Severu

By Jade Marshall

Lira Blake
My blood is blue. I'm a cop through and through. But when an assignment brings me into the Cammareri Family home, I learn not everything is black and white. Sometimes the law has to be broken for justice to be served.
Severu has me re-thinking everything I have ever known.

Severu Cammareri
Lira appears in my life unexpectedly. A situation out of my control has her living in my home. I wasn’t looking for a woman and now I have to find a way to keep my hands off her. Her betrayal should make it easy, but I still crave her. Lira has turned my entire world upside down.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight
• Release date: Nov 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9780369507075

Book preview

Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2022 Jade Marshall

ISBN: 978-0-3695-0707-5

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Audrey Bobak

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For Jessica Fourie Kuhn

Thank you for your support, random messages, delicious coffee, and so much more

Being friends with you is easy

Author’s Note:

Severu may contain triggers for some. As a reader, I find trigger warnings to be spoilers, but as an author, I understand that they are sometimes necessary. Although I am not going to list each one, there are many, so please feel free to email me at [e-mail] with your specific trigger(s) and I will let you know if that trigger is in this book.

For those of you that wish to go in blind, please remember that this is a work of fiction, and I DO NOT condone any of the situations or actions of the characters.

SEVERU

Cammareri Family, 2

Jade Marshall

Copyright © 2022

Chapter One

Lira

Three years ago

I wish I had been born a man. Being female, and in the police force, was never going to be a walk in the park. Add to the fact that I am an attractive female—by social standards, that is—and it’s utter fucking hell.

All I want is to be taken seriously. Instead, I’m treated with kid gloves. The men look at me like a sexual object, the other women hate me, and my superiors act like I’m incompetent. What I need is an opportunity to prove myself, but that is harder than finding a decent man in this shitty city.

Blake! my commander yells from his office.

His voice grates on my nerves, and I pray to everything holy that the transfer papers I put in over a month ago get approved. Without showing any of the disdain I’m feeling, I make my way to his office door.

Even though it is wide open, I still knock on the frame.

Come in and close the door, he says without looking up from the paperwork he is working through. Take a seat.

For the next three minutes, I sit in front of his desk in silence waiting for him to finish whatever the fuck he is doing. My irritation is starting to flare, but I try my best to tamp it down. Instead, I cast my gaze around his office.

His overly large, solid wood desk takes up most of the space, but there are some personal touches around the room. A framed photograph of the mayor shaking his hand, one of his family, and some framed certificates. He is an accomplished officer, but I have never liked him. There are too many rumors of him being dirty.

Commander Clark clears his throat before finally speaking.

Your request to transfer has passed over my desk three times.

I don’t say a word. I learned a long time ago that there are times to simply keep your mouth shut. Clark watches me closely, dissecting every minuscule move I make.

Is there a reason you want to leave my precinct so badly? he asks, leaning forward on his elbows.

Can I speak freely? I ask even though I know my honest answer will get me exactly nowhere.

Commander Clark nods in reply.

Drawing in a deep calming breath, I let loose. I’m never going to get anywhere in my career in this precinct. I didn’t go through the academy and score the highest in my graduating class to ride a desk. I am passed over for any assignment that doesn’t involve children or domestic abuse.

And you don’t find those assignments important? Clark questions.

Of course, they are important! I realize I have raised my voice and take another calming breath. But I am the only officer in your precinct that hasn’t done anything else in the past two years.

Commander Clark raises a brow.

I pay attention, I supply. It is my job, after all.

Fine. Clark scribbles on a piece of paper. If you want out so bad, be here at six tonight. Vice is looking for a female officer to replace the one they had.

I quickly grab the paper from his hand, tucking it into the pocket of my blue service pants.

Thank you, I say before moving to leave.

Don’t thank me yet, Clark calls after me.

I don’t reply or give him a chance to change his mind. I head toward my desk, grab my shit, and head home. I only have two hours to get myself ready, mentally and physically, for what could be the interview of my life.

Chapter Two

Severu

My irritation is at a full ten today. There are too many people in the house, and I am incapable of making sure that my brother and his family are safe. But it is Jennifer, my niece’s, first birthday, so I don’t have a choice.

Even though all the guests have been vetted, I know from experience that no one outside this family is ever to be trusted. I learned that lesson the hard way.

Will you relax? A hand on my arm draws my attention away from the guests who are milling around the lounge.

My posture relaxes a fraction as I turn to face Guilia, my oldest brother, Alceu’s, wife. She is holding my niece, who automatically holds her hands out for me to take her. As always, I take her without hesitation.

I never would have pictured any of us with children. Hell, none of us even liked kids, but Jennifer has us all wrapped around her little finger.

You know it’s not going to happen, Alceu says as he wraps an arm around her middle from behind.

I want you to enjoy the party with the rest of us. Guilia looks directly at me as