The energy inside L&Z International was electric.
Not because of deadlines.
Not because of contracts.
But because of her.
> "Did you see? She came in the CEO's car again…"
"She's not on the employee list but she's allowed up to the executive floor?"
"I heard she's his wife. But why does she always look so… soft-spoken?"
"She doesn't act like she's married to a man like that."
"Do you think it's just for show? A business arrangement?"
"Maybe… but why did she bring him coffee yesterday and he actually took it? CEO Li never accepts coffee from anyone."
Xu Meilin stood near the elevator, pretending not to hear.
But she heard everything.
Every whisper. Every glance.
She didn't argue. Didn't speak. Didn't explain.
She just smiled, bowed slightly, and walked past them with her head held gently high.
A porcelain doll they couldn't shatter with words.
---
Top floor
She was on her way to hand over a file Shen Rui had requested when the conference room door near the east wing opened halfway,and a voice cut like a blade through silk.
"Get out."
Meilin froze.
Another voice inside stammered, "C-CEO Li, if we could just..."
"I said get out."
A sharp sound followed. Something slammed. Papers? A chair?
Curiosity overruled caution. Meilin took a silent step forward… and through the open door, she saw him.
Li Zeyan.
In his element.
No longer calm. No longer cold.
This wasn't the man who teased her in bed or stole glances in the car.
This was a storm in a suit.
He stood at the head of the long glass table, eyes sharp as broken steel. His voice cut through the air with lethal elegance.
> "If you bring me such a half-baked proposal again, don't bother stepping into my building."
"You're wasting my time, my board's time, and frankly, the oxygen in this room."
"Do you think just because your family has ties with LUX Tech, I'll approve a dead investment?"
"You want respect? Bring competence."
Silence.
The entire table of men,twice his age,looked as if they'd swallowed poison.
And Li Zeyan… didn't flinch.
He leaned over the table, gaze piercing. "This is L&Z International. I don't babysit amateurs."
His voice was calm.
Deadly calm.
And it chilled the air more than a scream ever could.
---
Meilin blinked, half-hidden by the wall, clutching the file to her chest.
She felt a strange tightness in her chest.
Was she… scared?
No.
She was in awe.
She had always known he was powerful. But to see him command a room with fear alone…
It stirred something deeper.
---
Then...
He turned.
He saw her.
His breath hitched.
His jaw tightened.
Shit.
He thought she'd look away.
That she'd be scared.
That she'd finally see him for what the rumors: cold, heartless, ruthless.
He braced for it.
For her to drop her gaze.
For her to shrink back.
But she didn't.
She smiled softly. Tilted her head slightly.
"Good morning, CEO Li," she said, voice calm. Warm.
She greeted like they did not just step out of the same house, Like she hadn't just seen him destroy men with words.
Like she still saw him beneath the ice.
Zeyan stood frozen for a moment too long.
And when he nodded slightly and she walked away,file still in hand, steps graceful,
He swore his heart did a thing.
> She saw me.
And she didn't run.
---
He sat down slowly, eyes still on the door she'd disappeared through.
And for the first time in years,
He wasn't just thinking about control.
He was thinking about her.
All of her.
And how impossible it was becoming not to want her.