Betrayed By Her Seven Protectors

anions, and one day, my husband. As the heiress to a Te

n love with my adop

vannah that marrying me was just a "small price to pay" to give her the world. My entire life was a l

and Sterling covered it up. Then, at my 21st birthday party, they broadcast a secret video of me s

I was nothing more than a prize to

nd Preston stepped onto the stage, pulling me to his si

, looking directly at Sterling's stunned face. "

pte

RA

ised for me were all in lo

ffocating, my heart a lead weight in my chest. The truth I'd spent years denying

weet and cloying like poisoned honey, drifted through the

lways used with me. The tone I had foolishly convinced myself was a sign of his u

ach other.* It was their mantra, the secret vow that b

oss Texas. He had adopted seven orphan boys, the "Sons of the Ranch," to be my protectors, my co

e balance shifted. She was Sterling's "sister," another orphan he had sworn to protect. She became

the smiling, calculating one-they had all orbited her. They showered her with th

eman, the undisputed leader of the seven, the man whose rare, fleeting smiles I had collected like prec

wall; it was a locked door, and

ice laced with a fake vulnerability that made my skin craw

h, my knuckles white where I

and devoid of emotion. "It's a small price to pay for givin

y. A long, calculated con where I was the mark, the prize, and the fool. My entire life, the love I though

fortress of loyal men. Instead, he had built me a

pered that I, the girl who had everything, shouldn't begrudge a poor orphan

glance through a crack in the wood. My vision

r, his head bowed, his lips against hers in a kiss that was anything but brotherly. It

t break my heart. It

not with a bang, but with a horrifying, silent finali

floor. They were no longer my protectors, my future, my f

Beaumont, and t

to remind