“Annie?” Kim demanded.
“I didn’t do anything with any note,” she told Colette. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I remember telling you when you got back that day that Luca had called and left something for you in the kitchen. At the time I barely noticed him, to be honest.”
“Luca remembered someone else was with you that day. He didn’t see who it was, though.” Colette looked in Ed’s direction. “It was you, wasn’t it?” she said quietly.
Now Annie remembered the day Colette was referring to as clearly as if it was yesterday, because it was exactly when her heart had been well and truly broken.
When Ed had appeared out of nowhere at the villa and she’d spotted him on her way out, her spirits had soared because she’d been so sure he’d changed his mind. And also because she looked so amazing at the time—the perfect opportunity to show him exactly what he’d been missing.
But then she realized she’d never actually told him where she was staying, and when he’d admitted he was there looking for Colette, the penny dropped.
The man she’d fallen for had dumped her for her friend.
It felt like a living hell.
It was then that she’d decided to go home to Ireland, unwilling to spend any more time licking her wounds at the villa, or worse, perhaps even have to see Colette and Ed together, especially when it seemed they’d become even closer in the aftermath of Luca’s letdown.
But now she realized something.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, looking at Ed. “You did something.”
“I did what I had to,” he replied calmly, his words unsettlingly matter-of-fact as he looked at them.
“Had to?” Colette questioned.
“He wasn’t right for you, darling,” he said, referring to Luca. “He was playing with your emotions.” Ed crossed the room to where his wife stood, and the Italian immediately pulled her away from him.
“You mean you sabotaged them?” Kim asked, staring at Ed as if she’d never seen him before.
“I took care of her—same as I always have,” he replied. “He wasn’t going to be able to care for her the way I could. The way I have,” he said. “To him she was just another in a long line of tourist conquests. I knew he was going to hurt her so I had to stop it. So I took his note and left one of my own.”
Colette gasped out loud and put a hand to her head in disbelief.
“When you didn’t turn up that night, I suspected he’d just give up and he did. No man who truly cared about you would’ve let you go so easily, Colette,” Ed insisted. “I never would. So I did what I had to, in order to prove to you that he was no good.”
“That’s why you were there at the beach that night? Conveniently there to comfort me,” she said, looking ill. “And you sent that text—which of course I assumed was from Luca.”
Annie couldn’t believe her ears. Who knew Ed could have been so cunning? How he could have purposely set out to sabotage and hurt Colette like that, and then swoop in like the proverbial knight in shining armor?
She didn’t know where the impulse came from, but one moment Annie was sitting in shock, and the next she’d jumped up, crossed the room, and slapped Ed across his face.
It felt incredibly satisfying and she looked at him defiantly, daring him to say or do anything in return.
Now, Colette was sobbing into Luca’s chest and the look on the Italian’s face was nothing short of lethal.
Kim stood close by, looking well and truly bamboozled by all of these revelations.
“All this time it was you,” Annie said sadly. “It was you who hurt her, not Luca. The same way you hurt me.”
“It’s not the same, I was protecting her,” Ed shot back. “We were meant to be together.”
Annie laughed bitterly. “There were so many times I regretted keeping you out of Charlie’s life. I believed I was denying him the gift of a father figure at the very least. I thought it was because I was protecting Colette, but now I realize I was also subconsciously shielding us both,” she said. “You are no kind of man, Edward Hargreaves. You don’t deserve the family you have, and you certainly don’t deserve my son.”
“What?” Kim exclaimed. “Charlie is Ed’s son? How on earth...”
Colette looked at her. “Yes, something else Annie neglected to share, apparently. So much for her mysterious Italian Romeo.”
“Colette, I never once said or implied he was Italian; you just assumed,” Annie said. “And I never said anything afterward because I didn’t want to hurt you, or interfere with your and Ed’s relationship.”
“Then why now, Annie?” Colette asked plaintively. “Because it’s pretty obvious you’ve had a bee in your bonnet with me since we arrived. You were openly rude and dismissive to me. Is that why you brought Charlie along? To rub it in my face?”
Kim moved to stand between her friends and put an arm around each of them. “Guys, you’re both upset—let’s just take a breather for a minute. Maybe you should get some air, Annie,” she suggested gently. “And I think perhaps Colette needs to sit down.”
“Good idea,” Ed said, moving toward his wife.
“You stay away from her,” Luca demanded, pushing him back by the chest.
“She’s my wife!”
“She will decide that, but right now you stay away. You’ve done enough.”
“I knew coming here was a mistake.” Now Ed rounded on Kim. “But you had to do it, didn’t you? You had to rub your great success in all our faces. Even though it’s a complete sham, and you know it. Tell her, Colette.”
Everyone stopped, including Colette. All eyes then settled back on Ed.
“What do you mean?” his wife asked. “Tell her what?”
Ed was glaring at Kim, a self-satisfied smile on his face. “About the notebook.”