All Chapters of Taming Mr Billionaire : Chapter 81 - Chapter 87

Daniel POVThe city was unusually quiet for a Saturday night. Or maybe it was just me, standing alone by my car, on the opposite corner of the street, watching people slowly filter out of the event hall like ghosts slipping through fog. The lights inside the venue were dim now, glowing softly against the backdrop of a celebration that had gone sideways. My mind felt at peace that Wendy was occupied on the set of her new movie role and couldn’t come with me. If she were here it would be so much worse.Liam’s birthday party had started out like something out of a picture book. Kids dressed like mini astronauts and dinosaur rangers, squealing with joy as confetti rained down and music played. But as the hours passed, tension slowly crept in like a storm front.I stepped out for a moment to receive a business call. While I was inside, I stood from a distance and saw everything I needed to. Edward arriving, placing a kiss on Vanessa’s cheek, her smile just a bit too tight, like she was tr

Edward’s POV The morning light crept softly through the cracks in the blinds, brushing over the silhouette of her body. Vanessa lay tangled in the sheets, her bare back rising and falling with every slow breath. Her red hair was a wild, glorious mess against the pillow, strands curling across her shoulder like flames resting on her brown skin. I couldn’t stop staring.My arm was draped around her waist, fingertips grazing the curve of her hip, still warm from everything we’d shared last night. No performance, no power plays—just us. Raw, honest, messy, and impossibly good. I’d memorized the sound of her breath when she gasped against my mouth. The way her nails dug into my shoulders. How she whispered my name like it meant something again.God, I loved her.And not in the vague, poetic way I used to throw that word around before. This, what I felt for her now, was carved out of consequence. Regret. Longing. Years of watching her from the outside of a life I should have fought harder

Edward POV 2 hours earlier,The low hum of the car was the only sound as I drove through Manhattan’s haze. The city hadn’t fully woken yet, just enough movement on the sidewalks to remind me the world never really slept. I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, eyes flicking up to the rearview mirror out of habit.Vanessa’s silhouette flashed in my memory. Her naked back tangled in our sheets, hair a red tangle on the pillow, skin still warm with the echoes of last night. I should’ve stayed longer. Traced every line of her with my lips. Memorized the way she curled into me after she slept, like she’d finally found home again.I missed her already.But Tobias was waiting. And I knew my brother well enough to know he wouldn’t have shown up unannounced unless it was something big. Something… ugly.“Don’t let it be them,” I muttered under my breath as I made a left toward my company building. “Not again.”My family’s talent for manipulation ran deep. Especially my mother’s. She ca