The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 17

Chapter 12 letvarything Overc

Chapter 12: Is Everything Overcome?

Ethan

It was a normal day. One of those that are indistinguishable from the others.

I got up early, trained for half an hour, took a quick shower, a dark suit. The clock marked exactly what it had to mark. Routine was always my way of ordering the world.

Everything was already there, ready for me.

Someone left my things ready the night before, my suit, my watches, everything in sight… as she used to

“Mr. Blackwood, your agenda today begins at eight-thirty with the meeting of the inner council. At eleven

o’clock you have the call with the legal team and, in the evening, dinner with the partners of Ardent

Capital.”

I nodded without looking up from the tablet.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Yes,” my assistant added, checking quickly. “Mrs. Reed confirmed her attendance at the dinner. And tomorrow you have a charity breakfast, she added it yesterday at the last minute.”

Vanessa.

Of course I was going to be there.

“All right,” I replied. “Remind me to leave at seven.”

My assistant nodded and left with that impeccable efficiency that I learned to appreciate quickly. I hired her as soon as I understood that my life didn’t work without someone to take care of what I never considered important… until it was no longer done.

Clara did it all. And I didn’t know how to replace her without delegating it completely.

At home it was the same. I gave total authority to an administrator. Staff, accounts, maintenance, events. I just signed. It worked. Not like before, but it worked… And that was enough.

Or so I repeated to me.

The day passed like almost all of them lately; decisions, numbers, strategies. Everything under control. My company continued to grow, solid, firm, with years of history supporting it. Nothing had really changed.

I left punctually for dinner, the restaurant was elegant, discreet, one of those places where no one speaks louder than necessary. Vanessa was already there when I arrived.

“Ethan,” she said, smiling. “I thought you’d be late.”

“Not today.”

Chapter 12.437

She approached naturally, adjusted my tie slightly with an almost intimate gesture. I didn’t stop her. I never did.

Vanessa was… convenient, present, attentive. And I wasn’t interested in putting limits on something that didn’t demand anything from me.

During dinner, she sat next to me. She listened, nodded, intervened when necessary. She was intelligent, She knew how to move in that world. I had always known that. That’s why we had been partners for years, even after that failed attempt at something more, when we understood that romance had no place

between us.

Or at least, not for me.

I remember that I met her before Clara. Much earlier.

Our families were already treating each other, sharing circles, dinners, events where we all pretended not to evaluate ourselves while we were doing it all the time. Vanessa was… Easy to understand. Intelligent, ambitious, self-confident. She never asked permission to take up space, she never doubted her worth.

We dated for a while. It was no secret or scandal. It was natural.

Dinners, short trips, long conversations about business, power, future projections. There was intimacy, yes. It worked on that level. There was no discomfort, there was no awkwardness.

Everything was correct. Fluid. Predictable… And perhaps that was the problem.

I never felt urgency with her, I never felt disorder.

Vanessa wanted to move forward. She didn’t say it openly, but She hinted at it in small gestures, staying a little longer, asking about the future, settling into my routine as if it already belonged to her. I saw it… and I did not react. Not because I didn’t like her, not because I didn’t respect her. But because nothing stirred inside me.

There were things that were non-negotiable for me, even if at the time I didn’t know how to name them completely. Vanessa wanted to be seen, she wanted to be in the limelight. She wanted to be on par with the… or ahead. And I wasn’t looking for a woman who would walk with me, I was looking for a structure that wouldn’t require me to stop.

She had character, strong opinions. Own ambition. And while that was admirable, it also involved conflict. Questions. Adjustments. Emotional negotiations. I didn’t want to negotiate anything.

When we understood that we were not going to the same place, there was no drama. We just took a step back and turned what had been into something useful, a professional alliance. It worked better there. No

expectations.

Then Clara appeared, and she was not like Vanessa. She was nothing alike.

Clara did not arrive taking up space, she arrived fitting into it. She was silent, observant, intelligent in a different way. She didn’t need to impose herself to hold a conversation. She didn’t need to be seen to be

Chapter 1244fwyking Overplanet

present. Clara facilitated, ordered, accompanied without invading. And that… That was what convinced

1. In addition to belonging to a powerful family that would also open doors for me.

“Have you heard of Sinclair & Co.?” asked one of the partners, raising his glass.

I raised an eyebrow, barely.

“Of course,” replied another. “Interesting contracts have been won lately.”

Vanessa turned her head slightly towards me, as if looking for my reaction.

“It’s a new signature,” the man continued, “but an aggressive one. Strategic. Some say that they are changing the way certain sectors are negotiated.”

I sm led smugly.

“New companies always make noise,” I said. “It’s part of the process.”

“Perhaps,” someone else chimed in, “but I heard Alexander Connor is behind the expansion. It seems that he is going to open a branch in New York.”

Alexander Connor.

That caught my attention a little more, although I didn’t show it.

“Connor’s ambitious,” I said. “If he is involved, he surely see potential… or just a profitable investment in

the short term.”

“Some think it could become real competition,” added another.

I shook my head, calmly.

“My company has been positioned for decades, since my father founded it. We have structure, track record, market confidence. I am not worried about a young firm, even if it has financial backing.”

And I believed it.

From my point of view, this was not a threat. It was just another name in a saturated market.

Vanessa rested her hand on my arm, soft, almost protective.

“Ethan has always known how to stay up,” she said. “I don’t think anyone can destabilize something so

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify