The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 88

Chapter 66: An Invisible War.

Ethan

She didn’t answer, she didn’t say yes… she didn’t say no.

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She just looked at me, her lips barely parted, her breathing faster, her eyes riveted on mine as if she were fighting with herself.

I waited a second, two. But I couldn’t stay suspended in that uncertainty.

I had spent too much time in silence, not this time.

I took her other cheek gently.

I felt the warmth of her skin under my fingers. Her pulse racing. The slight tremor that I was trying to

control.

“Clara,” I murmured.

And I bowed.

The first contact was slow, almost careful. Like I am touching something fragile that could break.

My lips barely brushed her, a caress that lasted a second longer than was necessary.

I waited for her to step aside, she didn’t. Her breathing stopped for a moment and then she responded.

It was not a sudden movement. It was minimal. But it was enough…

Her mouth adjusted to mine, the world disappeared. The murmur of the event was far away. The lights, the

music, the conversations… Everything was diluted in the heat that began to expand from that exact point

where our mouths met again.

After two years, two years without tasting her. Two years remembering her flavor like a ghost.

The kiss stopped being soft, my hand descended from her cheek to her neck, then to her waist. I drew her

to me without violence, but decisively.

She let out a sigh against my lips that completely disarmed me, that sound.

That small break in her impeccable composure.

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The intensity increased naturally, as if our bodies remembered what our words had forgotten. Her hands

clung to the lapel of my suit at first, doubtful.

Then they climbed on my shoulders, then on my neck.

I felt her fingers in my hair. And that was enough for something inside me to catch fire.

I deepened the kiss, not desperate. But it was full of everything it had contained for years.

My hands were firmly planted at her waist, feeling the curve of her body under the elegant dress. I brought

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her closer, until there was no space between us.

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Her body fit together as it always had. As if physical memory were stronger than time.

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Her breathing became more agitated. Mine too… My thurnb brushed against her jawline as my lips ran

over her hungrier, truer.

It wasn’t just desire, it was reunion. It was to recognize that nothing had been extinguished.

She responded with the same intensity. And that was what threw me off.

It wasn’t one–sided, it wasn’t nostalgia of mine. She was there, alive.

A sudden noise interrupted us, a metallic knock. Something crawling on the garden floor.

We parted immediately… Agitated, breathing as if we had run.

I turned my head and saw a man from the maintenance staff arranging a metal structure near the hedge.

He looked at us barely, with a neutral expression, and went about his business.

I looked at her again. Her lips were slightly red, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

She brought her fingers to her mouth, touching them as if trying to confirm that what had just happened

had been real.

“Why did you do it again?” she whispered.

There was no anger in her voice, there was bewilderment. I took a step closer.

“Because I want to get you back.”

I didn’t soften the phrase, I didn’t decorate it.

“I really want to get you back, Clara.”

She shook her slightest shy, still shaken.

“Ethan… please. Not here.”

“It’s not just here,” I insisted, lowering my voice. “It’s everywhere. I need you back in my life.”

Her eyes flashed with something dangerous.

“It’s been two years,” she said. “Two years in which you never tried to make amends.”

Every word was a clean blow.

I nodded.

“I know.”

I didn’t try to defend myself.

“And I regret having wasted my time. I’ve been living on autopilot for two years. Working. By complying.

Existing.”

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swallowed hard.

“But not living.”

I took a step closer

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“And not anymore. I don’t want to go on like this anymore. Here I am. This time I want to do things right.”

The wind gently moved her hair.

She seemed divided, between what she felt. And what she feared.

Before she could say anything else, we heard a voice.

“Clara.”

We both turned, Alexander. He was standing a few meters away, watching us with a controlled expression.

Too controlled. Clara barely tensed.

“I need you inside,” he said with impeccable politeness. “There’s someone who wants to congratulate you.”

His tone was neutral, but his gaze passed me with surgical precision.

Clara took a small step back.

As if creating visible distance between us.

“I’ll be right there,” she answered.

Alexander moved close enough to offer her the arm, but she didn’t take it. However, when they began to walk inside, he placed his hand on Clara’s waist again.

That hand, that gesture. I felt my fists clench without me being able to help it.

My jaw tightened, Alexander looked directly at me before walking through the glass door.

He didn’t smile, but he didn’t look away either. It was a silent message, competition… Territory.

I took a deep breath, I wasn’t going to make a scene. Not tonight.

୮

I returned to the living room a few minutes later, the atmosphere was still festive. Soft music. Elegant

conversations.

Clara was surrounded by investors and the press. Alexander beside her, too close.

I waited for the right moment. And when Clara moved to another area of the room, Alexander was a few

meters away from me.

We approached the drinks table almost at the same time. Tense silence.

“Congratulations on the expansion,” I said, having a drink.

“Thank you,” he replied with impeccable courtesy. “It is a solid project.”

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Chapter 66 Atinuisible War

We looked at each other.

“It is, I added. “Clara has always had vision.”

His eyes sharpened slightly.

“Yes. She is extraordinary.”

The way he said it was not accidental.

“I know that better than anyone,” I replied without raising my tone.

A pause.

“I suppose so,” he answered.

Measured voltage. And controlled.

“I hope this collaboration will be kept strictly professional,” I said calmly.

He held my gaze.

“In business, clarity is always better.”

A calculated answer.

“I agree.”

Silence again.

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No more needed to be said. We both knew exactly what was at stake.

Clara returned to his side seconds later, and again that hand on her waist.

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This time he held my gaze as he did so. Silent challenge, I did not back down. But I didn’t intervene either.

Because this time I wasn’t going to act on impulse, I was going to act with intention.

The party continued, but for me, it was no longer a business celebration. It was an invisible battle line. And for the first time in two years, I wasn’t afraid of losing.

୮

I felt determined, Clara could walk with him tonight. She could smile at the guests, she could keep her

composure. But I had felt her body respond to mine.

I had heard her breath break on my lips, that is not faked. That is not invented.

Alexander may have her present. But I was her story, and now… I want to be their future again.

And this time I’m not going to stand by from any sidelines. Not anymore.

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Chapter 67A Glass of Water