Page 53 of The Devoted Husband

“The fact that your parents’ love story was a hell of a lot like yours,” Barron answered. “Your mother, Andrea, had a best friend, who she claimed as her sister. Her name was Tonya. They both were friends with your father, Martin. Your mother had feelings for your father, but she didn’t go after him. Instead, she told Tonya. Tonya, then, went after your father.”

“Like me and Imani,” Sade said.

Ava nodded. “Yes. Now, the difference was that your father turned Tonya down because he had feelings for your mom.” Ava’s eyes shifted toward Dante, who inadvertently avoided them. “Andrea and Martin talked; they agreed to date, and we thought that was the end of it.”

“But it wasn’t,” Barron said. “Apparently, Tonya’s advances continued over the years. Eventually, Martin surrendered to them, and they had a longstanding affair. During this time, Tonya got married and had a daughter. Even still, she wanted your father. Andrea and Martin hit a rough patch in their marriage, and he agreed to a divorce pact with Tonya. Well, Tonya actually divorced her husband, but your father decided he wanted to work things out with your mom.”

Ava’s hand covered her mouth as her eyes watered. Though Sade had no idea where they were going with this, her emotions also began to unravel.

“The car accident that killed your parents...That wasn’t an accident,” Ava said. “It was a double murder, and Tonya was behind it. After she was convicted of tampering with their brakes and causing the accident, she was sentenced to life in prison. Her daughter suffered the most with that decision, and because of bullying at school, she committed suicide.”

“Oh my God.” Sade clutched her chest.

“So when you and Imani started bickering over Dante, we feared things would become volatile,” Ava shared. “That’s why I always tried to get you to see you couldn’t share him. I didn’t want either of you feeling so possessive of him that you tried to get the other out of the way.”

“I can understand that, but I’m not sure why that would make you believe I killed those women.”

“Love can make you do crazy things,” Barron said. “We lost your mom because her best friend wanted your father. It wasn’t too far off for us to think you killed someone to keep Dante’s identity a secret. When you were first arrested, we didn’t think that. After we looked into the case and learned some of the details, we started to become triggered over what happened to Andrea and Martin.”

“Thanks for telling me this.” Sade paused. “Why didn’t Mom ever tell us? I get why she didn’t bring Tonya around, but still.”

“I think she wasn’t too proud of how they behaved over your father,” Ava answered. “That’s the only thing I can think of.”

With a nod, Sade stood. “This is a lot to take in. All this time, I thought it was truly a horrible car accident that took my parents away from me, and now, you’re telling me they were murdered. Does Imani know?”

“No, she doesn’t.”

Sade rubbed her hands together, needing to be able to direct the nervous energy that filled her in one place.

“Okay. I guess she doesn’t need to know. I, uh...We’re gonna go.”

Ava stood. “I never wanted to tell you this, but I needed you to know why we reacted the way we did.” She took Sade’s hand into hers. “I don’t want you to stay away, baby. I just don’t want anything to happen to you in the name of love.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that. Adam is dead, and he’s the one who wanted Dante dead. Atlas went a little crazy, but now he’s dead and no longer a threat. And Imani doesn’t give a damn what we do. Those charges against me have been dropped and will never be an issue again.” Sade released her grandmother’s hand and grabbed Dante’s. “We’re finally getting to our happily ever after. I’d like you to be included, but I will also be at peace if you’re not.”

“We want to be in your lives,” Barron said.

“And our new grandbaby,” Ava added.

Sade looked at Dante, and when he nodded his approval, she agreed.

Sade sat between her parents’ graves. She’d been there long enough to clean them off and put out new flowers. Before she arrived, she had a million thoughts and questions in her mind. Now that she was here, she only wanted to sit in silence and feel close to them. Learning this new truth felt like the scab had been ripped off the wound, and she was grieving her parents all over again. Except this time, she wasn’t mad at God for taking them from her—she was angry at Tonya—and wanted her to pay.

Jones

Jones shot a dart into the picture of Sade that hung on his wall.

She looked just like her mother. Just like the woman who ruined his marriage. Andrea Griffin. Depending on who you asked, Andrea was the victim. She...and her cheating husband, Martin. But not to Jones. To Jones, they were the reason his wife was in prison, and his daughter was dead.

Even while dating Tonya, Jones knew her heart belonged to someone else because of how difficult it was for him to get inside. Still, he’d chosen her—fallen in love with her—and had no intentions of letting her go. So, imagine his surprise when Tonya told him she wanted a divorce to be with therealfather of her child...Martin.

The heart that Jones had fought so passionately to make his way inside of was officially closed off to him, and Tonya had no regrets. Not even when Martin told her he wanted to stay with his wife.

By that point, the damage had been done. Not only did Martin not want to be with Tonya anymore, but because she lied to him about her daughter, he also wanted to make her suffer. Before Tonya could receive full custody of the child that had never been his, she was convicted of killing Martin and Andrea Griffin. For a while, framing his wife for the murders was worth it...until the daughter he’d schemed to keep committed suicide.

Jones didn’t think he’d ever fully grieve Dena. Nor did he think he’d ever get over what her mother had done. He tried by burying himself in his work. For a while, that worked—until two murders happened, back-to-back, in his town. Others quicklywrote them off as unconnected coincidences, but Jones’s gut told him that wasn’t the case.

When he looked into Patrice and Trina’s phones and history, he was slapped with the past. Sade was the spitting image of her mother. Their having the same last name led Jones down a rabbit hole of research until he confirmed what he had already believed to be true—Sade and Imani were the daughters of Martin and Andrea Griffin.

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