A Killing Cold

Theo continues reading to Sebastian until Alexis and Paloma return. After explaining Sebastian’s earlier escape, Theo notices Alexis registering the book’s changed location and wonders whether she has realized that Theo must have found the photographs alongside the book. Back at the White Pine cabin, Theo finds Connor showering and uses the opportunity to access his phone, searching old family photos of Liam while sensing that there are missing pieces in her own memories. When Connor emerges, she lies about checking for a phone signal. As she observes Connor, Theo remembers that when she first met him, she had the inexplicable sensation that she’d met him before. Now, she suddenly realizes that this is because she knew his father before his death, which occurred when she was a small child.

Later at drinks, Olena appears tense while serving the family. Trevor arrives and makes some snide remarks, followed by Rose. The conversation shifts to the Dalton children’s past misbehavior, especially Connor’s attempts to run away. When Rose mentions that Nick stepped in to help care for the children after Liam’s death, Connor bristles. In the foyer, Christmas gifts trigger a flashback for Theo—receiving a teddy bear from a man while her mother, wearing a blue scarf (previously remembered as red), looks on. When Sebastian bumps into her, breaking her reverie, Theo crouches and sees Connor, his head framed by a pair of antlers on the wall behind him, making him look momentarily like the antlered man in her recurring dream. Theo realizes with shock that Liam is the antlered man from her nightmares.

After enduring dinner in a dissociated state, Theo feigns sleep and sneaks out to the Dragonfly cabin with a flashlight. Upstairs in the bedroom, she touches a dragonfly ornament that triggers a voice whispering, “Hush, my baby. Only good dreams allowed” (106), followed by vivid images. Theo experiences a detailed flashback: Her mother (whom she calls “Mama”) urgently packs for them to flee before “he” arrives. Young Theo, nicknamed Teddy, runs back to retrieve her teddy bear and her mother’s blue scarf—a gift from Mr. Liam.

Returning to the car, Theo finds her mother collapsed on the ground; the blue scarf flies from her hand. The memory fractures at this point—her mother’s fate becomes unclear, with disturbing images of blood, a crimson star, and the blue scarf turning red in the snow. Theo is suddenly pulled from this traumatic memory by noises downstairs as the front door of the Dragonfly cabin opens, indicating that someone has entered.

Theo hears a giggle downstairs as Trevor and Olena enter the Dragonfly cabin for a secret tryst. While hiding upstairs, Theo overhears their encounter, which triggers memories of her own past relationships. After they leave, Theo waits before heading outside, where Trevor smokes on the porch and confronts her. Trevor reveals that Liam kept a woman and child at Dragonfly for months before his death. When Theo asks for the woman’s name, Trevor claims ignorance.

Trevor also discloses that Connor saw Theo’s portrait at Harper’s photography show and deliberately tracked her down. He mentions Connor’s idealization of his father and makes a crude advance toward Theo, which she rebuffs. Trevor laughs and then burns her palm with his lit cigarette before disappearing with the parting words, “Have a nice night” (114-15). In pain, Theo stumbles back to the White Pine cabin.

Late that night, Theo sneaks back into White Pine with her burned palm throbbing. Observing Connor sleeping, she searches his belongings and finds only an old boarding pass. She accesses his phone and reads text messages between Connor and Harper from eight months prior. The messages confirm Trevor’s statement: Connor saw Theo’s portrait at Harper’s show and specifically asked Harper to introduce them, requesting that she not tell Theo that he had sought her out.

Theo connects her dragonfly tattoo, visible in the portrait, to the ornament on the Dragonfly cabin door. This realization leads her to question whether Connor deliberately brought her to the Dalton estate and whether their entire relationship was orchestrated rather than coincidental. She feels manipulated, wondering if her arrival and their relationship were part of Connor’s calculated plan.

After returning Connor’s phone, Theo reflects on her pattern of falling in love easily and stealing small keepsakes from those she loves, linking this behavior to a desperate hunger for love stemming from her traumatic childhood. Connor had seemed different and like a fated love, but this has now been revealed as a lie. Looking at her burned hand, Theo knows that Connor will question the injury and decides to disguise it.

She goes to the living room where the woodstove, though out, still holds embers. Thinking of Trevor burning her, with the cigarette’s glow like an amber star, she remembers seeing a glowing red star among the trees, one of her vague early childhood memories. She feels compelled to find the woman with the red scarf, certain that something terrible happened long ago at Idlewood. Recalling a childhood incident when she burned her hand on a stove, Theo deliberately presses her burned palm against the hot edge of the woodstove to worsen the injury and create a cover story.

The next morning, Connor is horrified by Theo’s severely burned hand and leaves to get breakfast. Theo encounters Nick on the stoop, who examines her hand as a doctor, unaware that she intentionally worsened it. During this interaction, an old photograph of young Theo with Liam falls from her pocket. Nick questions Theo about the photo and her visits to the Dragonfly cabin, reported by Daniel Vance, the caretaker. Theo claims that she simply found the photo.

Nick identifies the girl as Teddy, the daughter of Liam’s mistress, whose name was Mallory. He reveals that Mallory and Teddy were present when Liam died; this all traumatized Alexis, while Connor remained in denial. He tells Theo that Mallory and Teddy disappeared afterward and that the family was unkind to Mallory, but he doesn’t explain how so. When Theo asks if Liam smoked, Nick confirms that he did. Nick notes Theo’s resemblance to Mallory and Teddy, wondering if Theo could be the girl. He advises her to discard the photo, not show Connor, and avoid the Dragonfly cabin due to bad memories. Inwardly, Theo affirms that she is precisely seeking those bad memories.

