Page 84 of The Rebel Billionaire

Vance let out a shout of laughter and leaned forward. "Do you guys remember when she put the rubber snake in Mrs. Williamson's root vegetablebasket?"

"Oh my God, I forgot about that," Charlie giggled from beside me. "I can still hear thescreams."

Charlie fell into my side, body shaking with laughter. Every other Winters in the room was laughing justashard.

Jacob, gasping for breath, said, "And then Mom saw it, and she startedscreaming,too."

"And when Mr. Henried came running and he told them it was a fake . . . I thought they were going to kill Aunt Amelia," Aidenwenton.

"But they couldn't do anything because Dad was always her favorite and he never got mad at her. Even the time she ruined the curtains trying to make everyone think the library was haunted," Charliefinished.

"Is Mrs. Williamson going to be okay with her moving in?" Maggie asked after a quick look over her shoulder to make sure the doorway was empty. I shouldn't have been surprised the family would care what their housekeeperthought.

Aiden followed her eyes, still grinning. "I asked her if she wanted extra help, but she said that she was fine, especially with Sophie to take care of Amelia, and that she could certainly handle having more of the family back in WintersHouse."

"Liar," Charlie said, still giggling. "She'd never admit she doesn't like Aunt Amelia. She's too loyal. I already talked to Sophie about the pranks and asked her to help watch out for Mrs. Williamson. Sophie knows she'll have her hands full withAmelia."

"I got the impression she was looking forward to it," Maggie said. "Her last job kept her pretty isolated. She said she could do with someexcitement."

"I just hope Amelia doesn't scare her off,"Vancesaid.

"Me too." Charlie blotted her eyes with her napkin, still laughing alittle.

"Are you ready for the invasion?" Jacob askedAiden.

I didn't listen to Aiden's answer. I was too lost in Charlie, her smile wide and free, her ocean blue eyes shining with happiness and laughter. Everything about her was luminous. I liked her family, and dinner had been good, but I wanted Charlie tomyself.

I checked my watch, ready for the meal to be over, when Aiden cleared histhroat.

Conversationstopped.

Clearing his throat again, he lay his palms flat on the table and took a deepbreath.

"I called all of you here tonight for a reason. I've already spoken with Holden and Tate before they left for their conference, but I asked them to stay quiet until I could talk to the rest of youtogether."

"What? What is it?" Jacobdemanded.

"Gage ismissing."

The silence in the room was deafening. Beside me, Charlie's breath caught in a hitch. Not caring who saw, or what they thought about it, I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into my side. She pressed her cheek to my chest but kept her eyes onAiden.

"What happened?" Vance asked in a thickvoice.

"As you can guess, they're not sharing a lot of information. All I know is that two months ago, he left on a mission, and a few days later, he stopped reporting in. They won't tell me where it was. They waited almost a month before they let me know hewasMIA."

"So they didn't give you anything," Jacob said, his eyes hardandcold.

Aiden shook his head. "Cooper is seeing what he can find out, but he's not optimistic. You know Gage couldn't talk about his work. I wasn't even sure he was still officially with the Army until theycalled."

"I can make some calls," I offered, surprising myself. "I've been out for a while, but I can guess that Gage and I worked for some of the same people. There's no guarantee they'll talk to me. Better odds that they won't. But Icantry."

Aiden gave a grave nod. "We'd appreciate anything youcando."

I had a feeling this explained Aiden's exhaustion, the deep grooves in his face and the circles beneath his eyes. Given the way he watched over his family, Gage going missing must bekillinghim.

Charlie had said a few things here and there that gave me the impression Aiden and Gage were tight growing up. Until Hugh and Olivia Winters had been murdered, Gage had planned to join the company with Aiden. Before they were cold in the ground, he dropped out of college and joinedtheArmy.

I wished I could do more, but I'd been honest with them. I had connections, and if they were willing to talk, I might be able to get some information, but that was abigif.