.”
“Yes.”
Emma stepped closer.
“You might.”
His face tightened.
“That was not reassuring.”
“You might lose me. I might lose you. We might have fifty years. We might have five.”
She took his hand.
“The answer isn’t refusing to live because life refuses guarantees.”
Nathaniel looked down at their hands.
Emma smiled.
“My father’s letter said I should wait for someone who sees me before my land or blood.”
Nathaniel’s thumb moved across her fingers.
“And?”
“You saw a sad payroll employee.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“It was.”
He sighed.
Emma continued.
“But you saw me.”
She stepped closer.
“And then I saw you.”
Nathaniel touched her cheek.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her.
This time neither pulled away.
Outside, snow fell over Cedar Hollow.
Inside, Emma finally understood the strange bond between them.
It was real.
But it was not destiny.
Not an order.
Not a magical command requiring obedience.
It was possibility.
The choice still belonged to them.
That made it worth having.
Three months later, however, Emma received one final envelope.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph.
Her parents.
Nathaniel’s father Adrian.
Grant Holloway.
And a fifth man.
On the back:
ASK THOMAS WHO REALLY ORDERED THE ACCIDENT.
Emma looked at her father.
Thomas saw the photograph.
His face collapsed.
“Emma.”
She understood immediately.
“You knew.”
Thomas sat down.
Nathaniel moved beside Emma.
She stopped him.
“No.”
Her eyes remained on her father.
“Tell me.”
Thomas whispered:
May you like
“I ordered the car burned.”
Emma’s entire world shifted again.
