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 board meeting drags into its third hour. Quarterly projections. Stock analysis. Investment portfolios. The same numbers presented fifteen different ways by executives who love hearing themselves talk.


I'm barely paying attention. My mind is elsewhere. On Vivian. On the marks. On the cold that never seems to go away anymore.


My assistant's voice crackles through the intercom, cutting through some VP's presentation about Asian markets. "Mr. Sterling. I apologize for the interruption, but there's someone here who insists on seeing you immediately."


The executives look annoyed. I am too. "I'm in a meeting. Take a message."


"Sir..." Her voice wavers. "She says she's your mother."


The room goes completely silent. Twenty executives staring at me like I've grown a second head.


Chapter 25 - Helena Arrives