Betrayed By Her Seven Protectors

Betrayed By Her Seven Protectors

Gavin

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My father raised seven men to be my protectors, my companions, and one day, my husband. As the heiress to a Texas empire, they were sworn to protect me above all else. But they were all in love with my adopted sister, Savannah. I discovered their secret in the shadows of a stable, listening to the man I loved, Sterling, tell Savannah that marrying me was just a "small price to pay" to give her the world. My entire life was a lie, a performance for her benefit. They weren't my family; they were parasites, and I was their host. Their cruelty escalated. Savannah sabotaged my saddle, causing an accident that nearly killed me, and Sterling covered it up. Then, at my 21st birthday party, they broadcast a secret video of me sobbing over him for all of high society to see, completing their campaign to utterly humiliate me. They wanted to break me down until I was nothing more than a prize to be won. They thought I would shatter. But as the room descended into chaos, my childhood friend Preston stepped onto the stage, pulling me to his side. His voice cut through the noise, clear and decisive. "Tonight is about a new beginning," he announced, looking directly at Sterling's stunned face. "Because Clara Beaumont has agreed to be my wife."

Chapter 1

My father raised seven men to be my protectors, my companions, and one day, my husband. As the heiress to a Texas empire, they were sworn to protect me above all else.

But they were all in love with my adopted sister, Savannah.

I discovered their secret in the shadows of a stable, listening to the man I loved, Sterling, tell Savannah that marrying me was just a "small price to pay" to give her the world. My entire life was a lie, a performance for her benefit. They weren't my family; they were parasites, and I was their host.

Their cruelty escalated. Savannah sabotaged my saddle, causing an accident that nearly killed me, and Sterling covered it up. Then, at my 21st birthday party, they broadcast a secret video of me sobbing over him for all of high society to see, completing their campaign to utterly humiliate me.

They wanted to break me down until I was nothing more than a prize to be won. They thought I would shatter.

But as the room descended into chaos, my childhood friend Preston stepped onto the stage, pulling me to his side. His voice cut through the noise, clear and decisive.

"Tonight is about a new beginning," he announced, looking directly at Sterling's stunned face. "Because Clara Beaumont has agreed to be my wife."

Chapter 1

CLARA POV

The seven men my father raised for me were all in love with my adopted sister.

I stood in the shadows of the tack room, the smell of leather and hay suddenly suffocating, my heart a lead weight in my chest. The truth I'd spent years denying was being laid bare in the hushed, urgent whispers from the other side of the wall.

"You can't keep doing this, Sterling," Savannah's voice, sweet and cloying like poisoned honey, drifted through the wooden slats. "Clara will find out. She already suspects."

"Let her," Sterling's voice was a low rumble, the same cold, dismissive tone he always used with me. The tone I had foolishly convinced myself was a sign of his unique, challenging nature. "As long as we have each other, nothing else matters."

A wave of nausea washed over me. *As long as we have each other.* It was their mantra, the secret vow that bound them all, the lie that had defined my entire life.

My father, Harrison Beaumont, owned this land, this empire of cattle and dust that stretched across Texas. He had adopted seven orphan boys, the "Sons of the Ranch," to be my protectors, my companions, and, one day, my husband. They were meant to be loyal to the Beaumont name, loyal to me.

But from the day my father brought a frail, doe-eyed Savannah Cole home from the same orphanage, the balance shifted. She was Sterling's "sister," another orphan he had sworn to protect. She became the sun, and I, the heiress, was suddenly just a moon, reflecting a light that was never truly mine.

All seven of them-Wade, with his fiery temper; Owen, the quiet giant; even Silas, the smiling, calculating one-they had all orbited her. They showered her with the affection I craved, the little gifts, the inside jokes, the protective glances.

And I, the love-sick fool, had chased after the one who wanted me least. Sterling Cole. The genius horseman, the undisputed leader of the seven, the man whose rare, fleeting smiles I had collected like precious gems. I thought his coldness was a wall I had to break down. I thought his indifference was a test.

Now I knew the truth. It wasn't a wall; it was a locked door, and Savannah had always held the key.

"But the deal with Mr. Beaumont," Savannah pressed, her voice laced with a fake vulnerability that made my skin crawl. "He expects you to marry her. To secure your place here."

A long pause. I held my breath, my knuckles white where I gripped the dusty saddle rack.

"That was the plan," Sterling finally said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. "It's a small price to pay for giving you the world, Savannah. You deserve everything she has."

The world tilted. The air in my lungs turned to ash. It wasn't just a betrayal of love; it was a conspiracy. A long, calculated con where I was the mark, the prize, and the fool. My entire life, the love I thought I was surrounded by, was a performance staged for the benefit of the girl I was taught to call my sister.

My father's plan, born of love, was to give me a fortress of loyal men. Instead, he had built me a cage full of vipers, with Savannah as their queen.

They told me I was being jealous. They told me I was being petty. They whispered that I, the girl who had everything, shouldn't begrudge a poor orphan a little affection. And I had believed them. I had doubted myself, not them.

A soft sound, a muffled sigh, made me risk a glance through a crack in the wood. My vision blurred, then sharpened with brutal clarity.

Sterling had Savannah pressed against the stable wall. His hand was tangled in her hair, his head bowed, his lips against hers in a kiss that was anything but brotherly. It was desperate. Possessive. The kind of kiss I had dreamed of, prayed for, cried over.

The sight didn't just break my heart. It shattered my reality.

The love I had for Sterling Cole died in that instant, not with a bang, but with a horrifying, silent finality. It curdled into something cold and hard and sharp.

I backed away slowly, my boots making no sound on the dirt floor. They were no longer my protectors, my future, my family. They were parasites. And I was done being their host.

My name is Clara Beaumont, and this is my ranch.

It was time to remind them of that.

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