Hexed

Enzo is ecstatic. He’s decided that Venesa is the only woman in the world for him. He also feels optimistic about the future of his criminal empire once his father is out of the picture. After Venesa and Enzo finally exit the bedroom, they find that Scotty and Bastien have departed, leaving them some plates of leftovers. The couple is surprised when Carlos arrives in the penthouse elevator. He has some news to share and exposes the secret that Venesa has dreaded confessing to Enzo: She was the person who killed his brother, Giuseppe.

Enzo is incredulous. Carlos explains that Trent arranged the hit three years before Venesa even knew of Enzo’s existence. Carlos gives Enzo an ultimatum: He must kill Venesa, or Carlos will do it himself. Then, he leaves the apartment.

Enzo is reeling from a sense of betrayal as Venesa tries to explain: “Giuseppe…he worked with my uncle […] I guess something went wrong? I don’t know the details. Uncle T just told me what to do, and I did it” (433). Her words do nothing to lessen Enzo’s anger. He doesn’t want to listen and simply leaves. In her despair, Venesa finds that she has now regained the ability to cry.

Venesa removes the shell necklace and leaves it in the penthouse. Then, she goes back to her own hotel room to pack. She tries to call Fisher, but he isn’t picking up. When someone knocks on the door, she assumes it’s Bastien and doesn’t check the peephole. Instead, Enzo’s assistant, Jessica, arrives. She says that she’s always worked for Carlos, not Enzo, and then shoots Venesa with tranquilizer darts.

After leaving the apartment, Enzo goes to his brother’s grave, still trying to process his sense of betrayal. Gio finds him and tries to reason with Enzo by having him imagine himself in Venesa’s place: He would have done the same thing she did. Gio says, “I know life’s too short to hold grudges and hate in our hearts for the people we love” (443). His words are cut short as someone shoots him.

Carlos then points the gun at his son, blaming him for not killing Venesa as he was ordered to do. Enzo finally realizes that his father ordered the hit on Giuseppe, and Carlos doesn’t deny it, remarking, “He was going to do it to me, so I beat him to the punch. You fools think I don’t know you want my empire?” (445).

Carlos backs his son against a tree, but Enzo easily disarms him. However, Carlos says that if Enzo shoots him, he’ll never find out where Venesa is. Enzo dismisses this as another one of his father’s lies and shoots him in the head. He believes he can find Venesa wherever she is.

When Venesa regains consciousness, she finds herself chained to the torture table in the basement of the Lair. Aria and Fisher are both there, and Venesa realizes that Fisher betrayed her because he’s still in love with Aria. Aria reveals that she’s been working for her father and was sent to kill Enzo. When he didn’t die from his injuries, Aria and Trent decided that making him Aria’s husband would appease Carlos and keep Enzo under their thumb.

Aria is now planning to kill Venesa, but the latter thinks of a way to manipulate her cousin. She knows that Aria wants her freedom, which Trent is unlikely to grant because of his possessiveness. Venesa therefore warns her that she will play into Trent’s hands by murdering Venesa, saying, “If you kill me […] He’ll have something to hang over your head. Something that ties you to him, and to this place, forever” (457).

Venesa proposes a deal that will allow Aria to leave Atlantic Cove. Aria, convinced that Enzo loves her, demands that Venesa stay away from Enzo forever. Venesa agrees. At that moment, Bastien arrives, and Venesa explains the plan to overthrow Trent.

Aria isn’t convinced that Venesa has the power to do so until Bastien reveals that the trident painting contained a copy of an irrevocable trust leaving everything to Venesa’s mother and then to Venesa herself. He’s made multiple copies. Aria is still unconvinced, but Bastien offers to show her the proof. As they leave, he mouths the word “cabin” to Venesa. She thinks, “I know what he’s telling me. He’ll take care of Aria, and it’s my job to take care of Fisher. Somehow” (463).

Fisher explains that he does Aria’s bidding because they have a daughter together, and Trent threatened to have the child killed if Fisher didn’t obey. He thinks Aria ran away to New York because she was pregnant. Venesa contradicts this, knowing that Aria wasn’t pregnant on the night she tried to murder Enzo. Fisher’s resolve weakens as Venesa convinces him that Aria lied about having a child. He starts to remove her chains.

Back in New York, Enzo is sitting by Gio’s bedside. Gio was shot through the shoulder but will recover. Enzo tells him that Carlos’s body was left on Giuseppe’s grave. When the story hits the newspapers, all the gangland families will realize that Enzo is now in charge. 