Connor returns with an apology muffin for his delay. Theo deflects questions about Nick’s assessment of her hand. Connor reveals that his grandparents want to investigate her past for potential secrets that could damage the family reputation, warning that if they don’t investigate, others might. Theo resists, stating that her past is private. Connor insists that it concerns him too and asks her to start telling him things. He calls her a “blank book,” touching her deepest fear about herself: that she is empty inside, lacking a real identity.

When Connor suggests searching for her birth parents, Theo questions his motives. She asks why he approached her when they met, giving him an opportunity to admit that he recognized her from the photo. Connor deflects, denying prior recognition and claiming that their meeting was fate. When Connor tells Theo that he loves her, she responds only by kissing his wrist without verbally reciprocating, her distrust growing as she recognizes his continued deception.

Theo uses her injured hand as an excuse to avoid family time and heads to the estate gate for a phone signal. She calls Harper and confronts her about arranging her meeting with Connor. Harper admits that Connor asked her not to tell Theo that he’d seen her photo and requested an introduction, citing his sensitivity about his family’s wealth as the reason. Theo explains that she found a childhood photo of herself with Connor’s father and believes that her mother, Mallory, had an affair with him and then disappeared after his death.

Shocked and skeptical, Harper expresses concern for Theo’s safety, warning about the Daltons’ reputation for ruthlessness when challenged. When questioned about her knowledge of Connor, Harper admits that she only met him once before their introduction and urges Theo to return home. After ending the call, Theo receives a text from an unknown number: “Dora, it’s Joseph. We need to talk” (135). Theo notes that her adoptive father agreed not to contact her again “after everything with Peter [Frey]” (135). The fact that he’s breaking this agreement now means that the anonymous warning texts she previously received weren’t bluffs—someone else knows about her past.

At 16, Theo lived with the Scotts in a strict, fundamentalist religious household. Peter Frey was the 17-year-old son of the community’s new pastor, and Theo’s adoptive mother, Beth, spent a lot of time at the Freys’ house, trying to build a relationship with Peter’s parents because of their local prestige. On one of these visits, Peter caught Theo in his room trying to steal a pin that he’d earned for a church youth group achievement. Peter asked her to lift her shirt in exchange for his silence about her attempted theft. She did so, and after that, their interactions escalated into a secret sexual relationship. When Theo became pregnant, Peter panicked. She convinced him to give her his savings for an abortion and made arrangements.

When Peter’s father discovered the missing money, Peter claimed that Theo had stolen it. Under pressure, he revealed their relationship and Theo’s abortion plan, placing all blame on her. Peter’s parents believed him and informed the Scotts. Beth seized on this opportunity to assert control, while Joseph remained more distant. Both sets of parents decided that something had to be done about Theo.

At dinner in the main lodge, tension erupts over Trevor’s drinking, leading to a confrontation about his previous DUI. After Trevor storms out, Alexis discovers inappropriate ornaments on the Christmas tree displaying family secrets—a wrecked car, Magnus with a man, Rose’s divorce filing, and a scandalous photo of Alexis. Louise accuses Theo, but Connor defends her. Trevor reappears, admitting that he placed the ornaments to target Alexis.

Theo retrieves and destroys Alexis’s compromising photo. Connor tells her to go back to White Pine alone, leaving the family to confront their past in privacy. On the way back to the cabin, she finds Alexis, who has been kicked out by Paloma, and the two retreat to White Pine together, where Alexis reveals that Trevor’s drunk-driving accident injured a passenger named Kayla, whom Magnus paid for silence to protect a business deal. Alexis confesses that her photo—showing her in an intimate embrace with another woman—was a one-time thing that Paloma had already discovered before she saw the photo. She whispers that Liam didn’t fall, which Theo interprets as implying that Liam died by suicide. After Alexis leaves, Theo asks Connor whether the bruised woman in the photos that Theo found in Alexis’s suitcase was Kayla, and Connor says yes. He mentions that his grandfather is selling the company. Connor then produces another ornament: a photo of 16-year-old Theo, bruised and bloodied. He confronts Theo with Trevor’s investigation findings: Her adoptive parents are alive, she has a criminal history, and she was in a psychiatric hospital. Theo admits that this is partially true but tells Connor that it isn’t what he thinks. Privately, she thinks that the full truth is worse.

In a flashback following Peter Frey’s betrayal, Pastor Frey and Joseph take 16-year-old Theo to the Scotts’ attic to pray for deliverance. Beth watches triumphantly while Emily Frey, Peter’s mother, makes a brief appearance. Despite hours of prayer, Theo refuses to speak or confess. Left alone with Beth, Theo insults her and is locked in the attic without food or water. The ritual continues for days, during which Beth viciously beats Theo—slapping, punching, and kicking her—while screaming abuses.

When Pastor Frey and Joseph eventually return and pull Beth away, Theo remains locked up. Later, Beth returns with food but finds Theo bleeding heavily from a miscarriage. Beth screams and flees, leaving the attic door unlocked. Theo seizes this opportunity to escape, changes her bloody clothes, and packs a bag, including Joseph’s hunting knife. When Joseph returns and tries to force her back to the attic, Theo, in a panic-fueled rage, stabs him multiple times with his hunting knife. As Joseph cries out and falls, Theo drops the knife and runs away.