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 spend the next three days buried in research. Sterling family archives. Old gossip columns. News articles from decades past. Everything documented about Sterling men and the women they loved.


Sienna helps. Providing access. Pointing me toward sources. Helping me connect patterns. But mostly I work alone. Obsessively. Desperately. Looking for proof that the curse has been repeating for generations. Looking for proof that I'm not the first. Looking for proof that breaking it is possible.


The Sterling archives are housed in a private library. Temperature controlled. Security monitored. Access restricted to family and researchers. I get in using Marcus's connections. Producer researching Sterling family for biographical film. Completely false. Completely effective.


Chapter 78 - Research Montage