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 first notification comes at 6:47 AM. Sterling Industries stock down three percent in pre-market trading. By the time the market actually opens, we've lost eight percent. By noon, it's fifteen percent and falling like a stone.


I stand in my office watching the numbers bleed red across multiple screens, each tick downward representing millions of dollars evaporating because my half-brother decided to weaponize journalism against his own family. The article is everywhere. Every news channel, every financial blog, every gossip site. They're calling it the expose of the decade, pulling back the curtain on the Sterling dynasty.


My assistant knocks hesitantly. "Mr. Sterling? The board is requesting an emergency meeting."


"Tell them I'll be there in ten minutes."


"They're requesting it now, sir. They're already assembled in the conference room."


Of course they are. Vultures circling the moment they smell blood.


Chapter 85 - Public Scandal