Mr. Villain's Lovely Wife

Chapter 200 "To be honest, you are so different from the woman that I was expecting to meet today. But I can't say I am disappointed." Ian Morcant smiled. "Tea?" He offered the current tea before him. "I brewed it myself." "I can see that," Izzy gave him a smile.

"It's Silver Needle-harvested in Fujian, China. The leaves are only picked for a few days each spring,” lan said, carefully pouring the tea into the smaller cup in front of her. "The growers claim that the best batches cfrom a specific altitude, around 1,200 meters. They dry the leaves in natural sunlight. No machines. No shortcuts." Izzy accepted the cup but didn't drink yet.

lan leaned back slightly in his chair. He rested one arm along the edge of the table. "The first tI had it, I was nineteen. I was visiting an investor in Hong Kong, someone who believed in formalities. He poureda cup and said, 'Don't speak until you taste it.' I thought it was odd. But I did as he asked." He looked at the tea in his hand, fingers wrapping around the delicate porcelain.

"I didn't get it at first. It tasted like nothing to me. Subtle. Almost too quiet to notice. I told him so. He smiled and said I wasn't wrong-just impatient." lan's mouth twitched slightly, not quite a grin. "He explained that sthings don't hit you with flavor or strength. Sthings ask you to slow down. To pay attention." Izzy nodded once. She finally took a sip.

lan continued, "Later, when the investment went bad, that sman refused to pull out. He said the company needed time. He waited. Three years later, it was one of the best decisions he ever made." Izzy set her cup down.

"I still don't love tea," lan said. "But I make this one when I know I need to stop and think. Not react. Just observe." He looked at her for a moment, not with suspicion, but with focus.

"I knew who you were on paper. In reports. In summaries. I didn't expect this version of you in the boardroom today. That's not a criticism. It's just an observation." Izzy didn't respond right away. She let him finish.

"I think Gregory expected you to walk in and ask for permission. You didn't," lan said. "That changes things." She tilted her head slightly. "Is this your way of tellingI made an impression?" He nodded once. "It's my way of telling you people will start testing you differently now. They've seen enough to worry. You should expect that." Izzy picked up her cup again. "Good," she said. "I'd be disappointed if they didn't." lan didn't press further. He simply took another sip of tea.

Izzy watched him for a moment, her fingers wrapped around the warm cup. lan Morcant. Thirty, unmarried, and already sitting at the head of a multimillion-dollar company. On paper, it looked impressive. Too impressive. And she knew better than anyone that nothing that smooth cwithout help.

She glanced at the tea again before setting it down. "You're talking like someone who isn't close to Gregory," she said.

lan didn't flinch. He smiled. "Doing your research is always a good habit. I appreciate that." He set his cup aside and adjusted his cufflink, a subtle motion more out of rhythm than need. "I wouldn't deny it. The one who wantedhere was Gregory. Everyone knows that. He pushed the board to appoint me. But that doesn't mean I can't manage this company." Izzy leaned back slightly, not defensive, just thoughtful. "That's not what I meant." "I know," lan replied, calm as ever.

She studied him again. He wasn't like the others on the board. There was no need to fill every silence. No sharp movements, no visible posturing. He didn't dominate the space around him. He just occupied it fully. Confident without performing it.

She thought about Liam-how he always entered a room like it owed him something. His confidence was loud, sometimes reckless, always deliberate. Ian wasn't like that. He didn't announce his presence. He just existed in it, like someone who didn't need to prove anything.

That difference stood out to her more than she expected.

She didn't respond right away. Instead, she looked down at the tea, then back at lan. "Then why did Gregory choose you?" lan didn't answer immediately. He reached for the teapot and refilled his cup with quiet precision. Then he looked up, meeting her eyes again.

"That," he said, "is something I've been asking myself since the day I took this job." Izzy took another sip of the tea. She waited for something to hit-flavor, bitterness, anything. But it didn't. It was quiet, almost like drinking warm water with a hint of... something. She wasn't even sure what. It wasn't bad, just underwhelming.

She smiled to herself.

lan noticed. "What do you think?" "It's... fine," she said, setting the cup down. "Tastes like something I'd get at a wellness retreat. The kind where they tell you to listen to your body and breathe slower." He gave a small nod, as if that was the answer he expected.

"I guess I'm not that patient either," she added. "I like things that make their point faster." "That's fair," lan said, folding his hands loosely in front of him. "Most people do. That's why not everyone sticks around to run things long term." Izzy tilted her head, considering him again. "So, you're saying I need to slow down?" "No," he said. "I'm saying people will expect you to." She nodded once. That sounded more accurate.

Izzy glanced toward the window for a second, her thoughts shifting back to the reports, "Gregory clearly has a strategy. If he didn't, he wouldn't have backed you." "He does," lan said. "But I'm not part of it in the way most people assume." "And yet you're still here." "I am," he replied.

Izzy didn't press further. She knew when someone had more to say but chose not to. That was fine. She'd figure it out in time.

"Well... it seems that my next meeting is happening very soon," lan casually said as he glanced at his secretary. "This has been a very pleasant conversation, Miss Rossi," he took a card from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. "I hope that we can do it again. This is my personal card." Izzy smiled and took it. Not long after, Izzy and Anna were already out of the company, driving towards Lawyer Alcaraz's office.

"Miss, sadly, I couldn't find anything-any dirt on Mr. Morcant," Anna said. "It's strange." "Why do you think-" Izzy didn't finish the question.

A loud bang cut through the air, sharp and violent. The force hit from the left side

of the car, throwing Izzy against the door. Glass shattered. Metal twisted.

The car tilted, skidding sideways before it slammed hard into something solid. Her ears rang.

She tried to lift her head, but her vision spun. Anna's scream faded into a blur. Sirens-somewhere. Or maybe that was in her head. She couldn't tell.

The last thing she saw was the broken windshield in front of her-and then everything went dark.

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