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 flight back to LA is silent, tense, everyone pretending the past three days didn't happen. The fire investigation ruled it arson, but they haven't identified the culprit. I have theories, all of them involving Helena's magical manipulation or Marcus's desperate control tactics or the curse itself manifesting physically.


I sit in first class, Elise in the seat beside me because apparently ending our engagement doesn't mean we stop traveling together. She's scrolling through her phone, probably reading the same headlines I am. "Sterling and Ashford Survive Lodge Fire Together." "Romance Rekindled in Near-Death Experience?" "Cursed Couple Can't Stay Apart, Even in Danger."


"You should post something," Elise says without looking up. "Control the narrative before it controls you."


Chapter 90 - Back to Reality