Page 19 of Beautiful Ruin

He needed whisky.

And pleasure.

And tonight, perhaps a little bit of pain.

CHAPTER SIX

Leilani clapped along with the other few hundred InkWell employees and guests as Blake, Hunter, Fletcher, and Daniel Dufort presented on stage.

For the past two hours, they’d shared the new vision for InkWell after Blake had introduced his three cousins as the new investors.

It was a big deal, and everyone was excited.

After all, their hotel chain was a well-known name across the United States and listed as a Fortune 100 company. Daniel himself was on the Forbes richest list as one of the wealthiest people in the world.

“And for those of you who haven’t yet met my wife”—Blake reached out his arm—“this is Bella Dufort.”

Bella wandered on to the stage looking absolutely stunning in a black cocktail dress. She waved out to the room and slid naturally under his arm. “Nice to meet you all.”

They were a stunning couple together.

“Thank you for your focus this afternoon, and your passion and loyalty to InkWell. I hope you’re all as excited as we are about the new products we’ll be launching this year. We’re going to kick ass,” Blake said, punching his arm in the air.

The room erupted into applause.

“Enough business. Now it’s time to party.” Hunter Dufort grinned, wrapping things up.

Around her the lights dimmed, and the music started, but her attention was on Hunter’s grin. It was so much like Jacob’s—the man she was not thinking about, but had thought about, all week since he’d left his note.

Bella climbed down the steps and joined Leilani at the table. She picked up her glass of water. “Wow, that was amazing. I can’t believe you put all this together so quickly.”

Leilani preened.

“Oh...” She waved out her hand. “I used an event team at the hotel. They do this sort of thing every day. All I had to do was decide on what we wanted.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You did a great job,” Bella insisted.

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