The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 24

Chapter 16: A New Doubt. 2

Her hand, the way Clara held it out to me. There was no contained emotion. There was nothing.

That was what threw me off.

For years I thought that if we ever crossed paths like this again, there would be something. Anything. Tension, discomfort, reproach. Some sign that what we were still existed in some awkward corner of her

memory. But no.

She looked at me as one looks at someone who no longer weighs. And that gesture, so simple, was more

forceful than any words.

The coffee was served when I got to the kitchen, steaming, perfect. I sat down and took a sip without really tasting it. My mind was still in that room, at that moment when I saw her walk towards the stage with a confidence that I did not recognize as that of the woman who was my wife.

Not because I wasn’t able to. But because I had never seen her like this.

Clara had not gone up trembling. She had not sought approval. She had not hesitated. She spoke with a firm calmness, with a clarity that cannot be improvised. Every word had weight. She was not justified. She did not explain too much. She didn’t hide behind anyone.

I watched her from my place, glass in hand, surrounded by people who continued to applaud without knowing exactly why something inside me had tensed.

It wasn’t pride, it wasn’t jealousy… it was something else. An uncomfortable certainty.

Vanessa had been by my side all night. Attentive. Close. Fulfilling that role that she had always occupied naturally. She adjusted my tie before a conversation. She rested her hand on my arm as we listened to a speech. She smiled at the right moments.

It didn’t bother me. But it didn’t hold me up either.

She was talking about the evening as we were leaving the place, commenting on how good everything had been, how impressive the event was. I nodded. I answered just right. I was there… but not entirely.

In the car, as the driver drove through the city lights, Vanessa rested her head on the backrest and sighed.

“It was a great night,” she said.

“Yes,” I answered.

Nothing more.

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, as if she were expecting something. She did not find it. She smiled again and looked out the window again. Vanessa had always been like this, she understood when

not to insist.

That night, as I watched Clara receive an award I didn’t know was hers, I understood something I didn’t

< Chapter 164 Thy Daught

like to admit.

I never doubted her ability, I doubted her permanence. I assumed she would always be there.

When I arrived at the office, my assistant already had the agenda prepared. Meetings, calls, commitments. Everything flowed as it should. I sat down at the desk and turned on the screen.

A new sss stood out from the rest. One of my partners sent it.

Subject: Sinclair & Co. Expansion – New York

Frowned… I opened the message without too much expectation. I read the first few paragraphs with professional speed. Where he mentioned the new company that was going to position itself in the city.

“Under the direction of its founder and CEO, Clara Sinclair…”

I read again.

Slowly.

Founder, CEO, Clara.

I felt something settle inside me with uncomfortable precision. The prize. The discourse. Security. Alexander Connor introducing her with absolute respect. Not as a junior partner. Not as a visible face, like

the head.

I leaned my back on the chair and let the air slowly come out of my lungs.

She didn’t get over me, she built herself up. And she did it without me.

For a second, I wanted to downplay it. Telling me that it was not real competition. That my company had history, weight, trajectory. That a new project didn’t threaten anything, but that wasn’t what made me uncomfortable. It was realizing that Clara had not grown up despite leaving… but because she left.

I got up and walked to the window. The city was still there, imposing, indifferent. I reflected myself in the glass, the same man as always, the same control, the same structure.

And for the first time, the question appeared undisguised: At what point did I stop seeing her?

Not when she left. Before. When she solved everything and I assumed it, when she contributed ideas and I took them for granted. When she held a house, an agenda, a life… and I simply inhabited it.

I never thought she was weak, I thought she was unconditional. And now… now she walked through the same spaces as me, without needing me to exist.

That night I didn’t call her, I didn’t look for her, I didn’t ask about her, not because I couldn’t. But because something inside me understood that to do so would be to admit something I wasn’t ready for yet.

I watched her from a distance. From the reports, the rumors, the increasingly frequent mentions of her

company.

For the first time, I didn’t know if the mistake was letting her go… or not having seen her when she was still

Chapter 16-Aew Doubt

there

And that doubt, silent, began to accompany me like no other before.

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