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.

Plain white. No return address. Just my name typed on the front.


I've been waiting for this for three weeks. Ever since I sent my DNA to the lab. Since I found the birth certificate discrepancies. Since George Crawford told me about Dominic Sterling's affair with my mother.


Conclusion: Dominic Sterling cannot be excluded as the biological father of Ethan Beckett.


I'm not just some journalist who stumbled into the Sterling family drama. I'm part of it. Blood part of it.


Which makes Chase Sterling my half-brother.


I sit down. The apartment feels too small suddenly. Too quiet.


I dated Vivian. Fell in love with her. Watched her destroy herself over Chase.


And the whole time, Chase was my brother.


Chapter 35 - Family Secrets Part 2