Hexed (Never After #6)

44. Enzo

FORTY-FOUR

ENZO

Betrayal is a disease.

A slow-moving bitch of a thing that goes down like cheap liquor, burning your throat and sitting sour in your belly.

I like to think of myself as a forgiving person, but knowing my father was the one behind my attempted murder? That I threatened him so much he tried to take me out and lied about it for the past year?

That’s something I can’t forgive.

And it’s definitely something I won’t forget.

I held up my end of the bargain with Frankie. Obviously, I couldn’t just let him go, but I unchained him, took him out to a deserted area, and made his death quick with a pop to the head.

He didn’t fight it. Just stood there and waited like a man. And it felt good doing something on my own again, thrilling to make a kill not sanctioned by my pops.

Afterward, we came back to Venesa’s hotel suite, because I know she isn’t comfortable being at my penthouse, and it’s not fair of me to ask her to stay there when she’s made it clear where she stands. A problem I’ll be rectifying tomorrow.

Venesa scooches behind me on her hotel bed, rising on her knees and running her hands over my shoulders. I lean back into her, letting my head fall onto her chest, near her collarbone, where her necklace rests, wishing that her presence were enough to drown out the noise in my head. I don’t know if there is anything that can quiet the noise. Too many moving pieces, particles of dust I have to somehow find and make a tangible thing.

“I need to talk to Gio,” I tell her.

She presses a kiss on the inside of my neck. “Everything can wait until the morning.”

I shake my head. “I knew my pops wasn’t well, that he’d been growing more unhinged, but I never thought he’d actually be the one trying to take me out.”

“Family’s fucked,” Venesa replies. “He wasn’t successful, that’s what matters.” She slips her hand down to my chest, pressing her palm against my heart. “You’re here. Your heart’s beating. You have a woman at your service, ready and willing to do anything you need.”

I give her a look and then spin around until I’m facing her on the bed, my fingers sliding up her thighs and gripping the soft curves of her waist. “Oh yeah? And what do I need , piccola sirena?”

She moves forward, sliding her legs around me until the heat of her cunt is pressed against my hardening cock, and she wraps her arms around my neck, leaning in to press a kiss to my lips. “You need to take it out on me. All that frustration…” She glides her hips back and forth, creating a delicious friction that has a fever spiraling through me. “That anger, that hurt…you can use me, Lover Boy.”

She moves her lips, ghosting them across my cheek and along my jaw until she slides farther down, nibbling on my neck. Goose bumps spring up everywhere she touches, and I grip her tighter as I thrust upward, rubbing against her fabric-covered pussy.

“Don’t say things you don’t mean, Venesa. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” she replies. “I trust you.”

I push her back slowly until she’s lying on the bed, her hair splayed around her like she’s a goddess, and I’m so fucking hard, dripping with the need to sink inside her, to lose myself in her so I don’t have to face the reality of my world.

Of how everything is upending. Changing.

“Hurting you doesn’t interest me,” I murmur, my fingers moving up her body and slipping beneath her shirt until it slips over her head. “I don’t want to bring you pain, only pleasure. But we should have a safe word just in case anything we do becomes too much.”

Her breasts pop free, and my mouth is there instantly, sucking and biting, the taste of her flesh like ambrosia in my mouth.

“Seashell,” she says.

“Perfect.”

She pauses, reaching down and pulling my face up until I can look her in the eyes. “You won’t hurt me; I can take whatever you want to give, whenever you want to give it.”

My eyes volley between her gaze and her mouth, and I’m so overcome with how much I need her that I dive down, tangling our tongues together, kissing the fuck out of her like I’m afraid I won’t ever get the chance again.

Hazy brown eyes. A murmuring voice. “What did they do to you?”

“Don’t die. Don’t let them win.”

I wake with a start, that deep sultry voice echoing in my ears and sending chills down my spine. I look over at Venesa, but she’s not there, and I hear the distinct sound of a shower running.

I’m tempted to go in, find her, and spread her out in front of me to feast before I start my day, but my dream has me frozen in place, pieces of a fucked-up puzzle finally clicking together in my head.

Because I remember now, when I didn’t before.

I don’t know how I got on that shoreline or what saved me, but I could swear I dreamed I saw Venesa leaning over me, pressing something against me that caused pain to shoot up my side.

The shower turns off, and I sit up in bed, running a hand through my hair.

