The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 298

<Chapter 214-Fired alone

+25 Points

Chapter 214: Fired… alone.

Vanessa

The sound of the door closmg behind me still echoes in my head. I don’t walk… I move quickly, automatically… Without looking at anyone. I don’t want to be seen, I don’t want anyone to ask me anything, I don’t want to… break down right there.

I feel the papers in my hand, slowly crumpling under the pressure of my fingers. I don’t even remember when I squeezed them like that. I just know they’re there… like physical proof of something I can’t quite

process.

Fire? Really? Just like that… without a word?

I leave the building almost without realizing it, the cold air hits my face, but it doesn’t help. It doesn’t calm me, it doesn’t center me. Nothing does.

I walk straight to the parking lot. My footsteps echo on the concrete, quick, chaotic… like my head.

I look for my car, I find it. I open the door, get in, and the moment I close it… Everything explodes.

“Shit!” I yell, slamming my fist on the steering wheel.

The sound is sharp. Loud, but not loud enough. Not enough to get this off my chest.

“Shit, shit, shit!” I hit it again and again.

My breathing is ragged. I feel the air not flowing properly, getting stuck in my chest, my throat burning.

“This can’t be happening…!”

I squeeze my eyes shut, running a hand through my hair. This wasn’t part of the plan. None of it. Yes, I knew something had changed. Yes, I noticed the distance. Yes, I felt Clara had reclaimed a place she never truly left. But… this? Cutting me out of her life like this? Out of her company? Out of her world? No,

no, no.

I look at the papers, unfolding them with trembling hands. My eyes scan the lines, again and again, as if at some point they might change. As if a hidden clause, a loophole, something… might appear. But no. It’s all there. Clear, legal, cold. Perfect.

“It’s a load of crap…” I whisper, then raise my voice. “It’s a load of crap!”

I throw the documents onto the passenger seat, but immediately pick them up again. As if letting go would be accepting something I don’t want to accept.

My chest rises and falls with difficulty; I can’t breathe properly, I can’t think straight. I can’t…

“No… no, no, nʊ…” I shake my head, resting it against the steering wheel. “I don’t want to leave…”

The words come out on their own. Broken, real.

“I don’t want to leave…”

Because leaving isn’t just about quitting a job, no. It’s about distancing myself from him, about no longer

<Chapter 214-Fired alone

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seeing him every day. It’s about ceasing to be close to him. It’s… losing the only real connection I had.

I squeeze my eyes shut, and this time I can’t hold it back. Tears fall. One… Two… Then many more.

“You can’t do this to me…

My voice cracks.

“You can’t…”

But he did it, of course he did. Because she asked him to, because Clara came back, because Clara always wins.

My breathing quickens again. I feel a lump in my throat that won’t let me swallow.

“It’s because of her…”

I grip the steering wheel with both hands.

“All of this is because of her…”

I remember her face, the way she looked at him. The way he looks at her, that certainty… That calmness… That effortless place she occupies.

“She asked you to…” I whisper. “Of course she asked you…”

And he… obeyed, as always. Because when it comes to her… he’ll do anything.

I close my eyes tightly, shaking my head.

No, I’m not going to accept this. I can’t, I don’t want to.

I look at the papers again, take a deep breath, trying to calm down… but I can’t.

I flip through the pages, searching, checking dates, conditions, clauses. Anything… anything. But there’s nothing. Nothing I can use, nothing I can argue with, nothing that gives me an excuse to stay. Because, at the end of the day… I’m an employee. And he… is the owner, and his decision… is law.

Damn it… I let my head fall back against the seat.

The car’s roof blurs; I can’t drive. I know it. Not in this state, not like this.

My hands are shaking, my chest aches, my head… won’t stop.

What do I do…? The question comes out aloud, but there’s no answer. No one responds. I’m alone, completely alone. And then…

His name appears in my mind. Alexander,

I open my eyes, blink a few times.

My breathing is still ragged, but now there’s something else… An address. I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do, I don’t know if it’s the smartest thing. But it’s… the only thing I have.

I pick up my phone with still-shaky hands, search for his name, find it. My finger hovers for a second on the

<Chapter 214 Fired alone

+75 Points

sercen, I hesitate. Just a second, because then… I press call.

The ringtone sounds, it rings a couple of times, I feel my heart in my throat.

Come on… Answer Please…

“Vanessa?”

His voice on the other end of the line… It breaks me, literally. –

“Alexander…”

My voice comes out weak, broken.

Silence.

“What happened?”

I can’t answer right away; my breath catches in my throat again.

“I…” I try to speak, but I can’t.

I bring a hand to my mouth, trying to stifle the sound that wants to escape.

“Vanessa,” his tone changes. “Where are you?”

I swallow hard. “In… the company parking lot…”

I close my eyes.

“I can’t…” I whisper. “I can’t leave…”

Silence… But it’s not an empty silence. It’s one that listens, that analyzes, that decides.

“Stay there.”

I open my eyes.

“I’m coming for you.”

The call ends. And I stay there… With the phone still in my hand, my chest overflowing. With the papers on my lap, my head a jumble. But no longer completely alone. And that… For now… Is the only thing that

sustains me.

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