Chapter 22: Chris Henderson's String Of Bad Luck
Chris Henderson could not believe his string of bad luck.
After he lost the CEO position to Damian, he kept running into problems.
First, Garrett Davies somehow found out that he had been having an affair with his daughter. According to Scarlett, the photos were mixed in with the photos from the masquerade ball.
No one knew how it happened. Almost as if they magically appeared.
The young woman panicked. Her father was so furious that he threatened to disown her. This did not make Chris happy at all, because what was Scarlett without her inheritance? Only a young beautiful woman with limited assets.
In order to placate the young woman and also her father, Chris agreed to meet with Garrett Davies.
Unfortunately for Chris, the Davies Group founder was not willing to listen to his nonsense. He did not think that Chris was a good man, and he was not convinced that he was truly in love with Scarlett.
In fact -- and he was right -- he saw Chris as this scumbag who tried to manipulate Scarlett's innocence and twisted it into a scheme to take over the Davies Group.
After Chris was thrown out of Garrett Davies' luxurious mansion, he was captured and beaten up by a group of thugs.
The leader told Chris that this was his last chance. If he dared to as much as wink at Scarlett next time, castration was in order.
Before Chris recovered physically and mentally, his little scheme with BerryLemon was found out. His pocket money was gone just like that. Two other managers who had dabbled in the company money had been fired that morning.
What was Damian going to do to him?
"Coffee, Chris?" Damian leaned on his seat and smiled at his nephew. "I need you to be wide awake for this."
Chris stole surreptitious glances at Damian's lady friend.
"Who is this...?"
The woman scoffed and walked over to Chris.
Once she was close enough, she flashed him her police badge.
"Detective Alicia Harper, current partner of Detective Henderson."
A cop.
Chris gritted his teeth at Damian.
"Really?" he scowled. "You are going to turn me into the cops? Just because that old senile man made you the CEO, you think you can do anything now???"
Overcome with emotion, Chris jumped to his feet to attack Damian.
"You bast- ARGHHHHHH!!!"
Alicia grabbed Chris on the shoulders and kneed him in the stomach.
"Calm down, Mr. General Manager. There is no need to get hyped up, is there?"
She gave him motherly pats on the shoulder and earned glares from Chris.
"I want my lawyer," he hissed.
Damian stared at Chris.
"Do you want to go to court, Chris? If so I am more than happy to inform your grandfather about this matter."
Chris blinked at Damian in disbelief. "Y-you mean that you have not told Grandpa? Really? Are you lying to me?"
Damian shook his head.
"I have not."
Chris laughed nervously.
"U-uncle, I knew that you wouldn't be that cruel. The truth is that I was deceived by my friend. He ensured me that all the legal documents were being processed. I just wanted to help..."
Damian held up a hand to stop Chris from talking.
"I am not interested to hear about your deception. The contract with BerryLemon has been voided so I won't continue talking about it anymore. Just don't try any more funny things in the future, Chris. I am serious."
Chris gulped.
"Y-yes. Of course. You have my word."
The man glanced at Alicia again.
"Then what do you want from me? Why are you inviting another cop here?"
Damian and Alicia exchanged glances.
"We need to know if you have been in contact with anyone suspicious in the past weeks or months. Have you been involved in any shady arrangements?"
Chris shook his head fervently.
"No! I confess to seducing Scarlett Davies and getting some monthly allowance from BerryLemon, but other than that, I do nothing!"
"Chris, someone is keeping an eye on you."
Damian pulled out a drawer and grabbed a handful of bugs that he collected from Chris' office. The latter widened his eyes in disbelief when he caught sight of the tiny electronic devices.
"I... I..."
"I am getting people to follow you around for your safety," Damian said. "If someone is threatening you, or doing something to harm you, you need to tell me."
"Y-you would do that for me?"
Damian gave him a curt smile.
"Sure. You are my nephew after all."
Chris was beyond touched. Now that Damian held another function in his life other than snatching his birthright away, he suddenly felt a lot closer to this youngest adopted uncle of his. Maybe he would let Damian keep the CEO position a bit longer. He did not have the ambition to be CEO anyway...
The dumb man left after bowing a lot to express his gratitude.
Alicia scoffed.
Damian closed his eyes and smiled.
"He is a scum," Alicia remarked.
"He is," Damian agreed. "But a useful one. If he can lead us to a Die Rache member, it will be worth all the tailing and investigation."
"Are you sure that he is being targeted by one of them? Die Rache only targets high-profile individuals."
Damian opened his eyes and stared at Alicia.
"Not all."
"Fine, most."
"I have a feeling that it is exactly those exceptional cases that will lead us to the organization's base of operations."
Damian flipped open his tablet and showed Alicia the pictures inside.
"Grotesque murder of an ex-high school teacher at a prostitution house. Minister Cheney's lifetime sentence for child pornography allegation... Both of them were carefully drafted and executed by Die Rache members. The style is too alike. Even the equipment type is the same."
"They changed suppliers a few times," Alicia leaned closer and reminded him in a low voice.
"All the criminal organizations do."
"My instincts are rarely wrong," Damian haughtily declared nevertheless.
"And have your instincts pointed you to a certain suspect?"
"Hm."
In Damian's head, the image of a beautiful goddess in white sparkling gown from a few weeks ago overlapped with the ugly secretary outside.
"Not yet," he said.
Almost.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone