Hexed (Never After #6)

33. Venesa

THIRTY-THREE

VENESA

The second Enzo leaves the room, I blow out a deep breath, ignoring the way my chest is aching. I’ll focus on that later. Right now, it’s time for my uncle and me to have a chat.

I didn’t want Enzo to leave; I would have done anything to let him stand next to me as a pillar of strength. The one he’s been for me since the moment we met. The one I don’t deserve for many reasons.

But I know that even more dangerous than the wrath of my uncle is Enzo’s situation. He’s tied to a life that has chains and rules I can’t even begin to understand. And I know him being the underboss, and his father’s son, only gets him so far.

If his father wants this marriage to Aria, then it will happen, whether or not Enzo agrees, so there’s no point in him taking hits for me that will only hurt him. And truthfully, no matter what just happened here, there’s no future for us.

It still doesn’t make it hurt any less for him to walk away.

He told me in a different life, he’d love me out loud.

Letting him walk away is my way of loving him . Because I know what would happen if he went against this marriage to Aria.

The marriage his father arranged.

The one that my uncle approved.

Nothing but death and destruction would await us, and at least right now, I can try to minimize the damage. Besides, there are things Enzo doesn’t know. Things he can never know.

Not really.

He thinks he’d love me out loud, but the truth is, he’d never be able to love me at all.

So his departure is a weight off my shoulders. A breath exhaled because I should be the only one bearing the burden of what just happened. After all, it was me who instigated it.

I blink twice, letting my eyes unfocus and then refocus, and I move my gaze from where Enzo disappeared to my uncle. I meet his stare, lifting my chin and hiding the tremble in my hands.

“After all I’ve done for you,” Uncle T hisses. “I don’t even know who the hell you are.”

That’s fair. Some days lately, I don’t even think I really know myself.

“You know who I am,” I reply, my voice low. “I’m just like my momma…right?”

I won’t lie, this hurts. Having Uncle T stare at me like I’m a stranger. Like I’m the biggest disappointment he’s ever seen. It sears into me like a serrated knife, jagged and cold, but I don’t know this version of him, this untrustworthy, secretive man who keeps me locked out and lies to my face.

A twinge of grief taps against my chest.

“Don’t look like that. Don’t you dare make that face,” he spits at me again, taking a step closer. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“What I’ve done?” I laugh incredulously. “All I’ve ever done is what you’ve asked of me. I bend over backward for your approval, to try to get even a smidgen of what you reserve for your precious daughter.”

“So you fuck her husband instead?” he asks.

“They’re not married, and I didn’t fuck him.”

“Semantics.”

“But I should have,” I say, taking a step closer.

He stands up straight, towering over me even though we’re almost the same height, his eyes narrowed and icy.

My uncle is an intimidating man, but this is the first time he’s directed it at me in full force.

Doesn’t matter. I’m too angry to be afraid.

“Watch your mouth,” he snaps.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”

“I can’t even fucking look at you,” Uncle T says. “I knew there was something going on. Saw you two on the cameras that first day. I should have known you wouldn’t be able to keep your legs closed long enough to actually accomplish something useful.” He pauses and lifts his chin. “You’re right. You are just like your momma.”

I point my finger in his face, my teeth clenched, trying like hell to maintain composure. “You keep her name out of your mouth.”

He throws his head back and laughs. “Keep her name out of my mouth? Little one, you have no idea, do you? You stupid, insignificant, motherless child.”

Each word is a stab to my already-broken world. But my illusion of him has shattered, and I see this for what it is. See him for what he is.

The devil.

My enemy.

“She was a useless slut when she was younger, and she was a useless slut when she died,” he goes on.

My insides ice over. “Was it you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You know exactly what I mean.” I step forward until there’s barely any space between us. “Was. It. You who killed her? I deserve to know that much, at least.”

“No.” He leans in, his eyes angry. “But I wish it had been.”

“Was it my father?”

He scoffs. “How would I know that?”

I reach out and grab a glass vase filled with flowers, then slam it on the ground at his feet. “Don’t lie to me!” My voice comes out shrill and high.

His eyes widen slightly, and he backs up a space now.

“Tell me the truth, for once in your fucking life.”

“The truth,” he says slowly. “The truth…okay, Venesa. You want the truth? Your father was a no-good drunk who owed me money and didn’t pay, and I saw an opportunity. My sister was worthless, but our daddy loved her like the moon loves the tides, and even after she cut us all off, he still wanted to give her everything, like a fool.”

I shake my head. “You are really just a pathetic, jealous old man, aren’t you?”

He reaches out and backhands me, his gold rings cutting into the side of my lip.

Fury burns through me, but shock keeps me in place, my palm coming up to clutch at the spot he hit.

“Don’t speak on things you know nothing about, little one.” He steps on top of the shattered glass, the crunch of it loud in the otherwise quiet room. “I didn’t kill your momma. But I sure as hell made sure she was dead.”

“Who was it?” I whisper, still clutching my cheek.

“The Atlantis MC, of course. The men you’ve been working with for the past few years.” He laughs, one of his brows rising—challenging me to do something. But I stumble back instead, my body hitting the wall. My hand moves from my face and clutches at my chest now because I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe , and he’s slowly suffocating me with his truths.

“Did you ever actually love me?” I force out, although it’s hard from the knot that’s lodged in the center of my throat.

He’s silent.

I huff out a laugh and shake my head. “All these years, and you’ve just been using me.”

“I gave you a home, you ungrateful little bitch,” he calls me again. “You are who you are because of me.” He slams his fist against his chest. “Get out of my house. Get out of my state.”

My eyes grow wide. “What?”

“You’re finished here. Do you understand?”

“Uncle T, I…”

He levels me with his stony stare. “You don’t deserve the Kingston name, and you’re no family of mine.”

I let out a sarcastic laugh, anger quickly replacing my heartache, and I grasp it, letting it fill me like gasoline and set ablaze the raging inferno inside.

God, I’ve been so blind. So ignorant.

“You said I am who I am because of you,” I whisper, pressing my nails into the insides of my hands until red drips down my fingers.

I step forward, my heart pulsing with rage and vengeance until its inky poison pumps through my veins like blood.

“Just wait until you see who I become in spite of you.”

Pushing past him, I walk out the door.

I walk out of his life.

For good.