Chapter 1: New Start

The story opens in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States of America.

City filled with the most educated people of the country, it's diverse attractions is what makes it a popular city for many.

At a nearby cafe, a woman in her early 20s, she had fair porcelain skin, with dark brown hair, with a slender build, wearing bright clothes, her eyes were crystal blue and she was drinking coffee.

Her name was Esme Todd.

"I wonder why Michael won't pick up..." Esme said to herself, feeling infuriated.

She finishes her coffee and leaves the cafe and immediately heads over to Michael's apartment.

She slowly opened the door and what she saw forever scarred her life.

"What the hell Michael!" Esme shouted at him, her eyes are flaming with anger.

"Babe...I didn't expect you to be back this earlier..." Michael said, backing away knowing he is in trouble.

"Bitch!" Esme walked towards him, slapping him in the face.

Michael just stands there in shock, he could not comprehend how strong the slap was.

"Enjoy your life with that whore..." Esme exclaimed, slamming the door and leaving.

She left the apartment with a broken heart as she could not believe she was betrayed like that.

*Meanwhile in the undergrounds of the city*

"P-please let me go!!!" A man said, his voice was muffled, struggling to break free.

Suddenly, footsteps can be heard from the area, the sound of dripping water can be heard, echoing throughout the sewer.

In front of him was a man wearing black shades, a black fedora hat, with a nice tailored business suit with a black trenchcoat over his shoulders.

His gaze was as similar as the eyes of a tiger, his presence made the whole area cold, as he stepped forward to the man.

"Tell me...do you know the whereabouts of the Lion?" He said, approached, pulling out the tape from the man's mouth.

"T-The Lion?" The man trembled, backing away a little.

"Tell me where he is and I'll let you go...and that's a promise..." He replied.

"O-ok, I-I heard that he would be arriving at a club later..." The man hesitatingly replied to him.

"What club specifically and what time?" He gazed at him, his eyes were staring at his soul.

"H-he...he'll be showing up at the Flamingos Club, tomorrow at 8 PM..." The man sighed, looking down.

"Very good, you were cooperative than I thought...men let him lose..." He called out his members to untie the poor man.

"Now go and scram..." He turned away, walking away along with his members.

"Boss, what's next?" One of the gang members asked him.

"Well I'll be letting you guys rest for now, but remember to be prepared in meeting against the Lion...and besides I have important things to deal with later..." He said as they exited the sewers.

He then went to an apartment and entered his room and took off his hat, trenchcoat and shades.

"Ughhh....how am I going to balance this whole thing...school is coming up tomorrow and I have to deal with that bastard Lion..." He said, lying down on his bed.

"Either way, my whole main purpose is to break free my father who was wrongly accused by that Lion bastard for murdering my mother..." He grunted, holding his bed sheets tightly.

"Mr. Blackwood!" A voice called out.

"Yes..." He stood up, walking to the door and answering it.

"I'm here to collect the monthly rent...you know the routine..." The landlady said.

"Of course, let me get it real quick..." He nodded and went to grab and give her the money.

"Fufufu...I can always count on you to be a ble to pay right on time...plus you're a hard working boy, aren't you?" The landlady chuckled.

"You can say that..." He softly chuckled.

"Anyways I think I have other things to do...also I heard that school is coming up again...it's such a shame I'll lose a tenant like you, but I understand you're going for college..." The landlady said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I must say I will miss our old talks, but that's how life works..." He replied.

"Be a good boy and don't cause too much trouble..." The landlady sighed.

"I won't cause trouble...and who knows I might stop by at the holidays..." He softly smiled.

"Well I wish you good luck, I'll be off now, see you again, Mr. Blackwood, or should I say Ethan?" The landlady chuckled.

"I'm fine with Ethan, Ma'am..." Ethan nodded.

The landlady closed the door and walked down the hallway, Ethan went back to bed getting ready for school.

Meanwhile Esme, still heartbroken for what happened, slept alone at her area, but she could not help but feel excited for school.

"School is coming up again...I can't wait to talk to my friends..." Esme sighed.

"Ughhh...I still can't get over how that bitch cheated on me and broke my heart..." Esme said, punching her pillow.

"I want to take things slowly next time, I wanna find someone who can treat me better than him, but I'm in no hurry for romance..." Esme sighed, hugging her pillow and going to sleep.

