The Spoiled Imposter Picked the Wrong Woman,Her Four Powerful Backers All Knelt for Me

My first day back in the country, and already some pampered kept princess with a bad case of baby brain was trying to shake me down.

All because the dress I had on happened to match hers.

The kept woman walked up to me, eyes rimmed red.

You did this on purpose! You dressed up just like Baby to spite Baby!

"Take the dress off. Apologize to Baby. Or Baby's brothers are going to be very unhappy."

I didn't even think about it. "Huh? And why would I?"

In an instant she was crying like a wilting flower, while her assistant whipped out a phone, hit speaker, and dialed four numbers.

"Then I'll just have to ask Baby's brothers to settle this for her."

The crowd around us went off like a powder keg.

"That's the Harding Media heir!"

"And Sid Dickerson, the top producer! Asher Perry from the luxury conglomerate! And Duane Lambert from the legal world too?!"

"Any one of those four stamps a foot and the whole elite circle quakes..."

"This girl is finished today..."

But I laughed out loud.

Connor Harding? Sid Dickerson? Asher Perry? Duane Lambert?

Weren't those my four loyal hounds?

Two years lying low overseas and I don't see them, and the dogs have actually made names for themselves. Bold enough to keep a pet bird on the side now?

First day off the plane, and I got cornered right outside a shopping mall.

The elite circle's "baby princess," Leonora Matthews, was holding an event there today, and the entire floor had been cleared out.

I was standing on the edge of the crowd with a coffee, watching the show, when every set of eyes around me swung toward me at once.

I looked down. My limited-edition designer collab dress was identical to the one she had on.

The crowd parted on its own to make a path.

Leonora came at me on twelve-centimeter heels, eyes rimmed red, eyeliner smudged just a touch, the whole pose pitched perfectly.

"Take the dress off and apologize to Baby. Otherwise Baby's brothers are going to be very upset, you know."

I nearly spat out my coffee. "Huh? And why would I?"

Leonora's expression shattered on the spot, tears spilling on command.

Her assistant instantly pulled out a phone, switched on speaker, and dialed four numbers in a row.

Harding Media heir Connor Harding, top producer Sid Dickerson, the luxury conglomerate's Asher Perry, and the legal world's Duane Lambert.

The crowd erupted. "Any one of those four shows up and the whole elite circle trembles! This girl is done for today..."

The corner of Leonora's mouth ticked up, just slightly. "Baby doesn't want to trouble her brothers, after all..."

But I found it funny.

Weren't these the same little brats who used to trail after me back in the day?

Two years lying low overseas, and they'd all turned into elite-circle big shots? And kept a pampered little bird on the side?

The smile on my face slowly faded. I lifted my eyes to her.

"Those four brothers of yours, how soon can they get here? While you're at it, tell them this. The name is Julie Swanson, and I've got business with them."

Leonora's face went green. "Who do you think you are? You're not even worth it."

I couldn't be bothered to waste words on her. I grabbed the nearest security guard. "How do I get to Harding Media headquarters?"

"Out of the mall, head east, over by the downtown financial district."

"Thanks."

Connor was the leader. Back then he'd been the loudest one stirring up trouble.

When it came to who needed to be put in his place, he was first in line.

I turned and walked, not sparing Leonora another glance.

A scream came from behind me. "Who said you could leave! Baby hasn't forgiven you yet!"

I didn't even slow down.

The three assistants behind Leonora immediately broke into a jog, caught up, and blocked my path.

"Sweetheart, Baby hasn't told you that you can go yet."

"Take my advice and fix that attitude. You can't handle what happens when Baby's in a bad mood."

The lead assistant, a woman, raised her hand to shove me.

Her hand never touched the hem of my dress.

I shifted to the side and gave her a light pull.

The assistant went stumbling, flying off and landing flat on her backside in the flowerbed by the mall entrance, mud splashing across her face.

For two full seconds, the whole place went silent.

Leonora's pupils blew wide.

"You... you actually dared to lay a hand on my people?!"

I dusted off my hands and finally looked her straight in the eye.

"Relax. I don't have the time to fight you over some big brothers."

"I'm the one who gave Connor Harding and the rest of them their nicknames. When they see me, they'd better behave and call me big sister."

"You're nothing but a kept pet who's been spoiled rotten. Today I just can't be bothered to deal with you."

I figured that spelled it out clearly enough.

But Leonora didn't back down. If anything, she stamped her foot and shrieked louder.

"Same old line! Just like every other woman who's ever tried to get close to my big brothers! Quit playing queen bee!"

"Let me tell you something, sweetheart: the only person my big brothers see is me!"

"Even if you swore you were their own mother, they wouldn't spare you a second glance!"

She flung out her hand.

"Security! Stop her!"

At the mall entrance, several private guards in black uniforms closed in at once.

Identical buzz cuts, earpieces, black shades. One look told you these weren't your average mall rent-a-cops.

Someone nearby gasped under their breath.

