The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 69

Chapter 47: A “New Feeling“-1

Ethan

I didn’t know if I wanted to see her. But I was there fifteen minutes before the meeting.

+25 Points

Monday came fast for some, for me, it came slower than I imagined, I already wanted the days to end… not so much for me, for her and whatever she was doing outside the city.

Ridiculous.

My team arrived on time. Hers too. Screens on, folders open, graphics projected, everything very professional and controlled. As if nothing had happened.

The door opened and her voice was what accompanied the crash of her heels on the floor. And yes, Clara came in.

Light suit, hair up, neutral expression. She greeted the team first. Then to me.

“Good morning, Mr. Blackwood.”

She extended her hand, I shook it. It felt firm, brief, correct.

As if she had not read my messages, as if she had not felt anything. As if I hadn’t been outside her building leaning against a wall trying not to fall apart.

I looked at her expecting something, a small look. The crack, a different flicker.

A “I know what you did“.

Nothing, she didn’t hold my gaze any more than necessary. She sat down and the meeting began.

This meeting was to make the connection of the restructuring project that we are leading for the company that hired us, we are now in the modernization of operational processes, technological integration, cost optimization in the supply chain and redefinition of internal leadership.

My team is working on the structural part, deep financial audit, loss analysis, investment projection and design of the new efficiency model.

Clara’s team is leading strategic transformation, organizational culture, role redistribution, internal communication and brand repositioning.

She spoke first.

Clara has always been brilliant when she speaks, she does not hesitate, she does not fill in

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with unnecessary words.

+25 Points

She does not seek approval… she showed the progress in the redesign of the organizational chart. The way in which they are integrating areas that previously competed with each other. The pilot plan for the new internal communication system.

The team took notes, I looked at her… I think too much.

When she finished, I intervened.

“Role redesign can generate resistance if it’s not aligned with the financial incentive plan,” I said.

She nodded.

“That is why we are proposing a six–week adaptation phase before implementing the structural changes.”

“Six weeks is optimistic.”

It wasn’t. But it needed friction.

One of her consultants responded with data. I listened to him and dismantled him…

Another point, I then made another objection.

I wasn’t being irrational, I was being incisive. But the engine was not technical.

It was jealousy, she knew it. I saw it in the way she first looked at me directly. She doesn’t bother, with her slightly furrowed brow and slanted eyes.

Clara knows me… She knows when I’m defending an idea. And she knows when I’m defending something that’s not an idea.

“Ethan,” she said with that calmness that exasperates me, “the financial model your team presented contemplates an adjustment curve. We’re aligning the implementation time with that same curve. We are not improvising.”

She didn’t contradict me, she included me. That disarmed me a bit.

We continue.

The tension wasn’t obvious to anyone else, but I felt the pulse in my throat.

Halfway through the meeting, the door opened again. Alexander.

What was missing…

He entered as if the space belonged to him, greeted everyone politely, and apologized for

Chapter 47 A “New Feeling“-1

being late. He took a seat next to Clara, not across from her. Beside her.

+25 Points

The closeness was the first thing I noticed, we continued with the review of indicators.

At one point, Alexander leaned over to her. He said something in her ear, nothing extraordinary. But the way she barely turned her face to hear him…

The way she nodded. And then she smiled, not a social smile. A small one. Intimate.

I felt my heart pounding so hard that for a second I thought someone else could hear it.

An image flashed through my mind: closing my laptop, standing up, and smashing it into her perfect face.

The scene was so absurd that it almost made me laugh. Obviously I didn’t.

I sat there, breathing, but something inside me was no longer stable.

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Chapter 47: A “New Feeling“-2

I began to raise more objections.

+25 Points

“The internal communication plan is solid, but the external reputational risk is not yet well shielded.”

“We can strengthen it,” she replied without getting upset.

“It’s not a question of strengthening it. It is a matter of rethinking it.”

One of her consultants intervened. I dismantled his argument.

Alexander watched me with that strategic serenity that I detest so much.

Like he knew exactly what was going on, like I was the only one losing my composure.

Clara took the floor again.

“Ethan, if you have a concrete proposal to rethink it, we’ll listen to it.”

Direct, without attack.

I breathed… I had a proposal. I exposed it, because even if I am jealous, I am still good at what I do.

The meeting advanced, agreements were closed. Next steps were defined. All very formal, productive. And inside I was a mess.

When it finished, the teams began to collect his things. Alexander went out first to take a call.

Clara put her laptop away as calmly as she had entered.

I approached… I didn’t have anything shiny ready.

I just needed to break that perfect surface.

“How was your weekend?”

She looked at me. This time she did hold my gaze.

“Good. It went very well.”

Too simple.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing special. I left the city.”

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That… That was it.

+25 Paints

She did not say with whom, she did not say where, she did not give details. She limited herself to answering what she wanted to answer.

And that limit irritated me more than it should. Because I wanted to know, I wanted her to tell

1. me.

I wanted her to confirm that it was not what I imagined.

But she didn’t owe me anything, that’s what bothers me the most.

She took her bag, headed for the door. Alexander was no longer in the room. And before ! could stop, my hand closed around her arm.

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