As the novel’s secondary protagonist, Jill Westcott is a complex character shaped by her pragmatic and ambitious nature. Unlike Ted, who was born into generational wealth, Jill does not seem to have been born into a wealthy family. Instead, her beauty and charisma led to a wealthy man falling in love with her. The reveal that even as a college student Jill had already decided that “it was just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as it was to fall in love with a poor one” reflects her willingness to prioritize wealth and luxury over genuine connection (44). Her affection for Ted is intertwined with her appreciation for the lifestyle he provides. Jill’s love for her beautiful home (when compared to her husband, she admits she “might love the house more” [43]) and her career working in an art gallery suggest that she has a keen aesthetic sensibility and values living a life of curated luxury. 

Jill is initially the more resolute of the pair, refusing to even consider losing her beloved home and actively colluding with Ted in the plot to murder Greg. However, after the murder, while Ted grows more hardened and confident, Jill becomes increasingly fragile, haunted by the consequences of their actions and plagued by nightmares. Her partnership with Ted, once a source of strength, dissolves into contempt and blame as she holds him responsible for their predicament. Jill remains more psychologically astute and less prone to being duped than Ted, but her guilt and desire to distance herself from the crime prompt her to delegate more and more of the cover-up to him. Jill continues to give Ted more control while also lamenting and being angered by the poor judgment he demonstrates. 

Jill ends the novel haunted by lingering guilt and feeling trapped in her marriage. When she is questioned after the recordings are leaked to the police, Jill comes close to turning on Ted and revealing his role in Greg and Ben’s deaths. By this point, any loyalty to him has deteriorated and she callously calculates that “as his wife, even if he divorces her from prison, she would get a sizable share” of the inheritance (317). However, Jill declines to comment during the questioning because she is unsure what Lara will do and does not want to jeopardize herself. Jill’s desire for the financial security Ted offered leaves her tied to a man she resents and haunted by a crime she colluded in.

Special Agent Paul Ramirez of the Coast Guard Investigative Service serves as the story’s primary antagonist, representing the force of legal and moral justice. He is a perceptive, relentless, and intuitive investigator whose actions are driven as much by his gut feelings as by evidence. From the beginning, Ramirez is characterized by a strong sense of class consciousness; growing up in Queens to working-class parents has given him an innate dislike for the “obscene wealth, their privilege” of people like the Westcotts (152). This personal bias fuels his determination to hold them accountable, as he views their crime as an act of deep greed and entitlement.

Ramirez correctly intuits Ted and Jill’s guilt but he is consistently thwarted by a lack of admissible evidence. His methods sometimes become unconventional, as he applies psychological pressure by interviewing Nadya (their employee) and their friends, planting seeds of suspicion that Ted and Jill cannot control. Despite possessing illegally obtained video footage that confirms their guilt, he is ultimately powerless to secure a conviction. He acts as the story’s conscience, a constant, unsettling presence who ensures that even if the Westcotts escape legal punishment, they cannot escape the awareness that someone knows the truth.

Lara Donleavy is a foil to Jill and is a dynamic character who undergoes a significant transformation. Initially, she is Jill’s loyal best friend. Their friendship is rooted in a mutual understanding of their shared goal to marry into wealth. In the aftermath of Greg’s death, she is supportive, though her curiosity about the inheritance hints at a latent envy. Her character begins to shift after Agent Ramirez visits her home and suggests the possibility of murder, planting a seed of doubt that alters her perception of her friend.

The turning point for Lara is the murder of her husband, Ben. This tragedy transforms her from a concerned friend into a grieving, vengeful antagonist. Believing Ted and Jill are responsible for sending the intruder who killed Ben, her loyalty curdles into hatred. However, Lara also demonstrates that greed is a powerful force. She attempts to blackmail the Westcotts, demanding $5 million in exchange for her silence to the police. This act shows that, despite her genuine grief, she has been drawn into the same transactional and morally compromised world as her friends. Her final decision to not provide comment to the police is a complex act of self-preservation. It protects her, but also Jill and Ted.

John Burnley is a minor antagonist and catalyst whose opportunism drives a significant portion of the plot. As a former colleague of Ted’s and a convicted felon, he shows an overt and street-smart form of criminality. He is manipulative and amoral, reentering Ted’s life with the sole intention of profiting from the expected inheritance. When Ted mistakenly accuses him of being the blackmailer, John skillfully plays along, agreeing to a payoff of $4 million for digital files he does not possess. John’s subsequent attempt to identify the real blackmailer by breaking into the Donleavys’ home leads directly to the accidental death of Ben Donleavy. This brutal outcome demonstrates that even a seasoned criminal can be clumsy and cause unintended tragedies, escalating the consequences of Ted and Jill’s actions far beyond their control.

Nadya Sokolov, the Westcotts’ cleaning lady, and her associate, Konstantin, are the story’s true blackmailers. Nadya begins as a seemingly powerless and invisible figure, a hardworking immigrant who resents her station in life. Her character arc is one of unexpected empowerment through criminal action. In a key moment, she confronts Konstantin and demands a share of the profits, demonstrating a newfound courage and ambition. Though their blackmail plot ultimately fails to yield money, Nadya achieves a different kind of victory. In the novel’s final scene, she is the one still watching the Westcotts, tormenting them with anonymous texts. She holds the ultimate power, ensuring that her former employers, who are now murderers and public pariahs, never feel safe in their own home, thereby becoming the final enforcer of their psychological punishment.

Greg Westcott, the murder victim, serves as the catalyst for the entire plot. He is characterized as arrogant, overconfident, and condescending, particularly toward his younger brother, Ted. His habit of belittling Ted establishes a long-standing rivalry that makes him an unsympathetic figure and provides a sliver of psychological justification for Ted’s crime. Greg’s final act of control from beyond the grave is his will, which places half of Ted’s inheritance in a trust until the age of sixty-five, a final testament to his belief in his brother’s incompetence. The most significant revelation about Greg is that he was secretly dying of pancreatic cancer. This fact renders his murder entirely unnecessary. Ted and Jill’s meticulously planned crime was a futile act that brought upon them a world of suffering they could have easily avoided, reinforcing the tragic pointlessness of their greed.