The Family

THE FAMILY A Reed & Billie Novel, Book 11 DUSTIN STEVENS Contents PrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 28Chapter 29Chapter 30Chapter 31Chapter 32Chapter 33Chapter 34Chapter 35Chapter 36Chapter 37Chapter 38Chapter 39Chapter 40Chapter 41Chapter 42Chapter 43Chapter 44Chapter 45Chapter 46Chapter 47Chapter 48Chapter 49Chapter 50Chapter 51Chapter 52Chapter 53Chapter 54Chapter 55Chapter 56Chapter 57Chapter 58Chapter 59Chapter 60Chapter 61Chapter 62Chapter 63Chapter 64Chapter 65Chapter 66Chapter 67Chapter 68Chapter 69Chapter 70Chapter 71Chapter 72Chapter 73Chapter 74Chapter 75Chapter 76Chapter 77Chapter 78Chapter 79Chapter 80Chapter 81EpilogueSneak PeekThank YouWelcome GiftAbout the AuthorDustin’s Books The GhostA Reed & Billie NovelCopyright © 2022, Dustin StevensCover Art and Design: Jun AresWarning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work, in whole or part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, is illegal and forbidden, without the written permission of the author.This is a work of fiction. Characters, settings, names, and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, places or settings, and/or occurrences. Any incidences of resemblance are purely coincidental. Revenge is a luscious fruit which youmust leave to ripen.—Emile GaboriauIt is difficult to fight against anger;for a man will revenge with his soul.—Heraclitus Prologue “They got her,” the sheriff whispered, the three words coming out as little more than a wheeze. A sentence forced out along with all the air in his lungs, managing to convey a host of emotions.Shock, at what he was just forced to witness.Shame, for the fact that he was too late in arriving.Frustration and fear and no doubt a handful of others, all mixed into a cocktail that stripped the man of any ability to formulate much more than that. A state of being that his prior years of service had never prepared him for. Reed able to envision the man standing outside the house forty miles away, weight shifting to either foot as he stared out, bordering on catatonia.A position Reed himself might have found himself in years before, the same competing thoughts and reactions all festering inside him as well. Reflexive responses that time and experience had managed to mold in a way that shifted their respective percentages greatly, meaning that instead of finding himself slipping into a stupor, rage was the predominant thing to well within him.Unbridled vitriol that rose like bile in the back of his throat, causing his molars to clamp down and his eyes to narrow. A full-body clench that brought veins to the surface along his exposed forearms and sweat to his features.The first time he’d seen either in weeks, the hatred filling him stronger than whatever cold the month of November could throw at him.Latent hostility that his partner picked up on instantly, shoving her muzzle up through the front seats of the sedan. Amped up on the same energy pulsating through him, she took in deep breaths through her open mouth, hints of pink tongue flashing behind the rows of exposed teeth.An exaggerated stance letting Reed know that she too felt what he did.“Sweet Jesus,” the sheriff muttered, his voice trailing away. “They got Ava, too.”Knowing better than to even try to reply, Reed ended the call there. A single press of a button cutting off the conversation, plunging the interior of the car back into silence as they tore north through the night.Quiet that did nothing to stop the final words the man uttered from resonating throughout the vehicle.They had gotten Ava, too.And if Reed and Billie didn’t get there in time, they would likely get two more as well. Chapter One The instructions The Artist gave were beyond refute. Ironclad directives that allowed her brothers – or, more aptly, just the one – to do at least some of what they wanted to while still giving her the space to do what she must.A clean canvas for her to work with.The opening application of what had been months in planning and design. Years in waiting before that, fighting against every internal desire before finally being given the greenlight.The first and foremost of the two rules she had handed to her brothers before sending them off was to not get caught. Not to so much as even be seen.An order that meant they had to be as meticulous in their actions as she was in hers. A continuation of the months of preparation that now covered the basement wall in the homestead they shared.Work that would be proven worthless if they were to get careless now, when it mattered most.The second order was that, within reason, they could do what they wanted from the neck down. No weapons of any kind could be used. No guns or knives or anything that would take a life, but using fists or feet or knees or elbows, they could begin to start unpacking some of the angst she knew them both to be carrying.Seven long years of rage that had not dissipated in the slightest, instead slowly simmering.Pressure in need of a release, the first signs of such already dappling the bare torso of the man before her. The guy firmly in his sixties with a thick shock of graying hair and deep creases around his mouth and eyes, no amount of money able to obscure the passage of well over half a century.A figure who could not help but spur the same repulsion in The Artist that had driven her brothers’ actions, even if her way of showing it was to be of a vastly different nature.Stripped bare from the waist up, the man was sprawled out on the white sheet spread across the concrete floor. Arms and legs splayed in a starfish pattern, his head lolled to the side, his eyes closed tight.Mouth gaping, loud breaths passed between his lips, products of the trauma tormenting his body and the chemical sedation keeping him asleep.A state he would remain in for at least the