Hazel in the Demon's Den

"Are you sure?" Hazel asked hesitantly. "I don't want to be a burden."

Will bit back an audible sigh. She could get manicures and pedicures every single week without putting a dent in his finances. He couldn't tell her that though; she would wonder where the money came from.

Part of the reason he had lost his composure earlier at the car rental place was that Roberto, the man he had tasked with killing Lenny if he got out of hand again, had called him. He almost never called first so Will felt like he had to answer it.

It wasn't even an emergency. That conversation definitely could have waited until he showed up at their base of operations, which annoyed him even further. Everything Roberto said was something Will already knew.

Hazel hadn't overheard the other side of the conversation—of that he was sure—but she was probably more curious about her husband's business now than she had been before. Maybe bringing her with him was a mistake.

It was the only way he could think of bringing up travel naturally though. He knew she wanted to explore the world more than almost anything. And he had been waiting to do it with her ever since they had all of those discussions about it back in the hospital.

He put on his best smile and reached out to ruffle her hair. "Yep. Go get something extra colorful."

Will understood her need for color better than most. The white walls of the isolation room had driven him insane too and he was in there far more frequently than Hazel had been. It was a big part of why he bought a log cabin. All the walls were made of wood so they couldn't be white.

A genuine smile crept across Hazel's face, nearly making his heart stop. It was unfair; she was too beautiful when she smiled!

"Well, I suppose if you insist…"

"I do," he said firmly. "I want you to show me when I get back, so no skipping out to draw."

She gave him a mock salute before giggling slightly at her own silliness. The double cute attack was too much for him! It took every speck of his willpower not to kiss her senseless.

There were a lot of less than pleasant memories in L.A. from the years he had desperately tried to work his way up in the world. Eleven-year-old Billy hadn't been able to bear the thought of meeting her again without being able to give her the kind of life they had always talked about.

Fearing getting caught and ending up a ward of the state again, he called himself Billy Gold the first time he met Alfonzo. That was the day he shed his real last name for good. But he didn't become Will Sheffield, using his mother's maiden name, until he started college.

At that point in time he had worked in the underworld long enough to know how to get an untraceable fake ID, social security card, and birth certificate. It wasn't like he had access to any of his original documents anyway since they had been confiscated by the state when he got locked up.

He had stopped going by his old nickname when he was in high school because Billy seemed too juvenile. At that point he started simply going by Gold when working for Alfonzo.

All of the people who knew him as Billy had either died or gotten arrested by this point. His current subordinates didn't know his first name so there was no risk of him getting caught that way. Besides, like Hazel had said, William was a very common name. He should be safe regardless but one could never be too cautious.

If he had a more unique name like she did, the whole Billy Lawson mess never would have happened. That still annoyed him to no end. That worthless man had used Will's identity to get close to his girl! Unforgivable.

Thinking about all of this had Will in a bad mood before he even arrived at the smuggler's hideout. He always wore a wig, thick glasses, and prosthetic scar stickers on his face when he had to meet with these guys and they were itchy and uncomfortable. He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible and get back to his wife.

Lenny and Ray were sitting around going over inventory and shipping manifests when Will arrived. He spoke up dryly.

"You'd think the world was falling down after a couple of measly arrests. I hope you realize you idiots pulled me away from something important to come all the way out here."

"Boss!" they cried as they scrambled to their feet.

"It isn't about the arrests as much as it is about the cocaine…and the human trafficking," Ray confided in a low voice.

Lenny didn't look remotely abashed. His expression was downright mutinous. That wouldn't do. He was clearly still upset about having to send all of those kids back. Roberto told Will that he had done it according to his instructions but very reluctantly.

Having a loose cannon like him around would only be a security risk. After losing two people already, Will didn't trust Lenny not to get arrested either. Why hadn't Roberto killed him yet? Good help was so hard to find these days.

"I hope the two of you have an adequate explanation for why children got involved in the first place," Will said in an icy tone.

That startled Lenny's resentful expression right off of his face. He needed to come up with a story quick. Will had been around this business long enough to know when people were lying. All the man was doing was hastening the date of his death by daring to lie to his boss.