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“You let Nate be around Gio?”

She didn’t answer.

I slammed my fist on the table. “Answer me, Gianna!”

Her lip trembled. “Yes.”

“Are you fuckin crazy? You had my son around that nigga? Knowing he do what the fuck he be doin? Yeah baby, you got me fucked up.”

“Creed, I’m so sorry. I just—I fucked up. But, I swear, you know I would never put Giovanni in harms way.”

“You already did the moment you started fuckin with that nigga. I’m taking Giovanni and you’ll be hearing from my lawyers.”

“Creed, don’t do this.”

I let out a harsh breath, shaking my head. “You’re lucky all I’m taking is custody.”

I movedto LA two days after my conversation with Jailah. With the way she handled things, there were so many red flags. Hell, there had been red flags for months, but that entire conversation was… awkward. And I knew that she probably wasn’t gonna last much longer.

Serenity welcomed us with open arms. When I first got here, she and both kids met me at the door. It was a crazy sight to see all three of my favorite people in this world waiting for me. It was a glimpse into the family life I really wanted.

Serenity was endgame, having a bigger family with her was my end goal. I wanted to marry her, wanted to make more babies with her, raise all of our babies together and grow old together. I wanted to build a life with her; had wanted to do these things for years. But, things didn’t work out that way.

Thinking back on it, thinking seriously about everything we went through in our entire friendship and eventual relationship, the things she said to me last time really resonated with me. It took a long while for me to be receptive to that feedback, for me to accept it; but now at nearly 30 years old I understood.

I was in a relationship with Gianna for over ten years. I molded myself into the man I thought I needed to be for her. Then I met Serenity and molded myself into the man I thought she deserved. The thing is, I was never the man I thought I had to be or deserved to be for myself. Growing over these past few years, I figured out what he looked like, and he was me.

“Welcome home Daddy.” Cree and Gio screamed each holding up a small sign with depictions of me in a clippers jersey.

“Gio, what up my boy?” I asked doing our handshake. Two claps to the white side, two to the black side, lift, and kiss each other’s thumb. It was his idea, he taught it to me one day when he was four; he wanted us to have our own way of saying we loved each other. “Love you man, missed you.” I hugged him then kissed his forehead. “You been taking care of Sissy and Mama Ren?”

“Yes sir.” Gio’s small voice replied. “Always.”

“Good job.” I turned to my baby girl who was unable to contain herself trying to get to me; but her mama held her back so I could have my moment with Gio. Serenity always made sure Gio had his time with me and so did Cree. Whenever I was with one, she was with the other making them feel just as special and in the end, we came together to do something just the four of us.

Co-parenting had been a dream with Serenity. Yeah we had our ups and downs but she was the least complicated of the two. Gianna for whatever reason just wanted to constantly give me a hard time.

Once Serenity knew I had given Gio the attention he needed, she let Cree free and it was the best feeling in the world bending down and having her run at full force into my arms. “Daddy!”

“Cree Cree, my baby.” I screamed just as excitedly. “You been a good girl for Mommy?”

“Yes.”

“Lies.” Serenity cut in causing Cree to giggle.

“Cree you lying to daddy?”

“Nooooo.” She smirked, and I tickled her. “Okay, okay maybe.”

“She was on the trampoline without permission.” Serenity chimed in. “I told Sevyn not to buy that damn thing for them.”

“He got them a trampoline and you accepted it?” I asked my brow narrowed, trying to understand why the fuck she would put our kids in danger like that.

“It’s a kid trampoline, not an adult one; I’m not an idiot. And they were both told they can only get on it with permission and under supervision. Cree disobeyed the rules so she has been banned from it for a few weeks, right Cree?”

“Yes Mommy.” She replied meekly.

“You can’t be doing stuff Mommy said you can’t do. She knows what’s best, she wants to keep you and Brother safe, you understand?”