The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 291

< Chapter 209-Misunderstanding, Parf 2 2

Chapter 208: A Misunderstanding, Part 2.-2

She exhales, holding back her breath.

“You’re exaggerating.”

I shake my head.

“No. I’m being honest.”

I lean forward slightly.

“I don’t like seeing you like this with another man.”

She holds my gaze.

“He’s not ‘another man,’ Ethan. He’s my business partner.”

And there… something inside me tenses even more.

“He’s still a man.”

Silence, heavy, dense.

“If it were the other way around…” I say, more quietly, but with more weight. “If it were Vanessa I was hugging…”

I see her react… Right there, in that exact second.

“Would you like it?”

She doesn’t answer.

“Would you think it’s normal?”

I persist.

“Would it be enough for me to say ‘it’s work’?”

I clench my jaw.

“For God’s sake, Clara… you’d be upset.”

My voice barely rises.

“You’d be uncomfortable. Insecure.”

I stare at her.

“And no justification would be enough for you.”

She swallows.

“It’s not the same…”

+25 Point

Chapter 208-Micunderstanding, Part 2 2

“Of course it is.”

She shifts in her seat.

“He works with me,”she finally says.

“Then set boundaries.”

My response comes immediately, without hesitation.

“Set clear boundaries.”

She frowns.

“There are some.”

“Not enough.”

A long silence falls, and then… I say it, unfiltered.

“I hate that you work with him.”

There it is, raw. Real. That’s what I concluded this afternoon in my office.

She remains still.

“What?”

I take a deep breath.

“I don’t like him.”

I run a hand over my face.

+25 Points

“I don’t like the way he looks at you, I don’t like the way he talks to you. I don’t like how… he moves around you. I don’t like him being by your side.” I pause. “And I don’t like how that makes me feel.”

She watches me, more serious now. More… alert.

“How does it make you feel?”

The question is direct, and it hurts to answer.

“That I could lose you. And not because you want to leave…” I look at her. “But because someone else might see what I see.”

My voice drops.

“And decide to try to keep it.”

She says nothing. And that… weighs on me, but then something inside me hardens again.

“Why can’t you run your company on your own?” I ask.

Her eyes widen in surprise.

<Chapter 208-Misunderstanding, Pari 2-2

“What?”

“If you need money, I’ll give it to you,” I say. “But don’t work with him.”

The silence that follows… It’s different, not discomfort. It’s shock.

“Ethan…” she says slowly. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does to me.”

“You can’t say that to me.”

“Yes, I can.”

“No,” she shakes her head. “You can’t ask me to give up something I built for… this.”

“Not for this,” I reply. “For us.”

“This is part of me,” she says. “Of my career, of my effort…”

“And I’m part of your life.”

Silence.

“You can’t make me choose.”

Her words are firm, and she’s right. But that doesn’t soothe what I feel.

“Then don’t test what I feel either,” I reply.

She falls silent, and then… She strikes where she knows it hurts.

“And you?”

I look at her.

“What?”

“Why are you still working with Vanessa?”

There it is, the tension shifts. But it doesn’t lessen.

“She’s still at your company.”

I clench my jaw.

“It’s not the same.”

“Of course it is.”

“No.”

My voice is harsher now.

“I don’t hug her.”

+25 Points

Chapter 208-Misunderstanding, Part 2-2

+25 Paints

“But she’s there,” she insists. “Close to you. Working with you. Seeing you every day.”

And then… I say it, bluntly.

“Do you want me to fire her?”

She remains still.

“What?”

“If that’s what you want… I’ll do it tomorrow.”

I’m not hesitating, I’m not threatening. I’m serious.

“I’ll remove her from the company if that will give you peace of mind.”

The air between us grows heavy. Very heavy.

“Ethan…”

“Tell me.” I look her straight in the eye. “And I do.”

Because at this point… It’s not about Vanessa, it’s not about Alexander. It’s about us. About what we’re building. And about what I’m willing to do… to not lose it again.

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