The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 199

Chapter 139: Back Home, Part 2.

Clara

I’m running, I don’t know where. I don’t know what exactly I’m running from….

But I know I have to.

My breathing is agitated, disordered, my feet barely touch the ground as I advance through a space that I cannot fully recognize.

It’s dark, too much and there’s something behind me. I don’t see it… but I feel it.

That weight, that presence. That… danger.

I try to open a door, I can’t. I try another… Closed.

They all are.

“No… no…”

My voice doesn’t come out well, it breaks. My hand trembles when I try to turn another knob.

Nothing.

I go on, I run and then… I see it.

My apartment, the door ajar. My stomach sinks.

I don’t want to go in, but something pushes me. Something forces me, I cross and the silence… It’s worse

than noise.

“Hello…?”

Nothing, one step, two. The kitchen, the light on and there… him.

He’s not moving, he’s just looking at me. My heart stops.

“No…”

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I try to go back, I can’t. My body doesn’t respond, he takes a step towards me. And then… he takes me.

I wake up suddenly.

My body rises almost instinctively, my breathing is a messy blow to my chest, my hands are looking for something, anything…

“Clara…”

Ethan’s voice.

I feel his hands in my arms, steady, holding me up.

Chapter 136

Home Part 2

“Clara, luok at me…”

t blink once, twice. The room returns, the dim light, the bed… He…

My chest rises and falls with force.

“I’m here,” he says.

His voice is low, warm and real. And that… that anchors me..

I cling to him without thinking. My arms wrap around his torso, my face sinking into his chest.

“Ethan…”

My voice comes out, little one. And I don’t try to hide it.

I can’t.

He hugs me immediately, tight, confident.

One of his hands goes up to my head, the other stays on my back, moving slowly.

“Don’t worry… it’s over…”

But my body doesn’t understand that, not yet. I keep shaking.

“He was there,” I whispered, “again…”

I don’t even know if it makes sense, but I say it. Because it felt real.

Too real.

“It was a dream,” he replies softly. “Just a dream.”

I shake it against his chest, because it didn’t feel like “just a dream.” It felt like coming back.

Like repeating, as if everything could happen again.

His hand does not stop moving, slow, steady. Like he knew exactly what to do.

“You’re with me,” he murmurs. “Nothing can happen here.”

I close my eyes, I try to believe him. I try to let his voice be louder than the memory.

Little by little… My breathing starts to go down. Not quite, but enough.

My fingers are holding on to his shirt, I don’t want to let go, not now, not after that.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

I don’t know why, but I say it. He barely separates.

Enough to look at me.

“Why?”

6 Chapter

give. Part 2

His brow furrows slightly.

“For…” I swallow hard, “for this…”

For being like this, for needing this. For not being strong at the moment.

He immediately denies it.

“You don’t have to apologize for anything.

His tone changes, it becomes firmer. More… clear.

“After what happened today… It’s normal.”

His fingers move towards my face, pulling a strand of my hair away.

“And you’re not alone.”

His eyes stay in mine.

“Not again.”

Something in the way he says it… I get more than I expected.

Because it’s not just comfort, it’s… decision.

I stare at him, silently. And for a second… everything else disappears.

Fear, sleep. The memory. Everything.

Only this remains, him… Here, with me. I breathe more deeply. More steadily.

“It feels weird,” I say finally.

My voice is lower now, quieter. He does not turn away.

“What?”

I hesitate, but I say it.

“Being here…”

I glance around, at the room, the bed. Everything.

“Coming back…”

The word is heavy, because that’s what it is. This is coming back, one way or another. And that was not

how I imagined it.

If I ever did.

Ethan is silent for a second. As if carefully considering his response.

“It doesn’t have to feel perfect.”

I look up at him.

Chapter 197

“Not correct from the first moment,” he adds. “It just… has to feel right to you.”

That… That calms me down more than it should.

Because there is no pressure, there is no expectation. Just… space.

“I thought about going back…” I admit.

My voice comes out softer, more honest.

“Sometimes.”

My fingers play with the fabric of his shirt.

“But not like this…”

Not after something like this, not from fear, not from necessity.

Ethan watches me attentively, he doesn’t interrupt. It does not fill the silence, let me say it.

Feel it.

“I didn’t think I was going to come back because,” I pause, “because I had nowhere else to go. And

because someone…”

That part… that hurts a little more, because it is not entirely true. But it’s not a complete lie either.

He gently denies.

“You’re not here because you don’t have a choice.”

His voice is firm. Safe.

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