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.

Sienna's calls go unanswered for three weeks after her warning about drowning in black water, after her declaration that she's withdrawing, after her text about contamination spreading to her through witnessing our destruction. Not because I'm deliberately avoiding her. Just because answering requires acknowledging she's right about everything and acknowledging requires changing behavior I'm unwilling to change.


Filming Philippe's project consumes my days. Jackson is professional on set despite our broken engagement, despite knowing about the affair, despite having every right to make working together uncomfortable. We maintain appropriate distance. We deliver performances. We pretend months of relationship never happened beyond professional collaboration.


Chapter 159 - The Ignored Warning