The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 44

Chapter 28: Colleagues or Rivals.-2

“If every decision becomes a demonstration of authority, this project is not going to survive the first quarter.”

The silence weighed heavily and I breathed controllably. I wasn’t going to back down on impulse, but I couldn’t ignore the obvious either.

Ethan spoke first this time.

“You’re right.”

I looked at him.

I didn’t expect him to say it like that.

“The priority is the project,” he continued. “Not our methodologies.”

Ours.

He didn’t say hers. He said ours.

Something in my rigidity dropped one level.

“I propose the following,” he added. “Suppliers are evaluated together. If Sinclair’s team stands by its choice after a joint technical review, Blackwood officially backs that decision to the investor.”

That was not an imposition, it was a measured concession.

I felt the weight of my initial posture, I too had arrived prepared to defend every inch.

“And if the assessment indicates real risk,” I added, “we adjust together. No unilateral replacements.”

Ethan nodded.

“Okay.”

The investor watched the exchange in silence.

“That’s collaboration,” he said finally. “Non-competition.”

The meeting continued, but the clash had already occurred.

It wasn’t outrageous, it was more dangerous than that. It was eye-opening.

Despite being “collaborating” we both let go of something that we were withholding, it was difficult for me to say it out loud, but yes, there is an obvious rivalry between us.

An hour later, when the others began to leave the room, I stood picking up my documents with calculated

calm.

I didn’t want to rush, I didn’t want to run away… Ethan also stayed.

(Chapter 224

Alexander went out with the technical team, giving us a margin that I didn’t ask for… I think he did it without realizing it, but I didn’t stop him either.

When the door closed, the silence was different from the hallway that night.

More aware.

“I’m not trying to invalidate you,” Ethan said.

There was no harshness in his voice, only clarity

“I know.”

And I knew it.

R

“But I’m not going to remain silent if I see an operational weakness either.”

“I wouldn’t ask you either, and it’s not what I’m asking of you.”

We looked at each other for a few seconds, not like ex-husbands. As leaders.

“We’re not competing, Clara,” he added.

That’s where something tightened inside me..

“That’s what we’re learning,” I replied.

He held my gaze, and this time there was no challenge.

There was something more uncomfortable, an attempt at respect. Not the automatic respect that is had

for a trajectory. The one that is won when someone faces you without trembling.

“I’m not going to sabotage this,” he said finally.

The phrase was low, personal.

“Neither do I.”

The room was almost empty. The white light didn’t seem so cold anymore.

“Fernán is right about something,” Ethan added. “If we work as if the other were a threat… This is not going

to work.”

I felt the truth in that sentence. And I understood something that I had not wanted to accept; The clash

had not only been professional. It had been a reflex, because seeing him question my decisions activated

something old.

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