Burning Down the House of My Four Fake Lovers

I am Elena Barron, the sole heiress to a global empire. My father raised four orphans to be my protectors and potential husbands, but my heart belonged to only one: Damien Paul.

But he didn't love me. He loved Luna, an intern he had me sponsor. He promised her that marrying me was just a business deal to secure my inheritance.

To make me more dependent, he orchestrated an accident where a massive chandelier nearly crushed me. My protector was too busy comforting Luna to even notice I was in danger.

The other three men I called brothers sided with them, calling me a vicious, jealous bitch.

After that brush with death, the love I had for them was gone. I finally gave up.

So at the gala where they planned to humiliate me one last time, broadcasting a secret video of me pining for Damien, I didn't cry.

I smiled.

Because they don't know I have my own surveillance footage, and I'm about to expose every last one of their sordid secrets.

Chapter 1

My name is Elena Barron, and I am the sole heiress to the global dining empire known as the Barron Group. For as long as I can remember, my world has revolved around four young men my father took in. They were talented orphans, prodigies my father groomed to be his right and left hands. One of them was meant to be my husband and his successor.

For years, my heart only beat for one of them: Damien Paul.

He was the most brilliant, the most talented, and the most distant. I spent my youth chasing after him, a shadow clinging to his light. I learned his favorite dishes and made them for him, but he always said he wasn't hungry. I waited for him after his meetings, but he always walked past me with a curt nod. I told myself his coldness was just his nature, a wall he built because of a dark past.

I believed that if I just tried hard enough, I could break through it.

Last night, that belief shattered.

I was bringing an urgent file to Damien, taking the VIP elevator to the top floor of the Barron Group headquarters. The hallway was silent, bathed in the cool glow of the city lights filtering through the floor-to-ceiling windows. That's when I saw them, hidden in the shadows by the executive lounge. Damien had Luna McClain, an intern I was sponsoring, pressed against the wall. He was kissing her like his life depended on it, a fiery passion I had only ever dreamed of receiving.

Luna. The girl from a poor background whom Damien had begged me to help, to fund through college with the family's foundation. The girl everyone saw as sweet and fragile. The girl I had treated like my own sister.

Then I heard her whisper, her voice laced with a fake tremor of fear. "Damien, what if Miss Barron finds out?"

His answer was a blade that severed my years of devotion. "She'll never know."

This morning, I walked into my father' s study and made a decision that would change the course of my life.

"Dad, I've decided who I'm going to marry."

My father, Mr. Barron, looked up from his papers, a warm smile on his face. "Have you finally won over Damien? I knew you could do it, sweetheart."

I shook my head, my voice firm. "No. I'm accepting Hunter Beach's proposal."

My father's smile vanished. He put down his pen and looked at me, his brow furrowed with confusion. "Hunter? The tech mogul from Silicon Valley? Elena, he's not one of my boys. What is this about?"

"He loves me, Dad. Truly."

"My boys are brilliant. They've been raised alongside you. Javier is a master strategist, Kennith has a fiery passion that could move mountains. Any one of them would be a worthy partner."

I felt a bitter taste in my mouth. "Worthy? Dad, you have no idea."

My mind flashed back to a week ago. After the initial shock of that kiss, I'd fled the corporate tower, ending up in a high-end bar I'd never been to before, trying to drown my sorrow in a cocktail I couldn't even taste. That's when I heard their voices from the adjacent booth. It was Javier Solis, Kennith Boyle, and Leo Vance.

Javier, the cunning one, was speaking in a low voice. "We need a new strategy. Elena's getting more insistent about Damien. She's not a child anymore."

Kennith, always hot-tempered, scoffed. "So what? We just keep playing along. Help Damien keep her happy until he gets what he wants. It's not our problem."

"It's not that simple," Javier replied, his voice calm and sharp. "We have to make sure our little angel, Luna, doesn't get wronged in all this. Our loyalty is to her."

A cold dread had filled me as I listened, hidden behind the plush leather of the booth.

They laughed. They laughed at my "stupid, blind" devotion to Damien. They talked about how they were all working together, helping him manage me, all to protect their precious Luna.

