The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 25

Chapter 17: It was just the beginning.

Ethan

I thought that only her name or her presence would be part of my present that night, at that event. But no, both she, and what she was now, began to resonate more than I expected.

I never doubted that that contract was going to be mine.

Not because I was arrogant – or not only because of that – but because everything was aligned as it had always been, the previous calls, the cordial emails, the shared background. When you move for years in the same circles, you learn to recognize when a meeting is decisive… and when is just a confirmation.

I inherited the Blackwood Enterprises company when my father felt that the time had come to retire. I was ready, I had prepared all my life for that… When the company came into my hands, it was already positioned in the market as one of the best and I had a big task, to keep it where it was. Also, make it

better.

We are a company that generates trust, they know our history…

That morning in New York, as I adjusted my watch before leaving the apartment, I knew I was facing the

second one.

The suit was ready. The briefcase, in its place. The documents organized in the exact order in which I liked to review them. The

person who was now in charge of the house did her job efficiently, but without that almost surgical level of anticipation that I had become accustomed to for years.

got out of the car with the tranquility of someone who knows that nothing can go wrong. The company to be restructured – one of the most important in the sector, with serious internal problems and sustained losses – needed an external consultant who not only understood numbers, but power, hierarchies, egos. I had done that all my life.

I was the logical choice.

r

I arrived at a building, the Palacium, where the meeting would be. The meeting room was on one of the highest floors of the building. Large windows, a long dark wood table, freshly served coffee. I greeted investors with firm handshakes, with measured smiles. Everything was familiar.

Until it wasn’t.

“Before we begin,” said one of them, as he took his seat, “we want to inform you that this meeting is part of a comparative process.”

Comparative.

The word touched me, barely. I didn’t react. That meant nothing; Many companies did this to justify decisions already made.

Chapter 12 Gas just the beginning

“We’ve invited two outside firms,” he continued. “Yours, Mr. Blackwood… and Sinclair & Co.”

The name fell into the room with surgical precision. Sinclair.

I didn’t frown. I didn’t tense my jaw. I didn’t do anything to betray the sharp blow I felt in my chest.

My smile did not fade, my disgust would be very evident. I just froze my smile and acted like nothing had

happened. Not knowing that that same morning, she would cross my eyes again.

I looked up, and then I saw her.

Clara was entering the room, she had a white two-piece dress, an office skirt at the height of her knees, a

blazer, heels and her hair perfectly straight.

The woman greeted me naturally, with confidence. She shook my hand as if I were one of the owners of the company that required the service and took a seat at the other end of the table.

She didn’t look up right away. She was calmly reviewing some documents, as if that wasn’t the most awkward moment in the world. As if we didn’t share a past that still had enough weight to tilt entire

rooms.

She was different.

She kept repairing her hair, all of her was… different. But not only because of the hair – darker, uniform – but also because of the way she occupied the space. There was no stiffness in her, no nervousness. She

wasn’t there to prove anything.

That was the first thing that threw me off.

When we finally exchanged glances, I found no reproach, no challenge. Recognition only. Professional. Measured. Adult… As if I were nobody.

I swallowed hard.

The meeting progressed normally. I listened to the financial reports, the structural problems, the internal tensions between departments. I took notes. I nodded when necessary. Everything was still under control.

r Until she was given the floor.

“Thank you,” said Clara, in a firm, clear voice. “Our proposal is based on a comprehensive diagnosis. Not only financial, but human.”

Human.

I raised a barely perceptible eyebrow.

She spoke of fragmented leadership, of worn-out teams, of obsolete processes that no one dared to touch for fear of losing power. She did not read slides; she explained. She connected points.

And as I listened to her, something uncomfortable began to settle in me.

That way of analyzing… that way of anticipating conflicts… I knew her.

4 Chapter 124 espurt the

I had been on my breakfast table for years.

Not because I had taught her, but because Clara had always seen beyond the numbers. I had used many of those ideas in my career. I had integrated them, made them mine.

But to hear it now, in her own voice, in front of others… it was different.

I remembered a little of what we used to live and…

I shook my head and concentrated, the next second. Someone said my name and I knew, it was my turn, my time to speak.

I did what I always did; precision, firmness, authority. I presented a solid, direct, unquestionable proposal. Investors listened carefully.

I knew it was good, I knew it was right. And yet… I had doubts deep down, my full security was

disappearing.

“Both proposals are strong,” said one of them at the end. “But there’s something in Sinclair & Co.’s vision

that we’re interested in exploring further.”

A second blow to my chest.

They didn’t say I lost, but they didn’t say I had won either.

I just nodded, forced a smile and said no more. When I left the room, I did not approach Clara. She didn’t

either.

We pass each other in the corridor without stopping, like two professionals who owe each other nothing.

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