The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 28

Chapter 19: I Lost to Her.-1

Ethan

It was not a messy night, that would be an unnecessary exaggeration.

It was one night… different.

A bar near the company was almost empty. Low light, discreet music, the kind of place where no one asks questions and everyone knows how to keep quiet. I sat at the bar without taking off my jacket. I ordered whiskey. Just that…

The first drink went down easily. Too easy. I wasn’t there to drown in alcohol or lose control. I never did. It wasn’t part of my nature. I didn’t run away from things… confronted them. Or so I had always believed.

I took a second, slower sip. I let the liquid settle in my chest, let the heat expand just enough. I looked at the reflection of the glass on the polished surface of the bar. Everything was still in its place. I was still in my place.

What happened today isn’t new; I’ve done it dozens of times. Go in, diagnose, propose, execute. Win… lose contracts… that didn’t define my company.

However, from Sinclair & Co. Something also changed in this “war”.

It wasn’t jealousy. It was not a childish competition. It wasn’t wounded pride. It was… interest.

I wanted that contract.

Not for the money. Not because of visibility. Not even because of the technical challenge.

I wanted it because she was there, and that irritated me. I took another drink. Longer this time.

I wondered at what point I had stopped being indifferent to what Clara did or did not do. For months l convinced myself that our separation did not affect me, and now even less so. Her company is just a footnote. An emerging project with no real weight compared to what I had built.

But the event in New York had changed somewhat. Her presence. Her way of speaking. The way she occupied the space without asking permission.

I put the glass down and asked for another. The bartender watched me with professional discretion. He said nothing. It was not necessary.

Tomorrow I have another meeting, the last one, the one that would define everything, and that’s all I could think about. That’s why I’m here, because I needed something to bring me back down to earth.

I thought about the next day’s meeting. In the numbers. In the arguments that I already had ready. In the solidity of my proposal. I knew what I was doing. I had always known that.

Clara could have brilliant ideas, yes. But the experience… that was still mine. “Everything is under control,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.

Chapter 1944 to

The third drink was a small mistake. Not serious. But I felt it.

I don’t get dizzy. Not clumsiness. Something more subtle. A slight distortion in thoughts. An unnecessary opening.

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the bar. I closed my eyes for a second. Only one.

The image came back to me without permission.

She extended her hand to me at the event. The total absence of emotion in her gaze. The way she went on

like I was… irrelevant.

I opened my eyes immediately… No. That meant nothing.

People change. They overcome things. I had done it too. I paid the bill and got up. The world did not turn. The ground was still firm under my feet. Okay. I was still in control.

“Concentrate,” I said to myself. “It’s just a contract.”

But it wasn’t. What I felt was not threatening. It was a challenge. And I worked well under pressure.

Clara could have grown. She could have evolved. She could even have surprised me.

But that didn’t mean she was going to beat me. Not this time.

With those words, I became myself again.

The man who is not disarmed by fleeting emotions. The one who understands that everything is strategy. The one who believes – with conviction – that control always returns to those who know how to wait.

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