The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 361

<Chapter 271 I am “innocent” of everything

Chapter 271: I am “innocent” of everything.

Alexander

“I see this is about Clara, isn’t it…?”

“Yes, Clara met with me again.”

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Those were the words that defined the entire conversation, the words that kicked off the speech with which Hale completely ruined my night, my peace of mind. Everything.

The glass of whiskey remained untouched in front of me; I hadn’t even touched it. I was too busy trying to understand what the hell Hale had just told me.

The elegant atmosphere of the Black Club was unbearable that night. The murmur of the background music, the sound of ice cubes clinking in glasses… everything seemed distant. Distant… Because my mind was still stuck on a single sentence.

“Clara met with me again.”

I rested both forearms on the table and looked directly at Hale.

“What exactly did she say?”

Hale let out a tired sigh and slightly swirled the glass between his fingers.

“Alexander… I don’t want to get involved between you two.”

My jaw tightened.

“You already are.”

He looked up at me.

“She says she has proof.”

For a moment, I felt the air in the room grow heavier, but I didn’t react. I couldn’t. Years in the corporate world had taught me something important: the first one to lose control, loses the game. So I simply leaned back slowly against the dark leather sofa and frowned slightly.

“Proof of what?”

Hale studied me for a few seconds before answering.

“That someone manipulated information in Boston. That there were strange movements

< Chapter 271: I am “innocent” of everything.

related to permits… delays… altered documentation.”

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He said it slowly, measuring each word. As if he wanted to analyze my reaction, and I gave

him exactly what he needed. Nothing.

I just let out a small, incredulous laugh.

“And she thinks it was me?”

Hale didn’t answer right away, and that was enough. Because silence speaks volumes.

I pressed my tongue against the inside of my cheek and looked away toward the club’s window. From there, I could see part of Manhattan lit up. The city I helped conquer for that company, the city where I transformed a mediocre project into something gigantic. The city where Clara Sinclair went from being a promising businesswoman to someone important, thanks to me. And now she wanted to get rid of me. As if I were an obstacle, as if she could erase everything I did.

I felt something dark slowly rise in my chest, not sadness, not disappointment. Fury… A

silent, controlled fury. The worst kind.

“I didn’t think she’d go this far,” I finally murmured.

Hale looked at me intently.

“That’s what I thought when she spoke to me. I honestly don’t know what’s going on between you two, and I’d like you to work things out so as not to damage the company’s harmony. I want to be a… a mediator in all of this, that’s why I asked you to come here.”

I smiled humorlessly.

“And what do you think now?”

He took a small sip before answering.

“I think this is getting out of control…”

My fingers drummed slowly on the table.

Clara… You were supposed to stay put. That’s all you had to do. I had already decided to leave things as they were, to leave you with Ethan. To move on. To simply focus on securing my place within the company, but no. You had to keep digging, you had to search, you had to go where you shouldn’t. Because now I understood perfectly what was happening, she found something. I didn’t know exactly what, but she found something.

I remembered then that day in Boston, the elevator. Her strange looks after returning to New

Chapter 271: I am “innocent” of everything.

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York, her distant attitude in meetings. Her cold answers, and then… The way she looked at me that morning. Like she was trying to figure me out.

Shit.

I clenched my jaw tightly.

Hale spoke again.

“Clara wants to call a formal meeting.”

My eyes immediately flicked up to him.

“With the board?”

“Yes.”

A small, crooked smile spread across my face. So, we were there. Perfect.

“And what do you plan to do?” I asked.

Hale sighed again.

“I tried to convince her to talk to you first.”

“And?”

“She wouldn’t listen to me.”

I chuckled softly. Of course she wouldn’t. Because when Clara made a decision… she was damn stubborn. I had learned it years ago. I watched her build that company brick by brick with me. I saw her break down after her divorce, I saw her get back up again. And I also saw how Ethan Blackwood slowly became the center of her life. That man came along and turned everything upside down. Before Ethan, Clara would never have tried to get rid of me. Never. But now… Now she thought she could.

Hale leaned forward slightly.

“Alexander… tell me the truth.”

I stared at him.

“About what?”

“Did you have anything to do with what happened in Boston?”

I didn’t answer right away.

< Chapter 271: I am “innocent” of everything.

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I finally picked up the glass of whiskey and took a small sip. The liquid burned as it went down my throat, then I looked up at him.

“What do you think?”

Hale held my gaze for a few seconds.

“I think you’re many things… but not an idiot. And sabotaging a project you yourself invested millions in would be stupid.”

I smiled slightly, exactly. That was the brilliant thing about it all. No one would think it was me, because it didn’t make sense. Because I was hurting myself too, because I was losing money too. But what no one understood was that at that moment I needed time.

Time to think, time to move pieces. Time to stop Clara from kicking me out of the company like I was just any employee. Because I wasn’t Vanessa, I wasn’t emotionally dependent on anyone. And I certainly wasn’t going to let them fire me.

“I had nothing to do with it,” I lied with absolute calm.

Hale held my gaze; I didn’t know if he believed me or not. But it didn’t matter; what mattered was something else.

The evidence.

I needed to know what the hell Clara had. And how she got it, because I had been careful. Very careful, too careful. Or so I thought.

“Even so,” Hale said, “you should talk to her before this escalates.”

I stared at him.

“Do you think she wants to talk?”

“I don’t know.”

Yes… I did know.

No.

Clara had already made up her mind, and once she got to that point… it was almost impossible to change her mind.

I took another sip of whiskey as my mind started racing. I needed to act before that meeting. Before the board heard her side of the story, before Ethan got involved. Because if Ethan Black officially found out what happened in Boston… then this would stop being a business dispute. It would become a war. One where Clara would end up right in the middle.

ged my ages and sold reply as an ad the glass on the

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< Chapter 271: I am “innocent” of everything.

I closed my eyes for just a second.

Damn. Things were getting complicated too fast.

Hale spoke again.

“Are you going to tell me something?”

I opened my eyes and looked directly at him, then placed the glass on the table.

“Yes.”

“What?”

I smiled slightly… A cold, controlled, dangerous smile.

“That no one is going to kick me out of my company that easily.”

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