They even pitied Hunter Beach, the outsider. "At least he actually loves her," Kennith had said with a dismissive shrug. "Too bad for him he's not part of the family. He's destined to lose."

Their ultimate goal, the reason for all the deception, was Luna. I remembered the day Damien brought her to me. She was a university student he'd met at a charity lecture, a girl with "the purest eyes he'd ever seen." He'd convinced me to use the family foundation to sponsor her entire education. Then, at his suggestion, I'd broken protocol and hired her as an intern in a core department at the Barron Group, paying her double the standard rate.

From the very beginning, his one-in-a-million love story was meant for someone else. I was just the generous ATM, the convenient backdrop for their romance. They were enjoying everything my family provided while secretly mocking and plotting against me.

The memory of Damien's words in that hallway returned, sharp and final. After the kiss, he'd held Luna's face in his hands.

"Marrying her is just about honoring the deal with her father, to get the inheritance," he'd promised her. "You're the one who matters, Luna. You always have been."

I spent the entire night in that bar, the cold sting of alcohol doing nothing to numb the fire of betrayal. Damien's words echoed in my head. Honoring the deal. He saw me as a transaction, a bill to be paid.

I would not be his charity case.

With my name and my fortune, I could have any man I wanted. I didn't need to beg for scraps of affection from someone who despised me.

I stood before my father again, my resolve hardened. "I'm serious, Dad. I'm marrying Hunter. I trust him. He's the only one who has ever been honest with me."

"But the boys..."

"The 'boys' are loyal to you because you hold their futures in your hands," I said, my voice sharp. "Their deference to me is just an act." I hid the flicker of pain in my eyes. The years I'd wasted, the love I'd poured out-it all felt like a joke.

I straightened my shoulders. "I have some requests."

"Anything, sweetheart."

"Freeze their corporate accounts and personal credit lines. All four of them. And fire the intern, Luna McClain, for failing to meet hiring standards. Terminate all foundation support for her, effective immediately."

My father looked shocked but nodded slowly. "If that's what you want, it's done. I trust your judgment."

A weight lifted from my chest. I walked out of the study, my head held high.

I met Luna on the grand marble staircase in the middle of the corporate headquarters. Dressed in a delicate white dress, she was the very picture of innocence. She rushed over, trying to link her arm with mine.

"Elena! I was just coming to find you! I heard there's a charity gala tonight. Will you take me? Please?"

I looked at her, at the sweet smile she wore, and felt sick to my stomach. This was the face of the girl who had stolen my love and laughed at my pain.

I pulled my arm from her grasp with a look of disgust.

Her eyes widened in surprise. Then, in a move of pure theatrical genius, she let out a small cry and tumbled dramatically down the last few steps of the staircase.

"Luna!" A frantic shout came from the bottom of the stairs. It was Damien. Kennith and Leo were right behind him.

I looked down and saw them all, standing there, looking up at me.

Kennith Boyle pointed a finger at me, his face red with rage. "Elena, you vicious bitch! How could you push her? Your jealousy has made you insane!"

Luna, meanwhile, was already on her feet, rushing to my defense with tears in her eyes. "No, no, it wasn't Elena! I just slipped. She would never hurt me." Her words only made me look guiltier.

Her eyes were red-rimmed, her lip trembling. She was the perfect victim.

The men all glared at me with pure disgust.

Damien didn't say a word. He just gave me one cold, dismissive look before scooping Luna into his arms and carrying her away as if she were made of glass.

I was left standing there, alone on the staircase, the target of a dozen pointing fingers and hushed whispers.

Later that evening, at the company's grand anniversary gala, I was a vision in a custom gown, the picture of composure. But she was there, of course. Luna, who should have been fired, was standing by Damien's side as his personal "assistant."

She drifted over to me, her voice soft and sweet. "Elena, I'm so sorry about this morning. And please, don't worry about me and Damien. I know my place. I would never get in the way of your happiness."

