Page 69 of The Devoted Husband

“I was asleep. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I was worried about you. Look at what I sent you.”

“O-okay.” After disconnecting the call, Sade went to their text thread and clicked on the Facebook link Veronica had sent.

The longer she watched Jones’s video, the more infuriated she became.

“Shit. This isnotgood,” Sade mumbled, hopping out of bed. She checked the time to see when Jones posted the video. It had only been up for an hour and already had thousands of shares. As she packed both her and Dante’s bags, the sound of glass shattering gained her attention.

Her phone vibrated, and a part of Sade didn’t even want to answer. She grabbed it from the bed as loud chatter from outside permeated the room. Dante’s name and picture on her phone brought tears to her eyes, but that wasn’t the time to be emotional.

Sade answered with “Baby,” as she crept down the hall.

“I need you to get out of the house. I’ll meet you at—”

“It’s too late. People are here. They...” Her eyes widened. “There’s like ten people outside. They broke the window, and now, they’re trying to kick down the door.”

“Okay. Listen to me. I’m on my way, but I probably won’t get there in time. I need you to go to the garage and leave. Evenif they try to find you, you should get someplace where other people are around.”

Sade shook her head as she grabbed two knives from the kitchen and headed back to their room. “No. I’m tired of running and being uprooted. I’m tired of hotels.” She laughed. “I’m tired of Jones.” As she grabbed her 9 mm, Sade told him, “If anyone trespasses and enters our home, I’m going to kill them. And I pray to God that Jones is out there too.”

Dante sighed and cursed under his breath. “All right, Smiley. I’m doing one-twenty. I’m trying to get there as quickly as I can.”

More glass shattered as Sade nodded her agreement. Voices spilled, and footsteps pounded on the tile.

“Okay, Tay. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“If anything happens to me . . .”

“It won’t.Please, bae.”

“If you come in here, I’m going to shoot!” Sade warned, ending the call and extending the gun.

She heard laughter before three women rounded the corner and entered her room.

“You killed my sister, bitch?” The woman with wide eyes and curly hair lifted a bat. “Now, I’m going to kill you.”

As the woman charged in Sade’s direction, Sade fired. The other two women screamed and fled the room—bypassing bullets in the process. Sade hopped over the woman’s body, making sure no one else was in their home. She released more bullets, causing everyone else who was outside to flee. Her entire body trembled as she slid down the wall. Ragged breaths escaped her as her grip on the gun loosened.

“Fuck!” she roared before finally releasing her tears. Cramps caused Sade to grab her stomach as she groaned. Her baby’s discomfort only increased her pain—emotionally and physically.“I’m sorry, little one,” she whispered, inhaling a sizzling breath. “Mama’ssosorry.”

Resting her head against the wall, Sade continued to breathe deeply. When the cramps subsided, she called 911.

Dante

Dante barely got his car in park before hopping out and rushing to Sade. She was seated on the back of an ambulance, bobbing her head to whatever the officer said. A car came to a slow creep, rolling the window down to toss bottles in their direction as they yelled, “Murderer!”

As the car swerved down the street, Dante cupped Sade’s cheeks and stared into her eyes. “Are you okay? The baby?”

“We’re fine. My blood pressure was up, and my stomach was killing me, but we’re fine.”

A sigh of relief escaped him as he pulled her into his arms.

“What happened?”

Sniffling, Sade buried her face deeper into his chest. “I killed her.”

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