Read Online Billionaire Romance: Darque Initiation (A Darque Billionaire Romance Book 1) by Diana Steele - Free Book Online Page B

look your best and don’t laugh. Remember we talked about that,” he said with a smirk.
    And just when Bella thought things couldn’t possibly get any lower…
    She turned and saw Bradley Barr, her ex-boyfriend.
    Oh God, he’s interning here too? I thought he was going to Statton-Edwards?”
    “You two know each other?”
    “Well…just…old colleagues.”
    “Ah. I gotcha,” Abrams said with a pained smile. “Well, you will find in marketing and publicity, you will have strange bedfellows from time to time. And I mean that quite literally.”
    Bradley noticed her and sent her a half-way glance as if to emphasize, Yeah I’ll make it my business to be a problem. Things didn’t end so well, but that was the name of the game in reputation management, wasn’t it? Keep personal feelings out of the equation. Sweep all the damaging details under the rug. Above all, learn to smile at the people you hate.
    *****
    Friday had been a bust. Her future certainly looked laid out for her and quite demoralizing. The fact that she turned twenty-one today was almost an afterthought. She had hoped that she would be toasting with friends for her new job as a media consultant or TV journalist. Something meaningful. Cleaning up other people’s messes, the glorified ‘spinner’ of every two-bit politician coming out of Washington was nothing to brag about.
    However, there had to be the separation of work and party time, right? That was the American Dream. Don’t mix business with pleasure and whatever you do, never neglect the pleasure!
    So she threw her worries to the wind and went out with her roommate for the big twenty-one—even if the evening was slightly gloomy because of the demotion. They went to the Ultrabar, the hottest club in D.C., and a former bank, which now looked like a cross between a laser show and a hotel bar, so there had to be irony in that. 
    “You look great, Bella!” Alicia said, admiring Bella’s purple blouse and gray skirt. Bella always looked like royalty, like a timeless movie star just waiting for her moment in the sun, but she never seemed to realize it.
    “Yeah, I don’t feel so great though,” she said, pouting and sucking down another shot of tequila.
    “Aww, what’s wrong? Is it Bradley? Seeing his ugly ass get you down?”
    “No, not really. It’s just the whole dream job bust. It was a really shitty birthday present.”
    “Come on, now. It’s just a stepping stone. Trust me, with your good looks and your perky attitude you’re going to be promoted within six months.”
    “That’s the problem though,” she said eyeing the tall ceilings and signaling for another drink. “I probably got on board the most important project at the firm. Handling Senator Mallory Darque’s digital cleanup. It’s such a big case that it got the attention of Bastien Darque. He came into the firm earlier this week.”
    “THE Bastien? The cute one? The young guy?”
    “I guess. I don’t really keep up with that family. I couldn’t even find him in a lineup.”
    “It’s not about the prestige, honey. It’s about the money. So let’s toast to your success! Here’s to getting wasted on your twenty-first birthday and not letting the drudgery of career get in the way of a precious memory. Come on, live, goddamnit!”
    Bella finally cracked a smile. “Okay. It is a big deal, I suppose, to be drunk. Or legally drunk, I should say!”
    “Don’t let the bullshit get to you. You’re going to walk in tomorrow and tell them how it is!  You’re going to step on some balls and set those boys straight on how to run a campaign.”
    “Tomorrow’s Saturday! I’m going to be hung over and howling in pain!” Bella laughed, finally relaxing—or at least the tequila shots were finally kicking in. Everything Alicia said was right. This wasn’t about the Darque family or even that creep Bradley. This was about her win. It was time to celebrate.
    *****
    It just wasn’t like Bastien Darque to leave anything