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.”