In the present day, Faye awakens tied to a chair in Henry’s cabin. Henry confirms that Campbell is dead. Faye begins to piece together why Henry and Campbell were so determined to delete Emma’s screenplay, and recalls Emma’s claim that there was something suspicious about PT’s death. Henry confesses that Sarah (PT’s wife) did not die by suicide: While he was driving with Campbell after a night of partying, he accidentally hit and killed Sarah. Campbell convinced Henry to conceal the crime to protect their futures. They staged Sarah’s death as a suicide, with a fake note claiming that she decided to take her life due to struggles with infertility. They pushed her empty boat into the lake to make it appear as though she drowned. However, they did not want to put her body into the lake since it would likely surface and raise questions about the nature of her death. Instead, they buried Sarah’s body on PT’s island property. 

Years passed, and it seemed they had gotten away with the crime. Everyone, including PT, believed that Sarah died by suicide. Henry explains that a few weeks ago, PT summoned both he and Campbell. PT confronted them and showed them Emma’s script, titled The Accident, which detailed the entire crime. After PT received the script, he dug on his property and found Sarah’s skeleton. PT demanded that Henry and Campbell confirm if they really killed Sarah, and how Emma could have known about this crime. 

Faye has the same question about Emma’s access to the secret. Henry explains that Emma and Win (Corrine’s younger brother) previously dated. However, Emma learned about the secret from Campbell: Emma and Campbell are in a secret relationship. Campbell told Emma his darkest secret but after he subsequently reneged on his promise to leave his wife, Emma was angry and decided to use the secret against him by incorporating it into her screenplay. Faye realizes that Emma is the woman she heard and asks Henry if Emma knows that Campbell is dead. Henry explains that he told Emma that Campbell had to leave the island unexpectedly. 

Henry continues the story about the confrontation with PT: after he confessed, PT was overwhelmed with grief and shock. Unsure what to do next, he told Henry and Campbell to leave. Later that night, he had his fatal heart attack and Emma found him the following morning. Henry reveals that PT’s death presented an opportunity for he and Campbell to cover up their crime again. PT had died before telling anyone, but since Emma’s screenplay had already been emailed to Faye, they needed to delete it. Knowing Faye would come to the funeral, they planned for Henry to make seductive overtures, then drug her, access her email in the hotel and delete the screenplay. 

However, Faye getting locked out of her email account threw the plan off course. Henry decided to take her to the cabin and continue trying to access the email account. He explains that they have a few days before Corinne (Campbell’s wife) becomes suspicious and that he will pass Campbell’s death off as accidental. Faye counters that Emma knows they were on the island and Henry explains that he wants her to meet with Emma. Henry demands that Faye broker a deal with Emma; the former will help advance Emma’s career in exchange for Emma keeping silent about Campbell’s suspicious death. 

Faye immediately objects to the plan, insisting they must go to the police. Henry rejects this idea, raising the threat of ruining her career if she does not cooperate. He then softens, professing his continued love for her. Faye orders him to beg her. Henry gets on his knees and pleads with her to trust him. She then invites his touch by telling him to “do what I like,” (159) re-establishing their kinky sexual dynamic. Henry brings her to orgasm with his hand, fully rekindling their intense physical and psychological relationship. She falls asleep in his arms.

In the morning, Henry expresses admiration for Faye and regret about entangling her in his crimes. She tells him that “I want to do this for you” (164). Henry and Faye go to the cabin owned by Campbell and Corinne, where Emma is staying. They maintain the lie Henry told Emma: Campbell had to rush back home after learning that his young son was hospitalized. According to the cover story, Campbell purposefully left his car behind so that Emma would have a way to get home. Henry will take her by boat to where the car is parked. 

Faye pretends to be embarrassed that Emma found out she and Henry were on the island together (implying they are having an affair). She offers Emma a production assistant job in exchange for her silence. However, Emma is unimpressed with the offer and pivots to asking Faye to option a future script she will write. Emma also explains that she doesn’t want to move away since she has hopes Campbell will soon be leaving his wife. Faye is astonished by what she perceives as Emma’s entitlement and arrogance. However, since she and Henry need Emma’s cooperation, she agrees. 

