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.

I wake the morning after to Chase in my kitchen, smug and unapologetic about letting himself into my apartment using keys I didn't realize he still had from the two weeks he stayed here, cooking breakfast like toxic domesticity is already established fact instead of proposal I agreed to last night while contaminated by proximity and champagne.


"You're in my apartment. Uninvited. Using my kitchen. Looking entirely too pleased with yourself." I lean against the doorframe, still in pajamas, still processing that I agreed to move in with cursed hybrid who sees me glowing red with contamination.


"I'm in our future apartment. Invited by last night's yes. Using our kitchen to make our breakfast. Looking appropriately pleased that you chose proximity over safety." He gestures at the elaborate spread he's creating. "Also, your apartment is too small for cohabitation. We're moving to the penthouse. Today. I've already arranged movers."


Chapter 145 - Moving In