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 can't stop replaying his words. Every confession. Every truth. Every painful admission.


The curse activated when you rejected me.


I don't want to hurt you but it's stronger than me.


Method Four. Destroying Sterling Industries. Only way.


Over and over. In my head. In my memory. In the darkness at 3 AM when I can't sleep. Can't think. Can't process.


He doesn't remember saying any of it. Doesn't know I know. Doesn't realize the truth spell exposed everything.


And I can't tell him. Can't burden him. Can't take away the dignity of choosing what to confess. Magic forced it. He didn't choose. That matters.


But knowing changes everything. Understanding the curse. Understanding his choices. Understanding that cruelty was symptom, not personality.


Or was it? Can I separate curse from person? Can I blame magic for four years of destruction? Can I excuse abuse because supernatural forces drove it?


Chapter 73 - Vivian's Realization