Henry and Faye drive Emma to Campbell’s car. They follow her as she drives towards the train station (planning to take Campbell’s car back after she departs). At the train station, Henry instructs Emma where to park but then drives away, explaining to Faye that they are not going back for the car. On the way home, Henry pulls onto an isolated country road and instructs Faye to return the call to her husband (he called earlier). Faye’s husband confronts her about secretly meeting with Caroline Hasser (the new prospective agent). She admits this is true and asks him how he learned about the meeting; he gives a vague answer but agrees to keep her plans secret. They discuss the precarious state of their marriage and Faye’s husband promises to act on an unspecified demand she previously made. Faye also admits she may need some more time to complete the script.

A flashback reveals how Faye first met her husband. When she went to Los Angeles for the job interview (after leaving Henry in the car), he was working at the production agency and helped her when she realized she had forgotten important documents she needed for the interview. Faye got the job, moved to Los Angeles permanently, and developed a romantic relationship with the man who became her husband. After a period of working together, his brother masterminded an important deal with a talent agency, giving him a strong Hollywood network and empowering him to leave the production agency and start his own. After a period of working as an assistant, Faye was offered the opportunity to write and act in the television series, and this became her breakout success. 

The success and influence of Faye’s brother-in-law enabled the careers of both she and her husband but also creates a heavy burden: “as the sister-in-law to the superstar agent, I get to stand under the umbrella of untouchability too. [But] people who break his kid brother’s heart by serving him with divorce papers face a far worse fate” (183). Faye knows that if she files for divorce, her brother-in-law will retaliate and ruin her reputation and professional credibility.

Faye and Henry return to the island. Back at the cabin, Faye goes through his wife’s belongings and finds the Tiffany heart necklace Henry had originally bought for her years ago. She puts it on and confronts Henry. He explains that his wife found it years ago, that he admitted he had purchased it for an ex, and that she was content to wear it. Over dinner, Faye and Henry continue to spar with one another. Eventually, Faye confesses that her marriage has been sexless for years. She has tried everything, but her husband shows no interest, and Faye feels isolated given the cultural narrative that men often want more sex than their female partners. She tells Henry that she begged her husband to go to therapy; he procrastinated but now seems to be willing to do so. 

Henry is surprised and fascinated; he expresses sympathy for Faye and reassures her. Now that she has admitted to her lengthy sexual frustration, Henry resurfaces their power dynamic, giving her orders. Faye becomes increasingly aroused as she complies with his demands. They have a consensual sexual encounter that Faye finds intensely pleasurable despite her misgivings.

The next morning, Faye and Henry share vulnerable details about their lives. They admit to respective insecurities and loneliness. Faye contemplates returning to Los Angeles in a few days’ time.

That night, Henry takes Faye to PT’s cabin. He sets up a battery-operated projector to watch season three of her television show (she wrote and directed four episodes and won a prestigious award). As they watch, they discuss her parents, who are proud of her success but ashamed of the show’s explicit content. The conversation prompts them to share childhood traumas. Faye reveals that she was publicly spanked at daycare. Henry then discloses that he became selectively mute for a year as a child after his mother was hit by a car in an accident he blamed on himself. Later, Faye reflects on their sexual history and how well-matched they were.

The next day, Faye and Henry hedonistically enjoy their remaining time in seclusion together. Impulsively, Faye slips away and checks the code on the safe (which contains her phone) to see if Henry used her birthdate. Her guess is correct and inside the safe, she finds a prescription bottle of heart medication belonging to PT. Faye realizes that if Henry stole the medication, knowing that PT was under immense stress after learning the truth about Sarah’s death, he effectively caused PT’s death. She realizes she has been wrong to trust Henry and needs to act to protect herself. 

Faye locates Henry in the smaller cabin (where he held her captive). He is in the process of repairing the window she used to escape. She initiates a sexual encounter and then creates a distraction. She rushes out of the cabin, slamming the door shut and trapping him inside. From outside the cabin, she demands to know why he has PT’s medication locked in the safe. Henry explains that Campbell stole it on the night PT confronted them about Sarah’s death; he guessed that the stress from the discovery might trigger a heart attack and wanted to ensure PT would not survive (preventing him from going to the police and revealing their crime). 

Faye asks how the medication came to be at the cabin and Henry says that Corrine (Campbell’s wife) found it. Faye is confused but before she can learn anything else, Henry begins trying to break down the door. Faye runs to the boat.