While they talk, Enzo receives a call from Scotty reporting that Venesa has been taken. He immediately tries to reach Bastien to find out what’s going on. The latter texts back that Venesa is being held at the Lair and that Enzo shouldn’t trust Fisher. Enzo immediately boards a plane and races to Venesa’s rescue. When he sees Fisher bending over Venesa’s body, he shoots him dead.

Venesa is irritated because Fisher was in the process of releasing her. She says, “We all make mistakes, and Fisher was…troubled. He did what he thought he needed to do” (475). When Venesa realizes that Enzo has forgiven her and rushed to save her, she starts to cry, and he notices that she has regained the ability to shed tears. They spend a few moments reassuring one another and then move to the next phase of reclaiming Venesa’s inheritance.

Venesa knows that Bastien has taken Aria to his cabin, located three hours inland from the coast. When Enzo and Venesa arrive, they discover that Bastien has locked Aria in a bedroom until Venesa decides what to do with her. She reasons that Aria can be an effective bargaining chip with Trent: “What’s more important to a man like my uncle: his daughter or his power?” (482-83).

Before dealing with Aria, Venesa examines the back of the trident painting. Bastien explains that it contains the irrevocable trust from her grandfather and her mother’s will, leaving everything to her. Trent thought all the copies were destroyed, but these survived. Venesa asks Enzo to pretend he’s in love with Aria to get her to cooperate with their plan, and he agrees: “I back away and watch him walk down the hallway to play the role and convince the princess she’s won her prince” (484).

A few days later, Venesa sets the scene by chaining Aria to the torture table in the basement of the Lair. She then draws a witch’s protection circle on the floor around the table, hoping it will aid her plan. Bastien is to arrive with Trent, who will rush to release his daughter. This will give Venesa time to sneak up and inject him with poison. Aria is cooperating because she believes that she will receive money, Enzo, and her freedom for doing so.

When Trent rushes in, Aria tries to warn him that Venesa is hiding in the corner, effectively breaking the deal. Bastien takes Trent’s gun, but Trent gets hold of Venesa’s. Bastien then shoots Trent in the side. Trent tries to shoot Venesa, but she deflects his aim, and his bullet destroys the glass in her aquarium, releasing her stonefish to the floor. Venesa is furious and kicks Trent several times before injecting him with the deadly venom. She also injected a different concoction into Aria’s neck.

Enzo comes charging through the door only to learn that everything is under control. Trent is dead, and Bastien is relocating Venesa’s stonefish to another tank. Aria’s vocal cords have been paralyzed by the arsenic and lead that Venesa injected. Now, Aria is the one who seems unable to shed tears. Venesa leaves her penniless and alone in the world: “She’ll have to learn how to make it on her own. The way she’s always wanted” (497).

A month later, Venesa reflects on recent events. Bastien is now running the day-to-day operations of Seven Seas Construction for Venesa. He arranged for Trent’s body to be found on his yacht with the murder pinned on Johnston Miller. Venesa held a small memorial service for Fisher and thought she glimpsed Aria hiding in the shadows. 

Later the same evening, Venesa flies back to New York, intending to surprise Enzo in his penthouse. When she arrives, the place appears to be empty until Scotty charges in with a warning. He let Aria into the private elevator, and she is hiding somewhere in the apartment. Venesa runs to the bedroom, where she sees Aria bending over Enzo’s unconscious body with a knife. Venesa flies at her and stabs her cousin in the chest, relieved as she dies: “When she exhales her last breath, her body going lax and her eyes growing dim…I finally feel peace. Because it’s all over. And now Enzo and I can live happily ever after” (501).

It is now August and time to celebrate Venesa’s birthday again. Enzo brings her blindfolded to the Atlantic Cove boardwalk. He paid the city to close the entire pier for a private party. Scotty handled the decorations, decking the Sea Wheel with daisies, rose crystals, and white candles. Enzo gets down on one knee and proposes, offering Venesa a ring: “There’s a marquise diamond in the center, surrounded by rainbow moonstone set in a black platinum band” (505). Venesa agrees to marry Enzo, and they declare their love for one another.

Then, Enzo shows Venesa her present. Two people are tethered to the back wall of the water gun booth. One is Rusty, who raped Venesa in high school. The other is Jessica, Enzo’s traitorous former assistant. Enzo had Bastien supply Venesa’s favorite torture potions, which she happily accepts: “She runs her hands over them. ‘You brought me a gift.’ I smile, happiness suffusing every piece of me. ‘Happy birthday, piccola sirena. Now…go make a memory’” (526).