Antonia held back her laughter as she dug through her purse for spare euros. “That makes good business sense.”

The old woman counted her money and slammed it in the register. “Have a good time,” she said with a feisty wink.

Antonia chuckled. “Thanks.”

She stuffed the paper bag into her purse and walked toward the store entrance when she felt a vibration in her back pocket. Assuming it was either Octavia or Eddie, she waited until she got outside. Aiden stood in the same spot where she’d left him, flashing her that same gorgeous grin as if he hadn’t seen her in years. “Got what you needed?”

“I did,” she said. “Hold on just a second, someone’s trying to call me.” When she found her phone and read the contact, it was an unknown Chicago number. One of the many wedding vendors come to collect? “Hello?”

“Toni!”

She drew in a sharp hiss and glanced at Aiden. A frown deepened in the wrinkle of his brow as he regarded her. With her heart in her chest and her stomach making a steep dive to her ankles, her jaw fell open to choke out the word: “Derek?”

Realization dawned on Aiden’s face as she hung on to his arm for support. She was having a nice time. For the first time in a long time, Antonia was enjoying herself with a man. Of course it was a perfect time for Derek to rain on her parade. “Toni, this has gone on long enough, we need to talk.”

“He wants to talk,” she whispered to Aiden. “Could you give me a minute?”

He nodded though his mouth was set in a thin line of irritation. “If you don’t mind, could you put him on speaker? I wanna hear this jack-arse.”

That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, since dirty laundry was meant to be hidden from the general public. But because she had a supportive person at her side, Antonia did what was asked of her and held the phone up to both of their faces. “What do you want?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“Are you still in Ireland?”

“I am.”

Derek scoffed. “How? I canceled your hotel. I thought you would have gotten the picture, Toni. You belong back here so we can plan this wedding.”

Aiden met her gaze and shook his head. Fuck. Him. He mouthed.

“We already discussed this,” she said. “The wedding is off. My sister is in the process of canceling things. You know this.”

“Those are just things, Toni. You and me? We can make this work.” Derek’s voice began to climb. “Come back here and we can talk about Naomi, we can talk about all of them. Just don’t leave me. I need you.”

Tears stung Antonia’s eyes just as Aiden’s hand settled on her back. He had clearly heard what Derek let slip. “All of them?”

“Huh?”

“Derek, you said all of them...” She trailed off into the abyss. The emotions she had experienced in his apartment, that night, came flooding back, filling the vacuum with rage. As her heart rate sped up, sweat prickled her scalp and an icy chill ran down her back. She no longer wanted to have this phone conversation with Derek. No, she would much rather be back in his apartment, on that night, with her fingers wrapped around his throat.