Chapter 22: Way Out, Betrayed?

“Aargh!”

The man, who had just regained his consciousness suddenly grunted. At the same time, as he began regaining his bearing, he began struggling.

Especially after he realized that he had been tied up, his entire body began trembling. But even then, he was struggling intensely, trying to break free.

But, due to how tightly he was bound by Michael, due to his struggles, his wrists had already begun turning red from the strain from the ropes.

Michael on the other hand, upon realizing that the guy had woken up, he observed him for quite a while.

At this moment, he was wondering, what was he supposed to do with this guy? He really did not have many options at the moment.

First of all, he could let this guy go. But doing that was risky. The guy might go out, then sell him out in order to get himself forgiven.

As for the issue of the guy promising him not to talk about him to Dante and the others, who would believe that? It was not as if Michael would be there to monitor the guy, right?

On the other hand, there was the option of keeping the guy inside the house with him. But this was also risky.

Despite how he had used the ropes to bind him, who could tell if the guy would be lucky and break free? And if he did, and Michael was sleeping at that time, the guy might slip away.

Additionally, the guy might even contact his friends, in order to launch an attack on him. After all, the guy believed that Michael had money that he had stolen from Dante.

As for killing the guy in order to silence him completely, that was not doable. He was not a gangster after all.

While he had been working for gangsters for 2 years, that did not imply that he had become one. So, he was not really capable of just killing someone like that. His heart and conscience could not allow him to do that.

While he understood, there might come a time that he would have to kill, considering that he was dealing with gangsters, but that time was not now.

Additionally, if he killed the guy, he would have to dispose the body. He could not leave the body to continue staying within his apartment, as when it began rotting, he could not live here anymore.

On the other hand, if he tried to dispose the body, where was he going to do that? And, if he did it, the police would inevitably investigate, and would end up linking the death of this guy to himself, no matter how long it took.

Compared to those gangsters that had high level connections within the city, Michael currently had none. So, it was better not to do something that would end up causing him more problems.

So, right now, Michael was in a dilemma, wondering what to do. After all, he still had to deal with this guy, no matter the situation.

It was just that, currently, Michael was not sure if the guy had a group of friends that he had informed about his coming here.

If he had, then Michael could not continue staying here, no matter what choice we made. He would have to leave. But the problem was that, where was he supposed to go?

He could decide to purchase a house, but that would also expose his information. While he could use the system to make the purchase, still, the system would use his information in order to be able to make the purchase.

If the gangsters got the information that Michael had some cash on him, they would try looking for any purchases that he had made, and they might be able to find the location of his new house.

On the other hand, he could decide to go with a hotel. If he found a hotel and went to stay there for quite a while, it was quite viable.

But in the end, all of it depended on this guy. What was he supposed to do with him?

After thinking for quite a while, Michael finally came to a decision. He walked towards the guy who was still struggling, trying to break free.

When Michael came from the back and appeared in front of the man, the man finally stopped struggling after seeing his face.

It seemed, the guy had panicked upon realizing that he had been tied up. Maybe, he thought that he had been caught by the shadow assembly?

Michael silently looked at the guy, and this made the guy feel somehow restless. He was not sure about what Michael wanted to do, but he felt intimidated by his gaze.

This guy, just like most of the gangsters, was one who was overbearing to those weaker than himself, but so timid in front of those stronger than him.

And right now, knowing that Michael was stronger than him not only in terms of physicality, but financial ability as well, the guy was intimidated.

“What… what do you want to do?” Not able to bear the look from Michael any longer, the guy stuttered.

At this point, his face was already pale, with beads of sweat already on his forehead. His back was also drenched in sweat, not only from his previous trial of breaking free, but from the current situation that he was in.

The fear from what Michael might do to him made him sweat so profusely that his entire back was currently dump from the sweat.

“Do you have any friends?” Michael asked in a deep voice.

Upon hearing Michael’s question, the guy quickly shook his head, only to nod his head in the next moment, as if he had realized something.

And as he was profusely nodding his head, the fear on his face intensified by a several times.

But there was something that Michael was impressed about. That was the fact that, all this while, despite him being afraid, which was clear to Michael, he did not scream at all.

The mental fortitude of this guy was quite confusing. Due to how afraid he was despite Michael not doing anything, it seemed that he had quite a weak mind.

But then again, his ability of not screaming in such a situation, especially previously when Michael used the rolling pin to torture him, suggested otherwise.

’Maybe he has a dual personality, or it is that he is quite good at acting.’ Michael contemplated as he silently gazed at the man who was still nodding.

A few seconds later, Michael spoke. “I want to know if you have friends or not. I need to know in order to plan on an escape route. If we have more people, I have to plan with several people in mind. If it is just us two, then it will be us.”

When Michael said those words, from the expression on his face, Michael could tell that the guy was stunned. It was clear that he was not expecting Michael to say something like this.

“I… I have two friends. But, they don’t know about what I did. It is something that I kept a secret, and I told them that I just decided to quit being a gangster.” The guy responded, hope surfacing on his face.

If the current situation was observed by someone else, their reaction would be quite hilarious.

Observing a man, who was obviously in his late 30s, being so scared of a young man who was at the age of a campus freshman…

Michael on the other hand, upon hearing the words of the man, he contemplated, realizing, this was just good.

Since this guy had friends, but had not told them, it was the best situation.

But even then, there was another issue. That was the fact that, this guy might be lying to him. Michael could not eliminate this possibility.

But, right now, he had to go with what he was being told. After all, he had no methods that he could use to verify if what the guy was saying was true or not.

Nonetheless, at the moment, Michael had already made another plan. So, he gazed at the man and said, “Okay, I will go and make arrangements.”

But as Michael turned around to leave, the guy immediately panicked. He asked, “Hey, could you at least release me first? The ropes are just too tight. And, since we are in the same team, is there a need for you to tie me up like this?”

Michael stopped, before turning to face the man. He was silent for a moment before he responded, “You see, we have only gotten acquainted today. And the way that we got acquainted is not the best.

And judging by your history, it is quite difficult for someone to be able to trust you. So, for now, you will have to stay here, and allow me to make arrangements.

After everything is ready, I will release you and we can leave.”

Then, without waiting for a response from the guy, Michael left the kitchen.

The man on the other hand was left sitting there, dumbfounded. But in the end, he let out a helpless sigh, as he understood, he had no any other choice at the moment.

But as he was waiting, something that made him both afraid and infuriated happened. Within the kitchen, he could hear the sound of Michael talking, and it was clear, he was speaking to someone about him.

“Hello, police? There is a thief who broke into my apartment. I have currently subdued him, could you come and pick him up?”

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