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 wildfire relief gala is exactly the kind of event I used to love: beautiful people in expensive clothes pretending to care about charity while really networking and positioning themselves for better opportunities. Now, arriving alone in a dress Marcus's stylist chose without consulting me, I feel like a prisoner attending my own execution with perfect makeup.


The venue is stunning. Some museum in West Hollywood transformed into a garden of white flowers and candlelight, every surface covered in elegant minimalism that screams money while whispering taste. Everyone who matters in entertainment and finance is here, which means Chase is here, and Marcus is here, and I'm about to spend an entire evening pretending we're all civilized people instead of disasters barely containing our mutual destruction.


Chapter 98 - The Fundraiser