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.

Sharon's office is small, cramped, filled with filing cabinets and law books that probably haven't been opened in years. She's been my entertainment lawyer for three years, helped me negotiate smaller contracts before Marcus, always been honest about Hollywood's predatory practices. But sitting across from her now, watching her flip through the Marcus Webb contract with increasing horror, I realize she's out of her depth.


"This is worse than I thought," she finally says, setting down the contract like it's contaminated. "Much worse."


"How much worse can it be than seven years and fifty million dollars?"


"That was the obvious trap. This—" she taps a section on page thirty-nine "—this is the hidden kill switch. The clause that makes the fifty million look merciful."


I lean forward, trying to read the dense legal language. "Explain it to me like I'm not a lawyer."


Chapter 96 - Contract Clause