Hexed (Never After #6)

49. Venesa

FORTY-NINE

VENESA

I’ve never had such a severe headache in my entire life, and as I come to, blinking to clear the blur, I try to press my hand to my face to stem the pain, but my arms won’t move.

Clank.

My brain feels slow, like I’m swimming through sludge, and I’m having trouble getting my bearings to figure out where exactly I am.

Closing my eyes, I feel like I’m spinning, so I reopen them because the last thing I need is to throw up right now.

I’m lying down on something hard and cold. Definitely metal. I try to move my arms again, and this time a sound registers. Like nails on a chalkboard.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

I know that noise.

The longer I’m awake, the more I remember what happened and why I’m feeling so out of sorts, and I blink rapidly, trying to clear my vision.

That bitch Jessica shot me with a tranq gun. God, Bas is going to murder me if I make it out of this alive.

I don’t bother moving again because I know it’s no use, as surely as I start to suspect exactly where I am.

My legs twitch, and the noise happens again. Metal hitting metal.

Clank.

I have to remember to ask Bas to change the material on these.

I will my eyesight to clear, but it’s still blurry, and God , my head.

Closing my eyes and breathing through the nausea, I focus on my other senses.

If I listen closely, I can hear the faint sound of a running motor, the same timbre and pitch of my pookies’ saltwater aquarium.

My heart sinks.

I open my eyes again, willing them one more time to un-blur, and finally they do, at least a little, and my suspicions are confirmed.

I’m at the Lair. Chained to the table I’ve used so many times on others.

The irony is not lost on me.

My spirit guides have a sick sense of humor, doling out retribution this way.

Pulling at my restraints would be nothing more than a waste of energy, so I stay still instead. I know better than anyone there is no escape from here. Not unless someone frees you.

Who has me down here? Bastien? Uncle T?

Are they working with Carlos? They have to be.

Jessica said he was the real boss, and there’s no reason I’d be back here unless Bastien brought me. Uncle T’s only been here once or twice since he bought it, and he’s never been the kind of guy to get his actual hands dirty; he just loves doling out that responsibility to everyone else.

My heart hurts thinking Bastien may have come out to New York to trick me into trusting him, but right now, it’s the only option I can make sense of.

He knew I was leaving. I texted him.

I brought him along on almost every single outing with Enzo while we were in New York. He became friends with Scotty: the biggest gossip ever and definitely someone you’d want to sidle up to if you needed some information to slip.

Besides, when I really think about it, beyond my being the equivalent of his annoying little sister, Bastien has no reason to stay loyal to me.

Nobody does.

The nausea increases at the thought of yet another person I put my trust in betraying me, and I swear if I puke all over myself when I’m chained down and unable to get away from it, I will be mortified.

Please don’t let me die covered in vomit.

The sound of a door opening sharpens my senses, but I don’t bother trying to lift my head. I’d rather save my energy in case an opportunity to escape this place presents itself.

Shoes click on the hard floor, and they sound like heels, and then Aria’s looking down at me, a wide grin spreading across her face. “Oh good, you’re awake.”

Surprise flickers through my middle. I didn’t expect to see her here.

“Hello, sweet Cousin,” I drawl, acting bored.

Damn. It’s embarrassing I’m going out this way.

Even in my perilous position, the need for vengeance booms like a drum with every beat of my heart, and I’m not giving up hope that somehow, someway, I’ll be able to get myself out of this. Seeing her face only solidifies the anger fueling me. I have a lot of years to make up for with her and her daddy.

“Where’s Bas?” I ask, keeping my tone neutral.

A look of confusion screws up her face. “Why would he be here?”

Relief drapes over me like a blanket. It may be surprising that Uncle T has her down here and working with him, clearly another thing he kept from me on purpose, but I’m not surprised she snatched up the opportunity when it came her way.

It wasn’t Bastien.

But if it wasn’t him, then who the hell got me down here?

I home in on Aria’s hands and realize she’s holding a knife from the collection Bastien keeps in the room. But her hand is shaky.

Amateur.

“That’s always been your problem, hasn’t it?” she says. “You think I’m stupid, that I’m not useful to Daddy the same way you are. Well, surprise , Urch. Guess who’s been his real sidekick for the past year?”

I laugh, because she’s wrong. I actually think the only person she’s useful to is her daddy, but I don’t tell her that.

