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'm already awake. Haven't slept in three days. The curse keeps me up. Whispering. Showing me visions of Vivian burning.


My phone explodes with calls. Board members. Lawyers. PR team.


I ignore them all. Open my laptop. See the headlines.


"Sterling Industries Corruption: Leaked Documents Expose Illegal Practices"


"Dominic Sterling's Empire Built on Fraud?"


"Chase Sterling Accused of Insider Trading and Market Manipulation"


The documents are everywhere. Internal emails. Financial records. Evidence of deals that should have stayed buried.


Someone leaked them. Someone with access. Someone who wants to destroy Sterling Industries.


I scroll through the files. Recognize most of them. Dominic's work. His methods. The way he built the empire through tactics that weren't exactly legal.


But some of the documents are new. Fabricated. Designed to implicate me specifically.


Chapter 44 - Sterling Industries Scandal