Page 41 of The Devoted Husband

“They actually gave it to you?”

“Yeah. Sorry you had to suffer with this all night. No one deserves to be treated like that. I’m going to file a complaint on whoever worked last night. What was their name?”

Simone chuckled as she sat up. “I appreciate the concern, but you’d only be making things worse around here for yourself. These people don’t care about us.”

“They should,” Sade replied, handing Simone everything she needed. “I’ll wait out there while you get freshened up.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Sade made her way back out to the quad and sat in the center of the room. Several plastic chairs littered the floor in front of the TV. Currently, there was a news broadcast playing. It wasn’t something she would usually watch, but Brooks had control of the remote.

Sade wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Simone tapped her shoulder. Her bright eyes and warm smile made her look completely different. She’d even slicked her hair back into a sleek bun.

“Thanks again. Um . . . Have you had breakfast yet?”

Sade chuckled. “If you want to say that. I’m pregnant and was only able to eat the banana. The eggs came right out.”

“Oh no. You can have my banana, and I know a few ladies in here who never eat their fruit. I’ll get you theirs too.”

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that.”

“Nah, you did me a solid, and I got you. Hold on.”

With tears brimming in her eyes, Sade watched as Simone worked the room. By the time she finished, she’d folded her shirt and used it as a basket to hold several bananas and apples. As she gave them to Sade, she laughed.

“I know you can’t live off this forever, but it’s a start. You’ll get used to the food, and once you get your inmate number, you can get commissary.”

“I . . . Thank you, Simone. Seriously.”

Sade followed Simone to the table where her food was, and they ate and got to know each other. Simone was serving a twenty-year sentence for killing her abusive husband. Theyjustified the sentence by saying she killed him during a time he wasn’t abusing her, which was bullshit to Sade. Having someone to talk to made her first day in jail easier, but Sade couldn’t deny how anxious she was starting to feel over never being able to go back home.

Dante

Things weren’t adding up. As Dante tossed and turned last night, he tried to make Sade being arrested make sense. From what Jones told him, the only way she would have been able to be arrested was if he had proof via DNA that she was at the crime scene. The blood and hair that were found belonged to someone that wasn’t in their system.

How could that have changed?

As Dante headed to Attorney Richmond’s office, he prayed Sade would call him soon. It was 9:45 a.m., and the more time passed, the more he worried something terrible had happened during her first night there. There was no doubt in Dante’s mind that Sade could defend herself, but she’d never been in prison. More than anything, he worried about her physical and emotional state.

When his phone vibrated, he looked down at the dashboard, hoping it was Sade. It was an unfamiliar number but not the one she’d called from last night. Still, he answered quickly with, “Hello?”

“I told you I’d bring her to justice without your help.”

Jones?

“What the fuck did you do, Jones?”

Jones laughed. “What needed to be done. Now, this is your last chance, Dante. Either you help me by giving your testimony to help keep Sade behind bars, or I will assume you knew about her plans to kill and find a way to have you charged with murder too. So, what’s it gonna be?”

“I have a third option: You can undo whatever illegal stunt you did to have my wife arrested, and I won’t have to punish you for it.”

“Why do you keep calling her that? You’re married to her sister, right? What was her name...Imani. She’s such a beautiful woman. I see why you wanted to have both.”

Jones’s laughter grated Dante’s ears. Gritting his teeth, Dante gripped the steering wheel as his speed accelerated. He was about to ask Jones how he knew what Imani looked like, then remembered he’d visited her a month or so before they left Vanzette. Was this her doing? Did she renege on their deal and work with Jones to reduce her sentence? Dante didn’t want to believe Imani could do something like that, but she’d done worse.

The sisters had been going at each other for years. A little while before the accident, Sade put distance between them, which cut down on the drama. Had the beef been placed back on the stove by his relationship with Sade in Vanzette? And if so, what would it take for Imani to leave them alone?

An incoming call came through, and the number was similar to the one Sade had called from last night. All that was different was the last digit. Not bothering to respond to Jones’s comment, Dante ended that call and switched to the other.

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