The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 230

Chapter 161: Coming Back Right, Getting Back to Her.

Ethan

I close the door to the room behind me and the sound is louder than it should be. Or maybe it’s just me. I’m feeling everything too much.

The conversation with Alexander continues to spin in my head like an acho that does not go away. His voice. His tone. The way he spoke about Clara… as if he knew her. As if he had studied her, as if he saw her…

I walk a few steps into the room, loosening the collar of my shirt. I need air, although the air here is not enough.

I stop in front of the window. The city stretches out before me, lights, movement… life. Everything goes on as if nothing was happening. As if inside me there was not this constant tension, this knot that I cannot undo.

I close my eyes for a second. And I see it… The way Alexander looks at her.

It wasn’t imagination, it wasn’t an assumption of mine fueled by jealousy. It was real.

That kind of look… I recognize it, because it’s the same way I look at her.

I exhale slowly.

“Shit…” I murmur, running a hand over my face.

It’s not just attraction, it’s not just interest. What’s more, it’s recognition and that… That’s what’s

dangerous.

Because Clara is t just any woman, she never was.

She is… everything a smart man, an ambitious man, a man who wants to build something real… could wish

for.

She’s strong. She’s brilliant. She is determined… But also… She’s warm. She’s human, She’s home. And I

ow it.

w it from the first moment I saw her and now… He knows it too.

ench my jaw. That thought makes me more uncomfortable than I want to admit, because it’s not just

at he’s around.

It’s that he has something that I didn’t have in a long time, time with her, routine, daily life, they share spaces that I lost. Meetings, projects… Decisions, whole days.

And that… that weighs heavily. That builds.

I run both hands through my hair, pulling it back.

5 0

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So this was…?” I whisper, almost without realizing it.

Tam silent for a second longer.

“Was this what she felt…?”

The question is suspended in the air, and the answer comes by itself.

Yes, this. This discomfort, this constant thought. This silent fear that someone else might see what you see… and want it. And even worse… to be able to have it.

I let out a low, humorless laugh.

“Now I understand…”

Now I understand many things, I understand her looks at the past her silences, fier questions that I did not answer well.

I understand what Vanessa generated in her, not because of what Vanessa did. But because of what she represented, a possibility. A “what if…?”

And now… Alexander is that to me.

I close my eyes for a moment longer, but no. I’m not going to stay there, I’m not going to let this consume me. Because if there is one thing that is clear to me… I am not going to lose her again.

Not out of fear, not out of insecurity. Much less… for staying still.

I take a deep breath, go to the bathroom and turn on the shower.

The water falls hard, constantly. I take off my shirt without thinking too much, dropping it anywhere.

I need to clear my head, I need to get out of

close my eyes. But even then… it doesn’ty head. I step under the hot water and let it run over me, I

go away.

Clara’s image is still there, her face, her voice.

The way she looked at me a little while ago… confused, surprised, but not distant, not cold.

That’s important.

r

I cling to that, because if there’s one thing that’s still clear… I haven’t lost her. Not quite.

I put one hand against the wall, letting the water continue to fall.

“I’m not going to make the same mistakes,” I say quietly.

I’m not going to leave empty spaces where others can enter, because that’s what happened before and it’s not going to happen again.

I turn off the shower a few minutes later, dry quickly, without thinking too much, and dress up in something more suitable. Dark shirt, well-fitting pants.

Something simple, but careful. Not because I want to impress anyone else, but because I want her to see

K

(Chapter 64 (

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6

As Tarn now, as the man who decided to change.

I look in the mirror for a second and it’s trot vanity, it’s evaluation.

I’m fine, but not perfect. And that. It’s also part of this.

I leave the room, take the keys and walk to Clara’s. Every step. I feel it.

Not out of fear, but out of expectation. Because tonight… it matters.

I raise my hand and knock twice, not very loudly. But enough.

A few seconds later… The door opens, and there it is. Clara.

The air stays in my chest for an instant, she wears a red, intense red dress.

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