Her free hand reaches out and smacks my cheek. “Quit laughing at me!”

I open and close my jaw, trying to stem the burn, because who knew Aria had it in her to hit like that? Honestly, if she were anyone else, I’d be mildly impressed.

“I’m not laughing at you,” I reply. “I’m laughing at your delusion. Do you really think bringing me here is the smartest choice? I know this place better than anyone.”

“Better than almost anyone,” she corrects.

The words falter and die on my tongue when she says that, an eerie tingle working its way through my limbs.

“I can see you’re confused.” She leans in close, her nose almost touching mine. “Let me help you figure it out. You took something from me, so I took something from you.”

My bruised heart misses a beat, aching.

She straightens, her hand still trembling with the knife. “Although I guess Fisher was technically mine first too, wasn’t he?” She looks at me, and her face screws up in disgust. “God, what is it with you and my sloppy seconds?”

I won’t believe it. He wouldn’t. “You’re lying.”

She tilts her head. “You sure about that?”

Panic infuses my breaths, and it’s difficult to get it under control, but I try like hell anyway. And I almost have it, but nothing, and I mean nothing, prepares me for the betrayal that slices through me when Fisher walks out from the shadows and into my line of vision.

The remnants of my fractured heart shatter from what feels like a Judas kiss.

He won’t look me in the eye, though.

That fucking bastard.

I swallow around the painful lump in my throat, well-versed now in the feeling of when tears are going to come. Now that I’ve started crying, it’s like a faucet, and I’m trying to figure out how to shut it at will.

I keep them at bay, barely. Neither of them deserves my tears.

“Still a sucker for a pussy, huh, Gup?” I let out a sardonic laugh.

He shakes his head and scuffs the floor with the toe of his worn shoe.

“Can’t even look at me? Coward.”

Aria smacks me across the face again, which is getting incredibly annoying, and my head slaps against the metal table.

“That’s for fucking my fiancé,” she snarls.

“Ex,” I correct, turning my face back to her and grinning.

Her brows rise, her hand on the knife growing more agitated. “What did you say?”

“I think you heard me.”

“E and I are just in a fight. It happens to every couple. But he’s still mine, and we both know it.”

“Huh,” I reply.

She stops. “What’s that mean?”

I glance down at the knife again, and it’s really not in my best interest to rile her up right now, but sometimes, I just can’t help myself.

“Nothing.” I shrug, but since my wrists are chained over my head, it doesn’t do much other than bring back that ugly clanking. “Just that he must have forgotten while he was fucking me all over New York.”

“He can have his fun. Everybody knows we belong together.” Her eye twitches, and she smiles at me. “Besides, if he wanted you so much, where the hell is he now, Urch?”

My heart spasms, the broken pieces throbbing like salt poured in open wounds. “Probably staying as far away from your psycho ass as possible.”

She scoffs. “He loves me. I saved him. We’re meant to be together.”

I stare at her, my eyes widening because she has truly lost the plot. “You didn’t save him, you lunatic. I have half a mind to believe you were the one there trying to kill him in the first place.”

She lunges toward me, the knife nicking the skin on my arm and making me suck in a sharp hiss. “And then you came along and fucked everything up, and plans changed. You just couldn’t leave well enough alone.”

Her admission is a concrete boulder crashing into me, but I should have seen it coming. After all, I’ve been truly blind to what’s been going on for years; it was just an illusion that I was part of the bigger picture.

“Sorry, but you did a shit job, Aria. He was still alive because you fucked everything up.” A sharp laugh escapes me at the sudden realization. “It’s no wonder Uncle T sent me out to check on you that night. He knew you’d fail and need my help—he just didn’t want to tell me why.”

Aria scoffs, her nostrils flaring. “Well, I didn’t need it.”

“Clearly,” I deadpan.

“The backup plan worked out better anyway, and we have you to thank for it. Marrying E was a much better option, and once we convinced his father that we’d keep him under control and report back everything we found, it was easy to get that ring on my finger.”

“This whole time, you’ve been a shady bitch. I should have known.” I adjust my wrists, the metal chafing against the skin.

Aria’s staring down at the blood slowly dripping from my arm onto the table. It’s a shallow cut, but she seems to be weirdly affected by it.

