Page 58 of The Devoted Husband

“What did you give me?” she asked through gritted teeth. “If anything happens to my baby because of you...”

“Spare me the threats. Do you think I care about that baby? Both of you will be dead soon enough.”

Sade chuckled, licking her dry lips. “Actually, you’re a dead man talking. Dante’s going to kill you—and that’s only if I don’t get free and do it first. Now, what the fuck did you give me?”

“What was it? I’m not supposed to be taking sleeping medicine unless it’s a certain kind. That could send me into labor prematurely. Are you ready to deal with that? If not, I suggest you let me go.”

“Nice try, but you’re not getting out of here that easily.”

“Where are we anyway?” Sade’s eyes shifted around the room, and Jones saw the exact moment she recognized where they were. “Is...this...”

“Your old shed?” Jones grinned. “It is. I got pretty close to your renters and told them this house wasn’t the family home you presented it to be. I told them the woman who lived here killed three people, and they wanted no parts of that.” He chuckled. “They moved out. You didn’t get the notice?”

“No, I didn’t. You’ve been spamming my email to the point where I can’t even open it without getting hundreds of notifications daily.”

“Yeah, well, they left two weeks ago. Willow’s dead, though I have no proof. And the older neighbors to your right are on vacation. That means for miles on this stretch, it’s just me and you. No one will hear you scream. No one will come to your aid.”

That didn’t get the reaction Jones was hoping for.

Her eyes remained the same size. Her nostrils didn’t flare.

Her mouth didn’t twitch. She didn’t momentarily stop breathing.

There were no jerky movements within her body.

She seemed genuinely unfazed by his words, and that only pissed him off more.

Before he could stop himself, he was leaping from his seat and backhanding her.

Her jaws clenched as she glared at him. “I’m going to enjoy killing you, Terry.”

Jones smiled as he sat back down. “Strong words when you’re the one tied to that chair.”

“And that was a weak action by a free man. Why don’t you untie me and make this a little fairer?”

“Cut the shit!” he roared, spittle spewing from his mouth. “Enough of the back-and-forth. I’m done with this.”

“You at least owe me an explanation,” she baited. “This can’t be because of two women you don’t even know. Why have you been so obsessed with me, Terry?”

Jones rolled his tongue across his cheek. “It is about them. Patrice, Trina, Willow...They deserved justice. And since the Vanzette Police Depa—”

“Cut the shit!” she yelled, mimicking him. “Tell me the truth. Why have you been stalking and harassing me?”

“Fine,” he agreed, “It’s not just because of them, but they were a big part of it.”

“What else?”

“You’re a seed that has come from bad soil. Your parents were evil, just like you and your sister. They might not have been murderers like you, but they were selfish, and they killed something else too.”

“And what did they kill, Terry?” She smiled as her head tilted. “Your marriage? That’s what this is about, right? Tonya?”

It took Jones a while to respond. He wasn’t expecting her to know about his past. He’d put great effort into sealing documents that included his personal information online.

“Yeah, I know about that,” Sade continued. “I know about your daughter too. How she killed herself because of Tonya.” She chuckled. “I have to say, though...if I were stuck with you for a father, I probably would have killed myself too.”

Like lightning, Jones was out of his seat, squeezing her neck until her eyes watered and turned red, and she passed out.

Jones tossed water onto Sade to wake her up. She choked and coughed, almost toppling over in the chair. He drew close to her, leaving them just a few inches apart.

“I want to make you suffer,” he said. “I thought about slicing your throat like you did Trina or strangling you like you did Patrice. What did you do to Willow? How did you kill her?”

Sade remained silent, staring at him with fiery eyes.

“Cat got your tongue now? You were so talkative before.” Jones chuckled as he remained silent.

“I’ll make you a deal. If you tell me what happened to Willow, I’ll make your death quick and easy.

” He pulled his phone out. “In fact, if you confess to all three murders, I’ll send a bullet into your head and kill you instantly. You won’t feel a thing.”

Jones pressed record and waited for her to speak.

He huffed and ran his hand down his face.

Placing his Glock on his thigh, Jones told her, “If you’re not going to confess, do you have any final words to share with your family?

” Sade kept her silence, further infuriating him. “Fine, have it your way.”

He stopped the recording and looked down to put his phone in his pocket. Then standing, Jones aimed the gun at her.

“You really don’t care about the people you killed . . . do you?”

“Did you care about the people your wife killed? If you did, you wouldn’t be doing this to me. Stop drawing this out and just kill me already.”

He lowered his head as he paced. “This is no fun with you acting like this. You won’t admit to what you did. You don’t seem to be scared. What am I going to do with you?”

Sade chuckled and looked toward the ceiling. “You don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?” he asked, aiming at her again.

“There’s nothing you can say to rattle me. I don’t care.”

“How about this...” He sat back down.

“The sixteen-year-old who killed herself...that was your half sister .” Her mouth went slack.

Finally...a reaction. “Yeah. Turned out Dena wasn’t my child.

She was your father’s. She was the only good thing I had left, and Tonya tried to take her from me because she wasn’t mine. ”

Sade licked the corner of her mouth before nibbling her cheek. “I know you didn’t take that lightly.”

“I didn’t. I set her up.”

Her lip twitched as if she were putting the pieces together. “Set her up how?”

“She didn’t cause the accident that killed your parents; I did.” He chuckled. “What? You thought I didn’t make her suffer too? Oh, I did. Trust me.”

Sade’s chest expanded as her breathing escalated. That was it. That’s what he’d been waiting for.

“You killed my parents?” She shifted in her seat.

Jones stood. “I did. And now, I’m going to kill you too.”

The door burst open just as Jones fired.

However, instead of the bullet hitting Sade, it went into the wall.

Jones pointed the gun toward Dante, but it was too late.

Dante’s bullets ripped through his center.

He fell onto the ground, gasping for air as fire surged through his core.

Dante stood over him with a smile before firing one last time.