The early life section talked about what must have been mentioned in the book. Being born in Oakland, Billy Thornton's mother and her lover being his father's first victims, becoming a ward of the state after his arrest and disappearing for many years.
The personal life section mentioned him currently living in Nevada, but there were only a couple of sentences there. The largest section was about the controversy surrounding his father and how he was currenting suing Abramson for writing about him without his consent. Whoever wrote this article worked fast!
Hazel suddenly understood what Will had said yesterday more once she read the passage from the book that was the largest grounds for the lawsuit. Where did Abramson get his nerve?!
'When I asked Thornton why his pattern changed on his last kill, he actually laughed. "My boy called dibs on that girl. I had to respect his guts—it was the only time he ever tried to go against me on something. We were birds of a feather so if he wanted to kill someone specific I wasn't about to stop him."
'Thornton's son was only seven years old at the time. I expressed disbelief that such a young child could already be a killer, but it only made Thornton laugh harder. He said his son had nearly strangled a child to death during an altercation at school one day and when asked why, he said it was nothing.
'Based on his account and my later interviews with the boy he assaulted and teachers and social workers who had known him, it became quite apparent that Billy Thornton was dangerous, even if he wasn't a killer yet. I sincerely hope that he never found the Dixons' daughter.'
But Billy Thornton supposedly wanting to kill Hazel as a child wasn't the most shocking part. Oh no. It was the picture included in this section that had come directly from the book, leading to him being found and harassed after it came out.
She knew that face. If you took away the curly blonde hair and several teeth, that was what Will looked like when she first met him in the mental hospital!
Hazel's head was spinning, but she still had the presence of mind to check something else. She clicked on the link to Jean Thornton's Wikipedia page and discovered her maiden name was Sheffield. That confirmed Hazel's wild thoughts.
She had believed Will was taking this Bay Area Blade business way too seriously to just be upset on her behalf, though she hadn't known why. Being his son made a lot more sense!
He said Thornton's son had lived under his father's shadow ever since he was a child. Will ended up in that mental hospital for fighting back too hard after becoming a ward of the state, claiming his father was institutionalized. She had been the one to assume it was another mental hospital rather than a prison.
Will also said all he wanted was a normal life. Hazel already knew that. He had fought so hard for it, running away after the fire and going to such a prestigious college to provide for them.
He had always wanted to give her the world. Now she knew why.
He said Thornton's son had always felt sorry for her and wanted to apologize. That he thought about her a lot too.
That was a major understatement. He had been in love with her since they were kids! Of course he thought about her a lot! And had been burdened with the guilt of being unable to tell her what his father did to her.
How could Hazel blame Will for that, though? She was absolutely certain that he only said what he did to that monster to protect her.
He had said more than once since they met up again that she was his salvation too. What had he said, exactly? That she was kind to him on the worst day of his life?
That was obviously before the mental hospital, though she couldn't remember meeting him before then. But he wouldn't have cared about saving her if he hadn't already thought of her as his savior.
Will hadn't wanted Hazel to avoid reading the book solely so she wouldn't be upset. He didn't want her to think badly of him either.
She loved him too much to ever let something like this change that. If that made her a bad daughter, so be it. She had him far longer than she had her parents. He came first. Always.
There was a lot she didn't know about him. Not just who his parents were either. He had managed to create an entire alias with his mother's maiden name and no one had ever questioned it until now. She only did because she had more information than anyone else, as the one who knew him best.
How did Will know how to do that? How had he managed to create such a convincing disguise to use for his old name to sue Abramson too? Who on earth had Hazel married?!
The people at the mental hospital thought Will was dangerous. She had always dismissed this because of how they had treated her but now she had to wonder. He wasn't a danger to her, but he was clever enough to outsmart a serial killer when he was only a child. To trick the legal system to get what he wanted now too.
She didn't think he was doing this for himself as much as he was doing it for her. It would have been more convenient for him not to reemerge as his old identity. He said he would take care of it and this was how he did it.
Was it really a coincidence that Thornton died around the same time? But how could Will have possibly orchestrated that? He had a lot of explaining to do!
Hazel was admittedly upset about the lies and feeling guilty toward her parents for falling in love with the son of the man who murdered them, but could she truly blame Will for keeping all of this from her? He must think she would hate him if she knew the truth.
That wasn't the case at all. Whoever he was, he was hers. Nothing could change that. She needed to lead with that, so he would give her the answers she needed for the sake of her sanity.