Thanksgiving is awkward between Alex, Ava, and Michael. Though Ava and Alex wish to keep their relationship a secret from Michael until they can break the news to Josh, Ava is convinced that her father knows. That night, Ava has a dream of being strangled, but she is convinced that it is actually another memory. She yearns to sleep with Alex, who is down the hall in the guest room, but she doesn’t want to risk waking him if he has managed to fall asleep despite his insomnia. In the morning, Ava visits the lake behind the house and recalls another memory of her past. The memory focuses on a gold signet ring that Ava saw when she was pushed into the lake as a child: Michael’s ring. In the present moment, Ava screams at the revelation that her father was the one who pushed her into the water when she was five.

Ava has been distant since the morning after Thanksgiving, and Alex worries about her as his “heart rage[s] in [his] chest, a snarling beast furious at the sight of her distress and the thought that there was something in the world that would dare hurt her” (192). Ava dramatically reveals the truth of her repressed memories to Alex, saying, “Alex, my mom didn’t try to kill me. My dad did” (195).

In this chapter, Ava recalls another memory of her father. At age nine, she wrote an essay declaring that her father was the person she admired most in the world. He reacted to her essay by using a throw pillow to suffocate her. Ava is sick at the revelation that her father attempted to kill her when she was a child—not once, but twice. The trauma of those incidents repressed Ava’s memories before the age of nine, until now, when they finally resurface.

The next week, Alex and Ava schedule a meeting with Michael. Alex gives Ava the privacy to confront her father alone, but when Michael attempts to gaslight Ava into doubting her recovered memories, Alex defends Ava and protects her from Michael’s manipulation. Michael admits to attempting to harm Ava and to frame her mother, Wendy, for drug use so that he could gain custody over Josh after the divorce. Michael reveals that he doesn’t care for Ava because she is not his biological daughter but is instead a product of her mother’s infidelity. Having recorded the whole conversation and Michael’s admission of guilt, Alex has Michael taken into custody by the FBI. Josh, who learned the truth from Alex and Ava days earlier, arrives just in time to punch Michael.

Ava and Josh have a heart-to-heart conversation about Michael before catching up on their past several months apart. Ava defends her decision to pursue a relationship with Alex. Although Josh is not happy with the development, he relents when Ava admits that she loves Alex.

Later that day, Ava stays in for a home spa day with her friends and tells them about Michael. Alex stops by with red velvet cupcakes to comfort Ava during her grieving. Ava is grateful for the distance that has always existed between her and Michael, because if they had been closer, “[she] wasn’t sure [she]’d be able to take the heartbreak” of his betrayal (215). Ava appreciates Alex’s support and tells him that she loves him, to which he replies, “You are the light to my dark […] Without you, I’m lost” (217). While the words warm her heart, Ava notices that he doesn’t specifically say that he loves her.

Alex visits his uncle’s house; Ivan is drinking green tea, which he believes will help him lose weight. They discuss Alex’s plans for vengeance, and Alex feels guilt when thinking of how Ava would react if she were to learn what he has done and what he’s capable of. Ivan chides Alex for letting Ava distract him from his vengeance and his work at Archer Group, admitting that he learned about Ava through Alex’s assistant. The comment raises Alex’s suspicions as he wonders why Ivan is keeping tabs on him. He thinks to himself, “Don’t trust anyone, Alex. It’s always the people you least expect who’ll stab you in the back” (227).

This adage rings true when Alex finds a stash of papers hidden in Ivan’s library. (The papers are later revealed to be a series of letters addressed to Alex’s mother, in which Ivan begs her to leave Alex’s father and run away with him. In the end, Alex’s mother rejected Ivan, which led to his falling out with Alex’s father.) Up until this point, Alex’s plan for vengeance has been directed at Michael Chen, whom Ivan had implied was responsible for hiring the hitman to murder Alex’s family. Finding the letters stashed in Ivan’s library changes everything.

Alex is uncharacteristically late to meet Ava for their dinner date. She worries, because in addition to his lateness, he is not answering her texts and has been distant with her for the past week. Ava reveals that she has been accepted into the WYP program, and Alex congratulates her. Although Alex claims that he did not text or call her earlier because his phone died, his phone buzzes midway through their meal, alerting Ava to his lie. Ava begs for the truth, saying “Please. My fath—Michael lied to me my entire life, and I don’t want you to start” (235). Instead of opening up to her, Alex warns Ava against seeing the good in him. Ava loses her appetite and ditches Alex at the restaurant.

Alex follows Ava to ensure that she makes it home safely, then drives to his secret house in Washington, DC, which he uses for “more illicit activities” (238). During the past week, he hacked into Ivan’s financial records and discovered incriminating transactions implying that Ivan hired the hit man who murdered Alex’s family. Alex is now awaiting a message from a killer-for-hire named Falcon—a message that will contain the name of the person who hired the hitman to kill Alex’s family. At midnight, the message comes in and confirms Alex’s newest suspicion; the culprit is his uncle, Ivan Volkov.

In the week since learning of Ivan’s betrayal, Alex has ousted his uncle from Archer Group and taken Ivan’s position as CEO. At his house, Alex awaits his uncle’s arrival, but Ava arrives first. Ava wishes to talk and amend things between them before Christmas, which is two days away. Alex unsuccessfully attempts to get Ava to leave before Ivan shows up; when Ivan arrives, the three end up in the dining room together. As Alex makes green tea for Ivan, “tension lace[s] the air” (242).

Ivan barely conceals his anger and subtly hints at the cameras that he planted throughout his house—unbeknownst to Alex. This hint alerts Alex that Ivan is aware of his discovery of the letters in the library; by extension, Ivan also likely knows that Alex suspects his involvement in his family’s murder. Ivan leaves, and Alex wonders whether to tell Ava the truth about how he engineered years of friendship with her and Josh to get closer to Michael and avenge his family’s murders. However, he decides to keep this information from her, thinking:

She still didn’t know the truth about me and what I did. She won’t find out. […] A better person would tell her the truth, but I’d rather be the villain with her by my side than the hero who risked losing her because of a misguided sense of morality (245).

Alex decides not to tell Ava about his shady past with Michael or his recent realizations about Ivan’s crimes.

Two weeks later, Alex is summoned to Ivan’s house to find Ava and Bridget bound and restrained by a hired thug. Ivan, whose health and appearance have deteriorated, demands that Alex resign from Archer Group, reinstate Ivan as CEO, and pay him $50 million if he wants the girls to be safely returned. To stall for time and find a solution that will not result in his or the hostages’ deaths, Alex puts on a convincing show for Ivan and Ava. Alex claims that he orchestrated his friendship with Josh and “faked” his relationship with Ava to get close enough to Michael to ruin his business and get revenge for what he believed Michael had done to his family. Everything is true except for Alex’s claim that he never loved Ava, and the lie hurts him as much as it hurts her. As Alex’s narration states, “I kept my gaze averted from her—if I looked at her, I would lose it, and I couldn’t afford to lose it” (253).

After Alex and Ivan reveal the backstories behind their vengeance and how they’ve arrived in their current predicament, Alex admits to poisoning Ivan’s tea. While Ivan’s shock distracts him, Ava and Bridget are able to break free of their bonds with the help of Rhys, who has arrived on the scene. Alex draws the gun that he kept hidden and shoots Ivan several times. Alex also kills the man Ivan employed to physically kidnap Ava and Bridget as well.