The Mistreated Heir Is An Urban God

9

Alex's phone buzzed violently in his pocket as Yin spread the final documents across the desk. He glanced at the screen, and his heart stopped.

John - URGENT: Alex, PLEASE answer! Bella's losing it. She's been crying for three days straight. Says if you don't respond by tonight, she's going to hurt herself. She thinks something terrible happened to you. PLEASE, man. We need you.

The message was followed by a photo—Bella, one of the orphan triplets who'd taken him in years ago, sitting on a bathroom floor with hollow, red-rimmed eyes. Her wrists were visible, and Alex's stomach lurched with terror.

"Alexander? Are you listening?" Rufus's voice sounded distant.

"I—" Alex's hands trembled as he stared at the image. "The triplets. I need to—"

"The triplets?" Rufus frowned. "You mean those orphans who gave you shelter when you first left the family?"

"They saved me." Alex's voice cracked. "When I had nothing—when I was sleeping on park benches and eating from dumpsters—John, Bella, and Marcus found me. They shared their tiny apartment. They gave me food when they barely had enough for themselves. They kept me alive, Rufus."

The guilt crashed over him like a tidal wave. He'd been so consumed by Maya's betrayal, his grandfather's death, the inheritance—he'd completely forgotten to check in with the people who'd actually cared about him when he was nobody.

Three weeks. Three weeks of silence while Bella worried herself sick.

"Young master, we still have several documents—" Yin started.

"How much longer?" Alex interrupted, his fingers flying over his phone screen, trying to compose a response.

"Perhaps twenty minutes for the final signatures and—"

"Make it ten." Alex's thumb hit send on his message: Bella, I'm okay. I'm so sorry. I'm coming. Please don't do anything. I'm coming RIGHT NOW.

The message failed to send.

Alex stared at the screen in horror. ERROR: MESSAGE NOT DELIVERED

He tried again. Same error. His hands shook harder. "No, no, no..."

"Alexander, what's wrong?" Rufus moved closer.

"My phone—it's not working. I need to message her. She's—" Alex's voice pitched higher with panic. "She's going to think I'm ignoring her!"

"Use mine—" Rufus reached for his pocket.

"She won't recognize the number! She'll think it's spam!" Alex tried a third time, his fingers fumbling. Still nothing. "Damn it!"

Yin moved with sudden efficiency, sensing the urgency. "Young master, let's expedite this. Sign here, here, and here." He pointed to signature lines with rapid precision. "This transfers full control of all assets into your name. This authorizes your biometric access to the underground vaults. And this—" He produced a sleek silver card from a locked drawer. "—is your unlimited access card, linked directly to your liquid cash assets. No spending limit. No restrictions."

Alex barely looked at what he was signing, his mind entirely on Bella sitting on that bathroom floor. His signature scrawled across document after document—messy, rushed, nothing like the careful penmanship he'd been taught as a child.

"Done." Yin gathered the papers. "Everything is yours now, young master. The full one hundred and thirty billion dollars in your name, accessible immediately."

Alex grabbed the silver card and bolted for the door.

"Alexander, wait!" Rufus called after him.

"I'll call you later!" Alex's voice echoed down the hallway as he ran.

Behind him, Yin stood frozen for a moment before his face went pale with realization. "Oh no. I didn't properly see the young master off! After everything that happened earlier—" He grabbed his jacket and chased after Alex. "Young master! Wait! Please let me escort you properly!"

Alex burst into the main lobby, his shoes skidding on marble as he rounded the corner toward the exit. His phone was still clutched in his hand, screen showing the mocking MESSAGE NOT DELIVERED error.

"Well, well, well."

Jane stepped directly into his path, her arms crossed, her face twisted with vindictive satisfaction. She'd changed into a fresh uniform, her makeup reapplied, clearly ready for round two.

"Going somewhere, cockroach?"

"Not now." Alex tried to move around her. "I don't have time for—"

"You don't have TIME?" Jane's voice rose, sharp and cutting. "You don't get to decide that, criminal! Security! This is the fraud I reported earlier!"

A crowd began gathering immediately—other attendants, evening event guests, security personnel drawn by Jane's shrill voice. Phones appeared, recording. Whispers rippled through the growing audience.

"Ma'am, please move. This is urgent—"

"Urgent? The only thing urgent is getting you ARRESTED!" Jane's finger jabbed toward his chest like a weapon. "You tried to scam your way into this venue with a FAKE ticket! That's fraud! That's trespassing! That's—"

"The ticket was legitimate—"

"The system showed INVALID!" Jane turned to the crowd, playing to her audience. "This parasite tried to con his way past security using a counterfeit ticket! And when Sophia Gerald showed him pity—PITY—he probably thought he could use her kindness to legitimize his presence here!"

"That's not what happened—"

"Of course that's what happened! You're a con artist! A cockroach wearing human clothes!" Jane's eyes glittered with malicious glee. "Look at you—dressed like you slept in a gutter, smelling like desperation, trying to infiltrate a venue for wealthy people! You don't BELONG here!"

The crowd murmured agreement. Some nodded. Others whispered to each other, their expressions showing disgust and fascination mixed together.

Alex's hands clenched around his phone. Every second he wasted here was another second Bella spent alone, desperate, potentially doing something irreversible.

"I'm leaving. Get out of my way."

"Not until security—" Jane's eyes dropped to his hand. Her face transformed with sudden, predatory excitement. "What's THAT?"

She pointed at the silver card visible between his fingers.

"Nothing. Just move—"

Jane's hand shot out like a striking snake, snatching the card from his grip before he could react. She held it up to the light, examining it with theatrical scrutiny.

"A SILVER ACCESS CARD?" Her voice pitched to incredulous mockery. "You expect anyone to believe YOU own one of these? These cards are for multi-millionaires! For elite clients! For people who actually MATTER!"

"Give it back—"

"This is STOLEN!" Jane waved the card triumphantly to the crowd. "He obviously lifted this from some poor customer's pocket! Look at him—dressed like a homeless insect—and he's carrying around a card that requires a minimum fifty-million-dollar account balance!"

Gasps echoed through the crowd.

"I knew it!" someone shouted. "He's a thief!"

"Probably part of a pickpocket gang!"

"Should we call the police?"

Jane's smile grew wider, more vicious. "Oh, we're DEFINITELY calling the police. Grand theft, identity fraud, trespassing—" She counted on her fingers. "You're going to prison for DECADES, you pathetic cockroach!"

"That card is MINE!" Alex stepped forward, his voice desperate. "It was just issued to me!"

"Issued to YOU?" Jane burst into cruel laughter. "Sure it was! And I'm secretly a princess! This card belongs to someone important. Someone successful. Someone who isn't a bottom-feeding PARASITE like you!" She turned to security. "Hold him here while I check the card's registry. When we find out who he stole this from—"

"What is going ON here?"

The voice cut through the chaos like a blade through silk.

Mr. Yin stood at the corridor entrance, his face already transitioning from professional concern to absolute horror as he took in the scene—Jane holding the silver card, Alex trapped by the crowd, security moving to restrain him.

Jane turned, her expression still triumphant, not recognizing the CEO in his slightly disheveled state from chasing after Alex. "Sir, we've apprehended a criminal who—"

Then she registered who was speaking.

Her words died in her throat.

Mr. Yin's face had gone completely white, his eyes locked on the silver card in Jane's hand—the card he'd personally issued to Alexander Blackwell just minutes ago. The unlimited-access card connected to one hundred and thirty billion dollars.

The card Jane was currently clutching like evidence of theft.

"Oh no," Yin whispered, frozen in absolute terror. "Not again."