“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.”