*The next day*

Both Esme and Ethan got up and prepared themselves for the opening of school.

Esme arrived a few minutes earlier than Ethan, she was walking down the hallway and going through her locker when suddenly Michael approached her.

"Ughhh what do you want from me?!" Esme exclaimed, crossing her arms.

"Hey that's not nice..." Michael chuckled.

"Oh you think I'm going to let that slide, the fact that you cheated on me!" Esme shouted at him.

"Watch your mouth!" Michael replied.

"Or what, you're going to hurt me?!" Esme continued.

Ethan was passing by and noticed that Michael was about to hurt her so he walked towards them.

"Um excuse me, but what you're doing right now is a violation..." Ethan sighed.

"And who are you to talk to me, you don't look like a student council member to me..." Michael scoffed.

"Please don't interfere with this..." Esme said to herself.

"I may not be a student council member to lecture you but I don't like seeing women being treated like that..." Ethan said, gripping tightly to Michael's arm.

"Let me go! You wanna pick a fight?" Michael grunted, his eyes glaring at Ethan.

"I don't want to either but seeing someone about to hurt this innocent girl over here...gives me a reason to fight you..." Ethan replied as he started to twist his arm and pin him down to the ground.

Everyone else in the hallway including Esme was shocked to see what happened.

"Let me go..." Michael gruntedz trying to get up.

"I'll only let you go if you promise to not hurt women like her..." Ethan said.

"Fine...fine I'll stop!" Michael sighed.

Ethan let go of Michael's arm and Michael stood back up, looking at him.

"This isn't over..." Michael said, walking away.

"Yeah right...you're all talk but you can't put up a fight..." Ethan said to himself.

"Well...I suppose I should thank you for helping me out there..." Esme sighed and approached towards him.

"It's nothing much, I was doing what I thought was right..." Ethan replied with a smile.

"I see...well you seem like a good guy with good intentions..." Esme said.

"I do get that a lot..." Ethan chuckled.

"I see...you know we haven't actually introduced ourselves to one another...my name is Esme Todd..." Esme said, extending her arm out to him.

Ethan was reluctant to shake her hand but he eventually decided to firmly shake her hand.

"My name is Ethan Blackwood, it's a pleasure to meet you, I hope we can get along this school year..." Ethan replied.

"I'm sure we will, so I'm guessing you're my new classmate?" Esme said whilst walking with Ethan.

"I guess you could say that..." Ethan sighed.

"Well let's go right to class before we get late..." Esme laughed and started to rush immediately to the classroom.

"She's a wild one..." Ethan said to himself and followed on suite.

Both of them headed inside and became seatmates and the teacher assigned them as dormmates.

Both of them looked at one another and waited for one of them to speak.

Esme clears her voice and sighs "Well it looks like we're assigned together, but first let me set some rules between us..."

Ethan looks at her and listens to her carefully

"Rule number one...don't bring anyone over to have any hookups, rule number two...don't make a mess and rule number three...don't cause much trouble..." Esme sighed.

"Do you understand me..." Esme said, pulling his necktie.

"Don't worry Miss Todd, I'll be willing to cooperate with your rules..." Ethan chuckled as he stood up form his chair.

Esme was taken aback by the way how he said his words but she quickly shrugging off and stood up.

"Anyways I'll be off with some friends, just ensure me that you will be back but not late at midnight, understand me?" Esme sighed, crossing her arms.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not like them other boys..." Ethan said, leaving the classroom.

"Now I have to go prepare myself, I'll be heading off to the Flamingo's Club...best ready my suit and call the gang..." Ethan said, picking up his phone.

"Hey Esme, you wanna go clubbing with us?" A girl called out Esme.

"Hmmm I guess I'm available..." Esme sighed.

"Come on, let's have some fun..." The girl said.

*Later that day at the Flamingo's club*

Esme and her friends were chilling around, having a few dances and drinks.

Ethan arrives in his mafia outfit, accompanied by his gang to meet up with the Lion.

As they were walking, Ethan passes by Esme and quickly looked away, not expecting to see her there.

"What is she doing here...but then again...I must not make contact with her as much as possible to keep my identity a secret..." Ethan said as he was starting to walk.

But all of a sudden, Esme approached him, she sat down next to him at the bar stand.

"Excuse me, but you look kind of familiar..." Esme said, holding a glass of wine.

