All Chapters of Taming the billionaire's heart : Chapter 21 - Chapter 23

Kyrie didn't wake up. She surfaced. The way a body rose from deep water, fighting against pressure and darkness, lungs burning for something it wasn't sure it deserved. Her eyes opened to a ceiling too high, painted in a color that wasn't white but wasn't anything else either. A color chosen by someone who had never worried about paint prices. She lay still for a long moment, counting her breaths. The sheets were too soft. The pillow too perfect. The silence too complete. Three days. She had been here three days, taking meals on a tray she didn't request, speaking to a housekeeper who answered in nods, avoiding the main living area like it might swallow her whole if she stayed too long in its sight. She had told herself she was recovering. That the fever needed time. That her body needed rest. But this morning, her body was fine. And her pride was restless. She pushed herself up slowly, testing her balance. The room didn't spin. The floor was warm under her feet — heated, s

The dress was waiting when kyrie got home. She found it hanging on her apartment door when she returned from work, a garment bag in heavy cream silk with no note, no name, no explanation except the small embossed tag in the interior lining: Reynolds Foundation Events Department. She stared at it for a long moment, key still in her hand, the hallway's fluorescent light buzzing overhead like an insect trapped in glass. She didn't want to open it. She opened it anyway.The dress was wine-colored, deep enough to swallow light, cut in a way that suggested the body beneath without displaying it. Not modest. Not provocative. Just — intentional. The kind of garment that announced its wearer had been chosen, approved, processed through systems that understood optics better than desire. She held it against herself in the mirror. The color made her skin look alive in ways she didn't feel. The length fell to mid-calf, the sleeves to her wrists, the neckline high enough that she wouldn't have to thi