She snaps out of her daze and meets my eyes. “Doesn’t matter. I love him, and he’s mine. Fate always works out. You of all people should know that. What is it you say? The universe always provides?”

“I also say karma’s a bitch.”

My eyes flick to Fisher, expecting him to have some type of reaction to the delusional things Aria’s saying, but he doesn’t seem surprised by her statements, and I have to wonder why.

Why doesn’t it bother him to see her so out of sorts? Why isn’t it bothering him to hear her speak about Enzo like they’re soul mates? Why doesn’t he care at all that I’m here, chained to a table and bleeding, most likely about to die. Is he that far gone?

I should have paid closer attention to how much he was fixating on her when she came back to town, but I got distracted. Messy. Let my shit take precedence over his. I guess Uncle T was right: I am sloppy.

My mind races, trying to think of a way out of this. I can’t use my body. I can’t do anything except lie here at their mercy, so I have to use the only other weapon I have available.

My voice.

And Aria’s always been a girl who can’t resist a good manipulation tactic. With her, it’s all about the angle.

“Look at you, being the picture-perfect Kingston daughter. Who would have thought after all these years of trying to get away, you would end up right back where you started?”

Her eyes flare, and she points the edge of the knife at me. “I am not.”

I raise my brows. “Could have fooled me.”

Aria crosses her arms, tapping the blade against the inner part of her elbow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I imagine he’s promised you things.”

She lifts her chin. “So?”

“Here’s the thing, Aria. You may know him as your father, the doting, overprotective, wealthy man who will stop at nothing to make sure his baby girl is safe. But me? I know him as the King of the Sea. Ruthless, self-centered, willing to lie to get his way. And I’ll admit that despite all those things, I know he loves you more than almost anything in the world.”

She huffs. “What do you mean, ‘almost’?”

“Well, I can’t be sure.” I look away from her. “Never mind, it’s ridiculous. You’re probably right that he’s just around the corner waiting to say how proud he is of you for all this.”

Her jaw clenches. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I give her a pitying look. “I do. I know it better than anyone, unfortunately. And we both know there’s one thing he loves more than any of us.”

She lifts her chin. “And what’s that?”

“Power, of course.”

She drops the knife. “Well, you’re wrong. And he’s not here.”

I laugh, and the chains rattle. “You think I don’t know that? Do you know how many people I’ve chained to this exact table and done exactly what you’re about to do, just so he’d look at me with pride when I went back home and told him?”

She scoffs. “Stop trying to compare us.”

“Oh, but we’re so very comparable, sweet Cousin. You see, Trent Kingston didn’t get to where he is by being a dummy. He knows every single move you’re gonna make before you make it, because when you’re working with him, it’s all an illusion. It’s him pulling strings and making you think you’re getting your way. It’s his specialty.”

She turns away from me, but I know she’s listening. My words are a hook thrown out to sea. I just have to reel her in slowly.

“He doesn’t treat me the same way he treated you,” she proclaims. “He loves me.”

“Now that we already agreed on. But the boss is clearly on a roll, bringing you in to do the dirty work he used to have me for. Replacing me with someone he knows he can kick when she’s down and she’ll just roll over and ask to be kicked again.” I click my tongue and sigh. “Before you know it, you’ll be just…like…me.”

“I will never be like you.” She spins around, her eyes blazing. “Daddy promised I’d get to leave after this, go back home with E.”

My brow lifts. “And you believe him?”

“Yes,” she says, but I can sense the uncertainty in the air.

“Fair enough. But if you kill me…” I continue. “He’ll have something to hang over your head. Something that ties you to him, and to this place, forever.”

“I’m not staying in Atlantic Cove.”

“I’m sure you believe that,” I agree.

“He wouldn’t.”

“The only constant in life is change,” I say. “Heraclitus said that.”

Aria’s face screws up. “Okay, and?”

“And the one thing I know is your father would move heaven and earth to keep you here, locked to his side. That is a constant in this life. So, what’s the part that’s changed?” My eyes flick to the knife. “Once your hands are dirty, Aria, there’s no amount of washing that can clean the stains. He’ll always know how to make them show.”

She lets out a frustrated groan. “I’m supposed to kill you. I want to kill you.”

“Kill me, then.” I say lackadaisically. “Or…”

She leans in slightly.

“We could make a deal.”