Venesa walks out a few minutes later in a small white towel, steam billowing around her, and goddamn, she’s a fucking vision. But it’s tainted right now because I’m wondering if she was part of my attempted murder and just how much she knows that she isn’t telling me.

Was anything real?

I don’t want to think the worst, and my body refuses to let my mind even go there fully, convincing me that I’m just on edge because of the revelation of my pops’s betrayal and how fucked up everyone is in both our worlds.

“Morning.” She smiles at me, rubbing a towel on her hair.

“I can’t get this dream out of my head,” I start, the words spilling out of me because I can’t hold them back. “Of the night I almost died.”

She freezes in place, her movements slowing as she walks to the edge of the bed and sits down. “Enzo,” she says, sucking on her lips.

I crawl over to her, gripping her face until she has to look me in the eye. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

Something flashes across her features—trepidation maybe.

“ You were there. You saved me.” I laugh and shake my head.

“Enzo…” she says again, warily.

My heart feels like it might burst out of my chest, but I have to ask her. “I need you to be really honest with me. Did you know about your uncle and my pops?”

I don’t know what I’ll do if she was part of it.

Disquiet fills the air. “No. I was sent to New York that night to check up on Aria. Uncle T used to have me do it all the time. She was there…just walking along the Hudson with a broken heel and a tale about a date gone wrong. And then we heard you groaning, and I didn’t know who the hell you were, but I knew you were probably someone . To be honest, if I knew the truth, I probably wouldn’t have tried to save you. I was scared to be seen there with you anyway, so I gave Aria what she needed to wake you up, knowing she’d want to be a news story, and I ran away.”

“Did Aria know?” I ask, even though I’m sure she won’t have the answer.

Venesa purses her lips. “I doubt it. She didn’t really want to save you; honestly, she was kind of freaked out by the whole thing.”

I let out a disbelieving chuckle. “So this whole time I felt chained to a life with a woman who saved me, and it was…you? I should have been chaining myself to you .”

She breathes out a small laugh, her eyes fluttering. “You shouldn’t chain yourself to anybody, least of all me.”

“Fuck that . I lived a lie for an entire year, and that bitch manipulated me every step of the way.” I sit back on my heels and stare at Venesa. “But of course it was you. It’s always been you, hasn’t it?”

I literally owe her my life .

“There are a lot of things you don’t?—”

Leaning forward, I cut her off with a kiss. “I don’t care. I don’t care about any of that.” My thumb brushes along her jaw. “All I care about is that you’re here now, with me. You’re mine , and I am so fucking yours, Venesa Andersen. Tell me you know that.”

She swallows heavily and leans into my palm, closing her eyes. Then she nods like it’s painful for her to admit. “I know.”

I wish I could stay here all day, blow off my responsibilities, and sink inside her while I prove just how true my words are, but I won’t be able to relax until I make moves. The quicker I take care of things on my end, the faster I can help Venesa take care of hers.

And then there will be nothing standing in our way.

“I need to go meet up with Gio and figure out what the hell to do.”

I kiss her again and drag her into my lap. Her thick thighs wrap around me, as she grinds down, just a quick movement back and forth. My hands shoot out and grip her hips, thrusting up into her. “Don’t start something we don’t have time to finish, piccola sirena.”

She grins. “What’s the matter, Lover Boy, can’t take a little tease?”

I smack her ass, and she bites her lip and moans, and fuck , she’s doing this on purpose.

“Be good. Let me take care of this so I can come back and take care of you.”

She sighs and stops her hips, ending the torture.

“I’m gonna have Scotty come by and pick you up in a little bit, okay? Don’t go around the city without him. I should have kept Jessica in my sights just to make sure she doesn’t run to tell Pops that you’re here.”

She scoffs.

I brush the back of my hand against her cheek and shake my head. “It’s not a leash. I’m not trying to control you. I just want to keep you safe.”

“Okay. But I have Bas too, don’t forget.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know enough about Bas to trust him with your life.” I pat her ass, then move her off me and head to take a shower.

An hour later, I’m in the passenger side of Gio’s car, and we’re sitting in the parking lot of a secret spot just on the outskirts of Brooklyn. Turns out, while I was busy trying to figure out what to do, Gio had reached out to the De Lucas, who agreed to meet with us.

I glance over at Gio, bouncing my leg. “You think this is a trick?”

Gio shrugs, puffing on a cigarette with one hand and resting his other on the steering wheel. “Could be.”