"Do I? Well I think you've sadly mistaken me for someone else, pretty lady..." Ethan said in a low, raspy voice, trying to disguise his true self.

"I don't know about that...but then again, how about we have a drink together...what do you say handsome?" Esme smirked.

"Hmmm I suppose I could spend a little bit of time with a lovely lady like you..." Ethan replied, grabbing his drink.

"Cheers..." They both said in unison and drank their wine.

"Ahhhhhh that tasted good..." Esme said, putting down her glass of wine.

"It has good taste..." Ethan said, putting it down.

"I wish to chat with you more but I have somewhere to go, I'll see you around..." Ethan said, leaving his chair.

Esme suddenly grabbed his arm.

Ethan couldn't believe his eyes as she wouldn't let him go that easily.

"You and I are not yet done talking to one another..." Esme looks at her seriously.

"I don't want to do this..." Ethan said to himself and sighed.

He approached her and pinned her head at the bar table.

Esme's eyes widen in surprise, she started to blush a little as Ethan was above her.

"Listen here...I have a lot of things to do, so I'll spare some time to chat with you if I can but for now, enjoy the party..." Ethan said, as he held her chin up to meet his gaze.

He eventually let go of her and started walking, Esme started to get up, she could not help but feel flustered after his romantic gesture.

Her friends approached her and helped her with getting up.

"Esme who was that guy, do you know him?" One of the girls asked.

"No...not really..." Esme sighed, looking away.

"But damn...who is he?" Esme said to herself.

Ethan went to a private room where the Lion himself was accompanied with his members.

"Ah so you're the Chameleon, what took you so long?" The Lion chuckled.

"Pardon me...it took me a while to navigate this wild jungle but anyways let's get straight to business..." Ethan said, sitting down.

"I came here to ask for you something..." Ethan said, his tone was serious and his eyes were glaring at him.

"Why did you do it?" Ethan said.

"Did what exactly?" The Lion asked.

"Don't play dumb with me..." Ethan scoffed.

"You're going to have to be more specific, kid..." The Lion sighed.

Ethan pulls out a gun and points it at his head.

The henchmen pointed their guns at him but Ethan remained calm.

"Why...just why did you had to accuse my father!" Ethan cried, hesitating to shoot.

"Ah now I remember...you're that Blackwood kid..." The Lion scoffed.

"You're damn right about that..." Ethan said.

"Go ahead, shoot me and my men will kill you, if you dont shoot then I'll let it pass and I'll do what you want..." The Lion said.

Ethan sighed and lowered his weapon.

"Attaboy..." The Lion chuckled.

"Now run before I change my mind..." The Lion sighed.

Ethan ran and left the nightclub, ashamed of his chosen decision and went to his dorm, disappointed.

He took off his suit and went to take a shower, trying to calm himself down.

Shortly after, Esme went home, feeling tired about the party.

She was about to enter inside the bathroom when Ethan opened the door, shocking her.

"E-Ethan?" Esme said.

"Oh hey Esme, I just finished showering, you can use the bathroom now..." Ethan said, he exited the bathroom with only a towel.

Esme quickly snapped out of it and went to use the restroom.

Ethan went to get dressed and arranged his stuff.

Esme knocked at his door and he opened.

"Hey...it might seem like I'm being intruding but..." Esme said, looking away.

"I wonder what she's going to tell me..." Ethan pondered, waiting for her response.

"Do you ever go to clubs?" Esme asked him.

"Shit...I think she got my cover blown...no matter I'll have to come up with an excuse..." Ethan sighed.

"And what if I do?" Ethan said, crossing his arms.

"Hmmm...you know...you look kinda familiar...you kinda looked like the guy in the nightclub earlier~" Esme said, she was feeling tipsy.

"I think she's drunk..." Ethan said to himself.

"You know...you're kinda handsome up close Ethan~" Esme chuckled, she is clearly drunk now.

"Oh boy, you're really drunk now..." Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Maybe I am, but what are you going to do about it?" Esme smirked.

Ethan hesitated but picked her up and laid her down on her bed.

Esme was completely surprised by what happened everything felt so sudden to her.

Ethan tucked he rin to bed and gently brushed her hair.

"Good night Esme..." Ethan replied with a smile and closed her door.

He went back to his room and sighed.

"Not going to lie...she's kinda cute..." Ethan sighed, as he started falling asleep, thinking about today's events.