Page 64 of Set me Free

"Hey Creed.”

I ran a hand over my jaw. "What’s up Gi."

"You calling to check on me?" she asked, and I could already hear the expectation in her tone. Like she thought this call was about to be something it wasn’t.

"Yeah, but also to make some things clear between us."

Her voice softened. "Creed… I know things have been crazy. But I don’t wanna fight anymore. I just want us to figure this out. For the baby."

I exhaled, already feeling the disappointment coming.

"Gianna, I meant what I said before. I’ll be there for my kid. I’ll do what I gotta do. But me and you? We done. I’m with Serenity now, and that ain’t changing."

Silence. A long, heavy silence.

"You really serious about her, huh?" she said, her voice tight.

"I wouldn’t be telling you this if I wasn’t."

Her breath hitched, and I knew she was holding back tears.

"I thought… I really thought you’d come back to me, Creed," she admitted, her voice shaky. "That maybe once you had time to think, you’d realize we were meant to be."

I swallowed, my chest tightening slightly.

"I loved you, Gi," I said honestly. "But we ain’t meant to be together. You know that as much as I do."

"No, I don’t," she snapped, her sadness turning into frustration. "Because if you really loved me, we wouldn’t be here."

"If you really loved me, you wouldn’t be trying to make me stay somewhere I don’t belong," I shot back.

Another silence. Then her voice dropped, low and sharp.

"She’ll never be in my baby’s life, ever. I just want to make that very fuckin clear."

My jaw locked.

"That’s not your call to make," I told her, my tone dead serious. "Serenity’s gonna be around my kid whether you like itor not. So, if you want my support, you need to figure out how to deal with that."

“Who the fuck are you? You let some nobody come in between us? We were together for over ten years and it’s all gone because of some girl?’

“She ain’t just some girl. And I don’t need to explain myself to you or nobody else. At the end of the day she ain’t going nowhere and you need to accept the fact that she will be involved in my child’s life.”

"Fuck you Creed. Over my dead body." she spat before hanging up.

I sat there, staring at my phone, the screen flashing Call Ended. I let out a long, slow breath. I had expected it to go bad. But damn. This was only the beginning.

A week later,I sat in a private office in Newark, across from Martin Grisham, my new agent. I had been meeting with several people but he seemed like the best fit for me. We were introduced by my coach as Martin is an alumnus of Rutgers himself.

"First of all, congratulations on making it official," he said, giving me a firm handshake. "You’ve been a hell of a player to watch, and I know you got what it takes to go first round."

I nodded, my focus sharp. "I need this to happen. No matter what."

He leaned back in his chair, studying me. "You’re hungry for it. I respect that. And you’ve got the talent to back it up. Now, I won’t sugarcoat things—there’s a lot of moving parts in this process. But based on conversations I’ve had with some teams? You’re a shoo in for the top five, easy."

Top five.

I felt my chest tighten, excitement buzzing underneath my skin.

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