"Those are the private security Asher Perry assigned to Leonora! I heard they're all ex-special forces!"

"Last time some influencer bumped into Leonora by accident, these guys dragged him straight down to the parking garage. Scared him so bad he wet himself on the spot!"

"Girl, take my advice and back down quick. Nobody who goes toe-to-toe with Leonora ends well!"

I swept a glance over the guards.

My eyes went cold.

"Who gave you the authority to deploy private security to corner a citizen in a public place?"

"Leonora, never mind you. Even if Asher Perry himself were standing right here, he'd have no right to put hands on an ordinary person in a public space."

Leonora only treated it like the funniest joke in the world.

"Lecturing me about the law?"

She dabbed at the corner of her eye, her smile sweet and vicious all at once.

"Is there anyone in the whole elite circle who doesn't know who's standing behind me?"

"Forget a few guards. Even if I made you crawl out of this mall on your hands and knees, who would dare breathe a word against it?"

"Today I'm going to teach you a lesson: making me unhappy is the biggest mistake you can ever make!"

"Hold this fake down for me!!"

The words had barely left her mouth before the guards rushed me.

I slipped past the first and elbowed the second aside.

But the third hooked my shoulder from the side, and an instant later two pairs of hands clamped down on my arms.

They wrenched both arms behind my back, and someone kicked the back of my knee.

I dropped to one knee.

Only then did Leonora come strolling over on her heels, satisfied.

She crouched down, pinched my chin, and tilted her head to study me.

"Bare-faced, you actually look a lot like me."

"But still..."

She straightened up and held out her hand to her assistant.

"Bring me my makeup-remover wipes."

"Since she wants to be just like me so badly, let's help her take her makeup off. Show everyone what she's got left once that face is gone."

Her assistant handed over the wipes at once.

Leonora pulled one out and dragged it carelessly across my face.

The gesture was flippant, like she was wiping down something dirty.

I jerked my head aside, teeth clenched.

"You'd better remember what you did today."

Leonora let out a soft little "oh," her smile honeyed.

"I'll remember, all right."

"I'll remember that today I taught another disobedient bad woman her place."

And just as she was winding up to make it worse...

At the mall entrance, several black celebrity vans screeched to a stop.

The doors flew open almost in unison.

First out was a young man in a baseball cap, jogging over at a quick clip.

"Leonora!"

Leonora's eyes lit up. "Phineas? Where's Sid?"

It was Phineas Joyce, Sid Dickerson's assistant, and Leonora's own brother, Percival Matthews, climbed out of the second van right behind him.

Phineas hurried to explain. "The bosses are locked in a big deal today, but the second they heard you'd been wronged, they all dropped everything to head back!"

A few more people filed out of the other vans, suits crisp, each from a different company.

Clearly the advance teams the four moguls had each sent ahead.

Leonora jerked her chin at me.

"Weren't you the one screaming to see Connor Harding?"

"Well, they're here. So? Figured out how you're going to beg yet?"

Percival caught sight of me and muttered under his breath without thinking. "She looks way too much like my sister"

I gave him a glance. Didn't know him.

My voice came out cold. "You're not good enough. Have Connor come himself."

Percival's face flipped on the spot.

He grabbed a bottle of water from the security guard beside him, twisted off the cap, and dumped the whole thing in my face.

Ice water ran down through my hair, stinging my eyes raw.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You've got the nerve to say Mr. Harding's name to his face?"

"At the very least I'm the signed talent director at Dickerson Studio! Trash like you isn't even fit to carry my bag!"

I squinted through the water blurring my eyes, and marked down another tally against Connor and the rest of them, hard.

How wonderful.

Not only had they gotten full of themselves, the ones they'd raised under them were each more out of control than the last.

Leonora chimed in beside him, dripping with mockery.

"Oh, this is nothing yet."

"A minute ago she stood there in front of everyone and said Connor and the others have to call her big sister."

"Said she's the one who came up with all their nicknames, too. Tch. Careful the wind doesn't blow that tongue right out of your head."

Percival went off instantly.

He seized a fistful of my hair and slammed my head down.

"Apologize, you bitch!"

"Say it to the camera. Say you're a fake riding their coattails, looking for a payout. Say it a hundred times!"

He pulled out his phone and started recording, his other hand forcing my head toward the ground.

My forehead cracked against the floor tile.

Once.

Then again.

By the third time, my temples were ringing and the edges of my vision went dark.

Something rolled out of my coat pocket.

A doll charm, old and gone yellow with age.

The stitches crooked, cotton nearly spilling out of its belly, obviously handsewn, clumsy as anything.

Look closer and you'd see four names scrawled across it in marker, lopsided.

Connor Harding.

Sid Dickerson.

Asher Perry.

Duane Lambert.

Four little brats had stayed up the whole night before I left the country to sew that for me.

Pricked their fingers bloody and still wouldn't stop.

Connor had written his own name the biggest, said that way, whenever I missed them, his would be the first I saw.

