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 dress fitting turned battlefield hours before she woke with me sitting beside bed watching her sleep, hours I spent processing that Sienna called me when Vivian collapsed because even Sienna who withdrew from our destruction recognized that moment required my presence not absence, hours proving month of silence was strategic withdrawal waiting for inevitable revelation that she couldn't marry Jackson.


But the battlefield started earlier. Started when I arrived at boutique while she was still trying on dress. Started when consultant tried to prevent my entry citing private appointment. Started when I insisted on entering anyway because Sienna's frantic call about Vivian collapsing required immediate presence not polite respect for boutique privacy policies.


Chapter 174 - Chase Shows Up