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Something in her voice at the end of that sentence gave me pause.

I looked between my parents about to say something when Creed reached for my hand, squeezing gently.

“I get it. Why you feel like this is putting an expiration date on us. But this is just a formality Beautiful. It doesn’t change how I feel about you nor does it change how you feel about me.

It’s the smart thing to do for both of us.

” I swallowed, my chest tightening. “I’ll always take care of you,” he promised.

“Post-nup or not. You’re my wife. And that’s never changing. ”

After a long moment, I sighed. “Fine. But I don’t like it.”

My daddy smiled, relieved. “I’ll have the lawyers send the paperwork over to Creed’s people.”

The private dining room at Nobu was dimly lit, the soft glow from the candlelit centerpiece illuminating the four glasses of wine sitting in front of us.

The low hum of conversations and clinking glasses filled the space, but all I could hear was the excitement buzzing between me, Averi, Egypt, and Arielle.

I took a sip of my drink, feeling all eyes on me, and I already knew where this was going.

“So…” Averi drawled, leaning forward with a mischievous smirk. “Mrs. Langston.”

I sighed dramatically, rolling my eyes as I set my glass down. “Y’all, stop.”

Egypt laughed, clapping her hands together. “Oh no, ma’am. We are never stopping. Ever. You married your forever. You have no choice but to be bullied about it.”

Ari nodded, grinning. “I mean, the way the blogs ate this up? We tried to tell you, your love story was everybody’s favorite saga. This was the finale we needed.”

I shook my head, but I couldn’t fight the smile pulling at my lips. “I don’t know about a finale. More like the start of a whole new chapter.”

“Either way,” Averi said, “this was inevitable. We all knew it. Even when y’all were acting stupid, even when you were swearing up and down that you were done with him, we knew.”

I looked at my best friends—the women who had been by my side through everything—and I knew they were right.

They had seen me heartbroken over Creed.

They had seen me find my footing as a single mother, as an actress, as a woman trying to make sense of her life outside of him.

They had witnessed my denial, my efforts to fight what everyone—including myself—knew was true.

That Creed Langston had me in a chokehold and always would.

I exhaled, finally giving in to the wave of emotions that had been creeping up on me since the moment we walked into this restaurant.

“I’m happy,” I admitted, holding my left hand out and seeing his initials on my ring finger. “I think… I’ve never been this happy. Not since before everything fell apart with us.”

Egypt smirked. “And you feel stupid for fighting it so long, don’t you?”

I shot her a look before flipping her the bird, and she just grinned, sipping her wine.

Arielle shook her head, laughing. “Egypt is annoying, but she’s not wrong. You and Creed were always going to find your way back to each other.”

“I guess.” I sighed. “But I just… I didn’t want to feel like I was falling back into something because it was familiar. I didn’t want to feel like we were repeating a cycle.”

Averi nodded in understanding. “And do you feel that way now?”

I thought about that. Really thought about it.

It was different now. We had both grown.

Changed. Creed was no longer that 20-year-old kid trying to juggle love, fatherhood, and a rising career.

I was no longer that 18-year-old girl struggling to figure out who she was outside of him.

We weren’t falling back into old habits—we were making new ones.

“No, I don’t,” I finally answered. “It’s not the same as before. It’s better. We know each other deeper now. We’ve been through too much for this to feel like just some cycle we’re repeating. We know exactly what we want this time.”

“And what’s that?” Arielle asked, watching me closely.

I exhaled, gripping my glass tighter.

“Forever,” I said. “For real, this time.”

The table exploded with excitement.

Arielle reached across the table, gripping my hand. “I am so happy for you, Tootie. Seriously.”

Egypt nodded, smirking. “Finally. Took you long enough.”

Averi sighed dreamily. “Ugh, I love this for you. The real-life fairytale.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Y’all are so dramatic.”

“Not as dramatic as you, Mrs. Langston.” Arielle grinned.

I rolled my eyes playfully. “Okay, enough about me. Can we talk about how sick Jailah has been about this. Bitch ain’t kept our names out of her mouth since the news broke.”

Egypt cackled. “Oh, I just know her soul left her body as soon as she saw that shit. Funky bitch.”

Arielle sucked her teeth. “Girl, she knew deep down there is no competing with you when it comes to Creed.”

