Page 51 of The Devoted Husband

“Yes, sir,” Jones agreed. “I-I’m sorry.”

Remaining silent, Bennit returned his attention to the file on his desk.

As Jones returned to his desk, it felt like all eyes were on him. His body radiated anger. As much as he tried to maintain a composed outward appearance, his insides were hot and shaking, as if they were boiling on the inside. This could not have been happening. Yet again, Sade had gotten away with everything...and Jones had no one to blame but himself.

Once he had all his belongings, Jones was escorted out of the precinct by his lieutenant. His steps froze at the sight of Dante leaning against his car, wearing a smug grin.

“I told you not to fuck with my wife.”

“All right, that’s enough,” Lieutenant Burns said, shooing Dante away from the vehicle.

Dante shot Jones a wink before he walked away, and Jones had to tighten his grip on the box to keep from dropping it and going after him.

Sade

Mid-September

Sade,

Thank you for the pictures of Carmen. I can’t lie., I thought you’d get out of here and forget about me. I didn’t expect you to keep your promise. My baby girl has gotten so big, but I guess that’s to be expected. Thank you for giving her back to me in some way.

Last time we talked, you said you’d be moving back to Memphis. How is that going? Did you find a house yet? If so, make sure you give me your new address so we can continue to write to each other. I know you said I can call you anytime, but at least these letters are cheaper because they only use a stamp.

Oh! That lawyer you contacted on my behalf came to visit me yesterday. He said you offered to pay for him to represent me, but that won’t be necessary. Apparently, his office does pro bono appeals for people they believe have been wrongly convicted. I told him that I did kill Nico, but only because I felt I had no other choice. He said he’d looked into it and believed me...thought I had a chance to get out of here soon. Can you believe that? I owe it all to you.

Thank you for believing in me and not giving up on me. If I get out of here, I don’t know what I could do to repay you, but I’ll think of something.

Reka is out of the hospital. She was pissed when she got back and saw you were gone. That stab to her side knocked out some of her steam, LOL. She couldn’t believe Dominique didn’t go after you when you got out of solitary. Dominique gave her a BS excuse about how she could never get you alone beforeyou left, and Reka told her being in the main room had never stopped her from fighting someone before.

So they aren’t cliqued up anymore. If nothing else came from your time here except my pictures and you breaking up those rapist bullies, I know a lot of women in here that’ll be forever grateful to you for that.

Simone

The sight of Dante’s pout made Sade giggle. He was looking forward to finding out the sex of their baby, but it was a bit too soon. Sade was only sixteen weeks pregnant, and her doctor suggested waiting until her next appointment so it would be more accurate. Dante did get excited about the ultrasound and hearing their baby’s heartbeat, though.

As they walked hand in hand to his car, Sade teased him with, “Aww, babe, I thought you only cared about having a healthy little one. You said you didn’t care about the sex.”

“I don’t care if it’s a boy or girl...I just want toknowif it’s a boy or girl.”

As Sade chuckled, she lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed it. “Next month will fly by before you know it, and then we’ll get to find out.”

“You’re right. You told me not to get my hopes up about it happening today, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.” As Dante opened the door for her, his free hand went to her belly. It had rounded and started to protrude, and Dante couldn’t keep his hands off it. “I still can’t believe we’re going to have a baby.”

“Neither can I,” Sade admitted, covering his hand with hers. “I’m just grateful I’m not dealing with as many symptoms as I was, and my energy is returning.”

“Me too. I hate that you had to go through that, but I’m glad you are willing to for our baby.”

He gave her another kiss before helping her get into the car. When Sade pulled her phone out to check her notifications, she was surprised to see she had a missed call from her grandmother. After Dante told her what Ava and Barron said, Sade didn’t bother contacting them. This was the first time Ava had called, and Sade immediately thought something was wrong.

“My grandma called me,” she muttered as Dante started the car.

“Are you going to call her back?” he asked, lowering the volume on the music.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m sure if she’s calling me, it has to be something important.”

Dante nodded his agreement as Sade returned the call. Ava answered shortly.

“Hello?”

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