Free Web NovelChapter 324: Political Chess Board
Damian turned off the television and turned his attention to Rin seated on his laps.
"See. I was right, wasn’t i?" Damian grinned.
Rin slowly nodded. When these men came, Damain refused to kill them off. He had his demon subordinates possess these men, then play out the entire scene. He used them to play an orchestrated battle and killed them while doing it.
Damian was slowly getting better at this game of manipulation, especially when dealing with humans.
"What happens now?" Rin asked.
"We wait and watch everything crumble." Damian responded with a vicious smile.
The attempted assassination of Damian did not fade from public attention after the first morning report. It became worse with every passing hour.
By noon, every major news station in Chicago had replayed the footage from the mountain estate dozens of times.
The public already knew Damian was the judge presiding over the Victor Hale case. Now the judge handling that case had been attacked in his own home.
The timing made everything worse.
The assassination attempt happened on the night of December thirty first, only hours before the new year. Damian was expected to continue overseeing the case after the holiday break. If he died, the case would be delayed. A new judge would be assigned. Evidence could disappear. Witnesses could change their statements. The entire case could collapse before it ever reached its conclusion.
That was why the public began seeing the assassination attempt differently. This was not just an attack on Damian. It was an attack on the justice system itself.
Outside the courthouse, protesters began gathering within days. Some held signs demanding Victor Hale’s arrest. Others demanded that Richard Hale and the Black Sheep Firm be investigated. Social media was flooded with videos of the mansion attack, photos of Damian leaving the hospital, and angry messages from people who believed the wealthy had finally gone too far.
However, the Hale family responded quickly.
Richard Hale appeared on television with a team of expensive lawyers beside him. He denied everything. He claimed the injured assassin was lying to save himself from prison. He called the accusations against his family a political attack. He insisted that neither he nor his son had anything to do with the attempted murder of Judge Damian.
Victor Hale remained silent during the interview. He sat beside his father with a pale expression, his hands clasped tightly in his lap. He did not look like a man confident in his innocence. He looked like someone waiting for a disaster to reach him.
The news stations and the public noticed it.
Inside his estate, Damian sat near the glass wall of his living room with a cup of coffee resting in his hand. His eyes were still recovering from the damage caused by the battle against the Sin of Gluttony, but he still strained it without a care in the world.
Hazel looked irritated while Racheal looked cold and Ruby looked ready to hunt someone down. After the last few consecutive attacks on their husband, they felt compelled to kill anyone who threatened him, human, angel or demon.
Rah simply stared at Damian with narrowed eyes, still trying to understand how a man who had just survived a battle against demigods would be interested in playing with mortals. Shouldn’t he be above this already?
Rin rested on the arm of the couch, his tail flicking lazily as he watched the television.
"They are trying to turn this into a conspiracy," Rin said.
"They should," Damian replied calmly. "If they admit the truth now, they are finished."
"The police are still holding the survivor," Hazel said. "His lawyers will try to reach him soon."
"They will not reach him," Damian answered.
Hazel glanced at him. "And how exactly do you plan to stop them?"
Damian placed his cup down and leaned back against the couch. "By making sure he understands something before they do."
Later that evening, Damian visited the surviving assassin under heavy police protection.
The man had been placed in a hospital room under guard. His stomach had been treated, but he still looked weak. His face was pale. His body was covered in bruises. The moment Damian entered the room, the assassin’s eyes widened in terror.
Damian stood beside the bed and stared down at him quietly.
The assassin tried to speak, but his throat tightened.
"You came to kill me," Damian said calmly. "Your team is dead. You are the only one left."
The assassin swallowed hard.
Damian pulled a chair closer and sat down beside the bed. His expression remained calm, but there was something in his eyes that made the assassin feel colder than the hospital room.
"Do you think Richard Hale will protect you?" Damian asked.
The assassin did not answer. He wasn’t sure why he was even confessing. All he knows is whenever asked on the topic he suddenly begins listing names even before he can properly process the question.
It was like he wasn’t in control of his body at certain times.
"Do you think Victor Hale will visit you?" Damian continued. "Do you think their lawyers will make you disappear before you speak?"
The man’s face tightened.
Damian leaned forward slightly. "They already abandoned you and now you have only two choices. You can keep protecting people who already decided you are disposable, or you can tell the truth and make sure they fall with you."
"Of course, I’ll protect you and make sure they don’t harm you." Damian grinned devilishly as he leaned back.
[You can easily compel him to do this but you force him to make the decision himself because of the emotional baggage he would have to deal with. You are diabolical.] Rin was disgusted by how much Damian was enjoying this.
For several seconds, the room remained silent. Then the assassin finally spoke.
"I have recordings," he whispered.
Damian’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The man reached beneath his hospital blanket and pulled out a small device that had been hidden against his body. It was damaged, but still intact. The assassin held it with trembling fingers.
"Everything was recorded," he said. "The instructions. The payments. The names. Everything you need to rope them in is there."
Ooh?!
Damian’s brow raised in surprise. He simply wanted to torment this man psychologically. He didn’t expect to stumble on more damning evidence.
’You see? If I was a good person, I would have missed this opportunity.’
Damain felt Rin roll his eyes in his head. He pushed aside everything and slowly took the device from his hand.
The assassin stared at him with terror in his eyes.
"Will they kill me?"
Damian stood up and looked down at him.
"They will try," Damian said. "But they will fail."
The trial resumed several days later. The courthouse was surrounded by police vehicles, reporters, protesters, and armed security. People gathered outside the building despite the cold weather, waiting to see whether Damian would appear. Some believed he would step down after the assassination attempt. Others believed he would be forced into hiding. Many expected the case to be delayed indefinitely.
Then Damian arrived.
He stepped out of a black vehicle wearing a dark suit, his expression calm and unreadable. His security team surrounded him, but he did not look afraid. He did not look injured. He did not look like a man who had nearly been murdered in his own home.
He looked like a judge walking into court.
Victor Hale was already inside the courtroom when Damian entered. Richard Hale sat behind him with his lawyers, his face tense and pale. The moment Damian took his seat, the room fell silent.
Victor looked up at him and for a brief moment, their eyes met. Damian adjusted the papers before him and looked directly at Victor Hale.
"You tried to kill me before this hearing," Damian said calmly. "You failed. Now sit down, Mr. Hale. We have a case to finish."
The courtroom remained silent.
Outside, the crowd erupted. For the first time in years, the Hale family was no longer controlling . Their money could buy lawyers. It could buy politicians. It could buy silence. But it could not erase the assassination attempt. It could not erase the survivor’s testimony. It could not erase the recordings.
And it could not erase Damian.
The man they tried to kill had become the face of the case.
The judge they tried to silence had become the one person standing between Victor Hale and the consequences of everything he had done.