I shrugged. “None because one thing me and Creed gon’ be is obsessed with each other.”

Averi smirked. “And now, here you are. Married.”

“To Serenity finally getting her man back!” Egypt cheered.

We all clinked our glasses, celebrating Creed refusing to set me free.

I was beyond irritated when I walked into the boardroom of my management’s office in downtown L.A. They had called an emergency meeting, and I was already over it. The moment I stepped through the doors, the energy shifted.

Every member of my team—my manager, my publicist, my brand strategist, my agent, and even my stylist—all sat tightly wound around the long conference table. Some of them were scrolling their phones with tight lips, others were already shaking their heads before I could even sit down.

My publicist, Deanna, was the first to speak, setting her phone down with a hard sigh. "Serenity. You want to tell us why we’re just now finding out you got married at the same time as the rest of the world?"

I exhaled, taking a seat at the head of the table and crossing my legs. "Because it wasn’t y’all’s business," I answered, matter-of-factly, before reaching for the iced matcha latte my assistant Maryann had left for me.

"Not our business?" Anthony, my manager, nearly choked on his coffee. "Not our business? Serenity, you are a multi-million-dollar brand. You are an award-winning actress, a rising star in this industry—do you understand how reckless it looks to just spring a whole-ass secret marriage on the world?"

I smirked, sipping my latte. "Last I checked, I was a grown-ass woman who could do what she wanted. My personal life is not for sale."

"But it is, Serenity," Laurie, my brand strategist, cut in, flipping through her iPad. "You didn’t just marry anyone. You married Creed Langston. An NBA star with a… let’s just say, a complicated reputation in and out of the league. You didn’t think this would require some damage control?"

I laughed, leaning back in my chair. "Damage control? For what? I married my man. That’s not a scandal. Creed and I have been dealing with one another for years, we have a child together for God’s sake."

Deanna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Serenity, listen, we’re not saying you did anything wrong. But people have their opinions, and a lot of them aren’t gonna be in your favor. We should’ve gotten ahead of this."

I set my latte down, fully looking at the people around me; a group of beautifully melanated people. "So, what y’all really saying is, this don’t look good for me?"

A few of them shifted uncomfortably.

Anthony, who had been with me since my first audition, was the only one brave enough to answer. "We’re saying we could’ve controlled the narrative."

I tilted my head, amused. "And what exactly is the narrative, Anthony?"

He hesitated before exhaling, choosing his words carefully.

"That you’re a young, successful actress who just impulsively tied herself to a man with baggage.

A man whose name has been in the press for everything from trade drama to ex-girlfriend drama, to the latest headlines about his ex being locked up for drug trafficking.

That’s the narrative. And, if we’re being honest?

Some of your fanbase isn’t thrilled. Twitter is already eating this up. "

I pulled my phone from my bag, scrolling for a moment before landing on a trending topic:

#SerenityBetterThanThis

I clicked on it, seeing a bunch of tweets:

"Not my girl Serenity throwing away her career for an athlete… she was supposed to be DIFFERENT!"

"Why does she have to be another NBA wife? She’s a whole actress. Hell, she’s a Bradshaw. WHY?"

I rolled my eyes and set my phone down, unimpressed.

"Y’all finished?" I asked, looking around the room. They all fell silent. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. My tone was calm, but my message was clear. "Creed Langston is my husband. And nothing about that is changing. I don’t care what Twitter thinks. I don’t care what the press says.

And I damn sure don’t care if y’all are worried about how this looks on your little brand projections. I am not some media puppet."

Deena opened her mouth, but I held up a hand.

"I love y’all, I respect y’all but let me be very clear—Creed is off limits.

That man has had my back through everything.

He’s the father of my child. And if I was gonna be tied to any man publicly, I’m glad it’s him.

He is not some mistake I need to clean up.

So, if any of you feel like this is a PR disaster, you can take your concerns straight to HR and get me a resignation letter.

Because what you won’t do is sit in this room and act like I made a bad decision. "

There was a brief silence, then Anthony sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. "So, you’re not budging on this?"

"Not an inch."

Deanna pursed her lips. "Fine. We’ll prepare a statement on your terms. Something short, something simple, something that makes it clear you don’t give a damn about public opinion."

I smiled. "Now we’re talking."