Billionaire Romance: Darque Shadows (A Darque Billionaire Romance Book 3)

by Steele, Diana

  WARNING

  This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language. It may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults ONLY.

  ***Please store your files wisely where underage readers cannot access them***

  A Darque Billionaire Romance

  Book 1

  Darque Initiation

  Diana Steele

  Copyright © 2015

  All Rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of required fees you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known, hereinafter invented, without express written permission of Billionaire Romance Books. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  DISCLAIMER

  Please don’t be stupid and kill yourself. This book is a work of FICTION. Do not try any new sexual practice that you find in this book. It is fiction and not to be confused with reality. Neither the author nor the publisher or its associates assume any responsibility for any loss, injury, death or legal consequences resulting from acting on the contents in this book. Every character in this book is over 18 years of age. The author’s opinions are not to be construed as the opinions of the publisher. The material in this book is for entertainment purposes ONLY. Enjoy.

  Chapter 1

  Shadows are not just visual shapes coming between light rays and a surface—sometimes shadows are distant memories of the past. Baggage that hasn’t quite been processed, or maybe even the mistakes of a lifetime that never seem to go away. When we move forward, so do the shadows of yesterday, always second guessing whether we’re making the same mistakes again.

  For Merva Stone, her shadow was a life of missed opportunity, having passed up a college education to raise an unexpected child. She became pregnant at the high school prom, making a scandal in Statesboro, a small town in Georgia. The child’s father was able to pursue higher education and forget his mistakes; Merva didn’t have the luxury. She raised the baby in embarrassment. When she named her one saving grace in life ‘Arabella,’ she thought it nice that the meaning was, “beautiful, graceful.” However, the other meaning of Arabella, “yielding to prayer,” became a cruel irony. Everybody prayed for Arabella and Merva, who were to be pitied. Their shadows were tall and foreboding. Leaving Georgia behind was the only dream Bella ever had.

  And yes, Bella was the preferred name when she went to American University. She ran far and fast, eager to escape the shadow of her past, only to make another mistake, another shadow that would follow her around for years on end.

  Bradley kissed Bella’s cheek, his bare chest spooning her back, wrapped in the afterglow of a great first date.

  “You okay?” he asked, noticing Bella seemed unusually mum for a girl who just had a decent orgasm.

  “Yeah,” she said unsurely. “Just thinking silly things.”

  Oh God, Bradley said, already paranoid this easy girl was becoming attached to him. “Hey, we had a great time, right?”

  “Yeah, it was great,” she answered with a smile, trying to hide her nervousness.

  “So for your first time, how was I? Was I special?” Bradley said raising his eyebrows.

  “Of course you’re special. I…like you,” she said carefully. “Do you like me?” she asked with a double flinch.

  “I like us together naked in bed, that’s for sure.”

  “Heh…” She laughed weakly. The last thing she needed was another shadow of a mistake following her around the rest of her life. She could feel herself becoming her mother already. All it would take is one careless night with a superficial guy and she would be living the same god-awful life as her mother.

  Bella Stone snapped out of her daydream of yesteryear and stared at herself in the mirror. She had asked Bastien Darque, the billionaire woman-hater who was now apparently stalking her, for a moment alone. She had just broken it off with him, this ‘thing,’ this strange sexual obsession he insisted on creating, and now the psycho felt compelled to come to her apartment giving her clueless roommate the thrill of a lifetime.

  “Helloooo? Bella are you still alive in there? Your billion dollar boyfriend is still here,” Alicia said from outside the bathroom.

  She could barely hear Bastien saying something but heard Alicia laugh at him. Great, Bella thought, he’s back to being charming Bastien and not the psycho who demands I beg him to punish me.

  Bella finally emerged from the bathroom, putting her best face forward.

  “Hello again, Bella,” Bastien said. “I just wanted to come by and check on you. You seemed…sick the last time I saw you.”

  “I’m fine. Thank you for coming all the way from work to check up on me.” She looked at Alicia, who was still in shock. “This is Bastien Darque. He’s my boss. I made a fool of myself in front of my boss and now he feels obligated to check up on me. I’m like his daughter or something.”

  Bastien nodded and played along. “Yes, it would be very unprofessional to get involved with someone I work with. A pity, too, since Bella is so beautiful. But duty calls. I will see you at work tomorrow, Bella. Please…come on time, yes?”

  Bastien left the apartment in a happy mood, which didn’t convince Alicia of anything.

  “That was weird!” she said. “Be honest with me. Are you two…?”

  “Noooo!” Bella said. “Definitely not. I have rules against dating my boss. Besides…” She feigned a sad face. “I still think I love Bradley.”