Leonora bent down and picked it up.

Turned it over in her hands for a few seconds, and her face changed at once.

"You!"

She hurled the doll to the ground.

"Still going to tell me you weren't trying to seduce my brothers?! You'd actually make something this disgusting?!"

She lifted her stiletto and stomped down on it, hard.

The four-inch heel punched straight through the doll's belly, cotton squeezing out of the torn hole.

It still wasn't enough for her. She ground it under her heel a few more times, then kicked it away with the last stomp.

On instinct I lunged to grab it.

But Percival just stamped down on my hand.

Twisted his sole into it.

Pain shot straight through me.

"A scammer like you, fit to touch my brothers' things?"

And right then.

Among the people who'd come with Phineas, a man in a gray suit suddenly went white as a sheet.

He lunged forward and snatched up the doll, crushed flat on the ground.

His hands were shaking.

"This this thing"

"I have to show the boss right now!"

He spun on his heel and bolted.

Leonora didn't notice a thing. She was still smiling, chattering to Percival.

"That's one of the secretaries who follows my third brother around, isn't it? See, every little thing has to be reported back to him."

"My third brother cares about baby the most."

Cold sweat poured off me from the pain, but when I lifted my head, I found myself smiling.

Asher Perry. The third one.

Back when the four of them sewed that doll together, he was the one who took it most seriously.

The others would prick a finger, hiss, and keep stitching. Not him. He burst into tears on the spot. Not over his own hand. He was terrified the blood would stain the doll and I'd find it disgusting.

Afterward he made me swear, again and again, that I'd carry it on me always, and that anyone who broke it would lose everything they had.

I looked down at the little pile of stuffing on the ground.

On the doll's ruptured belly, the scrap of cloth with "Asher Perry" stitched across it had been punched clean through by a heel.

Someone's empire was about to go toward the bill.

Seeing me still able to smile after the beating, Leonora was so furious she stamped her foot.

"What are you laughing at!"

"Do you even know who baby's third brother is?"

"My third brother's luxury conglomerate is worth three billion! The whole elite circle's luxury supply chain runs through his hands!"

"If he wanted to crush you, it'd be easier than crushing an ant!"

The more she said, the more worked up she got, jabbing a finger at my face.

"Baby will have my third brother put your photo on every brand's blacklist! You won't be able to buy a single decent dress for the rest of your life!"

"Let's see how you copy baby's outfits then!"

Beside her, Percival poured oil on the fire.

"Sis, just blacklisting her is letting her off easy. Better to have Lawyer Lambert step inhit her with violation of likeness rights plus deliberate defamation, sue for a few million, leave her in debt for life."

Leonora clapped her hands.

"Little brother's right! Let's do it!"

"But before that"

She crouched down and dug a tube of lipstick out of her bag.

"Baby's been learning to paint lately."

She uncapped the lipstick and looked at me, all smiles.

"Since you love imitating baby so much, baby will just draw a little mark on your face."

"That way everyone will know at a glancethis is a fake that baby has tagged."

She reached out and gripped my chin, the lipstick coming for my cheek.

I twisted my head away, my voice cold enough to freeze.

"Leonora."

"Every single thing you've done today, I'll make you pay back with interest."

Leonora froze for a second, then laughed out loud.

"So scary. Baby's so frightened."

Still laughing, she pressed the lipstick to my cheek

The instant it smeared across my skin

The shriek of brakes exploded at the mall entrance!

Not one car.

Four.

A matching line of Maybachs, license plates running in sequence, pulled up right at the front doors.

Percival reacted first. He flung my hand away, straightened his clothes, and hurried over.

"Mr. Harding! Mr. Dickerson! Gentlemen!"

Leonora threw the lipstick aside just as fast, blinked the venom out of her eyes, and put on a pitiful, fragile face.

"Big brothers sob you finally came"

The door of the first car opened.

The man who stepped out was tall, his suit cut sharp and clean, thin lips pressed into a hard line.

Connor Harding.

Right behind him, the second, third, and fourth.

Sid Dickerson, Asher Perry, Duane Lambertall four stepped out almost at once.

Their stride was fast.

Their expressions, eerily identical.

Out of habit, Leonora moved to meet them, reaching for Connor Harding's sleeve

The four of them walked straight past her.

Every gaze landed, all at once, on me.

On the water dripping down my face, the bruise on my forehead, the cruel slash of lipstick across my cheek, and the cotton scattered all over the ground beside my hand.

The air felt like a hand had closed around its throat.

Connor's pupils shrank violently, his throat working in a hard swallow.

Sid Dickerson stopped dead where he stood, his fingertips beginning to tremble beyond his control.

Asher Perry saw the doll crushed flat on the ground, and in a single instant the color drained out of his face

then flooded back as a livid gray.

Duane Lambert was the first of the four to speak.

His voice sounded like it had been dragged across sandpaper.

He said only one word.

"...Sis?"