The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 365

Chapter 275: Facing the Enemy, Part 3.

Clara

What am I feeling? Is it fear?… No, it’s not fear, but tension. A very slight one… Almost imperceptible.

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Alexander picked up the glass of water and sipped a little before placing it back on the table.

“So tell me something,” he said calmly. “If, according to you, I wanted to sabotage the project … why was I the one who fixed everything?”

I looked at him without answering, because I had asked myself that same question. A thousand times. Why? Why create a problem only to then save it?

Alexander rested both forearms on the table.

“You know me, Clara. You know how I think.”

“I thought I knew you.”

He ignored the comment.

“Do you really think I’d be stupid enough to sink a project where my money is also invested?”

“People do stupid things when they’re desperate.”

That made him smile slightly. But it wasn’t a pleasant smile.

“And you think I’m desperate?”

I held his gaze.

“Well, you found out I want you out of the company.”

That’s when silence fell between us.

Alexander looked away for a few seconds and then looked back at me.

“So that’s what it was.”

“Don’t act surprised.”

“I’m not acting surprised. I just hoped you’d have the guts to tell me to my face.”

I felt my jaw clench.

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< Chapter 275: Facing the Enemy, Part 3

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“You want to talk about guts?” I asked. “Because playing with a broken elevator and getting in there doesn’t exactly strike me as very brave.”

He let out a tired sigh.

“I didn’t plan for it to happen like this.”

“But you knew it was broken.”

Alexander remained silent, and that silence answered me more than any words.

My chest tightened.

God… It really had been him. I knew it, but seeing him like that… God, the disappointment hit me much harder than I expected. But yes… Yes, it was him. And his level of cynicism, the way he talks, is what bothers me the most.

My fingers slowly closed around the napkin.

“You know what the worst part was?” I murmured.

Alexander watched me intently.

“I trusted you.”

He swallowed.

“Clara…”

“No. Let me speak.”

My voice came out more broken than I intended.

“I defended you many times. Even with Ethan. Even when I shouldn’t have. I thought everything you did in Boston was because you truly cared about the company.

“I do care.”

“Not like this.”

Alexander ran a hand slowly through his beard… He seemed to be holding back.

“You don’t understand what that company means to me.”

I laughed ironically.

“Oh, don’t I?”

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“No.” His tone was firm this time… More emotional, more real. “You came later, Clara. When this already existed. When I had already invested years of my life here. Contacts, money, time, risks. I built a large part of what you have now.”

I frowned.

“And that’s why you think you have the right to manipulate everything.”

“No. But I’m not going to let myself be thrown away like trash either.”

His words echoed inside me, because it was there. The real reason… It wasn’t love, it wasn’t obsession, it wasn’t even Ethan… It was pride.

Alexander leaned back in his chair and looked at me intently.

“You made a decision without even talking to me first.”

“Because I knew you’d try to convince me not to.”

“Because it’s stupid.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, Clara.”

His voice lowered.

“Getting me out of the company would be a colossal mistake.”

I shook my head slowly.

“And wasn’t jeopardizing a multi–million dollar project a mistake?”

Alexander closed his eyes for a second. As if he were losing patience.

“Everything got out of hand.”

“Don’t lie.”

He looked at me again.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“But you did.”

Silence fell again… A waiter approached the table with a polite smile.

“Do you know what you’re going to order?”

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I didn’t even look at him.

“No.”

Neither did Alexander.

The man sensed the tension immediately.

“I can come back in a few minutes.”

“Yes, thank you,” Alexander replied.

The waiter walked away quickly, and I let out a dry laugh.

“Look at this.”

Alexander frowned.

“What?”

“I can’t even eat.”

My stomach felt tight, churning. Anxiety rising in my chest.

Alexander watched me for a few seconds before speaking more quietly.

“I didn’t want things to end like this between us.”

That made me slowly raise my gaze.

“Like what?”

“As enemies.”

I shook my head slowly.

“You did that, Alexander.”

He clenched his jaw.

“And what did you want me to do? Stay put while you arranged a meeting to get rid of me?”

“I wanted you to act like a decent person.”

His expression changed slightly, as if that sentence had hurt him. But it only lasted an instant. Then he put that cold mask back on… Controlled.

He nodded slowly… And for the first time since I’d known him… he looked tired. Truly tired, but

defeated… Like someone who finally understood that something was ending.

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< Chapter 275: Facing the Enemy, Part 3.

Alexander turned his gaze toward the restaurant windows.

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