Page 8 of The Billionaire's Secret Kiss

"I knew she worked for you," I said. "Not when I started researching you. You were at the top of my list before I had any idea that Ella would be involved. I came to you because I wanted to work with someone who saw more than just a balance sheet. You're right, my employees are important to me, and I don't want anyone involved in my company who can't respect that. You have a reputation that led me to think we could work together."

"When did you find out that Ella worked for us?" Maggie asked.

"About a month ago. It wasn't relevant. I'd been planning on coming back to Atlanta to see her anyway. To be honest, this would be less complicated if she didn't work for you. A lot less complicated."

That was the understatement of the century. When my investigation had turned up Ella's name in connection with Vance and Maggie Winters, my heart had leaped in anticipation before plummeting into my gut. Winning back Ella would be a challenge. Mixing up our relationship with my business was the last thing I needed.

“What happened to your nose?" Vance asked, one eyebrow raised in speculation.

"She punched me," I admitted. I'd been honest so far. No point in changing that now.

"What did you do?" Maggie asked, her eyes narrowed in disapproval. Vance smirked at me, his gaze knowing and amused.

"I can guess," he said. "Looks like she didn't appreciate your attempt at reconciliation."

"Look, Ella asked me to keep whatever happened between us private. I promised her that I would. It isn't your business. I'm glad you care about her. But if she wants to tell you what happened, that's up to her."

"Even if I say the deal is off unless you talk?" Vance tested.

"Do you want to do business with me if I'm capable of making a promise and then turning around and breaking it?” I asked.

"If she's not okay, we’re going to have a problem," Vance said. "But for now, I'll drop it. Take a seat, and we’ll run through this one more time before we wrap it up."

I sat, and we lost ourselves in numbers, graphs, and my plans for our new technology. Vance was right. If our software could disable a drone without interfering with local Wi-Fi signals—which would be breaking the law—everyone would want to get their hands on it. There were other companies chasing the same goal. As far as I knew, we were at the head of the pack, but if we ran out of money, we wouldn't be for long.

I tried to focus on our meeting. When I'd flown out here from California, saving my company had been my number one priority. We were so close to a huge breakthrough, and I'd sunk every penny the company had into development. If I didn't get an influx of cash to tide us over, everything I'd worked for over the past two years would fall apart.

Nothing was more important than Endicott Tech.

Nothing except Ella.

I'd been telling Vance and Maggie the truth. For more than a year, I'd been thinking about Ella. Missing her. Wishing I'd never let her go. I'd wanted to come back for her long before this, but business always seemed to get in the way. Business and my own fears. When I realized Vance and Magnolia Winters were located in Atlanta, it seemed like fate. Still, Endicott Tech had been at the top of my mind.

It had to stay there. This wasn't just about me, about my ambitions and my dreams. I had fifteen people working for me. People with families and mortgages. People who had left stable jobs with benefits, seduced by the chance of a big payday and convinced by my larger-than-life public persona.

Maybe it doesn't say much about human nature, but when you're on the covers of business and tech magazines right and left, and everyone is shouting that you’re the next big thing, people tend to have confidence in you. The publicity was superficial shit. Superficial, but it got me top-tier programmers.

A few had jumped ship during the lawsuit, but most of them had stuck with me. I owed them. They’d devoted their careers to me. Now, I had to deliver. I couldn't let them down. And after everything I'd sacrificed to get this company started, Ella most of all, I couldn't fail now.

All of that was true. And yet, the details of my business struggled to keep my attention, warring with the memory of kissing Ella. I could still feel her soft lips, her fingers burying themselves in my hair, the slick heat of her on my finger. With a willpower I didn't think I possessed, I forced my attention back on the meeting and managed to keep it together long enough to wrap things up.

When we were done, I gathered my papers together and stood. Vance stood with me and said, “We need some more time to go through this. Why don't we plan to get together later in the week or Monday? What's your timeframe for getting back to California?"

"Flexible, for the moment," I answered. That was accurate enough. I'd initially planned to stay only a few days, but now that I'd laid eyes on Ella, I wasn't leaving until we'd settled things between us.

“We'll be in touch," Vance said.

He didn't mention Ella again. He didn't need to. His warning had been clear.

I drove back to the Four Seasons in Midtown on autopilot. It had been a few years, but I still knew Atlanta like the back of my hand. When I’d lived here before, I'd been a struggling student in a shitty apartment, surviving on a diet of cheap food and highly caffeinated sodas. My first few months in California were the same, but worse. Rent in California was insane compared to Atlanta.

Then, overnight, everything changed. Four months after I left school and founded Endicott Tech, I licensed the first version of my drone software to the military, and money poured from the sky. I’d already started on the software we were working on now, and I was able to hire more programmers for my team.

Drones are hot, and the media jumped on my tech, making me into some kind of poster boy for the new wave of young Silicon Valley billionaires. Forget that I wasn't a billionaire. Nobody cared about that.

I was young and smart, and thanks to Ella's loving guidance in college, I had enough style that I looked good on the cover of a magazine. For a while, especially after Ella and I split up, I went crazy, dating models and B-movie actresses, buying an expensive house and a sports car. I was all about the flash.

Anything to help me forget that I didn't have Ella anymore.