Page 68 of The Devoted Husband

As they rode to the next hole, Dante expressed just that.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to decline. After what happened with Ian, I want to go into business alone. I don’t want my name to be synonymous with drama in our industry.”

“I feel you. Do you think that would be the case, though? How much more can he do?”

Dante chuckled. “I’m not trying to find out. That’s why I’m not opening the business until he’s out of the picture. Plus, I want to be there as much as possible for Day. I can’t imagine how hard this has been for her. This is her first baby, and she’s having to deal with all this bullshit.”

“Man, I’ve been praying for her. Both of y’all. She seems to be handling it well, though.”

“By grace,” Dante said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I want to give her whatever she wants and needs for all that she’s gone through. Now and when the baby gets here. After that, I’ll get back to my business.” He accepted the call from Lathan with, “Lathan, wassup, man?”

“Hey, uh...I’m going to send you a Facebook link to watch a video Jones posted. It’s gone viral.”

“A’ight, thanks.”

“You good?” Eric asked.

“I’m not sure. Give me a sec.” Dante hopped off the golf cart and clicked the link to the video.

“I hate it has come to this,” Jones said, “but I have no other choice. Earlier this morning, I was served a restraining order at the request of Dante Williams and Sade Griffin. This happened while I was temporarily staying with my old captain, who advised me not to make this video, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Dante steeled himself, unsure what Jones would say next.“I’ve been staying with Captain Bennit of the Vanzette Police Department because I didn’t want to return home. I did something illegal in Memphis and knew the police would be after me. They want to arrest me for breaking into Dante and Sade’s home.”

Jones chuckled.“Why did I do it? Well...I’ve been trying to make their lives as miserable as I possibly can. See, before they went back to Memphis, they stayed in Vanzette. There, two murders were committed, and a woman went missing. While I don’t think Dante was involved in the murders, Sade committed them because of him. The charges brought against her were dropped because of a bad choice by me, but I am 100 percent certain Sade Griffin killed Patrice Baker, Trina Roe, and maybe even Willow Frank.

“Since the police are unwilling to make Sade pay, I tried to. Unfortunately, I’ve reached the end of my rope. With the restraining order, it’s out of my hands. I’ll probably be arrested soon and will be unable to get justice for her victims. If you want to pick up where I left off, their address is...”

“Are you fucking kidding me!” Dante roared, exiting out of the video to call Sade. As he hopped back onto the golf cart, he told Eric to take him back toward the entrance so he could head home because not only had Jones told thousands of people he believed Sade was a murderer, but he’d also given them their address too.

Jones

“You’re hopeless,” Bennit complained. “I agreed to let you stay here because you promised to stay out of trouble. You do understand if people harass or try to harm Sade at her home, they can add doxing to your list of growing charges?”

Jones tried to sip his beer, but Bennit ripped it from his hand.

“You have to go, Jones. You’re doing too much.”

Jones chuckled as he stood. “I wouldn’t have had to do that if you hadn’t let MPD convince you to serve me.”

“What did you expect me to do? Lie and say I didn’t know where you were?”

“Yes! That’sexactlywhat you were supposed to do.”

“No.” Bennit shook his head as he placed his hands on his hips. “I let you stay here because of the warrant. I knew they’d be looking for you at your place. So, I only let you stay because you said you had some things you wanted to get in order before you turned yourself in. Now, I feel like you said that just to get me to agree. You never planned on going back to Memphis and turning yourself in...did you?”

Not bothering to respond, Jones headed to the guest bedroom he’d been occupying to pack his things. Yes, he may have lied about his intentions, but he had no choice. He couldn’t go home and figured the police captain’s home would be the last place Memphis officers would look for him. While that may have been true, Jones hadn’t considered how easy it would be for Bennit to snitch on him.

When he finished packing his things, he grumbled, “Thanks for nothing,” in Bennit’s direction as he headed for the front door.

“Ungrateful bastard,” Bennit replied. “Go to Memphis and do the right thing!”

Jones was going to Memphis, but itwasn’tto turn himself in.

Sade

Sade’s bladder woke her up. When she got back in bed, she saw that she had received several missed calls and text messages from Veronica. Fearing something had happened to her or Lathan, she called her back immediately.

“Sade!” Veronica yelled into the receiver. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you.”

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