Chapter 256 256 Acquittal
His foresight prevented him from making a grave mistake that he might have regretted for the rest of his life.
In order to ride the wave of victory along with the Windsor family, what he had done was far from enough. He felt like he needed to do more. As such instead of going out to meet Violet and the rest of the group, he walked with great strides towards the dungeon that was located at the far end of the prison.
The last cell on the right side of the hallway was the cell where Marico was being kept. At this moment, the door to the prison cell was hanging open as if no one was concerned with Marico being able to escape.
The reason was that the warden of the prison was currently with him, thinking of the various ways he was going to torture him in. He was slowly narrating all his torture techniques that he had learnt over the years in a low but gruff voice that oozed violence and bloodlust.
Marico tried to remain unfazed in the face of the approaching pain but he was human as well. With his capabilities restrained, he was barely any different from regular humans. As such, there was obvious fear on his face that he was trying to restrain but to no avail.
The warden appeared to be extremely smug as if he had been looking forward to this. He had in fact been waiting to torture Marico himself because of the previous insult he had to suffer at the hands of the prince.
After reporting him to the higher ups of the military, the warden waited until the military took action and arrested Luke for the murder of an innocent. Therefore, he was no longer apprehensive about touching Marico this time and was planning to take his time.
Andy let out a sigh of relief after he noticed that Marico was only slightly fearful and had not received any injuries yet. It seemed that the warden had yet to take action. Andy was relieved that he had made it in time.
He immediately pushed aside the guard standing watch outside the open prison cell and stepped inside.
Marico saw him coming and hope appeared in his eyes. Andy had been ambiguous in choosing sides from the very beginning. Therefore, Marico hoped to convert him to his side so as to escape the torture of the bloodthirsty warden if possible.
"Warden can I have a minute with you?" asked Andy with a mysterious smile that didn't reveal any of his intentions.
"What is it? Say whatever you want to say here. I am a bit busy making things even." answered the warden grumpily as he hmphed a few times between the sentence.
"I am afraid it is a bit inconvenient to say it in front of him."
Andy didn't want Marico to know that he had only come to save him after determining the victory of the Windsor family. Therefore, he wasn't willing to have this discussion in front of him.
The warden eyed him angrily as he marched out of the prison cell while waving his hands hurriedly to indicate Andy to follow right after him.
"Spit it out now." roared the warden.
"I am afraid you can't fulfill your desire of torturing him anymore. I just witnessed the eldest lady of the Windsor family coming here with the traitor of their family in tow." revealed Andy with a smirk on his face. He couldn't help but be amused by the number of times the warden's face changed color after hearing the news.
While the iron was still hot, Andy struck a few more times successively.
"They probably have his confession already and would want to exchange their father for him. You can't hold him here any longer. It would be good for you to keep yourself and your men in check because outside these walls, that man is the head of an influential family. He isn't someone you want to make an enemy out of due to petty reasons."
The warden seemed to be lost in thought as his eyebrows furrowed into a curve. He seemed to be considering a lot of variables before making his decision.
"But the leader of the Hunter family promised me that there was no evidence. Otherwise, how could I have taken such drastic measures in here? Am I so foolish?" muttered the warden unconsciously.
Andy laughed amusingly. He couldn't think of any other word for the warden at the moment other than 'foolish'. He had jumped into the pit believing the words of the Hunter family leader who was worse than a snake. The warden was now a hated enemy of the Windsor family regardless of whether he had done anything or not. Just his attitude was enough to doom him to the depths of hell on earth.
Still, he sincerely persuaded the warden to let go of whatever grievances he had towards the head of the Windsor family so as to secure a future for himself in Byzantium city.
The warden considered for a moment before coming to a decision. He nodded slightly towards Andy and moved towards the open prison cell with faltering steps.
"Close it up and don't open it for anyone else until you hear from me." The warden ordered the guard outside the prison cell so as to prevent any other foolish cop from doing something outrageous without his permission. There was no shortage of cops trying to please him in the police station. He was worried that one of those cops would try to torture Marico in hopes of a promotion from him.
Therefore, until the Windsor family took their leader back, the warden needed to make sure that he remained in a good condition.
The warden then turned around on his heels and left briskly in order to hide the shame he was feeling. He cursed himself for talking big in front of Marico when the latter was at the former's mercy. Where things currently stood, the warden could only hope that Marico wouldn't take his petty actions to heart. Otherwise, only regret and pain awaited him on his future path.
Andy had expected the same outcome as well. The warden wasn't as dauntless as he tried to be. He was a coward who could only act powerful in front of the weak and was weaker than a wet cat in front of those he considered to be more powerful than him. In simpler words, he was a bully with no real power. He abused his position to torture people at the behest of others and was unconcerned with carrying out true justice.
After the warden left, Andy smiled and walked in front of the prison cell at a leisurely pace. He cast a smiling glance at the relieved looking Marico.
Marico was thanking all his gods at the same time. Although he had been hoping for Andy to help him, the chances of that happening were very actually very slim. His being incarcerated in the dungeon like a helpless lamb for slaughter didn't help his case either. He had nothing that could have enabled him to earn Andy's allegiance or alliance at the very least. Therefore, he was wondering what had just happened with the warden and what kind of message had Andy conveyed to the warden.
…
Violet was led to the senior most police officer who looked quite aged by the officer standing guard outside the gate.
The aged looking officer was supposed to be the most experienced person in the police station and had worked his whole life there. Therefore, he was responsible for handling sensitive cases related to the upper echelon of the city. He knew how to deal with the rich and the poor alike.
As such, Violet ordered Grace to sit down and got his confession recorded with the aged police officer.
"Are you sure you are not being coerced into lying by these people? Do you know what you are saying?" the aged police officer was slightly apprehensive of the large group of people Violet had brought with her. He was wondering if she was forcing Grace to confess to a crime he hadn't committed. He had seen lots of such cases in his career after all.
Grace didn't disappoint Violet and answered truthfully to all the questions asked by the police officer.