Page 96 of Cannon

His eyes flashed dangerously. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you’ve been eating ramen and sleeping on a mattress on the floor when you could have been set for life!” I was shouting now, all my stress and grief channeling into this new target. “You could have had anything you wanted! Instead you’re playing martyr over money from a woman who’s already dead!”

Cannon rose to his feet, towering over me, his voice dropping to that deadly quiet that made my skin prickle. “You think I want handouts from the family that threw me away? That had my father killed? That set me up to go to prison? That money is soaked in blood.”

“So what changed?” I challenged, refusing to back down. “Why consider taking it now?”

“Because now I know what they did to me. To my brothers. I know the truth about Silas King. And you deserve a nigga that got something to give.” His hands clenched into fists at his sides. “That money isn’t a gift. It’s what I’m owed for what they took from me.”

“You’ve been broke by choice this whole time,” I pressed, too angry to stop. “Living like you had nothing when you could’ve…”

“You don’t know shit,” he cut me off, his voice like ice. “I don’t need you to save me or fix me or tell me what I should have done. I make my own choices.”

“Well, your choices are stupid!” I shot back.

Something dark and dangerous flashed across his face. He stepped closer, his voice dropping even lower. “Watch your mouth. You don’t know what it’s like to have your whole life stolen from you. To have the choice taken away. That moneymight be my birthright, but it’s still my decision when and how I claim it.”

“I know what it’s like to have life stolen from you, and if my raggedy-ass mother had millions sitting, waiting for me I would take that shit in a heartbeat.”

“You’ve been through enough tonight,” he said, the anger in his voice shifting to something colder. “We’ll talk about this when you’re thinking straight.”

“Don’t patronize me,” I snapped, pride making me push when I should have yielded. “I’m not some fragile little girl who can’t handle the truth.”

“The truth?” He laughed, the sound like breaking glass. “The truth is you’re standing here judging me for choices you can’t begin to understand. The truth is you’re so used to being in control that you can’t stand when someone doesn’t fall in line with what you think is best.”

Each word hit like a slap. I opened my mouth to fire back, but he was already moving toward the door.

“Where are you going?” I demanded.

“Away from here,” he said without turning around. “Before I say something I’ll regret.”

“Cannon!”

The door slammed behind him, cutting off my words. I stood frozen in my living room, the silence ringing in my ears, wondering how we’d gone from comforting each other to this in the span of minutes.

I sank back onto the couch, the silence pressing in from every corner. Jupiter was gone. My club was closed. And Cannon, the only man who had made me feel steady through all this, had just walked out on me.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t sure which loss I could survive.

Chapter 36

Cannon

It ate at me, the way she called my choices stupid. Queen ain’t know what the fuck she was talkin’ about. That money wasn’t some blessing waiting for me. It was Tessa trying to scrub the blood off her own hands. She should’ve made things right years ago, long before I had to grind in the streets to survive. She could’ve written me when I was a kid, reached out, done something.

Instead, she let that sick depraved nigga drag her down. Silas King orchestrated a car accident before the man even knew I existed. Tessa wrote it all in that letter. She knew. She stayed anyway.

Spineless, I used to think. But maybe that was too easy. If he was as twisted and controlling as Creed and Riot said, maybe she felt there wasn’t a way out. Maybe she was trapped like the rest of us.

Didn’t change the fact that Queen’s words still burned through me. Talkin’ like she knew everything. Like she had the right to tell me what I should do. That shit had my blood boiling. I wasn’t some bum waiting for a handout. I knew how to make my own paper. Always had.

But fuck… twenty million was life changing. While I was still tryna figure out how to unlock my crypto and with Sylk Road shut down, maybe she had a point. Maybe I was being stubborn. Maybe I was being stupid.

I called Choke as soon as I hit the street. Needed to clear my head, talk to somebody who wasn’t mixed up in all this Queen drama. We hadn’t hung out since the night of my kickback but we texted here and there.

“Yo,” he answered on the third ring.

“You busy? Need to link up.”