The streetlights flashed across the tinted windows of the bus as William sat silently in the back, his fingers curled tightly around the small black backpack resting on his lap. The night breeze slipped in through a cracked window, carrying the city's mixture of exhaust fumes, roasted plantain smoke, and something sharp like the faint memory of a life he had already shed once, and was being forced to shed again.
He hated running.He had been running all his life.From the house that never felt like home.From the people who only saw him when they needed something.And now from the girl who saw him, but not well enough to recognise his worth.
Chloe's voice still rattled in his skull like a bottle rolling across concrete."I can't keep dating a guy who can't even take care of himself…""My friends warned me…""You don't fit into my future…"
Every word had cracked something inside him, but the last one, You don't fit into my future was the blade that cut deepest.
The bus slowed at a junction, and William's eyes found his reflection on the dusty window. Same face. Same eyes. But he didn't recognise the person staring back. He didn't even want to.
The conductor shouted the next stop, and William stepped down, tightening the straps of his backpack. The night was wide and cold, and the city stretched around him like a beast waiting to swallow him whole. But this time, he wasn't afraid. Something inside him was awakening quietly, controlled, dangerous.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked toward the narrow street where Bellick had told him to meet.
Bellick.
The only man who saw him as more than a broke, struggling boy. The only one who ever looked at him and saw potential, not a problem. And William needed him more than ever now.
The metal gate at the end of the street rattled open before William even knocked.
"Come in," Bellick's voice echoed from inside.
William stepped into the dimly lit compound. The air smelled of engine oil and late-night repairs typical for Bellick's workshop. A single bulb flickered overhead, casting uneven shadows across the tools scattered everywhere.
Bellick emerged from behind a half-assembled motorcycle, wiping his hands on a rag."You look like someone poured reality on your head," he said. "What happened?"
William swallowed. His chest tightened again. "It's over with Chloe."
Bellick froze. His eyebrows lifted just slightly, surprised, but not shocked.
"She finally said it?" Bellick asked.
William nodded.
Bellick walked closer, studying his face. "You're not broken. You're angry. That's better. Anger fuels decisions that pain alone never can." He tossed the rag aside. "Sit."
William sat on an overturned toolbox. His heart paced painfully as Bellick leaned against the workbench.
"So what's your next move?" Bellick asked.
"I want to leave," William said. "For good this time."
"That I expected," Bellick replied calmly. "But leaving is not a plan. Leaving is a reaction." He pointed a finger. "What is your plan?"
William looked up. "Anything that takes me far from this life. Anything that makes me someone she'll regret losing."
Bellick's lips curved in a slow, knowing smile. "Good. Now we're speaking the same language."
He turned, opened a locked drawer, and pulled out a brown envelope. William's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I was going to give you this next week," Bellick said, placing it in William's hand. "But I think you're ready now."
William opened it. Inside were documents with his name on them, but not his name.Williams Dawkins.The identity Bellick had prepared. The one he knew William would need someday.
"I filed everything," Bellick said. "Legally. Clean. You can build something with this."
William stared at the documents, his breath unsteady.
A new identity.A new life.A new path.
"Why… why are you helping me like this?" William asked, his voice barely audible.
Bellick chuckled. "Because I know greatness when I see it. And because men like you don't stay at the bottom forever. They rise. Eventually, the world bows." His eyes hardened. "But only if they choose to rise."
William closed the envelope slowly. "I choose it."
Bellick nodded once. "Good. Then prepare yourself."
William frowned. "For what?"
Bellick crossed his arms. "Opportunities. Hard ones. Doors that won't open unless you're ready to break them." He leaned closer. "And consequences… because greatness always demands a price."
William felt a shiver crawl through him. But it wasn't fear. It was a spark.
"Tonight," Bellick continued, "you'll stay here. Tomorrow, I'll send you to someone who owes me a favour, a man who can set you on a path you can't even imagine yet."
William swallowed. "Who?"
Bellick looked at him for a long moment before answering.
"Smith."
William stiffened. The name held weight even though he knew it. Smith was the type of man whose money spoke before he did, and whose connections opened doors that ordinary people never even saw.
"Why would he help me?" William asked.
"Because he knows what you can become," Bellick said. "And because he and I have… history." He smirked. "Complicated history."
William nodded slowly, absorbing everything.
Bellick reached out and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Listen, boy. Chloe leaving you is not the end of your story. It's the beginning of the chapter where you stop being small."
William breathed out shakily. "I want that. I want to be more."
"You will be," Bellick said. "If you don't quit."
Before William could respond, the gate outside slammed open with a violent bang.
Bellick's head snapped toward the sound.
William stood instantly, heart pounding.
Footsteps. Heavy. Rushed.
A voice shouted from outside, tense and urgent."Bellick! Trouble! Big trouble!"
Bellick cursed under his breath and moved toward the door, signalling William to stay behind him.
William's pulse thundered. Every instinct told him something was wrong, very wrong.
The gate creaked again before a man stumbled into the workshop, panting, sweat pouring down his face.
"Bellick…" he gasped. "It's… It's Smith…"
Bellick froze. "What about him?"
The man shook his head violently. "He was attacked. Someone tried to kill him. They're saying," He swallowed hard. "They're saying whoever he was supposed to meet next… is also in danger."
William's heart slammed against his ribs.Bellick turned sharply and stared at him.
"William," he said in a low, cold voice, "that someone… is you."
William felt the floor tilt beneath him.
His new life hadn't even started, and someone already wanted him dead.
And before he could react, the workshop lights flickered…Then went out completely.
Darkness swallowed everything.