Rags to Stardom

Chapter 2

As the events of the past couple of minutes replayed in Ethan’s mind, he suddenly felt like he was losing air. He had always believed Ariella was his soulmate and that they would grow old together but alas all that was a mirage. 

As Ethan contemplated on all that had recently befallen him, a glittering object caught his attention. As he drew closer, he realized it was a strange looking medallion that was lodged between a small rock by the roadside. Something strange happened as Ethan picked up the medallion, the rock mysteriously vanished.

At that instant, Ethan's phone began to ring so he quickly kept the medallion in his pocket. As he reached for his phone to see who the caller was, his heart leapt. The caller id showed it was the hospital calling. Without hesitation, he picked up.

As Ethan received the most devastating news of all from the hospital he immediately lost his composure, falling to the ground in tears. There was nothing more painful than the death of his mother. The hospital had called to tell him that his mother had passed away.

Though she was his foster mother, she had raised him up like her own child and he loved her dearly for that.

Ethan was enraged to find out that his foster mother passed away because the Grays failed to keep to their promise of seeing to mother's hospital bills while he was away. They had even promised to have her transfered to the family hospital for better treatment but they failed to do that too and this caused the untimely death of his foster mother.

Ethan soon realized that passersby were beginning to stare at him and he needed to brace himself. So picking up strength from within him, he headed for star city.

Ethan's phone began to ring, as he checked the caller id, he realized it was Carmelo, the landlord’s nephew.

“Ethan, you and your mother owe me lots of money. When are you going to pay?”

Ethan quickly thought of what to say, “Mr Carmelo, please give me some time.”

But before he could finish, he was cut off.

“What more time? Listen boy, you have only 3 days before I confiscate everything in that house. Do you hear me?”

After the call dropped, Ethan realized he still needed a good amount of money to attend to some urgent needs. He knew Carmelo was only trying to be mean by threatening to seize everything in the house since there wasn't anything really valuable in there to start with. News went viral pretty fast in this part of the world and Ethan was certain that Carmelo had heard of his divorce and now wanted his money very quickly.

Before Ethan went to prison, he worked hard and even did deliveries on weekends just to make sure he paid his foster mother's rent and other bills. This made Carmelo never bother Ethan since he always paid on time. But as soon as Ethan went to prison, everything changed.

Ethan quickly took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts as he called one friend after the other for money but before he could finish asking they just hung up on him.

Dejected, Ethan slipped his phone back into his pocket but as he did that, the medallion fell out. Looking at the strange object, Ethan picked it up and slipped it onto his neck this time and immediately he felt a strange sensation all over him. It was brief but captivating and he wondered what had happened.

As he took a step forward, suddenly, images of events that were yet to happen began to flash through his mind. 

They were images of a young lady that was in grave danger. Ethan quickly went to the spot that the medallion had showed to him.

Several minutes passed but nothing happened. Ethan had begun to feel like he had been hallucinating when he spotted the same lady wearing exactly the same outfit alight from a vehicle. As she made an attempt to enter a nearby shopping mall, some men in masks rushed to grab her. Ethan felt like a strange force had taken over him as he swiftly swung into action, taking down the masked men one after the other.

As they fell, there were loud screams from the men.

“Ahh”’

“Ahh”

In less than 3 minutes all the assailants were on the ground, and in excruciating pain.

Ethan was stunned at his new found strength.

He quickly regained himself as he turned to the Loretta.

“Are you alright?”

Loretta could only nodd, as she was still in shock after what she had just witnessed.

“Call the inspectors,” Ethan said to her driver. The moment the masked men heard that, they picked up themselves from the ground and ran into a van that sped off immediately after.

The speed and precision of the men told Ethan that they were professionals.

Loretta's phone began to ring. Her family had heard what had just happened and they were calling to be sure she was alright.

“Please can you come with me.” Loretta asked Ethan. He could see that she was still shaken by the attempted kidnap and besides he didn't know if another kidnap attempt would be made on her, so he agreed.

As they approached Loretta's home, Ethan realized just how wealthy the Lopez family was. The Lopez family estate was massive with a beautiful fountain surrounded by lush green vegetation.

Inside Loretta's home was even more grand, as everything seemed to scream of extreme opulence. Ethan though fascinated by all that he saw, quickly comported himself as Loretta gestured for him to sit down while she went to check on her parents and her grandfather.

Shortly afterwards, the Lopez family members trooped into the living room to see the stranger that had just saved their daughter.

Loretta's grandfather, Ian Lopez, was overly joyful to see Ethan.

“Young Man, I owe you so much gratitude. What's your name? Who are you?”

Ethan wasn't really sure how to respond. After being treated like trash for so long by the Gray family, he somewhat resented the rich.

“I am Ethan Banks. A poor orphan that just recently got divorced.”

Loretta's step mother was the only one that wasn't happy that Loretta returned home unharmed. She saw Loretta as a threat simply because she was the heir to the Lopez family fortune and as a result she disliked Ethan for saving her.

“How were you able to save my daughter so swiftly? It seems a bit suspicious that you were there at the nick of time to help her, don't you think? How are we sure that you didn't plan this to look good before our eyes.”

Ethan furrowed his brows at her statement.

“I only helped your daughter because I was at the right place at the right time and I only came here because she asked me too, nothing more.”

The Lopez were a very wealthy and prestigious family, even the Gray's family were nothing compared to them, so it was somewhere expected that they would find his heroic act suspicious.

“Where is your daughter's driver?” Ethan enquired. “Please call him.”

Phillip was surprised at the sudden request for his presence. He was certain he had narrowly escaped being caught earlier in the day.

“Raise his shirt on his right hand.”

Philip was already fidgeting as one of the workers exposed his tattoo.

“That's the same tattoo that the kidnappers who tried to kidnap your daughter had. It belongs to the red dragons group and your driver is a member.”

Philip tried to flee but Ethan was faster as he kicked him below the knee, causing him to fall to the ground.

Sarah, Loretta's step mother was dumbfounded and so was the rest of the Lopez family as it was obvious who had actually orchestrated the whole kidnap.

“But Philip, why?” Ian enquired with great disappointment written over his face.

Ethan, seeing that Philip wasn't going to respond, spoke up, “The leader of the red dragons has been incarcerated and somehow they need Loretta to get him out.”

Ethan had encountered the leader of the red dragons in jail and he recognized his tattoo but he didn't bother revealing the information to the Lopez family or they might look down on him.

“How did you know about all this Ethan,” Ian asked, amazed at Ethan's knowledge