Page 133 of Hexed
And I may have disappointed my father, but he’s out of his fucking mind if he thinks I’m going to just forget everything I overheard Trent and Aria talk about.
Starting with figuring out what happened the night someone tried to kill me.
Because if Aria wasn’t the one who saved me, then who the fuck was?
THIRTY-SEVEN
VENESA
I’mno stranger to New York, but it’s not like I’m a frequent traveler.
Still, I’ve been here enough over the last few years of my life that it doesn’t feel foreign. It never has, even when I was visiting for the first time. The hustle and bustle of the city is comforting in a way that can’t be replicated anywhere else.
Back in Atlantic Cove, things are slower paced. And everyone knows everyone who knows something about someone else. Here I meld with the crowds, and there’s a sense of peace in the anonymity that provides.
Thisis my first time tracking down Enzo while I’m here, though, and if I thought he was bigger than the world when he was visiting South Carolina, I had no idea how big he really is here in New York.
Everyone knows his name, which works out in my favor, because I wasn’t 100 percent certain he’d be back home already.
I always thought the Mafia would live a simple life, hidden in the shadows and away from the public eye, but I guess John Gotti really changed the landscape with his flashy suits and paparazzi-perfect smile.
I’m thankful for it, though, because it was incredibly easy to figure out that he was back home already and get some tips on where he might be.
When I first arrived, I took a couple of days to gather myself. I scraped together all the money I had, which amounted to about three thousand bucks. Not a lot when you’re traveling to a different state and have nowhere to stay.
I’ve been at a cheap motel in Yorkville, saving every penny until I can figure out what I’m planning to do. The only part I’ve got so far is to find Enzo, tell him the truth abouteverything, and ask him to help me take down my uncle for good.
It’s a risk, and it’s not one I’m taking lightly.
There’s a really high probability he won’t say yes and an even higher one he’ll kick me out on my ass, or worse, kill me when he finds out what I’ve been keeping from him.
But every time I rethink my decision of coming out here and finding him, I reach up and grasp my seashell necklace, and a sense of belonging overcomes me.
I have to take the chance.
Then I’ll let him marry Aria, and I’ll walk away, never asking for another thing, which is why I’m at one of Enzo’s clubs, the Royale.
It’s nice. Busy. Easy to blend in, which is what I’m hoping for. At least right now.
I slip onto the only open barstool at the bar and order a club soda with lime, just to give me something to do while I figure out how to find Enzo. I don’t even know if this is where he is; I just know this is one place he frequents.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” the bartender says to me with a smirk, throwing a white towel over his shoulder.
I smile back at him and take a sip of my club soda, leaning my elbows on the bar top and looking out over the small roundtables and stages with gorgeous women dancing half-nude. It’s a beautiful sight.
“What gave it away?” I ask.
He laughs and wipes down a spot beside me before picking up a pint glass and filling it from the tap. “Where are you from? Tennessee?”
I purse my lips. “Mmm.”
His grin grows when I don’t reply with an affirmative or negative.
“Come on, pretty. Don’t play so hard to get.” He leans in closer, and I can tell he’s flirting. It feels nice, so I don’t dissuade him.
My eyes slide past him to the edge of the bar, where Idosee someone I know.
Scotty.
