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 article goes live at 6 AM. I know because I've been awake since four, refreshing the magazine's website every thirty seconds, watching the hit counter climb as the East Coast wakes up and discovers what I've done.


The headline is stark, deliberately provocative:


"Inside the Sterling Curse of Power and Lies: An Investigation by Ethan Beckett"


Below it, the subhead that's going to destroy my relationship with half my family:


"How I Discovered I Was Dominic Sterling's Illegitimate Son—And What That Reveals About America's Most Ruthless Dynasty"


My phone starts ringing before the sun is fully up. I silence it, watch the calls pile up. My editor, congratulating me and warning me about the legal shitstorm heading my way. My mother, probably crying. Chase, undoubtedly furious. Dominic's lawyers, already drafting cease and desist letters.


Chapter 84 - Ethan's Exposé