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 on set the next morning at 6 AM despite the wedding being at 2 PM, unable to sleep, needing distraction from the countdown to potential death. Philippe scheduled one final pickup shot, something about lighting he wasn't satisfied with in previous takes, and I volunteered even though showing up to film on the day of Chase's wedding to someone else is objectively insane.


Jackson finds me in my trailer at 7 AM, holding coffee and looking like he didn't sleep either.


"You're here. On set. Six hours before attending a wedding that might kill you." He hands me coffee. "That's dedication to the craft or avoidance of reality. Possibly both."


"Definitely both." I accept the coffee gratefully. "Philippe needs the shot. I need the distraction. Everyone wins."


Chapter 128 - Jackson's Proposition