The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 333

Chapter 245: The Work of My Hands, Part 1.

Alexander

There’s something profoundly interesting about watching how a person faces a crisis. Not what they say, not what they appear to be. But what they do when they think no one is watching.

Clara doesn’t collapse, she doesn’t complain, and much less, she dramatizes. She becomes more precise, colder. Even more… efficient. And that, amidst the chaos surrounding us in Boston, made her even more dangerous than she already was.

The temporary office had become an improvised operations center; open screens, cross-calls, physical and digital files, people coming and going with reports no one wanted to give, but we all needed to hear.

And at the center of it all… her. Standing, leaning slightly over the table, reviewing documents with a faint furrow in her brow, her hair casually pulled back, revealing the clean line of her neck. Too clean, too…. distracting.

I looked away, not out of respect, but strategically. Getting too close to Clara without control is a mistake. And I don’t make mistakes… consciously.

“I need the complete access logs, not summaries,” she said without looking up.

Her voice was firm, without rising. The kind of authority that doesn’t need volume.

One of the assistants hesitated.

“We already sent the most relevant information…”

Clara looked up, and that was enough.

“I want everything.”

The man nodded and left almost immediately. I watched the scene with a faint, inward smile. That… That’s what makes her different. She doesn’t ask, she demands without seeming to. She doesn’t push, she orders without shouting. And the worst part… It works.

I approached the table with a folder in my hand.

“I reviewed the activity from the last few weeks.”

She reached out without looking at me and took the documents. Our fingers barely touched. It was nothing, and yet, it was too much. Clara didn’t react, but I did. I always register everything.

She leaned further over the papers, and from where I stood, I couldn’t help but notice details that in another context I wouldn’t observe with such… attention. The way a small strand of hair fell loose near her temple, the very fine hairs along her face that the light made visible for only a second. The curve of her neck as she leaned forward, the way her concentration isolated her from her surroundings

I exhaled slowly

Concentrate.

<Chapter 245-The Work of My Hands Part 1

“This doesn’t add up,” she said suddenly.

Good. I returned to safe ground.

“Which part?”

inted to a section.

access points.”

d closer to her, too close. I noticed… I didn’t move.

ard shows up several times outside of his usual routine,” she continued.

odded slowly.

Exactly.”

She turned toward me slightly. Our faces were at an unprofessional distance.

“But there are also access points that don’t match his physical location,” she added.

Interesting, I smiled slightly.

“That could mean many things.”

“Or that someone is using his access.”

“Or that he’s covering it up himself.”

A brief silence followed. Clara looked back at the documents.

“I don’t like to assume without proof.”

“I do,” I replied calmly. “It saves time.”

She glanced at me sideways.

“And it also cre

I smi

ent?

them”

e one I had already reviewed. The one I… modified. Nothing major, to sway a reading, to raise a suspicion.

se,” I said.

Ward her.

ers to a supplier linked to the competition.”

Chapter 245-The Work of My Hands, Part 1

Two weeks.

“And we didn’t detect it before?”

“It wasn’t visible.”

That was true, because I made sure it wasn’t… until now

Clara silently analyzed the numbers; I saw her thinking, evaluating, connecting the dots.

“Do you think

“I have a b

She did

“It’s

I left the sentence hanging; the best ideas aren’t imposed. They’re suggested.

ut this,” I finally said.

ediately.

she added. “But…”

was, not certainty. But doubt, and doubt, well-placed, is more useful than a hasty truth.

of the afternoon passed with reviews, legal calls, and technical discussions. But there was ng else that started to irritate me. At first, it was subtle. Then obvious, then… constant.

phone…

sages, notifications, short calls. Always discreet, always quick, but frequent. Too frequent. I didn’t ed to ask who it was; I knew. Ethan.

saw her turn away twice to answer. The third time, she didn’t even move. She just lowered her voice.

“Yes, everything’s still under review… No, don’t worry… Yes, I already ate…”

I paused what I was doin

something about the

a choice. And the

“Everything

“Yes.”

“Are y

out of curiosity, but out of annoyance. Because there was him. Softer, more… intimate. It wasps weakness, it was returned to the table as if nothing had happened.

Chapter 245–The Work of My Hands, Part 1

I didn’t say anything else. But the irritation was already there, controlled, silent. But present.

My phone vibrated, breaking the tension that only I felt. Once, then again, then again. I didn’t need to look to know who it was. Vanessa.

I opened the message without much attempt to hide it.

“What’s happening in Boston?”

Another one.

“Is the complai

And yet ano

“Answer

I clos

final

?”

necessary. But persistent. I went out into the hallway under the pretext of a call, and

immediately.

t’s going on.”

s everyone else…”

o me, what is it?”

ssa…”

heard things.”

f course she has. She always hears things.

There’s an investigation,” I said “Thall”

“And Clara?”

I looked through

untouchable.

“She’s han

A brie

one of the engineers, she was focused,

what’s going on. But how do you know?”

m Ethan’s assistant with people in Boston.”