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 month passes in mechanical procession of wedding tasks that feel like prison construction, each decision about flowers or music or seating arrangements another bar in cage I'm building around myself through continued commitment to marriage I don't want with man who deserves better than woman counting down days until ultimatum expires and choice becomes unavoidable.


Week one disappears into cake tastings and venue confirmations. Jackson is present but distant, watching me agree to everything suggested without preference or enthusiasm, watching me perform bride behavior while being absent from actual bride experience, watching countdown to his ultimatum with expression that's sadness mixed with resignation.


"You prefer vanilla or chocolate?" The baker presents samples. Expensive. Elaborate. Exactly what celebrity wedding requires.


Chapter 172 - "The Month That Wasn't"