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."