William Arlington thought he found the love of his life when he married Jessica Chapell, but that all changed after learning his wife was pregnant with another man's child, or so that's what he believed.  Jessica maintained that she was carrying his child, and could not believe her own husband would think otherwise.  Of course, she didn't know yet what William already knew - that he was sterile, and William's logic [and scientific fact] told him that sterile men couldn't father children.  Therefore, if his wife was pregnant, it was because she slept around.  Still, deep down, a part of him wanted to believe that Jessica was carrying his child.  So he went to see his physician, Dr. Laura Sedwick, and requested another test.  Dr. Sedwick tried to advise him not to because it would only confirm what they both already knew, but he insisted that she go ahead with the test.  When the test turned out to be positive once again, he vowed revenge against his wife.  Unfortunately, that same night, Jessica was involved in a terrible car accident.  It took weeks before William was finally able to locate her in Springfield, per a lead from Kavina Shah.  When William found his wife, she was being treated by Dr. Greg Juntas.  William didn't waste anytime making an ass out of himself, accusing Jessica of fraternizing with the physician.  Jessica informed her husband, however, that she lost the baby in a car accident nearly a month ago.  Instead of being sympathetic to her lost, his venom over the baby's true paternity spewed from his lips.  The fact that he was thrilled to hear that her baby died (a baby that Jessica knew to be his despite whatever tests told him otherwise) was the final straw for the young wife, who asked her husband for a divorce.

William, however, would not make her decision to leave him an easy one, refusing to sign the divorce papers she had drawn up based on his solemn vow to love, honor and cherish her until death did them part.  Jessica, however, took his re-declaration of their vows as too little, too late and proceeded with her plans to move out of the home that she had shared with her husband. William thwarted those efforts as well.  In the weeks to follow, he became very jealous of her interaction with other men, particularly Greg Juntas, and hated the fact that she would stroll in at odd hours of the night.  His jealousy and rage finally escalated to the point of no return when one night he tried to force himself on her, determined to rekindle the romance in their marriage.  Jessica was not receptive of his advances and pulled out a gun on him when he refused to back down [William had nearly strangled Jessica once before, so wasn't sure by this time what to expect from her husband, and so she decided to check out some heavy duty backup).  When William wouldn't back away and continued to unbuttoned his shirt, she fired the gun, but as a result of William prying it from her hands.  Romain, who had dropped her off and heard the gunshots, ran back into the building.  When he arrived at Jessica's apartment, there was no sign of her, just quiet as he called out for her name.  Before Romain knew what hit him, William struck the barrel of Jessica's gun against Romain's head.  The next morning, Jessica demanded to know what William had done with Romain.  Instead of telling his aggrieved wife, he showed her the way [blindfolded] to an abandon morgue cooler in the middle of town, where he had kept Romain's body stored.  Stunned, Jessica quickly ran to his aid, only to find herself locked in with Romain as William closed the door and told her sayonara. With Jessica and Romain destined to freeze to death, William decided it was time to skip town. He, unfortunately, didn't count on Taneia and Greg catching on to his game. William was arrested, and Romain and Jessica were freed.

Months later, Jessica would visit her abusive husband in prison to hand over the finalized copy of their divorced papers.  He would continue to taunt her despite her boasting that he enabled her to become a much stronger woman. He would reveal to his ex- wife during a second visit that he was fighting for parole, with Jessica's mysterious night swimmer, A. Ramsey Lakhan [whom she caught a glimpse of, glory and all, rising from the depths of the water beneath the Hallandale Pier], heading the case.  Will William be granted parole? If so, what does this mean for Jessica? Stay tuned!