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.

"You're insane." Sienna stares at me. "You just spent three days researching how to destroy Sterling Industries. You declared war on a century-old curse. And now you're telling me you're still marrying Ethan?"


"That makes no sense. If you're choosing Chase, if you're executing Method Four, why marry Ethan? Why go through with the wedding?"


"Because I need access. I need proximity. I need to be close enough to Sterling Industries to actually destroy it." I spread the research across Sienna's table. The Sterling family tree. The corporate structure. The board members. The shareholders. "Look at this. Sterling Industries isn't just one company. It's dozens. Subsidiaries. Holdings. Shell corporations. All interconnected. All protected. All designed to survive attacks."


Chapter 57 - The Plan