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 invitation arrives three days after Helena's apartment visit, delivered by courier in a black envelope sealed with red wax. Inside, a single card in elegant script:


You have questions. I have answers. Come to my estate Saturday at 2 PM. Alone. Bring the rose. - H.S.


Saturday is tomorrow. I should refuse, should ignore the invitation, should maintain distance from witches who break into apartments and leave ominous symbols. But curiosity and desperation outweigh caution, and I'm running out of time before full curse contamination according to Helena's diagnosis.


So Saturday at 2 PM, I'm in a car heading to an address in Westchester, forty minutes north of Manhattan, following GPS to an estate I didn't know existed. Helena apparently maintains multiple residences: the New Orleans house where she cursed her son, and this mansion in the woods where she does... what? Watches curse victims from a distance? Plans interventions? Regrets her choices?


Chapter 114 - The Truth About the Curse