  “Seriously?” Alicia snarled. “You still love Bradley? Even after everything that happened?”

  “I was young and dumb, yes. But Bradley…you know…has grown up a lot. He’s matured. He’s…”

  Not a psycho obsessed with ultimate control.

  She figured having Alicia groan over a mistaken romance with Bradley was still better than thinking she did the unthinkable and fell into a submissive relationship with one of the more dangerous and powerful men of the twenty-first century.

  “Well, I think you should keep your options open with Mister Billionaire. I think the fact that he went out of his way to see you today shows he’s into you.”

  Oh yes, he’s into me. He’s been “into me” more than you know.

  “I just don’t know when to stop,” Bella said, laughing to Carter Abrams, the only person at the firm that didn’t seem to want to hurt her or sabotage her in some way.

  Carter laughed with her, discussing the nuances of the company’s complicated new fax machine. “The answer is, when the light stops blinking. That’s when it’s finished.”

  “Thank you, Mister Abrams. I really feel as if you’re the only person here looking out for me.”

  “I probably am,” he said eyeing Bella with a controlled gaze. “I always advise interns and new employees not to trust people. Just do yo
ur job and don’t go around thinking that you’re everyone’s favorite new girl. The first year is the hardest, trust me.”

  “Thank you.”

  Bastien walked up, pretending to use the fax machine, hoping Abrams would take a hint, which he did. Bella tensed up and avoided eye contact.

  “So…I think you owe me an apology.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked, her eyes tightening in anger.

  “You left the relationship abruptly, no explanation. You put me in an awkward position.”

  “I don’t really care, Bastien.”

  “The name is Mister Darque.”

  “No, it isn’t!” she whispered. “If you want to talk about that side of our life then it’s Bastien. I’m through with this thing between us. No more contract.”

  “What makes you think I’m willing to let you go?”

  “Because you know, Mister Darque,” she said at moderate volume. “That I will not reveal any information harmful to your name or campaign.” And back to whispering. “And in return for your understanding, I am only going to do what is in my job description.”

  Bastien pouted, his face becoming lengthened and his nostrils flaring. “Then I don’t need you here.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Yeah, that’s right. You’re fired. Take your stuff and leave.”

  He stormed away, leaving Bella alone, confused and too enraged to even think of crying.

  *****

  Chapter 2

  The first time she really cried was when Bradley gave her the bad news. It wasn’t so much that she dreaded losing him, but that she hated what she had become. It was the type of embarrassing story too horrid to confide in anyone. Certainly not her own mother, who would guilt her and berate her for such a stupid mistake—if only to hide the fact that she was screaming at herself for her own shadows.

  “I don’t really know how to say this,” Bradley said, folding his arms at a table in a restaurant neither of them really liked. They ordered an awful dinner. They both knew something big was happening. The whole evening felt like shit and the air itself seemed tainted.

  “Just say it.”

  Bradley stalled, trying to think of some creative or generous way to speak the ugly truth. “I think that we’ve been…growing apart.”

  “What do you mean? Why?”

  “I think that our lives have taken different paths. You’ve become more…I don’t know. Just too unhappy. And I can’t live with your spirit of constant anxiety and depression.”

  “What…but…”

  “I think we should see other people.”

  “But…I love you.”

  “No, I don’t think you do. And I just think you’d be happier with someone else.”

  “But I don’t want anyone else.”

  “And I would be happier too,” he said, trying his best to be compassionate and yet not too charming, which might send a mixed signal.

  “Wait…are you saying there’s someone else?”

  “I’m not saying that. I mean…there might be people that uh…well…”

  “Oh my God,” Bella said, already tearing up, wondering how much of her life was wasted on this mistake. “And that’s how you tell me?”

  “You know this has been where it was all going,” he said, raising his voice and tightening his brow. “Maybe you were in denial but I sure wasn’t. I warned you. I told you that sexually we weren’t compatible.”

  “I said I would learn…”

  “And I kept warning you about being unhealthy, didn’t I?”

  “Unhealthy? You mean fat?”

  “I said unhealthy,” he said, holding his chin up.

  “So you’re just dumping the fat girl who you got bored of fucking? Because you’re already with someone else. Is that what you’re actually saying, Bradley? It’s pathetic that I have to say it for you.”

  “Nice, Bella,” Bradley laughed. “Keep up that charming air about you. You’ll find another man in no time.”

