Page 13 of The Devoted Husband

It didn’t matter how many times Sade said what they shared was only about sex. Every time Atlas made love to her body, he tried to touch her heart and mind too. The closer they got, the more honest she was with him. After hearing about her childhood and the things that happened between her, Imani, and Dante, Atlas hated them both. Still, he decided to be honest with Sade about Imani’s plan with Adam.

As he pulled himself out of her leaking center, he rolled over onto his back and stared at her bedroom ceiling. Visiting her in Vanzette had become his escape over the last six months. The small town was quiet and perfect. If he didn’t have family and worked in Memphis, he’d move there to be closer to her. Atlas wasn’t sure what about him made Sade have her guard up with her heart, but he was confident he could break it down.

Sade got out of bed and returned with two towels to clean them off. When she finished, Atlas wrapped her in his arms. He held her close, sporadically placing kisses along her face and neck.

“I like it when you visit,” she announced.

“I bet.”

Her giggle made him smile.

“I like you too, Atlas.”

“You know how I feel about you. I’ve liked you since we met.” His exhale was hard as he sat up to look down at her. “And I hate that I have to tell you this now that you’re finally starting to open up to me.”

“Oh, God. Please don’t tell me you have a wife or something.”

“What? No.” Atlas waited until his laughter died down to give her a sweet kiss. “The only woman I want is you.”

“Then what do you have to tell me?”

“First, I need you to promise it won’t mess up what we have going on.”

Sade sat up and leaned against her headboard. “Okay. Now, you’re scaring me.”

The sight of her tugging the sheet against her body angered Atlas even more. He hated the position Imani and Adam had put him in...put them both in.

“It’s about your sister.” Her shoulders relaxed. “I told you she’d want to end her marriage now that Adam was out, and I was right.”

“She actually said that?”

It didn’t surprise Atlas that Sade didn’t know what was happening back in Memphis. After Imani’s last stunt around Christmas, Sade stopped contacting her sister and hadn’t bothered to check in.

“Yeah, but it’s not that simple. She’s been doing some illegal shit, and the Feds have been watching. To avoid jail time, she plans to blame it on Dante.”

“What!” Sade roared, causing the sheet to lower.

“That’s not the worst part. On the off chance that Dante figures out what she did, tries to run, or ends up getting away with it...They have a backup plan to get him out of the way.”

“Which is?”

Squeezing the back of his neck, Atlas momentarily avoided her eyes. “They want him dead, Sade. In fact, that’s what Adam wants most. He agrees to let him take the fall for the charges that Imani will soon face, but he wants him dead anyway. And he...He wants me to kill him.”

Sade stared at him before laughing in disbelief. “No, that’s...You’re joking, right?”

He shook his head. “I wish I was. Imani thinks Dante will have time to be arrested and face his charges. Adam wants him dead before that could even happen. I’ve been trying to talk them both out of this, but they aren’t hearing me. So I agreed to kill him if he ran or found out Imani was the one who set him up. I have a feeling, though, that Adam will have me go after him before he can face a judge.”

“Why would he ask something like this of you . . . unless you’ve done it before?” she asked, scooting away from him. “Have you . . . do you . . . Are you a murderer, Atlas?”

“Look...that’s...neither here nor there. I’m telling you that your sister wants to set her husband up for fraud and that my cousin wants him dead. Now, I agreed, but I won’t kill him because I know how much he means to you. But you need to find a way to get Dante here with you or at least out of Memphis.”

“How could you agree to this, Atlas?” she yelled, hopping out of bed.

“Because I’m falling in love with you.” Atlas rolled out of bed and took her naked frame into his arms. “If I didn’t say yes, Adam would bring someone else into his plan who would kill Dante. He won’t lose his life with me. Could you focus on that? I’m trying to help him—for you. I know this is a lot to take in, so I’ll leave now so you can process this. But we need to come up with a plan to keep him safe. They are going through with this regardless of whether I’m involved. Help me save your best friend’s life.”

Atlas

For Atlas, falling in love with Sade was the sweetestandmost dangerous thing for him to do. He’d never felt so exposed and vulnerable in his life. Teetering on the edge of obsession and delusion, he read the text message that Dante sent her. He’d downloaded software that allowed every call and text message that she received to come to his phone...and he was also able to see her responses.

---