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.

Katrina confronts Chase at Sterling Industries headquarters exactly one week after the public denials, exactly when we think crisis is managed and lies are holding, exactly when believing our performance worked becomes comfortable instead of just hopeful.


I'm not there for the confrontation. Chase tells me about it afterward at the usual hotel, tells me Katrina arrived unannounced at his office, tells me she was calm and poised with heartbreak hidden under grace that made her devastation more powerful instead of less.


"She walked in during board meeting. Waited until it finished. Then asked to speak privately. I knew immediately what conversation was coming." Chase pours whiskey despite it being noon. "She's known for months. Since before we did public denials. Since before the photos leaked. She's known and stayed quiet while we performed lies everyone could see through."


Chapter 164 - Katrina Knows