The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 95

Chapter 73: Businesswomen, Part 2.

Clara

I have always believed that women perceive things that are not said, a change in breathing.

Minimal tension in the shoulders, a look that lasts half a second longer than necessary.

Tonight I confirmed it.

+25 Points

The annual Women in Business forum is full. The warm lights soften the living room, but the energy is

intense. Women who build, who negotiate, who lead. Clever conversations floating between glasses of

champagne.

I feel comfortable here, not because I need to prove something.

But because I’ve worked to be here, I’m talking to a group about leadership in data teams when I feel it.

I don’t see it first, I feel it. That slight sensation on your skin, like when someone is staring at you.

I look up and find her. Vanessa.

She holds a glass of champagne with impeccable elegance. Ivory dress, perfect fit. Hair up. Every detail

calculated.

She’s analyzing me, not with hatred. With evaluation, and that is more dangerous.

I keep my gaze on social protocol for a second longer and then continue my conversation, but my body is already alert.

The women who are with me laugh at something I say. I smile. I answer. But I am aware of her presence on the other side of the room. For the first time, Vanessa approaches me without Ethan’s mediation. For

the first time, it’s just her and me.

Two women.

Without man in the middle physically, that changes the game.

r

When I approach the drinks table, she’s already there. The conversation is correct. Polished. Professional.

But underneath there is electric current.

“Ethan’s been there, too… involved,” she says in a measured tone.

I hear it beyond words, it is not information. It is proof.

She is measuring territory, I respond without losing control.

Because if I’ve learned anything, it’s that security doesn’t need to raise its voice. I didn’t come to compete.

I came into existence.

When she tells me she doesn’t play, I believe her, Vanessa doesn’t play. Vanessa calculates… And I know

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Chapter 73 Businesswomen, Part 2.

exactly what that look means, fear wrapped in pride.

+25 Points

We parted ways when they announced the start of the panel. I don’t breathe with relief, I breathe clearly.

This is not just an event.

It is a field where women measure their strength without the need for visible weapons.

Later, they announce my name, I did not expect it so formally.

“Recognition of Strategic Innovation and Transformative Leadership.” The applause is loud.

I go on stage with a firm step, the lights reach me.

And for a second, I think of my father.

In how proud he would be, I take the microphone. I breathe, I look at the room.

I am not looking for Vanessa, I am not looking for anyone in particular. I’m just talking.

“A few years ago, I was not on this stage.”

My voice sounds stable.

“Not because I didn’t have the capacity. But because I doubted my abilities… I know that many women

here understand me.”

The silence is attentive.

“Women usually work twice as hard to be granted half the recognition. But the problem is not always

outside. Sometimes it’s inside.”

I see heads nodding.

“I learned something important in recent years. It is not about showing that we are strong. We are strong.

It’s about believing it even when we feel broken. The word broken is not accidental.”

I was broken.

୮

“I have led teams that did not trust me at the beginning. I have made decisions that were questioned. I

have lost things that I thought were permanent.”

My throat barely tightens, but I keep going.

“And I understood that leadership is not the absence of pain. It is to move forward in spite of it.”

The room is in absolute silence.

“We don’t need to imitate old models to be successful. We don’t need to harden ourselves until we stop

feeling. Our sensitivity is not weakness. It is strategic intuition.”

I think of Vanessa. In her calculating gaze.

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<Chapter 73–Businesswomen, Part 2.

+25 Points

“The real power is in sustaining each other, not in competing for spaces that we can expand together.”

I don’t know if she’s interpreting the message, but I am.

“If I’m here today, it’s not because I never failed. It’s because I didn’t allow failure to define my worth.”

I smile slightly.

“We are women who sustain empires. And sometimes, we also hold our own heart while no one is

looking.”

The applause begins before the sentence ends, loud, sincere.

I walk off the stage with a strange feeling, not of triumph. Of integrity.

I sit at the table assigned for dinner. Fate, always with a sense of humor, places Vanessa in front of me.

Perfect.

The lights dim slightly as they serve the first course. Superficial conversations start around.

Vanessa takes the floor first.

“It was a good speech.”

There is no irony, only recognition.

“Thank you.”

Slice her salmon.precisely.

“You speak with conviction.”

“I speak from experience.”

She looks at me with more personal attention now.

“That shows…”

We eat for a few minutes in silence, it’s not uncomfortable. It’s dense.

“You’re different than I expected,” she says suddenly.

I look up.

“In what sense?”

“I thought you’d be more… emotional.”

I smile barely.”

“I am. Alone, not always in public.”

That seems to surprise her.

“Ethan always talked about your character,” she adds.

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