[{"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-229":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},1735839,2219,"Chapter 229: The Menu and The Lie","bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-chapter-229",229,"\u003Cp>NOAH\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black car climbed the winding roads toward the edge of the city, leaving the neon franticness of the business district behind for something altogether more ancient and quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The restaurant was a fortress of understated power, a sprawling structure of glass and dark stone that seemed to grow out of the cliffside itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the kind of place that didn’t need a sign. If you were meant to be there, you already knew the way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment the car slowed, the choreography began. Uniformed staff appeared as if they’d been materialized by the sheer force of Cassian’s arrival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t just open the door; they performed an act of welcome that made me feel like I was stepping into a private sanctum rather than a place of business.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We were led through the ground floor, a cathedral of white linen, floating crystal chandeliers, and the hushed, rhythmic clinking of silver against bone china.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But we didn’t stop there. We were ushered upward to a first-floor terrace that opened directly into the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stopped dead at the railing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The view was a jagged, indigo silhouette of mountains against a sky that was currently bleeding from bruised purple into a deep, electric gold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the left, a natural waterfall caught the dying light, the water looking like molten mercury as it tumbled into the darkness. A cool, crisp breeze swept over the canopy, carrying the scent of pine and wet stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So this is what it feels like, I thought, my hands gripping the cool iron of the railing. To have enough money that a Monday evening looks like a masterpiece.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt like an intruder. I was wearing a suit that cost more than my first car, standing in a place where a single appetizer probably cost more than I could fathom, and I was doing it all because the man behind me had decided he wanted to see me eat. It was dizzying. It was unfair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We were seated at a table so close to the edge that I felt like I could lean out and touch the mist from the falls. I stayed facing outward, unable to look away from the sheer scale of the landscape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Enjoying the view?\" Cassian’s voice was a low, warm vibration. There was a tease in it, a rare, private softness that he only seemed to use when the world wasn’t looking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I can’t help it,\" I admitted, finally turning to him. \"It’s literally breathtaking. I didn’t know the city looked like this from up here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cassian slid a heavy, leather-bound menu across the table toward me. \"Do you like it that much?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yeah,\" I said, opening the folder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then I saw the numbers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I froze. I’d expected expensive, but this was a different language of wealth. The prices weren’t just high; they were arrogant. A single starter was listed at three digits. I flipped to the drinks column and closed the section immediately, my heart doing a nervous little flutter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’m not looking at that, I told myself. The mountains are free. I will look at the mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We can come back,\" Cassian said, his voice casual, as if he were suggesting a trip to a coffee shop. \"As many times as you want.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt the heat climb my neck. I raised the menu, using it as a shield to hide the sudden, burning flush on my cheeks. \"I doubt that’s going to happen.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do you mean?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The filter in my brain, usually so reliable, finally snapped under the weight of the day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You said it yourself, didn’t you? That you won’t be as available. That things are changing.\" I took a shaky breath, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. \"Not that it matters. I just... I’m not expecting an encore.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lie was so thin it was transparent. It sat on the table between us, shivering and obvious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silence that followed was brief, but it felt like the air had been sucked out of the terrace. I stayed behind my menu, staring at a description of wagyu beef that I could no longer see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then I heard the sound of a chair moving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cassian didn’t wait. He stood up, and I could hear his footsteps, slow, measured, around the table. I gripped the edges of the menu tighter, pulling it closer to my face. I could feel him stopping beside me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt the table shift. He didn’t sit in the chair next to mine; he sat on the edge of the table itself, his thigh inches from my arm, his presence a magnetic, overwhelming force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Noah,\" he said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I wasn’t done looking at the specials,\" I muttered, my voice muffled by the paper buffer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t argue. He just reached out and took the menu. It was a single, smooth motion, the paper was gone before I could react. I reached for it, my hands grasping at empty air. \"I wasn’t done—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Quite the expression,\" Cassian said, sliding the menu to the far side of the table, well out of my reach. He looked down at me, a dangerous, knowing smirk playing on his lips. \"For someone who doesn’t care.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t care!\" I snapped, my frustration finally boiling over. \"I really don’t. What you do with your time is your problem. I have a life, Cassian. I have friends. It’s probably a good thing you’re going to be busy. I won’t be dragged around at your beck and call anymore.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cassian didn’t look offended. He looked amused, which was infinitely worse. \"Your words aren’t matching your expression, Noah. You look like you’re about to start a fire with your eyes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s nonsense,\" I said, though my voice lacked conviction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It isn’t that I won’t be around,\" Cassian explained, his voice dropping into a calmer, more serious register. \"It’s just that outside of work, there are things...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His expression softened again, something quiet and aching settling in his eyes... words he couldn’t bring himself to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"... really really important, unavoidable things, that require my attention. I’m telling you this because I intend to make it work. I’m telling you so you don’t think the silence means I’m gone.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My resolve, which I had spent all afternoon reinforcing with Mason, began to crumble like wet sand. The way he was looking at me, like I was someone worth explaining things to, was more devastating than any argument.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There’s no need to explain,\" I cut him off, my voice small.\u003C\u002Fp>",1088,"2026-06-06T16:23:43.455Z",1,"novelbin.me","96953b0207178c8b4edab67659255b459ba4e2265518087e5f6a3dd76739f935","bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-chapter-230","bl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-chapter-76",307,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fbl-bound-to-my-enemy-the-billionaire-who-took-my-cover.jpg"]