  The breakup was awful. Bradley even tried to be ‘friends,’ proving himself capable of something, as if to prove that he did nothing wrong. For months, he didn’t even admit that he was sleeping with someone else. He played dumb, trying to make Bella feel guilty. All he really wanted was for people to feel sorry for him. Hey, it got him laid or least got him laid with a naïve college student who just wanted to make people happy.

  Somehow, mistakes of the past were coming to mind a lot lately, as she considered Darque her second official breakup. At least she could take some satisfaction knowing that she dumped him this time. Although the world would never believe her.

  Just as she started cleaning out her desk, she received an ‘emergency’ email.

  Congratulations! The Haschell Public Relations Firm has decided to bring you aboard as a new permanent member. Next week will be your first official paid week for the firm, which will be an ongoing position. This decision is in light of your progress and the hard work you’ve put forth to help expand our horizons.

  She flinched away the idea. Permanent hire? Already? It had to be Bastien playing games. Maybe this was his way of ensuring that Bella didn’t disappear. Was he really that paranoid about the story leaking?

  Or could it be that he just wanted her to stay connected to his life? Something like “like” or at least addiction. He was addicted to her. He couldn’t stand to lose her. Was this naïve, Bella thought, to think that a man like Bastien could ‘need’ anybody?

  Well, he did say I was beautiful. And that most girls he went out with weren’t beautiful…

  She shook away her developing smile. So, fine. I’ll stay. But that doesn’t mean I’ll go back to being his whore.

  She left the building, eager to get away from the stressful environment and take a breather at home. But before she cleared the building, Bastien had ambushed her at the side.

  “Did you get the email?”

  “What email?” she asked, playing a little coy.

  “Yes, you did. You got it. I know you saw it.”

  “Why are you asking me, then?”

  “So you’re staying.”

  “Well…if you’re paying me, I guess I can’t say no to that.”

  “I’m giving you another chance.”

  “Fine and I’ll do a professional job. But I’m not going to do any more of that contract stuff.”

  Bastien’s eyes raged. He wanted to correct her, command her, harass her, and do everything business etiquette demanded he not do.

  After stewing over it, all he could say was, “Then report on time and do your job.”

  And just like that, he walked away.

  A strange thing happens when you break up with someone you like, or even love. You start to see them in a new light; you immediately notice the way their voice changes when they talk to a new guy or girl. You sense their attraction or perhaps read into their actions, figuring they are finding the love they always wanted with you but couldn’t develop.

  Bella felt that way the first time she caught Bradley with another woman in a bar. They had already broken up but seeing him in person, with someone else, made the blow all the more final and devastating. She instantly started to doubt herself, wondering if she could have been more like the tall, thin blondie who’d captured his attention—if that would have been enough to keep him.

  Now the same thing was happening with Bastien. What if she had let him do everything his heart desired—hurt her, seduce her, endanger her all for his mind games and mad sexuality? Would he have reached a peak where he finally fell in love with her, or at least felt something? Or would it all have been a disaster, a constantly escalating spiral into destruction?

  She began to see Darque around the firm talking to other female staff members, even a few interns. She wondered from a distance if he was flirting with them or if it was her own wild imagination. Why was she suddenly feeling so jealous? Was it buyer’s remorse? Why would she even want the same treatment he was giving those other women, since she dec
ided to call it off?

  Bella knew Darque would be waiting in his office as he usually took a few minutes to himself after touching bases with the project manager. She saw him in the room by himself staring into space, thinking God knows what, and decided to confront him. About nothing in particular, or so she thought.

  “Hi,” Bella said guardedly.

  “Arabella,” he said with a nod.

  “How are you?”

  “How am I? I’m busy.”

  “You know, you’re a real asshole,” Bella suddenly spouted, becoming angrier by the second.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You think that by flirting with all these other girls, these-these sluts, that you’re going to make me jealous? That’s pathetic. And it’s not working.”

  “I’m sorry, but I believe your firm has a strict no drug policy. So put the crackpipe down, girl. What in the hell are you talking about?”

  “I saw you. Don’t play dumb with me.”

  “Play dumb? Those girls? You mean the other interns I was talking to? What about it, Arabella? So what if I was flirting with them, what does it matter to you? That’s not very professional.”

  “I just think it’s ridiculous that you feel you have to do stuff like that to make me jealous when you know how I feel.”

  “How you feel?” Darque suddenly stopped talking, brushing away the next statement at the tip of his tongue.

  “Yes. You know…” Bella said, trying to blink away her grief. “I was stupid. I thought I was feeling something for you.”

  Darque looked provoked and curious all at the same time and glared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment.

  “But that was just because you caught me at a very weird time. And I made a mistake. But still, parading around with these other women…”