[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my":3,"chapter-bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-chapter-224":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","[BL] Bound to My Enemy: The Billionaire Who Took My Girl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1735826,2219,"Chapter 224: Unresolved","bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-chapter-224",224,"\u003Cp>NOAH\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world outside the four walls of Cassian’s office had ceased to exist. There was no XUM, no legal disputes, no looming shadow of my brother, and no city traffic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was only the cool, polished mahogany of the desk beneath me and the staggering, heat-drenched reality of Cassian Wolfe between my knees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The kiss hadn’t stopped; it had only evolved, growing deeper, more rhythmic, and far more dangerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My fingers were white-knuckled, buried in the expensive silk of his shirt, pulling him in as if I could physically drag him into my own skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cassian was a solid, grounding weight, his presence absolute. One of his hands had migrated from my jaw to my hip, his thumb hooking into the waistband of my trousers with a possessive, deliberate pressure that made my breath hitch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wasn’t thinking. For the first time in my entire life, the frantic, buzzing hive of my brain was silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The boy who second-guessed every shadow and apologized for his own existence had been shoved into a dark corner, replaced by a raw, aching version of me that I barely recognized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This version didn’t want safety; it wanted the friction of Cassian’s body against mine. It wanted the low, gutteral sound Cassian made against my mouth—a sound that wasn’t a performance, but a leak of genuine, unadulterated need.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything that had been building since the park, since the dinner, since the sofa, was finally finding a vent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I pressed closer, my legs tightening around his waist, needing him to fill up the hollow, echoing spaces the weekend of silence had left behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When his mouth moved to the crook of my neck, nipping at the skin right where my pulse was thrumming like a trapped bird, my head fell back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My eyes drifted shut, and the last shred of my professional dignity dissolved into the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bzzz!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first ring was a distant annoyance, a fly buzzing at the edge of a dream. I ignored it. Cassian ignored it. He didn’t slow down; his mouth stayed pressed to my skin, his breath hot and ragged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second ring was louder. It felt intrusive, a jagged edge cutting through the heat. I felt Cassian’s muscles stiffen slightly, the rhythm of his hands faltering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the third ring, the dream shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cassian pulled back, his chest heaving, his blue eyes dark and unfocused for a split second before the clarity returned. He didn’t look at me first; he looked at the phone on the desk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stayed where I was, flushed and trembling, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard it was painful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I watched his face change. It wasn’t a dramatic shift, but the stillness that arrived was worse... a sudden, glacial wall of focus that meant the world had officially come knocking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recognized the number. There was no name saved, but I could see the flash of recognition in the way his jaw set.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rest of the room... the folders, the computer, the sunlight... seemed to rush back into his eyes, pushing me out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I have to take this,\" he said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t ask. He didn’t apologize. He just walked away, and the space between my knees was suddenly, violently empty. The cold air hit my damp skin, and I felt a sharp, hollow ache of abandonment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He moved toward the tall transparent window, turning his back to me. \"Speak,\" he said. His voice was low, a sharp vibration that carried none of the warmth from seconds ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The call was short... less than a minute. I sat on the edge of the desk, trying to smooth my hair with shaking fingers, watching the rigid line of his shoulders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tried to read the set of his head, the way he held the phone, but Cassian was a vault once more. The man who had been murmuring against my neck was gone, replaced by the architect of a thousand secrets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hung up and turned back. I was still on the desk, my shirt rumpled, my lips feeling swollen and thoroughly used. I probably looked a mess, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I just felt... unfinished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Who was that?\" I asked, trying for casual and landing somewhere near pathetic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I have to go,\" he said. No answer. Just a directive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My stomach dropped, a clean, sickening plunge. \"Is something wrong? Is it an emergency?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No,\" he said, his voice level again. \"Just something I need to handle.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He started reaching for his suit, the professional armor sliding back into place. I felt the boldness of the kiss fading, replaced by that familiar, gnawing insecurity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I reached out, a small, desperate gesture. \"Can it wait?