The Rival's Obsession

By Robin Vale
Listen with Sir Michael Caine™ and 1,000+ voices
Length9h 6m

About this audiobook

Julian Sterling has been telling himself the distinction for three months. Not his father's designs. The idea of them. He redrew every line, recut every pattern, built each piece from the ground up. Tributes are standard in this industry. Everyone references everyone. Someone brushes past him shoulder to shoulder in the last seconds before the curtain, does not stop, does not turn, and says four words pitched so only he can hear them. *Borrowed taste doesn't last.* Nathaniel Ashford saw those sketches once. Three months ago. For thirty seconds. The next morning Julian is counting zeros on a bank statement when his sister Maya limps into the office with a chipped mug and does the arithmetic out loud. Two weeks from default. Three if they skip the studio rent. Four if they skip the spring fabric order. Their mother's care facility is raising its rate again in October, and the only thing the family owns outright is the building their grandfather bought in 1962. Harriet Vance will sign the contract that saves the label. She has exactly one condition, and she delivers it without blinking: Julian co-designs the collection with Nathaniel Ashford. Nathaniel has no more room to move than Julian does. He proves he can build bridges instead of burning them, or the Ashford label goes to Trevor, his younger brother, who does not have the eye but does have their father's ear. Trevor films their first meeting from the doorway, phone raised, grinning, documenting for Dad. So the two of them share a cutting table: pins laid out in a neat row, muslin, a shoulder seam, a shirt unbuttoned for a fitting under clinical light and a thumb brushing once across a collarbone. And then a designer named Damien Cross comes to the studio with a second folder, spreads forty-seven sketches across that same table, and points out that every one of them is dated four years earlier than Julian's father's versions and signed in careful block letters with a name that is not Sterling. An enemies-to-lovers workplace romance between two men in fashion, about borrowed lines, a house running on fumes, a brother with a phone camera, and what it costs to finally put your own name on something. The romance is closed-door.

Audiobook details

GenreRomance, Biography and Memoir
Length9 hrs 6 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateSep 15, 2026
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Prologue
2Chapter 1 - The Door I Swore I’d Never Open
3Chapter 2 - The Art of War
4Chapter 3 - Loose Threads
5Chapter 4 - Fitting Room
Mostrar todos os capítulos
6Chapter 5 - Fabric of Lies
7Chapter 6 - The Preview Gamble
8Chapter 7 - The Taste of Smoke
9Chapter 8 - The Anatomy of Betrayal
10Chapter 9 - The Edge of Trust
11Chapter 10 - The Midnight Runway
12Chapter 11 - The Inside Job
13Chapter 12 - Threads from the Past
14Chapter 13 - The Weight of Originality
15Chapter 14 - The Public Face
16Chapter 15 - The Sewing Floor Confession
17Chapter 16 - The Ghost in the Sewing Machine
18Chapter 17 - The Warehouse Trap
19Chapter 18 - The Ashes of the Lie
20Chapter 19 - The Black Ribbon
21Chapter 20 - The Second Wound
22Chapter 21 - The Phoenix Stitch
23Chapter 22 - The Runway of Truth
24Chapter 23 - The Cost of a Rose
25Chapter 24 - The New Pattern
26Chapter 25 - The Protégé
27Chapter 26 - The Family We Choose
28Chapter 27 - The Thread That Binds
29The End
30About the Author
31Also by Robin Vale
32Acknowledgements
33A Note from the Author

More from Robin Vale

Following the TrailLynette Eason6h 35m4.6 (2.3K)$12 · $0.00
Her Duty Bound DefenderSharee Stover6h 30m4.6 (559)$12 · $0.00
Defending from DangerJodie Bailey5h 46m4.6 (588)$24 · $0.00
White HotIlona Andrews13h 18m4.5 (136.9K)$5 · $0.00
Explosive RevengeMaggie K. Black6h 18m4.6 (545)$12 · $0.00
Her Brand of JusticeB.J. Daniels6h 48m4.6 (1.3K)$12 · $0.00
Search And DetectTerri Reed5h 51m4.6 (706)$24 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
Danger in the WildernessDarlene L. Turner6h 54m4.7 (299)$12 · $0.00
Yukon JusticeDana Mentink6h 15m4.6 (751)$12 · $0.00
The Rogue WarriorCindy Roland Anderson5h 44m4.6 (410)$17 · $0.00
Trail Of ThreatsJessica R. Patch5h 47m4.6 (425)$24 · $0.00
Ironwood, a Fae Universe SeriesAlessa Thorn26h 57m4.6 (835)$30 · $0.00
Ready to ProtectValerie Hansen5h 38m4.6 (981)$24 · $0.00
Searching For EvidenceCarol J. Post6h 21m4.6 (552)$24 · $0.00
New Beginnings at Lullbury BayGeorgia Hill6h 59m4.6 (423)$13 · $0.00
Hiding in MontanaLaura Scott6h 18m4.6 (1K)$12 · $0.00
Christmas K-9 Unit HeroesLenora Worth, Katy Lee5h 51m4.6 (507)$24 · $0.00
Three ComradesErich Maria Remarque15h 50m4.5 (47.3K)$2 · $0.00
Craft BrewLayla Reyne7h 50m4.5 (986)$26 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
Just as I AmCicely Tyson16h 8m4.6 (99K)$33 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
My Bondage and My Freedom (Annotated)Frederick Douglass15h 30m4.6 (2.4K)$2 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00

You may also like