Hexed

On the morning of August 18, which is Venesa’s 25th birthday, Enzo takes a walk down the beach. He fears that he’s being monitored, and he makes a private call to Gio, his second-in-command, in New York. They discuss Enzo’s aversion to marrying Aria, and Gio suggests that the only way out is for Enzo to kill his father and take control of the crime family. So far, Gio hasn’t been able to turn up any information on Aria’s Uncle Frankie in New Jersey. Back in his room, Enzo wants Aria to ask Venesa to be her bridesmaid. Privately, he thinks that this might set a “boundary” that will prevent him and Venesa from acting on their attraction to one another. Wanting to please her fiancé, Aria agrees.

That same morning, Venesa ponders all the terrible birthdays she’s had in the past. It was on her birthday that her father beat her mother to death while Venesa hid in a kitchen cupboard. Aria’s arrival interrupts her bad memories. 

The cousins trade barbs, Venesa mentioning that she saw Rusty on the boardwalk. As a teenager, Aria arranged for Rusty to rape Venesa. Aria doesn’t like being reminded of the incident and changes the subject: She has come to the Lair to ask Venesa to be her bridesmaid, explaining that it was Enzo’s idea. Although she is furious at Enzo for suggesting it, Venesa will agree if Aria can find a way to return the trident painting to her. They shake on the deal.

That afternoon, Venesa arrives at her uncle’s yacht, the Aquata. She has only been invited aboard a handful of times in her life. This is supposed to be a birthday outing in her honor. Bastien keeps her company until the others arrive. He won’t tell her what he found out after torturing Sean, whom he killed. Bastien plans to accompany her to a gun shipment drop with the local motorcycle gang, the Atlantis MC. The leader already has a grudge against Venesa for poisoning his brother-in-law, so she worries she will be vulnerable to reprisal if she arrives without backup.

The arrival of Trent, Aria, and Enzo interrupts their conversation. Venesa has trouble masking her anger at Enzo for suggesting that she be a bridesmaid, but her attention is diverted when another unexpected guest arrives.

The new arrival intrigues Enzo: “He’s uncontrolled brutality. I can sense it in his posture. If I squint, I can almost see the waves of energy emanating from his pores. Vibrating, like barely restrained rage” (241). Enzo is shocked to learn that this is Harald Andersen, Venesa’s father. It was Aria’s idea to invite him as a surprise. This enrages Enzo, who thinks, “I feel the desperate need to hurt him. To torture him. To make him feel even a second of what he made his daughter go through” (244). Enzo berates Aria for being so cold-hearted, and Venesa leaves the cabin abruptly.

Seeing Harald causes Venesa to flash back to the day her mother died. The two of them had been playing a game of hide and seek with Venesa in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. When her mother heard someone approaching the house, she told Venesa to hide, which she did throughout the attack: “When I finally crawled out of that cramped cupboard, I saw her on the living room floor, bled out, her eyes wide-open and lifeless. I remember trying to cry” (250). Venesa never told the police anything about the attack, and she moved in with the Kingstons three days later. Back in the present moment, she refuses to spend another second around her father and leaves the ship.

Enzo remains on board through the dinner but is disgusted that everyone else acts as if nothing is wrong. Enzo finds himself wondering if he can go through with the wedding: “If it means being tied to a woman this cruel and not being able to speak up for someone who deserves it? I don’t know if I can do that” (255). After the boat docks, Harald leaves, and Enzo follows him, having thought of the perfect birthday gift for Venesa.

In the middle of the night, Venesa is awakened by someone knocking on her door. When she sees that it’s Enzo, she doesn’t want to talk to him, even though he claims to have a happy surprise for her. He is finally forced to sling her over his shoulder and carry her down to the basement room where she tortured Sean. Inside, she finds Harald shackled to the table and is delighted with Enzo’s “gift.”

Venesa loses no time, torturing Harald for information about the night her mother died. However, he says that he wasn’t there at all, and since she was concealed in the cupboard, Venesa can’t be sure who the attacker was. Harald insists that he owed Trent money and that the murder was meant to send Harald a message.

Once Venesa extracts everything Harald knows, she kills him. Back in her apartment, she and Enzo assess what they’ve learned. Venesa isn’t sure she can trust the information. Before he leaves, Enzo confesses his love for her: “‘In a different life’—I bend until my mouth is centimeters from hers—‘I would do anything to make you mine, and I’d bring you any person who’s wronged you and make them beg for death at your feet’” (268).

The following evening, Aria and Enzo return from a social engagement and have a fight in the car. Aria goes into the mansion, but Enzo lingers outside and overhears a porch conversation between Venesa and Bastien, learning that the latter won’t be backing Venesa up for the gun drop that night, as he received other orders. Enzo decides to follow her to make sure she’s safe.

When Venesa arrives at the rendezvous point, Johnston Miller, leader of the Atlantis MC, is already antagonistic. He knows that Venesa was behind the poisoning of his brother-in-law, and he starts to threaten her. 

Suddenly, Enzo appears and puts Miller in his place, impressing Venesa: “The way he’s speaking, it’s soft and low, like sex and candy mixed with a tinge of violence, and I wonder if this is why they call him Lover Boy. Because he whispers sweet nothings into their ears while he hurts them” (277). The couple leaves, and Miller’s biker crew doesn’t try to stop them. Venesa is grateful that somebody has her back for a change.

The next night, Venesa arrives for the engagement party with her employee (and sometime lover) Athena in tow, reflecting that Athena’s presence is “A shield. Something to get [her] through this night until Enzo and Aria disappear and [she] can go back to pretending like they don’t exist” (281). During the festivities, Miller tells Trent what happened at the gun drop. The crime boss confronts both Enzo and Venesa, but Enzo succeeds in intimidating both Miller and Trent, at least for the moment.

The party resumes, and Trent makes a grand speech about his love for Aria. He ends by bestowing the coveted trident painting on his daughter. This is also meant to punish Venesa for how the gun drop unfolded and for her subsequent accusations that Trent set her up to fail by preventing Bastien from going with her. This solidifies Venesa’s growing antagonism toward Trent: “Uncle T watches me from the stage, knowingly, and I can feel the moment the last little strings of my loyalty shrivel and wither away until nothing but betrayal and hate sit in their place, heavy and dark” (295). Venesa sees Enzo leave the ballroom and follows him, determined to put her own desires ahead of her family for a change.

Enzo goes into a bathroom to splash cold water on his face. He wants to distance himself from his toxic fiancée and her father. He knows that he can’t go through with the wedding, but it might mean killing his father to free himself. As he exits the bathroom, Venesa shoves him back into the tiny space, ready to have sex with him.

Enzo considers how he wants to remember this encounter with Venesa if it’s there only one: “I know that if this is my only chance to be with Venesa, then I’m going to make her remember it. I want her to feel cherished. Taken care of. Even if it’s just this once” (299). Putting his own needs aside, Enzo uses his hands to bring Venesa to orgasm. A few minutes later, the door opens, and Trent walks into the room.

Fortunately, both Enzo and Venesa are still fully clothed. Trent and Enzo start throwing accusations back and forth until Venesa intervenes. She reminds Enzo that their relationship is impossible and then kisses him on the lips. The tension defused, Enzo realizes that he needs to walk away from the confrontation with Trent until he can work out a plan. He thinks, “In a different life…But in this one? I’m bound by the Mafia and a woman I’ll never love” (308).