The City Is Mine

Chapter Eight

Dawn broke over the city in shards of cold gold. The Carter Air Bank’s marble pillars rose like sentinels as Benjamin Carter stepped into the building. 

In his pocket, the temporary access card seared his palm. Around his neck, the dragon pendant pulsed warm against his skin.

Yesterday’s storm still made his body ache. He could still hear Evelyn screaming as the police took her away, see the doubt in Amelia’s eyes, and taste the bitterness of betrayal. Now Evelyn was free again, digging her claws back into the family's corrupt core. Benjamin clenched his jaw, he wouldn’t back down this time.

Inside, the same clerk from before saw him and quickly led him past the marble counters to a glass office at the back. Ms. Grayson, the manager, was waiting behind a modern desk. She stood up as soon as she saw the pendant.

“Mr. Carter.” Her voice softened. “You’re ready to finish this?”

Benjamin laid everything out—Victor’s sealed contract from the garden marker, the trust documents, the brass key. He recited the ten-digit code from memory. The pendant glowed faintly, casting warm gold between them.

Grayson keyed it in. The terminal flickered alive: Victor Carter’s Last Will. Her breath caught.

“You’re his heir,” she said. “Your mother and Victor Carter hid you for a reason. Evelyn tried to erase every sign of you, but Victor’s plan prevailed. Carter Air, the farmland, the city—it all belongs to you.”

She slid a digital pad across the desk. “One signature. And it’s done.”

Benjamin’s hand hovered over the screen. For a heartbeat, he could hear his mother's voice; Fulfill your destiny, my son.

He signed. The terminal chimed. A new card, gold, embossed with Carter Trust, printed out. Grayson slipped it into his hand like a crown.

“You’re the wealthiest man in this city now, Mr. Carter, and probably its biggest target.”

Benjamin closed his fingers around the card. The pendant hummed against his chest, as if Victor himself approved.

Across the city, Evelyn Harper sat stiff in her lawyer’s dark paneled office. Her silk scarf hugged her throat like a choke collar. She’d walked free last night, Inspector Harrow’s pocket weighed down with hush money and promises. The video? Circumstantial. Clara? A senile maid.

Evelyn tapped her nails on her chair while Richard, her lawyer, spread out a new fake document. “This will cancel Benjamin’s claim,” he said. “File it today. If you get the trust, he’ll have nothing left.”

Her cruel laugh cut her silence. “He thinks one grainy tape buries me? I built this city. I’ll salt his name into the ground before he wears mine.”

Benjamin left the bank into the cold daylight. The gold card pressed into his palms, a promise and a threat. He didn’t look back. His boots carried him downtown to Harper & Associates.

Inside, the marble lobby was crowded with board members, lawyers, and distant relatives who had been living off the Harper family’s wealth for years. Benjamin slipped through them like he wasn’t even there, the pendant leading him to a locked office on the side.

He stepped in and shut the door behind him, the click lost in the noise of the building. At a secure computer, he typed in the trust code. The screen lit up: Carter Trust Activated. Benjamin Carter. Sole Heir.

A file opened: Victor’s last letter digitized in a trembling old script: My grandson, hidden for your safety. Evelyn poisoned my partner, tried to bury you and your mother. Old master Harper chose you for Amelia, to bind our families, to stop her rot.

Benjamin printed the letter, took the original copy with him, and left the photocopy behind. Then he stepped into the boardroom.

Inside, Evelyn stood at the head of the long wooden table, her laugh sharp and bitter. Marcus leaned beside her, his arms crossed, like a wild animal ready to strike while Amelia sat alone.

When Benjamin walked in, the room went completely silent. He placed the letter on the shiny table, the gold card shining in his hand.

“Evelyn Harper.” His voice cracked the silence. “You’re finished.”

Evelyn’s smile twitched. “The gardener boy crawls in with paper scraps—”

He dropped Victor’s letter in front of her. “Victor Carter hid me because you poisoned his partner. Clara saw you. The police know. And this—” he held up the gold card, the pendant’s light catching the carved dragon—“makes me Carter Air’s rightful heir, the farmland, the bonds, the legacy it's all mine.”

Marcus pushed off the wall. “You lying bastard—”

Benjamin’s eyes locked on him. “You spent years beating the heir you thought was durt. Now you’ll bow or burn with her.”

Gasps rippled around the table. A board member grabbed the letter, scanning the tremor of Victor’s last words. Amelia rose, “You think this makes you family? After everything?” Her hands trembled. “You’re nothing but a name, Benjamin.”

He met her eyes, unshaked. “And you’re still trapped at Evelyn’s table. Pick a side or get out of my way.”

She flinched, just enough to crack the mask. Evelyn’s laugh was jagged now, brittle with rage. She slammed a folder on the table, a forged trust amendment. “You think some pendant and old man’s words beat this? This nullifies you. My lawyer’s filing it now.”

The doors slammed open. Clara stormed in with no apron now, just fury in her eyes. “That’s a lie,” she snapped. She slapped a faded note down on the table which contained Old Master Harper’s last words, hidden in the garden stone: “Amelia and Benjamin bind the lines. Evelyn dies with the lie”.

The whole faces in the room turned puzzled. Cousins started whispering to themselves, the company staffs lawyers leaned in. Evelyn’s fingers gripped the fake paper tight, her forced smile starting to break as her fear showed through.

One of the lawyers cleared his throat, his voice thin. “This change is fake. The notarization doesn’t hold up.”

Marcus’s eyes darted to his mother, betrayal flickering like a match. He stepped back, lips curling in disgust. “You used me.”

Benjamin’s voice dropped, iron under silk. “I’m done being your ghost. Carter Air is mine. The city’s mine. And you—” he pointed at Evelyn, the pendant’s glow flaring—“are nothing.”

Evelyn lost her calm. Her hands shook as she grabbed her phone. “You think this is over? You really think—” She sent a quick message. Marcus saw it, eyes narrowing. Without saying a word, he rushed out of the boardroom.

Benjamin’s gut tightened. Clara grabbed his arm. “She’s calling in the Syndicate—Kane’s boys. Marcus has dirtier friends than even her.”

Two police officers stepped in, summoned by the board’s lawyer. Evelyn’s shriek split the air as they cuffed her wrists again. “He’s a fraud! He’s gutter scum! This city will eat him alive!”

Amelia watched it all, her face pale, her mouth tight. “You think power makes you clean?” she whispered. “You’ll drown in it like the rest of us.”

Benjamin didn’t look back at her. “Stay buried if you want, Amelia. The Carter name doesn’t need you.”

“You took everything, Carter,” Marcus spat, knife flashing in the early light. “Mother would burn you alive.”

Benjamin touched the pendant, its heat gave him courage. He faced Marcus head on.

I am Carter, I'm done running.