Chase Sterling always felt like furniture. The kind you don't notice, the kind that's easy to shove in a corner and forget. He was used to it: people looked right through him, brushed him off like lint. But it only takes one phone call to erase a lifetime of being overlooked. When his estranged family meets a tragic end, Chase suddenly finds himself in charge of the sprawling Sterling fortune. Turns out, riches aren't the only thing the family left him. There's a curse running through his blood, warping love into something hungry and dangerous, impossible to escape.

Vivian Ashford never set out to blow Chase's life to smithereens. Just one decision (a sharp, ruthless move at graduation) was all it took to set their worlds spinning out of control. While Vivian soaks up the Hollywood limelight and collects red-carpet headlines, Chase slips into his new role as Manhattan's most intimidating heir. But no matter how far they run, something keeps yanking them back together, like a stitch in an old wound that refuses to heal.

The arrangement begins with discreet meetings in hotels under false names, with secret keys delivered through intermediaries, with elaborate schedules ensuring we're never seen entering or leaving the same location, with performance of fake indifference when we encounter each other publicly that's so convincing even I almost believe it sometimes.


It's exhausting. Maintaining two completely separate lives. Public Chase Sterling dating Katrina Volkov, perfect philanthropist model everyone loves. Private Chase Sterling having affair with Vivian Ashford, toxic actress everyone thinks I've moved on from.


The cognitive dissonance should bother me. Should make me question whether rules are actually management or just enabling deeper dysfunction. Should trigger some remaining conscience about lying to Katrina who's genuinely kind and doesn't deserve this.


Chapter 155 - The Arrangement