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.

Marcus starts appearing everywhere the week after my research marathon. On set when I'm filming with Jackson, at the coffee shop I frequent near my apartment, outside the grocery store I use on Wednesdays. Always with plausible excuses: "checking on the production's progress," "happened to be in the neighborhood," "coincidentally needed coffee at this exact moment."


But the timing is too perfect, the explanations too convenient. He's tracking me somehow, monitoring my movements, ensuring his presence becomes inescapable.


"This is getting weird," Jackson says after Marcus shows up to the third rehearsal this week, claiming he needs to "observe performance quality for investor reports." "He doesn't need to be here this often. Philippe is the director, not Marcus. Something's wrong."


Chapter 116 - Marcus's Escalation