The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 163

17 its Persona

Chapter 117: It’s Personal.-1

Clara

I take the folder on the desk and review the documents for the last time.

Everything is in order or so I want to believe. My fingers stop when I see the cup of coffee… empty.

I stare at it for a second longer than necessary, and without meaning to… I’m transported back to that moment in the hallway.

To him… Alexander.

I frown slightly, it was… strange, too much.

After everything he told me that day… After the way he practically questioned my decisions, my past, my criteria…

Today he acted as if nothing had happened, as if he had not made me feel exposed, judged,

attacked.

I purse my lips a little as I take the cup and set it aside.

His voice sounded again in my head with that same calmness, that same assurance.

As if he had the right to talk to me like that, as if he hadn’t crossed any limits.

I let out a sigh, and I just think I don’t like it. I didn’t like what he told me, I don’t like that feeling. Because I don’t know what’s worse… whether to confront me directly, or to act as if nothing happened. As if he were playing something that I still don’t understand.

I take a breath and try not to give mind to it… No, I can’t be distracted by that now.

I have an important, very important meeting.

I take my things, the folder, the iPad… I check my reflection quickly in the window pane.

Serene, firm, professional. That’s what I should be.

I leave the office with a determined step and head to the boardroom.

As I move forward, I feel my mind trying to pull back to that encounter with Alexander… but ! push it away. It’s not the time.

I open the door to the living room, and there they are. The team… and the invited investor.

Chapter 117: It’s Personal-1

An important man, one of those who do not repeat meetings if they do not see something that really interests them.

I smile confidently.

“Good morning everyone.”

I greet, take a seat, and organize my things in front of me.

I start the presentation, I flow as always.

The numbers, the projections, the next expansion. That is the new project, there is an important person interested in becoming a partner of us.

Everything is clear in my head, everything has been built by me. Minute by minute, decision after decision.

I feel the gaze on me, attentive, interested. And that gives me confidence, but then…

“Interesting approach.”

That voice, I don’t need to look to know that it is him.

Alexander.

I look up, there it is. Leaning back slightly in his chair, with that calm expression… almost analytical.

“But I think you’re being a little bullish on those margins,” he adds.

The atmosphere changes subtly. But it changes.

I feel how several gazes move between him and me, I breathe. I maintain my position.

“The margins are based on the behavior of the market in recent quarters,” I answer firmly.

He nods, as if listening. But he doesn’t stop.

“Yes… But past behavior does not always guarantee the future.”

He tilts his head slightly.

“And even less so in a market as volatile as this one.”

His tone is not aggressive. It’s worse… It is measured and questioning.

Public.

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I feel something tense inside me, but I don’t show it.

I can’t.

“That’s precisely why alternative scenarios are proposed,” I reply, pointing to the next slide. “Here you can see…”

“Sure,” he interrupts softly.

Again.

“Although those scenarios are still based on a premise that… might not hold up if there are external changes.”

A silence came.

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