Benjamin Knox's Rise to Riches

Chapter 10

Benjamin was shocked when he saw this. How is this possible? His grandfather had personally handed this black card to him, promising that it held up to $3 billion, so what was going on? Why was the payment declined? Did Hunter Whiteridge lie to him? Benjamin immediately threw that thought out of his head. There was absolutely no way a man like that would lie to him about money of all things.

First of all, the man is a Trillionaire, so it would be a very shameful act on his part to fool his newly found grandson, something that had been proven with a DNA test to confirm it. Also, the payment had been declined rather than the black details being incorrect. This means that the black card is indeed legit.

There was also no mention of ‘insufficient balance’, so the issue had to be something else. Unfortunately, the audiences watching this weren't interested in thinking this through.

As soon as the director saw the confusion on Benjamin's face, he snatched the phone from his hands to get a look for himself. “Payment declined, huh?” He chuckled with aicking tone as he stared at Benjamin with disdain. “Well, this ended as expected."

The crowd burst out laughing once more. Benjamin had dug his grave and now, he had to lie in it.

Mrs. Knox began tearing up while shaking her head. “No. God, no. I can't bear to watch this.”

Max could only try and appease the old woman while staring at his best friend with utmost concern.

As for Andrew and Alexa, they have felt a greater sense of superiority once the director confirmed that Benjamin's payment was declined.

“My goodness!” Andrew brought a hand to his forehead as he began laughing boisterously. “And to think I actually gave you a chance to prove something you didn't have! It’s my fault for thinking any good of you. In the end, all you showed everyone here is that not only are you a lowlife scum, you're also a disgusting liar and a thief.”

“Exactly!” Alexa immediately followed up. “That black card must have been stolen from someone unfortunate enough to cross paths with you. You probably didn't have the pin code to withdraw anything and that's why the payment was declined!” She pointed accusingly at Benjamin. “Honestly, at this point, you should be picked up! You're nothing but a delinquent!”

Max and Mrs. Knox were feeling scared for Benjamin. These accusations from Andrew and Alexa would likely be easily believed after what they had just witnessed. Yet, even if the two of them didn't know the whole truth, they know for a fact that Benjamin wasn't a thief.

The crowd, unfortunately, didn't think this way. They began shouting and pointing at Benjamin, calling him a thief and asking for his arrest immediately.

It was at this moment that Benjamin received a notification, and he quickly snatched his phone back before the director could look at it. He found he had received an email from a top bank and he opened it to find the content, noting the most important part.

[Please, activate your card to finalise your payment process.]

Benjamin let out a breath of relief. He was right to believe in his grandfather. It turned out that he simply hadn't activated the card before usage.

In seconds, Benjamin activated his card. He then ignored his surroundings once more as he began filling the black card details once again, ready to donate the $10 million.

“Hey, loser!” Andrew called out to Benjamin. “What are you still doing on your phone, you pretentious bastard?! Who do you think you're still fooling by now?! It's over! You lost, alright?! Now, it's time to keep your end of the bargain!”

Alexa giggled with a mocking tone. “Hey, everyone!” She turned to the crowd. “Don't forget to capture this moment on your phone. Also, let's post this under specific hashtags and then we'll make it trend on all social media platforms!”

Another idea suddenly crossed Alexa's devious mind and she turned her gaze back to Benjamin

“Hold on! Let's make this even better. Since your grandmother is a professional cleaner, then she should go down on her knees and….” She looked down at her lover’s shoes and she smirked. “She must pick Andrew's shoes to properly apologise for what she has done as well.”

At that moment, Benjamin furiously glared up. “Alexa! Watch what you say to my grandmother from now on!” He never expected this woman he used to love with all his heart would go this far. He felt like he had been seriously blind to fall in love with such a woman like this.

“What?! Did I say anything wrong here?!” Alexa daringly challenged, refusing to back down. She then turned to the director. “Sir, what do you say?”

The director glanced at Andrew, eager to please a notable member of the Tyrone family. “Of course, one must take responsibility for their actions. Since both Benjamin and his grandmother have acted unruly, then it's only proper that they both do the needful to correct it. No one is too old to learn a lesson.”

Benjamin tried not to be too surprised by the nonsense this director was spilling. He was basically saying it was okay that his grandmother was ridiculed in public, making it seem like it was nothing but a trivial matter. This pissed him off. How did such a man like this end up as the director of this school?

It was at this moment that the director felt his phone buzzing. He retrieved it from his suit pocket, and he found a notification of a credit alert in the official account of the university.

The director's hand began shaking as he clicked the notification, opening it to find the full content. A sum of $10 million has been paid as donation, and Benjamin's name was there. His world felt like it was about to crash at this moment. “No, how is this possible?!”