Veiled in hate, p.1
Veiled In Hate, page 1
Veiled In Hate
BJ Alpha
Copyright © 2023 by BJ Alpha
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously.
Any similarity to actual events, locations or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Published by BJ Alpha
Edited by Dee Houpt
Proofread by Nay, That Grammar Gal
Cover Design by Haya In Designs
Created with Vellum
Sometimes letting go of our hate and allowing our mask to slip, is the the only way to move forward.
You’ll be stronger for it, and your happiness will be a true reflection of how you finally feel.
To my readers…
I wish you the best hate sex.
EVER.
CONTENT WARNING
This book is intended for adults only.
It contains scenes of violence and graphic sex. Please check my website for a full list of triggers.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
CAMILLE
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
LUCA
CAMILLE
Chapter 4
CAMILLE
Chapter 5
LUCA
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
LUCA
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
LUCA
CAMILLE
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
CAMILLE
Chapter 13
CAMILLE
Chapter 14
LUCA
Chapter 15
CAMILLE
Chapter 16
CAMILLE
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
LUCA
Chapter 19
CAMILLE
Chapter 20
CAMILLE
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
CAMILLE
LUCA
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
LUCA
Chapter 25
CAMILLE
Chapter 26
CAMILLE
Chapter 27
CAMILLE
Chapter 28
LUCA
Chapter 29
LUCA
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
CAMILLE
Chapter 32
CAMILLE
LUCA
Chapter 33
LUCA
Chapter 34
LUCA
Chapter 35
CAMILLE
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
LUCA
Chapter 38
LUCA
CAMILLE
Chapter 39
CAMILLE
Chapter 40
CAMILLE
LUCA
Chapter 41
CAMILLE
Chapter 42
CAMILLE
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
LUCA
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
CAMILLE
Chapter 51
CAMILLE
LUCA
CAMILLE
Epilogue
Do you want more of Luca?
Also by BJ Alpha
SHAW
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Prologue
Camille
While pushing the college doors open, I giggle at Justin as he tells me about his first shift at the coffee shop. His handsome face beams down at me, and my stomach somersaults in what I can only describe as lust, or maybe it’s love? I shake the thought from my mind. I can’t let that happen; I can’t afford the consequences. I need to protect him and my heart.
“Then I put the cocoa powder on her green tea. Boy was she pissed.” His words are drowned out by the wind blowing my hair into my face. I pull the strands from my mouth and push it behind my ears. My eyes latch on to a blacked-out SUV sitting idly on the corner of the street.
The SUV.
I scan the grounds, and my stomach sinks as my feet come to a standstill and the blood in my veins turns to ice. I feel the color drain from my face in dread, and my stomach roils at its mere presence.
This can only mean one thing.
My world is about to be turned upside down, and I have no say in it whatsoever.
A shudder leaves me, and my hands tremble with the realization that my life is about to change. I knew one day this day would come, but why did it have to be now? When I’m learning so much. Enjoying my life. Mine.
Justin’s hand rests low on my back, and my eyes snap up to his. “It’s time, isn’t it?” Sympathy oozes from his face as tears blur my vision. I can only nod in response, but it’s like I’m not nodding at all; it’s an out-of-body experience. This life doesn’t belong to me after all. It never has.
“And you’re sure there’s nothing I can do?” he asks, standing taller. He scans my face, I assume looking for something that’s not there. Hope.
I clear my throat and raise my chin. “Nothing.”
Justin sighs, knowing I have no choice. The time has finally arrived.
He lifts my chin between his forefingers, and his eyes bore down on mine. “Then you go into that life”—he flicks his finger toward the SUV—“like the strong woman I know you to be. Show them what you’re made of, Camille Ricci. Show them the real you.” His voice is full of strength, a confidence I wish I felt a glimmer of. But his words resonate in my mind, the familiarity of them gifting me with strength.
My lip quivers at his words, but this isn’t me admitting defeat.
This is me stepping into my future with determination in my mind.
I straighten my spine and give him a firm nod as I step away from the only man I could ever fall in love with, and walk toward my future.
One filled with dread.
With fear.
And above all else, hate.
