Page 14 of The Devoted Husband

I really miss my girl.

“Hello?” Barron answered.

“Hey, Grandpa. You called?”

“I’m actually in Baltimore now. I can’t really stay in one place for too long without going crazy thinking about your granddaughter.”

Barron chuckled. “Which one?”

Returning his laughter, Dante used his free hand to wipe his face and head. “Sade, of course.”

“Hmm. Well, I wanna talk to you about her too, but first, Imani. Did Sade call and let you know someone attacked her in prison?”

With a frown, Dante stood and began to pace as his heart dropped. Regardless of how things played out between him and his ex-wife, Dante would never want any harm to come to her physically.

“No, she didn’t. Is she all right?”

“She’s...hanging in there, but it’s bad, son. She’s in a medically induced coma because of the swelling on her brain.”

“ What? What the hell happened?”

“We don’t know. Conveniently, the warden had no video footage of the attack, and no one was in the room when Imani was found. All we can do is wait until she wakes up to tell us what happened.”

“Damn. I hate to hear that. How are the twins taking it? Were they able to see her?”

“No, no one has. Sade is working on it, which may be why she didn’t reach out to you.”

“Honestly, Grandpa, she probably won’t tell me even when she has the time. Unless I blow her up until she can’t take it anymore, she’s not talking to me.”

“I need you to change that.”

Dante’s feet stopped moving. “Is she okay?”

“She is . . . but . . . I’m concerned.”

“About what?”

“She’s been acting distant or hesitant, even when in the same room as us. Like she’s holding something back. And Atlas has been hanging around her a little too much for my liking.”

“Wait.” Chuckling, Dante ran his fingers down the corners of his mouth. “Atlas? Adam’s cousin? The one who ran me off the road and didn’t have to do a day in prison for it because he snitched?”

“That one. Now, I don’t know what’s going on between them, but when we were out with the twins earlier, Sade seemed extremely uncomfortable around him.

She didn’t know how he found out where she was.

She left us and said she would have her phone and car checked out to see if he’s put some kind of tracker on it. ”

“I think I’m missing something. For what reason would Atlas be stalking Sade? She’s been apart from me for what...a little over a month? Has she moved on with him?”

Barron released a huff. “I don’t want to get into her personal business. That’s something you’ll have to ask her yourself. I just wondered if you knew anything about Atlas from your time with Imani. Was he around at all with Adam? Or was it just while you were in school?”

Dante thought back over his marriage again.

Now that the truth about Imani’s affair with Adam and it leading to Dante not being the father of her twins had come out, he’d found himself looking for signs of the truth he’d missed.

Any changes in priority or behavior...

lowered libido...lies he’d gotten her caught up in.

He looked at countless pictures of the twins, noticing less of himself and more of Imani and Adam every time.

“He was around while we were in college. I didn’t notice any flirting or anything between Day and Atlas at the time. What happened between them after Adam got out is beyond me. Imani kept that from me, so if they were seeing each other, Sade did as well.”

“From what you remember about him, is he someone I need to worry about? Can I write off what he did to you as loyalty to his blood, or was that a sign of how violent this man is?”

“I wish I could be more helpful, but I honestly don’t know.

Anyone willing to do what he did to me—regardless of whether for family—should be avoided.

I can say Adam was willing to do whatever to get Imani and the girls, but that wasn’t Atlas’s excuse.

If he was willing to do that simply because his cousin asked, I can’t imagine what he’s capable of if he’s truly upset with someone.

I’d say you have cause for concern. If the relationship was romantic and ended, or if he wanted more than she was willing to give, he might go after her. ”

Barron sighed heavily into the receiver. “That’s what I was afraid of.” He chuckled. “I disapproved of what she did with you while you were married to her sister, but at this point, I wish she would have stayed with you. At least then, I wouldn’t have to worry about this.”

Dante smiled with one side of his mouth.

He hadn’t considered if her grandparents’ feelings toward their relationship were another reason Sade left him.

They were all she had, and it wouldn’t have surprised him if they influenced her more than he realized.

While they hadn’t straight up told her they didn’t want Sade and Dante together, she did express her grandmother’s warning that she’d be punished for what she did with him.

“I’ll...uh...look into Atlas and see if Sade will open up to me about it. If things look like they are getting to be more than she can handle, call me, and I’ll be there—whether or not she wants me to be.”

“Sounds like a plan. Talk soon.”

After disconnecting the call, Dante returned to the bench to gather his thoughts.

His mind wouldn’t allow him to believe Sade had moved on already.

..especially with the man that tried to kill him.

There had to be another explanation for this—one where Atlas wanted something from Sade that she wasn’t willing to give, and it didn’t include her body or heart.

Refusing to believe his best friend could sleep with the enemy, Dante decided there was only one way to get to the bottom of this: to go to Memphis and confront her himself.