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 cathedral is exactly what a billion-dollar Sterling wedding should be: lavish beyond reason, celebrity and politician guests filling every pew, camera crews documenting everything for the society magazines and gossip sites that will dissect every detail for weeks. Flowers cascade from every surface, lighting creates ethereal glow, and the whole production screams wealth and power and appropriate continuation of legacy.


I'm standing at the altar watching Elise walk toward me in her perfect white gown, and my pulse hammers with every step she takes, every moment bringing us closer to the vows that will activate Stage Four, every breath feeling like countdown to disaster.


Chapter 135 - The Ceremony Begins