Page 146 of Hexed
“Can’t find something that’s turned to ash,” Bas confirms. “But I’ll tell you a secret, Venesa Andersen. That painting you all love so much? I found some things while I was preparing it for the engagement party.”
I sit forward, my heart pounding against my ribs.
Bastien locks his gaze on me. “Trent shouldn’t be running the Kingston empire, Venesa. It’s supposed to belong toyou.”
FORTY
ENZO
I’ve got a headache.
It’s pulsing to the beat of my heart while I sit behind myfancydesk in my skyscraper, with my assistant, Jessica, outside the door.
Just knowing Venesa is in my city has me walking around with pep in my step. Despite the situation I’m facing in every other aspect of my life, I’m in a great mood and nothing can bring it down. She’s mine.
I’ve had her, she’s here, and I’m never letting her go again.
My head pulses and I groan, rubbing my temples.Thisis why I don’t drink much anymore. Not only because my body doesn’t recover the same way it did when I was twenty-one, but because things grow fuzzy. Memories become hazy, and part of me is worried I’m misremembering last night, forgetting things, when I want to have our first time together branded on my fucking skin and in my soul for eternity.
Not to have to struggle to remember each breath and every moan.
My office door opens, a pair of heels clicking softly on the carpeted floor.
Jessica’s holding out a bottle of Tylenol and a black coffee. One of her blond eyebrows is arched, and she gives me a knowing grin.
Behind her, Gio slips through the door, maneuvering around her, taking both items from her hands and haphazardly placing them on my desk before dropping into one of the seats.
Jessica frowns and glares at him before looking back at me. “Anything else, Mr. Marino?”
I wave her off, smirking at Gio instead as she leaves the room. “What, no water?”
Gio smirks, his long legs stretching out in front of him. He pulls out a phone and tosses that on the desk, too.
Right.
“It’s tomorrow,” he says as a reply. “Your phone got fucked with by your bitch ex, so here’s a new one.”
Sighing, I scrub a hand down my face. With everything else that happened, I had forgotten about this. Picking up the new phone, I give him a questioning look. “This one’s good to go?”
“Same number, contacts all transferred over and everything.”
I nod and rub my fingers beneath my chin, placing it back down.
Did Venesa know about Aria tapping my phone and working with her uncle? About her not saving me?
My stomach knots up from the possibility.
“What are you thinking about?” Gio asks.
“About how I should kill Trent Kingston before he tries to come for me.”
“You could always hire out.”
I snap forward in my seat, a light bulb going off in my brain. “What did you just say?”
Gio runs his fingers over his scruff and then picks a piece of lint off his pant leg. “I said you could contract it out. Pain in the ass, but I’m with you if you think it’s the right call.”
My brain is going a mile a minute, jumping from Peppino’s death to my attempted one and back again, trying to piece together a puzzle I don’t have a full version of.
