This was the kind of showdown she would never have asked for or imagined, and while she was still angry at Ed for so many reasons, what hurt most was the pain in Colette’s eyes when she looked at her now.

“I need to get out of here,” she said wearily, and Luca duly moved to usher her out of the room.

Ed tried to follow, but Kim stopped him with the threat of calling Gabriel and having him forcibly and publicly removed by a man almost twice his size.

A proper man.

Annie half wished she could see that happen, though she guessed it was the murderous look on the Italian man’s face that had truly given Ed pause.

Now she followed Colette, Luca, and Kim back outside to the courtyard, where down below on the terrace, all the party guests were smiling and laughing as the fireworks show began to kick off.

She noticed that not one of her old friends even glanced upward at the colorful explosions high in the sky off the beautiful Amalfi Coast.

Tonight, there’d been enough fireworks to last them all a lifetime.

Epilogue

Eighteen Months Later

“And...we’re back,” Kim said with a rueful smile as she stood on the terrace at Villa Dolce Vita with Gabriel and Lily.

Yet again she’d been transformed.

She’d stepped away from the business to focus on her family and Emilia, a decision she didn’t regret. Having more time with the people she loved most had changed her entire outlook on life.

Family is not an important thing. It is everything.

Finally, she was taking her own (or, in truth, Colette’s) advice.

“The place looks great. I’m surprised Antonio was able to let us have it with the amount of traffic that’s been going through here,” Gabriel commented.

“Hey, it’s still my company so I make the rules.” Kim tiptoed up to him and kissed her husband on the cheek.

Antonio had since confessed what Kim already knew—that his wife had mistakenly submitted alternative documents to the planning department, which he’d tried to cover up at the meeting.

“I didn’t know for sure until I saw the signatures,” he’d told Kim, finally willing to admit that his beloved wife’s condition had gone beyond him, and that she needed professional care. Kim assured him not to worry, that she would do everything she could to help. She didn’t want to add to her old friend’s anguish by telling him about Emilia’s suspicions of an affair, as she knew he had enough to contend with.

“You make the rules for the moment at least.” Gabriel smiled as he laid his hand on her swollen stomach. “Once this next one comes we won’t have nearly as much time for jaunts in places like this.”