Chapter One
Luca
I glare in the direction of my don, Lorenzo, and hate oozes from my pores. Even being here, on this property, one of theirs, makes my skin crawl. I want to rip open my flesh and roll in fucking salt to rid me of this feeling, yet I’m expected to sit here in the same room as the family of the scum that raped and murdered my younger sister.
Lorenzo glares back at me with equal measure, reminding me I have no choice but to comply. To go along with whatever peace-making charade he’s assembled between us and the Ricci family.
I slouch back in my chair and glance around the room, refusing to give Dario my attention as he speaks. There’s no way on this earth I can be in the same room as this piece of shit and pretend we get along.
As much as the need for spilling Ricci blood for vengeance is on pause, I refuse to accept it will be forever. It’s only a matter of time until I continue my crusade to rid the world of such scum.
Lorenzo clears his throat. “Luca. An agreement has been made between Dario and me.” I sit forward in my chair and pay attention to what my don has to say. And finally discovering why the hell I’m here in enemy territory.
Dario lifts his phone from the table and taps something out, then blows a puff of smoke from his cigar. My leg bounces in anticipation. Just what the hell do they have planned between them?
A door opens from behind me, putting my body on high alert. But I don’t turn around. You never turn your back on the enemy.
The soft clicking of heels, along with the clunking of heavy boots, tells me two people are approaching.
Dario stands to greet his guests. As does Lorenzo. But I refuse.
I realize I’m skating on thin ice being so disrespectful, but Lorenzo has some nerve bringing me here, expecting me to keep my gun and my knife in my pocket. It would be so easy to take them out right now. Although, judging by the armored doors, I really wouldn’t get far.
“Camille, nice of you to join us.” Dario speaks in a gentle tone, letting me know he’s fond of the young woman whose name I recognize well.
“N-n-nice to see you.” Her nervousness makes my lips quirk up in delight. She should be worried being in the same room as the enemy.
“Please, take a seat.”
She pulls out the chair and sits beside me. Staring ahead, I refuse to acknowledge her existence. No matter how much her coconut scent invades my nostrils, making me want to lean in and taste it from her treacherous skin.
“Lorenzo and I have been discussing a way to bring peace to our families. To create the loyalties that we once had.”
I scoff at the fat bastard’s words. How fucking dare he? His family wouldn’t know loyalty if it hit him in his round face. Anger bubbles inside me as my face grows hotter and, desperate for vengeance, the rage boils and boils. I tug at the collar of my shirt as my throat thickens in anticipation.
“You mean, before one of yours brutally raped and murdered my little sister?” I grit out with vitriol, causing the Mafia princess to suck in a sharp, shocked breath.
That’s right, swe
“Luca,” Lorenzo warns.
I shrug a shoulder and flop back in my chair, willing this to be over.
Dario exhales heavily. “As I was saying. We need to join an alliance once again. Our families need to move forward. Enough blood has been shed.” His voice is firm, demanding, letting me know he’s pissed with my attitude.
I divert my attention to the young woman beside me.
She sits stoically still, her back ramrod straight and her hands clasped in her lap. The perfect little Mafia princess. I almost want to scoff at my analogy. She’s so fucking perfect, and I hate her for it.
“There will be a union between our families.” I don’t listen to the words the fat bastard drawls because I’m too busy studying Camille Ricci and her slender neck I’d love to wrap my hands around. It leads to a wavy ponytail I imagine tugging at while I force her head back so hard she screams.
I regard her face.
She’s beautiful, I’ll give her that.
A pink flush travels up her neck into her cheeks, and I wonder if she can sense my eyes on her. I lick my lips as my cock thickens in my pants, reveling in her discomfort in my presence. She has blue eyes, but I can’t make out the shade with her face turned away from me. I feel the need to punish her for it, demand her to look at me.
She grinds her sharp jaw in annoyance, and I want nothing more than to grip it in the palm of my hands and spit on her in loathing so she knows what utter filth she is.
Her mouth drops open on a choked cough that hits me in the balls, drawing them up with need.
I lift an eyebrow in amusement, unaware of the conversation happening around me—completely enthralled by the little enemy princess.
Her head snaps toward mine, and she searches my face with what I can only describe as a tormented expression. I narrow my eyes, curious of the issue.
