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.

Ethan's engagement to Aria dominates social media exactly three months after cutting contact with Vivian and me, exactly when isolation has become our new normal, exactly when we've accepted that destroying everyone who cared means having no one except each other and the affair we're maintaining through elaborate lies and increasing desperation.


The announcement is perfectly orchestrated. Professional photos. Carefully crafted caption about love and commitment and building future together. Comments section flooded with congratulations from everyone who matters in our industry and social circles.


Perfect couple. Perfect PR. Perfect everything we're not.


Aria is exactly what Ethan deserves: stable, successful, genuine. She runs her own PR firm. She's beautiful without being performative. She's kind without being naive. She's everything healthy relationship should be built on.


Chapter 160 - Ethan's Engagement