Damien hovered by her side, his eyes never leaving her, as if she were the most precious thing in the world. He adjusted the shawl around her shoulders when she shivered, personally fetched her a glass of champagne. When she complained that her high heels were pinching, he knelt right there on the polished floor, in front of hundreds of guests, to gently examine her ankle.

He knelt for her.

I froze.

My mind flashed back to my thirteenth birthday. The centerpiece of the party was a grand piano, and I had wanted to hear Damien play. He was already a prodigy, his music as brilliant and intense as he was.

My father had taught him that a man should only kneel for his wife.

But that day, my father had looked at a reluctant sixteen-year-old Damien and said, "Play for her. She is your future, Damien. She is everything."

Damien had played, his face a mask of silent humiliation. A performance for his future bride, a transaction for his future empire.

My father's words were meant to be a proclamation, a sealing of Damien's fate and a promise of my own. He was telling him that I was to be his world, the woman he must honor above all others.

I remember the feeling as I sat beside him on the piano bench, my heart hammering in my chest. It was the first time I realized I was in love with him.

I was too young, too infatuated, to see the shame burning in his eyes.

I never asked him to play for me in public again. I respected his pride too much.

Now, I watched as he knelt willingly, gladly, for another woman. For Luna. He looked up at her with a tenderness that made my own eyes sting.

The sight was a physical pain, sharp and unbearable. I forced myself to look away.

Just then, Hunter appeared at my side, extending a hand. "May I have this dance?" he asked, his eyes ignoring everyone else in the room.

I took his hand and let him lead me to the dance floor. I let myself get lost in the music, in the spin and turn of the waltz, trying to outrun the suffocating reality of my life.

As the final notes of the song faded, a sickening groan of stressed metal echoed through the hall. I looked up. The massive crystal chandelier directly above my seat was shuddering, its main support cable snapping like a thread.

It plunged towards me.

The crowd screamed. Time seemed to slow. I saw Damien, his eyes wide, finally reacting, but he was too far away. He had been so focused on comforting Luna, who was feeling "overwhelmed" by the party, that he hadn't been paying attention.

It was Hunter who moved like lightning. He tackled me, shoving me clear just as the chandelier crashed to the floor where I had been standing, exploding in a shower of crystal and steel.

Shards of crystal had sliced through my calf. Through a haze of pain, I looked for Damien. He was running towards me now, his face a mask of panic. He was supposed to be my guardian, the one my father trusted to keep me safe.

He had failed. He was too busy doting on her.

The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed with a dozen stitches in my leg.

Damien, seemingly wracked with guilt, volunteered to be my caretaker. He was a perfect nurse, attentive and gentle. He brought me my meals, read to me, and made sure I was never in any pain.

For a few days, a foolish part of me allowed a sliver of hope to grow. Maybe he did care. Maybe this accident had made him realize something.

But then I would see the way his eyes lit up whenever Luna visited with a thermos of soup, the secret smiles they shared when they thought I wasn't looking. The hope would wither and die.

One night, unable to sleep, I hobbled down the quiet, sterile hallway of the private hospital wing. As I passed the fire escape, I heard voices. It was Javier and Damien.

"You went too far this time, Damien," Javier's voice was a low hiss. "She could have been killed. That chandelier weighs a ton."

My blood ran cold. I pressed myself against the wall, my heart pounding in my ears.

Damien's reply was chillingly calm. "I knew the cable was frayed. I had facilities flag it for repair weeks ago. The plan was for it to slip, to cause a panic. I was supposed to rush in and save her, a little scare to make her more dependent. I never calculated it would actually fall."

He had calculated my fall. It wasn't an accident. It was a plan.

"So this is your penance?" Javier asked. "Playing the devoted caretaker?"

"I'll see it through," Damien said. "Then this will all be over. She'll be fine, and we can move on."

A wave of nausea washed over me. I felt a coldness spread from my chest through my entire body, a chill that had nothing to do with the hospital air conditioning.

He had done this to me. On purpose. To "scare" me. To "manage" me.

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, but I didn't feel the pain. The agony in my heart was so much greater, it eclipsed everything else. This wasn't just betrayal. This was monstrous.