Chapter 64: I Am An Amazing Guy
A few minutes later, Erick woke up, rubbed the drool off his face, and mumbled, "What was that?"
"Finally awake, huh?" Klaus said while leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed at his chest.
Erick frowned and asked, "What did you do to me?"
"What makes you think that you can question me?" Klaus asked, his tone sharp.
Erick fell silent and stared at the masked man while pondering what to say next.
However, he didn’t need to because Klaus already had questions for him.
"What do you know about Ryan Frank’s kidnapping?"
His voice pulled the teenager out of his thoughts, and he muttered in confusion, "What?"
Klaus’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he asked again, "What do you know about Ryan Frank’s kidnapping?"
"Ryan Frank..." Erick repeated the name with a thoughtful look on his face, and after a few moments of silence, his eyes shone in reminiscence, and he asked in a soft tone, "Are you asking about Victor Frank’s son?"
Klaus nodded slightly.
"Hmm..." Erick slowly locked the fingers of his hand and then said, "I can ask the syndicate head to let him go."
’That would make things much easier for me...’ Klaus thought about it for a few seconds, and then he tapped on the metal table between them and asked, "Why did the syndicate kidnap him in the first place?"
Erick chuckled at the question. "Are you seriously asking me why a criminal organization committed a crime?"
Seeing him, Klaus could immediately guess that he was trying to dodge the question, and it was further proven by the fact that they hadn’t called Victor for anything. If they had, he would have already found them.
"Stop whatever useless games are in your mind and answer me straight," Klaus stated, his voice steady.
Erick clicked his tongue and threw his hands in the air before he answered, "A top member of ours will be going through a trial soon, so we made sure none of the attorneys stand against him, but Victor Frank cannot be bought, so we just kidnapped his son. He is smart enough to know what we want from him."
Klaus frowned behind the mask. ’Why didn’t Ryan return to Victor then? Don’t tell me he is going to stand against the syndicate... he should already be suspicious about them.’
Victor wasn’t the one to back down, so that was expected of him, but doing so when his son was in danger seemed extremely stupid.
"You don’t want us to let him go, do you?" Erick asked with a smile.
Klaus came out of his thoughts and sharply looked at him before he said, "I do."
"Alright," Erick answered the next instant.
Klaus stared at him with a deadpan expression. He had expected him to deny, but he had accepted it without missing a beat.
"I’d rather have that guy go through a trial instead of dying here," Erick said as his gaze shifted to Klaus’s arms. He still remembered how easily he had defeated Blake.
"Why don’t you join us?" Erick questioned while smiling.
"You should be begging to join me instead, " Klaus muttered seriously and added, "The syndicate is strong, but not as strong as me, and I am no one’s dog."
Erick heaved a sigh and said, "Alright. We’ll join you then."
Klaus frowned behind his mask. "What?"
"You heard me," Erick replied with a smile. "I don’t think I’ll ever find anyone like you, so I can’t just let you go away."
"So you’d rather become my dog?" Klaus furrowed his brows.
"Hmm..." Erick frowned for a moment, and then his expression brightened. "More like partners."
"Partners?" Klaus mumbled. "What does the syndicate even have to offer me?"
Erick fell silent.
"Let alone helping me out, it will only become an obstacle for me," Klaus stated.
The Bruma Syndicate had a bad reputation and was considered a ragtag group by those who actually held meaningful power, so by having them join him, he was only going to have more problems.
"You don’t have to worry, I will take care of that," Erick said with a faint smile.
Klaus narrowed his eyes. "Why are you so insistent on joining me?"
Erick’s eyes turned dark for a moment before they began smiling, and he said, "I want to earn a favor from you."
He could guess what Erick wanted.
There was a near certainty that he wanted revenge on the person who had left the burn mark on his wrist, and the only person capable of doing that was Klaus. So even if he didn’t want to, he had no choice but to hand over the syndicate.
"What do you think?" Erick muttered.
Klaus stared at his face for a few moments and thought, ’I don’t want to get close to a psycho like him, but the syndicate can be very useful for me...’
Klaus was already at a disadvantage because of awakened humans already roaming the planet, so it was best for him to capture whatever opportunity he could.
But before that, he still had a few more questions to ask him.
"What did you do to Dustin?"
Erick blinked in surprise and mumbled, dumbfounded, "You know my brother...?"
Klaus nodded slightly.
Erick’s expression turned complicated, then he sighed and answered truthfully, "We captured him."
’That much I know already.’ Klaus felt like hitting him on the head, but he kept himself from doing so.
"Why?" Klaus pressed.
Erick’s expression darkened, and he answered slowly, "He isn’t a good brother... I waited for him to become one, but he refused to, so I took matters into my own hands. I wanted to for a long time, but my brother has four guards watching over him from the shadows all the time."
He smiled widely. "Right when I was about to give up, he got into an altercation with a guy and sent his guards to teach him a lesson. I am really thankful for that person. Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to do that."
"Is that so? He must be an amazing guy."