Page 57 of The Devoted Husband

“Baby, don’t open it.” Sade placed her hand on his shoulder, but that didn’t stop Dante from opening the top of the box.

The moment he did, flies flew out. Sade covered her mouth but to no avail. She vomited in the bushes at the sight of the mound of poo and crawling maggots.

“This has to be Jones,” Dante said. “Who else would be bringing up alleged murders? Plus, me killing Atlas was self-defense.” He finished closing the box and walked it over to the garbage, not bothering to wait for Sade’s response.

He found her in their bathroom, brushing her teeth. Dante washed his hands three times before starting to feel a little cleaner.

“Why won’t he just leave usalone?” Sade seethed. “You’d think losing his job would have brought him to his senses. Why can’t he just...let it go?”

“I think losing his job is ammunition for him to keep coming until we stop him.”

Sade shook her head as she closed the space between them and wrapped her arms around him. “I know what you’re thinking, but we can’t.”

Dante scoffed. “Why not? Do you think I will just let him stalk and taunt you like this? To what end? You’re pregnant. You don’t need to deal with continued stress.”

“You’re right, but I don’t want us to respond and bait him to do more. Maybe if we ignore it, he’ll stop.”

“It’s clear he’s still watching us. That needs to be handled. We’ll try it your way, but we’re doing it my way if it doesn’t work.”

Sade nodded in agreement, and Dante kissed her forehead. He never thought there would come a day when he’d be able to consider taking a life so casually. But for Sade? He wouldn’t give it a second thought.

Dante

Olivia swooned over the ultrasound Dante showed her. Knowing the twins weren’t his biologically left a huge hole in all their hearts. Even though Dante still did what he could for them and tried not to treat them any differently when they were around, it stung every time he saw them and was reminded they weren’t his daughters. That pain overflowed onto his parents too. Because he was an only child, all their grandchildren would have to come from him. Olivia cried when she learned Imani’s infidelity had taken that away.

“When are you going to find out what you’re having?” Deandre asked his son.

“The next checkup, I believe. I was hoping it would be the last one, but Doctor Smith said it was still a bit too early, and she didn’t want to risk not being able to see and getting us excited or telling us an incorrect gender.”

“That’s understandable. Well, I just want to know what my grandbaby will be,” Olivia said. “This baby is truly a gift. It won’t replace the twins, but it sure makes their loss easier to handle, knowing we’ll have this little one.”

“And you’re sure there’s no chance this is that other man’s child?” Deandre asked.

Dante was always open with his parents because he often asked them for advice. He’d shared with them how Sade had been involved with Atlas, and that was the reason Atlas entered and died in their home.

“She said it’s mine, and I believe her.”

“Will you get a DNA test just to be sure?”

“I trust her, so I don’t think there’s a need for one.”

Deandre sighed. “I love Sade, and I’m not saying she could be as heartless and conniving as her sister, but if you know she was involved with a man around the same time as you, I’d get that test to be sure.”

“Nah.” Dante shook his head. “He wasn’t around when we were doing our thing in Vanzette. I get where y’all are coming from, but I’m 100 percent sure the baby is mine.”

“And if that’s the case, what’s wrong with taking the test just to confirm it?” Olivia asked sweetly.

Dante’s phone vibrating in his pocket stopped him from responding. He pulled it out and sat up in his seat at the sight of two new messages from a blocked number. The pictures of Patrice and Trina’s dead bodies made his heart stop, along with the caption,You’re next.

Chuckling, Dante stood, absently telling his parents he had to go. They asked if he was okay, and he wasn’t sure he even responded vocally. Those crime-scene photos were just the evidence he needed to prove Jones was behind everything happening to him and Sade lately, and even though he told Sade he’d ignore it, that was no longer an option.

For a while, all Dante could do was stare at Captain Bennit. He’d taken the three-hour drive to get to Vanzette and was sure the captain would be of assistance. After he’d run down everything that had been happening, Bennit’s response was, “There’s nothing I can do.”

“Excuse me?” Dante sat up in his seat, tilting his head so that his ear was more aligned with Bennit’s mouth—because he refused to believe what he was hearing. “If Jones didn’t send me these crime-scene photos, who the hell else did?”

“Even if he did, I can promise you we won’t get a trace back to him on that blocked number. He could argue that several other people with access to their files could have sent you that.” Dante couldn’t deny that. “There’s no camera footage to show who slashed your tires. The footage you have of the person who put the pictures up doesn’t match his description.”

“He could have easily paid someone to do that for him.”

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