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew the answer. I saw it in the way he didn’t even hesitate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No,\" he said. It wasn’t unkind, but it was final.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I went quiet. I didn’t have the energy to perform \"fine\" anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The disappointment was a physical weight, settling into my lungs. I didn’t move from the desk; I just sat there and let him see exactly how much it hurt to be put back on the shelf the moment a nameless number called.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cassian paused. He saw it... the slump of my shoulders, the way I wouldn’t meet his eyes. Something flickered across his face, a momentary crack in the steel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stepped back toward me, reaching out to tip my chin up with his thumb and forefinger. The contact was brief, but it was electric.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’ll be back by evening,\" he said, his eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that demanded I listen. \"Dinner. We’ll go somewhere. Somewhere quiet.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t a request. It was an offering. It was the Cassian Wolfe version of an apology, a way of saying I’m not leaving you, I’m just being pulled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Okay,\" I whispered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t stay to watch the mood lift. He was already moving... jacket on, phone pocketed, the assembled fact of him heading for the door. Then, he was gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The office was empty, but the air still tasted like him. I sat on the desk for a long time, staring at the closed door, my body still humming with a frantic, unresolved energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My lips felt sensitive, and the spot on my neck where his mouth had been was still warm, a phantom mark that made my skin prickle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was unresolved in the most frustrating way possible. My body was still screaming for the contact that had been cut off mid-sentence, and now that the silence had returned, my brain was finally waking up. And it was being a jerk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You kissed him, my mind hissed. You grabbed his shirt like a common thief and begged him to stay. In the office. During work hours.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The realization hit me like a cold wave. I had initiated that. I had crossed the line because I was terrified of the distance growing between us. I had used my body as a bridge because I didn’t know how to use my words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What are you even doing, Noah? I asked myself, sliding off the desk. My legs felt like jelly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was in this. I was so far past the point of being able to pretend this was just a \"situation\" or a \"bargain.\" I was colonized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every thought, every nerve ending, every heartbeat was now tied to a man who answered calls from ghosts and kept his life in airtight compartments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tried to smooth my shirt, but my hands were still vibrating. I ran a hand through my hair, realizing I didn’t even have a mirror to check the damage. I felt the heat in my cheeks—a flush that refused to fade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My phone buzzed in my pocket. I flinched, then saw Mason’s name on the screen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mason: where are you??? It’s been like 2 hours. Did you get abducted. Also I’m starving please I’m begging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two hours.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared at the screen, the mundane reality of Mason’s hunger hitting me like a glass of ice water. I had promised him food. I had a job.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had a life that didn’t involve being a permanent fixture on Cassian Wolfe’s mahogany furniture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I smoothed my shirt one more time, more thoroughly this time, trying to erase the ghost of Cassian’s grip. I checked my collar, tucked in the edges of my shirt, and tried to breathe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The professional world was waiting on the other side of that door, and I had to walk into it carrying the physical evidence of the last twenty minutes in my face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I walked out of the office and into the corridor, my heart still doing that frantic, uneven thudding. I felt like everyone could see it—the used look of my mouth, the way I was walking. I stood at the elevator, pressing the button with a finger that still felt like it belonged to someone else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the metal doors slid open, I caught my reflection in the polished surface. Flushed. Hair slightly chaotic. The specific, undeniable look of someone who had been kissed until they forgot their own name, and then interrupted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stepped inside and leaned my head against the cool metal wall, letting out a heavy, ragged sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I need a hobby,\" I muttered to the empty elevator. \"I really, really need a hobby.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something that didn’t involve mahogany desks. Something that didn’t involve a man with no saved contacts. Something that wouldn’t leave me unresolved and breathless at two o’clock on a Monday afternoon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as the elevator descended, all I could think about was dinner. And the fact that he said he’d be back.\u003C\u002Fp>",1608,"2026-06-06T16:23:43.455Z",1,"novelbin.me","86f82d07946c600ad5ce9dc06e3908a6ec399629ef47d7fde2d649460699bade","bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-chapter-69","bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-chapter-223",307,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fbl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-cover.jpg"]