The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 309

Chapter 222: One Man, One Woman, Part 1.

Chapter 222: One Man, One Woman, Part 1.

Vanessa

I enter the room and gently close the door behind me. The click of the lock is too loud in the

silence.

I stand still for a few seconds, observing the place as if it were someone else’s… because it is.

Everything here smells different: the sheets, the wood, the air conditioning… Everything is different,

the order excessive… Nothing has a trace of me. Nothing belongs to me, not even tonight.

I breathe slowly and walk to the bed. A dark nightgown, folded on it, was left for me by one of the

maids.

I take it in my hands and instantly recognize that it isn’t a garment bought for guests. It’s his, or at least his in some way. A light, loose, thin shirt. Something he probably took from the nearest closet

to solve the problem of getting dressed.

For a second I hesitate, then I take off my clothes and put it on.

The fabric falls over my legs, covering me to mid-thigh, and carries a faint scent… clean,

understated, masculine. Alexander.

I press my lips together; I don’t know why that bothers me more than it should.

I get into bed, turn off the lamp, close my eyes… Nothing. Not a trace of sleep, just darkness and

my head, always my head.

I turn to one side, then the other. I adjust the pillow. I close my eyes again, and there he is. Ethan…

His face, his voice. The cold way he slipped those documents toward me, the calm with which he

removed me from his work life… as if moving were easy. As if I hadn’t been there for years. As if !

didn’t matter.

I feel a pang in my chest; I place my hand there, right over my heart.

“Stupid…” I whisper in the darkness.

I tell myself this. Because of how I reacted, because I cried, because I begged him for explanations

he wasn’t going to give me, because I followed him out like a defeated woman. Because I kept

loving someone who didn’t love me.

I open my eyes abruptly; I can’t stay lying down any longer.

I stand up and walk barefoot around the room. The cold floor helps me feel something other than

pain.

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< Chapter 222: One Man, One Woman, Part 1

I pace back and forth, once, twice, three times. Each step only makes things worse. Because silence is loud, because when there’s nothing around… the mind speaks louder. And mine only leads me to Ethan, to what could have been, to what never was, to Clara… Always Clara.

Clar

I clench my jaw; I don’t want to think about her, I don’t want to think about them. But I do. Him coming home with her, sleeping with her, kissing her, touching her. I can’t breathe; I need to get but

I open the door carefully. The hallway is dark, barely broken by the bluish light filtering in from the

distant windows. The whole house seems asleep.

I walk slowly, not really knowing where I’m going, just moving forward.

My nightgown brushes against my legs with each step. My arms cross over me out of pure instinct. The moon peeks through the hallway in patches, drawing pale streaks on the floor./

I continue until I stop in front of a door-his. I stand motionless, listening to my own breathing. I don’t know why I came; I don’t have a clear reason. I only know that I didn’t want to be alone with

my thoughts.

I bite my lower lip. I grasp the doorknob, turn it… The door yields gently.

I open it slightly, and the dimness of the hallway spills into the room. And immediately he sits up in

bed. Quickly, on high alert…

Alexander’s silhouette emerges from the shadows as he sits down and stares at me.

“What’s wrong?”

His voice is deep. Sleepy, but attentive. I don’t answer, I can’t. I just look at him.

He pulls back the covers and stands up.

The moonlight is just enough to reveal his figure as he takes a few steps closer.

“What’s wrong?” he repeats, now clearer. “Is everything alright?”

I remain silent, and then I take a step inside. Just one, but it’s enough to cross the line.

My eyes involuntarily drop to his bare chest. Defined lines, broad shoulders. Sun-tanned skin. He’s only wearing dark pajama bottoms, low-rise.

I swallow hard. I hadn’t expected to see him like this. I hadn’t really thought of him as… a man, not

in this way. He was always mind, presence, danger, control. But now… now I see the other side too. The physical aspect, the undeniable truth.

I bite my lower lip again; he notices… I can see it in how still he is. How he doesn’t speak immediately, how he observes me with a newfound calm.

#0024

Chapter 222 One Man One Woman, Part T

The whole room seems to hold its breath; my fingers close around the fabric of my nightgown fis

nightgown. I’m wearing something of his, and I’m in his room, at night, alone.

I look at him again, I really look at him; he’s attractive. Much more than I wanted to admit. He’s muscular, serene, with that kind of masculinity that doesn’t need to be displayed because it knows

it’s there.

My chest rises and falls faster, not from fear, not exactly. But from something more confusing.

something I didn’t expect to feel tonight.

Alexander barely inclines his head… His voice, when it comes, is low, controlled

“Vanessa…”

He takes a slow step toward me.

“Tell me what you need.”

I don’t know what to say, because I didn’t come looking for a phrase, or advice, or even company, perhaps. I came fleeing from myself, from Ethan, from the emptiness. And now I’m here… looking

at another man as if I were seeing him for the first time.

The moon shines a little more through the window, illuminating part of his torso, part of my leg

bare beneath my nightgown. Part of this strange and dangerous tension that has just been born

within me.

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