Lyov grew up in Russia. His early years were spent with his mother and father at home. The bond with his father had always been cold and distant but his mother was the light of his life as she showered him with love and treated him as if he was a prince. (Perhaps this is where his cockiness originates from.)

However, when he was 8 years old his mother passed away and left him with a father that resented him. Lyov spent another two years together with his father who abused him both physically and mentally. When he turned 10 he got taken away to an orphanage. His life there was no better so when the boy turned 16 he decided he had had enough and ran away.

Because of all the things he had been through he had started to hate his home country and managed to get away, finding himself in the US with no family or friends to cling to. It was hard but he managed to survive and create a decent life for himself here. Due to some unfortunate events he had to flee once more, getting on the next best train to a place that he had been told would be 'safe'. No one would find him here unless he wanted to be found.

With the streets of Dead End now before him he wondered what he had gotten himself into. But it wasn't fear that he felt. Excitement rushed through his veins as he realized this might be exactly the place for a guy like himself.