Page 42 of The Billionaire's Secret Kiss

"All he said was that he didn’t like your conditions and he was going to do it on his own. He mortgaged as much of his house as the bank would let him and sold as many things that he thought he could without drawing attention."

"Interesting. I wonder if he’s still open to an investment. Without the conditions."

Suspicious, I asked, “What were the conditions?"

Vance refused to tell me. So did Noah.

Noah said it was between him and Vance, and everything had turned out for the best. Maggie stepped in and tried to salvage the deal, but Noah had politely turned her down. He'd made her a counter-offer—once he had a guarantee of a viable product and a solid timeline, they'd need cash for production and expansion.

Endicott Technologies wasn't going to license or sell the software they’d developed. They wanted to produce and distribute it in-house, including the hardware to run it. That was going to take money Noah couldn't raise through mortgages and selling cars. Especially since he'd already mortgaged his house and sold his cars.

Maggie and Vance had been satisfied by his counter-offer of future business, but I'd heard her giving Vance a hard time over the way he'd interfered between Noah and me. After that, I was determined to find out what had really happened.

Maggie was good at keeping secrets, but she had a low tolerance to alcohol. I dragged it out of her one night after she’d had one too many glasses of wine. When I learned the truth, I'd started to cry.

I knew Noah loved me.

I did.

Learning that he'd risked his company, that he’d chosen me over Endicott Technologies and then hadn't used it as leverage to win me back . . .

Understanding what he’d put on the line for me made me dizzy with love. I never told him I knew.

"Another glass of wine?" A waiter in a white dinner jacket asked, offering a bottle of red.

"No, thank you," I said.

From beside me, Jo said, “You can stay here tonight, you know."

"I know, and I appreciate it, but I think I'm all partied out."

Jo gave me a knowing look and shared a glance with Holden. They both knew that as much as I'd loved the wedding, I was a little down. Noah was supposed to be in Atlanta for New Year's Eve, the night before, but there was a massive weather system in the Midwest dumping snow and ice everywhere, and almost every flight in the country had been delayed or rerouted. Nothing was running on time.

Instead of flying straight from Northern California to Atlanta, Noah had been hopscotching the country trying to get here. The last I heard, he was in Houston, grounded due to ice. He was doing everything he could to get here, and I knew I'd see him soon, but being at the wedding without him was a disappointment.

Not just for me. I hated thinking about him spending the New Year's holiday alone in a strange airport.

"He'll get here," she reassured me, giving my hand a squeeze. I couldn't help but notice the ring on her finger, the exact one she’d seen that day with Emily and me, the same ring I'd pointed out to Holden. Once he’d bought it and Tate had safely whisked Emily out of town for a romantic weekend and surprise proposal, Holden had wasted no time in sliding it onto Josephine's finger. It looked perfect there.

I'd caught Jo staring at it with a happy smile more than a few times since Holden had asked her to be his wife. Unlike Emily, Jo wanted a traditional wedding. Nothing huge like the wedding Holden's older brother, Jacob, was planning, but bigger than both of the weddings the Winters family had thrown in the last two weeks.

According to Jo and Em, Winters House had been a whirlwind between Charlotte Winters’s wedding to Lucas Jackson on Christmas Eve and then Em and Tate’s much smaller ceremony today.

Raised voices at the other end of the table had me sitting up straighter. Both Holden and Jo leaned forward, trying to see what was going on. A low voice swore loudly, followed by the crash of silverware.

“Oh, shit,” Holden said, glancing my way. “I apologize in advance for my family.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Jo shook her head as Holden said, “Aiden and Gage have some shit to work out.” Craning his neck to see past his cousin Vance, he said, “Here it comes.”

A second later, the meaty thud of a fist hitting flesh sounded, followed by a roar of rage. I smacked my hand over my mouth, watching in awe as Holden’s refined, austere older brother, Aiden, launched himself at his cousin Gage, taking the former special forces soldier to the carpet in a whirlwind of writhing limbs and swinging fists.

“Oh, my God!” Jo whispered to me. “I would have bet my engagement ring Aiden wouldn’t be the one to start a brawl in his own dining room.”

“Technically, Gage started it,” Holden said, taking a sip of wine and watching the fight. He made no effort to hide his amusement. None of them did. Tate was outright grinning.

“Aren’t any of you going to stop it?” I asked. As if she’d heard me, Aunt Amelia’s nurse, Sophie, jumped to her feet. She stormed over to the men and stared down at them with her hands on her hips. Just when I thought she was going to do something to stop the fight, she turned on her heel and left the room, muttering under her breath something about men and idiots.