“I am not marrying him!” She spits the words out in disgust, and it takes a moment for them to register in my brain.
And when they register, when my brain finally takes in the fact that the two bastards that run our families have created a marriage union to settle our feud, my cock spurts with excitement, and the thought boils my blood.
I snap my eyes toward Lorenzo staring me down. He gives me a subtle shake of his head, reminding me I’m already toeing the line. I’ve already overstepped so many times I’ve risked not just my own life but my families too.
I don’t have a choice in this agreement, and I hate him for it.
But I hate her more.
CAMILLE
I replay the words in my head. “You and Luca will marry. Your marriage will be an alliance between our families, bringing peace once again.” Horror rushes through me, along with betrayal and despair. How can he do this? How can the man I love as a father do this to me?
My stomach rolls and my mouth goes dry, and I clasp my throat to ease the pain from the lump that’s formed there, swallowing down the vomit that threatens to escape. My heart feels like it’s being torn in two. How could he?
I turn my head toward Luca, and his eyes are roaming over my body like I’m a piece of meat he’s tearing apart and enjoying dissecting each portion. His black eyes are filled with a promise of pain, yet he seems completely unperturbed at the turn of events.
I tilt my head. Did he even hear what they said?
He has brought only pain and violence to our family since they accused my brother of such awful deeds. I’ve lost uncles and cousins, all good men, through his bloodthirsty need for vengeance, and I hate him for it.
“I am not marrying him!” The words roll off my tongue without thinking.
Luca jolts at my words. He blinks before his jaw clamps shut, the vein in his forehead protrudes, and his hands ball into tight fists, and I fear what he’s about to do.
He turns his head calmly toward my uncle Dario. “What. Did. You. Just. Say?” Each word is laced in a threat, each one sounding deadlier than the last.
My heart hammers against my chest, and my body gives an involuntary tremble at the growing tension in the room. I inch farther from him as my mind tells me to run, yet I sit transfixed on what is happening, the exchange between them.
“You’ll do as we ask, Luca,” Lorenzo drawls, as though fed up with Luca. I swallow thickly, the room feeling so much smaller than before.
I knew my life was about to change. But I never expected this.
The room spins as I tune out the angered voices, and my mind becomes cloudy. The feeling of impending misery makes me rub at the ache in my chest.
Luca speaks the family oath. “In blood we’re bound. In trust we live.”
Why do his words feel more like a threat than a promise?
My tear-filled eyes meet his black ones once again, and this time, instead of disgust and hate, his lips curve into a maniacal smile. The man looks like he’s possessed by the devil, no less.
“I’ll be seeing you soon, wife,” he spits the words out as he rises from his chair.
I stay seated, stunned to the spot as their exit continues around me.
Luca Varros is not the man I was meant to marry.
My chest tightens in panic.
He’s the man I hate.
Chapter Two
Luca
The bass from the music thuds against the floor and has my head pounding as I knock back another scotch, then slam the glass onto the table.
“And you have to marry her?” Disgust oozes from Maxim’s lips as his eyes volley from mine to the strippers.
“Yes!” I snipe out, because how the fuck can my brother pay attention to anything other than what is happening right now?
He sighs. “What are you going to do?”
I lift another scotch and groan when it burns the back of my throat. I slink back in my chair. “What the fuck can I do?” I lift a shoulder in defeat.
“Did you speak to Lorenzo?”
I love my brother, but I want to punch his dumbass face so bloody he becomes disfigured. “Of course I fucking did!”
I signal for another drink. The waitress in the skimpy outfit responds straight away, walking over with a sway in her hips and a tray resting on her hand. She pours the liquid from the bottle into the glass. “Just leave the fucking bottle, would you,” I snap out in frustration.
“Of course.” She places the bottle down and slinks away.
Maxim leans forward, his eyes etched with concern. “What did he say?”
I drop back into my chair in defeat, shaking my head, knowing I’ve no other option but to do what is being asked of me. “He said it’s time I stepped up and became the man I was destined to be.” Maxim scoffs at my words, but I continue. “He said he’s given enough concessions for Emilia, and now it’s my time to pay for my sins.”