“They could be too afraid of Pops to take the chance.”

He side-eyes me. “But you’re gonna take the risk anyway.”

“I’m gonna take the risk anyway,” I confirm.

He puffs on his smoke again before flicking it through the open window, then reaches over to squeeze my shoulder. “You’re my guy, you know that, right? To the ends of the fucking world, I’d ride for you. So when we walk into that warehouse in a few minutes, and we meet with these guys? I’m with you. And they’ll be with you too. You should run this shit, not your pops. Everybody knows it; they’re all just afraid of what will happen if they say it out loud.”

“I never wanted to run this shit.”

Gio nods. “Yeah, well…maybe that’s the reason you should.”

I let his words settle over me like a blanket of calm, and then I nod, staring at the warehouse in front of us before glancing to Gio. “You ready?”

He grins like a schoolboy. “Always.”

I’m not sure what to expect when we walk into the warehouse. Even though Gio called the meeting with the De Luca family, it could easily be an ambush, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the nerves scattering through my body like fire ants, stinging every spot they touch. But the important thing is I don’t let it show on my face.

The warehouse itself doesn’t have much in it, its soaring metal roof creating an echo chamber that makes our voices ricochet off the walls, and when we walk in, there are two men standing in the center, with perfectly pressed suits and slicked-back hair, their dark brown eyes already on me.

Matteo De Luca and his consigliere Leo.

I walk forward, gritting my teeth and reaching out a hand. “Matteo, thanks for coming.”

We shake, and something curious gleams across his irises, his head tilting to the side. “The great Enzo Marino calls for a meeting? How could I say no?”

I smile. “I’ll get to the point, then. Things have recently come to light that changed my perspective on a few things.”

Matteo tilts his head. “This is my problem because…?”

“Because my father forced you out of the decisions, out of power, and I thought you might be interested in getting some of it back.”

Leo laughs and spits on the ground at my feet. “You mocking us? Fuck you.”

Gio steps forward and opens his mouth, but I cut him off before he can say anything with a hand on his shoulder and a shake of my head. “It’s all right, Gio. They have no reason to trust me.” I look back to Matteo. “But I have a feeling it was you who sent that little spy to South Carolina to follow me. Wasn’t it?”

Matteo’s chin lifts but he doesn’t reply.

“How’s he doing by the way?” I chuckle, my thumb brushing against my scruff. “Listen, Matteo, I don’t have time for games. I’m offering you something here, a way to bring back the round table, but you’re gonna need to work with me. Don’t forget who actually has the power in these parts right now. This is a gift I’m willing to give you.”

“We were protecting our interests,” Matteo replies finally. “If you Marinos can use guys from Jersey to do work you don’t want coming back to nobody, then so can we. It’s still our town.”

My brows lift. “You talking about Frankie?”

He nods and continues. “We sent someone to follow you because nobody around here trusts a Marino, especially not your crazy-as-fuck father. Once that little rat Frankie squealed about working with Carlos and…others to try and take you out, I thought maybe you oughta know.” He shrugs. “But I had to make sure you weren’t part of the fucked-up system your family’s created, that Frankie wasn’t spouting bullshit as some type of game or trap. Sean was sent to watch you and report back.”

“Well…sorry he never got the chance to say his goodbyes.”

I watch his reaction, and when he gives a short chin jerk in confirmation, I know at least now that Sean really did end up dead after Venesa had her way with him.

“I just recently found out about Frankie and my pops,” I confirm. “You could say it’s changed my outlook on a lot of things. Redefined what loyalty is.”

Matteo’s eyes flash. “Your father wouldn’t know loyalty if it smacked him in the face.”

“Yeah,” I agree, although admitting it is like a knife in my solar plexus. Blowing out a breath and cracking my neck, I meet his gaze. “Well, my father and I differ in a lot of ways. I don’t want unlimited power, have no use for it. I find that working with others is a lot better in the long run… So I’d like to bring back the commission.”

Matteo narrows his eyes. “And you want our help?”

“I don’t need your help to do what needs to be done. I just want to know you’ve got my back with the other families when the time comes, the same way I’ll have yours.”

There are a few tense, silent moments when all of us are standing in the in-between, waiting for a decision to be made that will outline our futures. And then Matteo smirks, puts out his hand and nods.

“You have my word. You take out the trash, and we’ll support your seat at the head of the table.”