Chapters 24-32Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section contains discussion of sexual assault and graphic violence.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Ayana”
Ayana reflects on how Wentworth has disappeared from the fashion world without explanation. She suspects Vuk might be the reason behind it. At the Valhalla Club, she encounters Maya Singh, one of the girls who was at the impromptu laser tag game during her bachelorette party. They quickly strike up a friendship, one Ayana feels is genuine for once.
When Vuk arrives, Ayana heads toward the secluded library. Vuk follows, and he confronts her on why she chose to see him first after Wentworth’s sexual assault. Ayana admits that he was simply the person she wanted to see in that moment. She admits that she doesn’t love Jordan romantically, and he does not love her either. As tension rises between them, Vuk asks her to remove her engagement ring and kisses her. When they overhear people in the corridor, Vuk quickly leaves. Rather than feel guilty, however, Ayana feels alive and doesn’t move to put her ring back on.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Vuk”
Despite Roman’s assurance that the Brotherhood is laying low for now, Vuk remains on edge as he watches a movie with Jordan. He asks Jordan why he’s marrying Ayana, since Jordan had once sworn to never marry. Jordan claims to have changed his mind. He tells Vuk the reason why he chose him as his best man was because he trusts him the most, since he’s always been loyal and honest. His admission leaves Vuk torn between his loyalty to his friend and his love for Ayana.
As he walks home from Jordan’s, he discovers a mangy cat caught in the rain. Though he leaves it there at first, he eventually brings it home when a thunderstorm begins. He then receives a text message from Ayana to meet at a hotel on Madison Street.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Ayana”
Ayana rationalizes that, given that her wedding is in two weeks, this is her last chance to have a moment with Vuk. When he arrives, she rambles about his bingo games, and he discusses his past. He explains how, after graduating college, he and his twin brother Lazar were celebrating at home when the “bad crowd” he dealt with broke into their house, bound them both, tortured Lazar, and set the house on fire. The only reason Vuk survived is because his brother ordered him to leave and told him he would never forgive him if he stayed behind to try and save him.
Vuk admits that he’s never told this story to anyone, not even Jordan. Ayana asks why he chose to tell her, but Vuk implies she already knows the answer. They have non-penetrative sex, and Vuk asks her to call off the wedding. When she admits she can’t and won’t give more details as to why, they fight. Vuk leaves, claiming he’s not one to share the one he loves.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Vuk”
Two weeks later, Vuk attends Jordan and Ayana’s wedding. In a final conversation with Jordan, he admits to knowing he and Ayana do not love each other and tries to persuade Jordan to call off the wedding. Jordan realizes Vuk is in love with Ayana. They argue, as Vuk never mentioned anything in the 16 months they’ve been engaged. Jordan admits to the real reason why he needs to marry Ayana, and Vuk offers to give him the 120 million in his inheritance and to buy his family’s company to offer it to him if he calls off the wedding. Jordan is offended. He accuses Vuk of tarnishing their friendship and leaves, insisting on marrying Ayana. Vuk then receives a phone call from Roman, who claims the Brotherhood will be using the wedding to get to him.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Ayana”
Ayana’s mother worries over her and advises Ayana to follow her heart. Ayana thinks of Vuk as she heads to the altar and regrets how they left each other. As they begin the ceremony, Sean storms in, demanding they evacuate because the wedding has been compromised. The minister grabs hold of Jordan as the pianist opens fire, while Vuk and his men fend off the Brotherhood members. Vuk tackles Ayana to protect her. When the dust settles, Jordan has been shot and is unresponsive.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Vuk”
Vuk struggles with guilt as Jordan remains in critical condition. Sean reports they’ve placed security on Ayana and her family, and have taken care of all the perpetrators from the wedding except one. Vuk orders Sean to find the last remaining Brotherhood member and to leave him alive for him to deal with. He goes to find Ayana, and they discuss her plans to visit her family. Ayana asks him to hold her.
Vuk confesses he knows about her arrangement with Jordan, and after her prompting, he tells her the perpetrators were from the Brotherhood and that he used to be one of them because his brother had once worked at a casino and witnessed one of their hits on a patron. Vuk had bargained himself in exchange for his brother’s safety, and offered to use his knowledge in chemistry to make poisons for them. They agreed to his offer on the condition Vuk provided them with half a million dollars as insurance—which Vuk obtained from Jordan. Vuk had attempted to rationalize his association with the Brotherhood, but eventually, he decided to leave and stole the leadership’s ledger as leverage to negotiate for his release. Though the Brotherhood had promised to leave him alone, they lied and orchestrated the break-in that led to Lazar’s death.
Ayana asks for time to process everything, and Vuk leaves, relieved to know he hasn’t scared her off.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Ayana”
Emmanuelle calls Ayana and demands she take on jobs. Ayana refuses and demands that they pay her for all the still-unpaid jobs she’s done in the last year. When she hangs up, Ayana worries about the repercussions of her actions, but feels in control of her life for the first time in a long time.
Maya comes to visit unannounced to check in on her, and she talks about the latest gossip to distract Ayana. After she leaves, Ayana considers her conversation with Vuk and resolves to learn how to protect herself.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Vuk”
Vuk meets with Roman, and Roman demands Vuk move against Shepherd, one of the Brotherhood members vying for the leadership position. Vuk, however, demands that he find the last perpetrator first. Roman rebuffs his demand, but Vuk insinuates he’ll tell the Brotherhood about Roman’s treachery if he doesn’t. Roman then implies that by protecting Ayana at the wedding, Vuk outed his weakness to the world.
Despite his visceral rage, Vuk maintains his proposal and demands details on the Brotherhood’s finances, for which Roman has little information. Out of nowhere, Shadow, the cat Vuk unofficially adopted, appears. Confused by his presence, Vuk gathers the cat and leaves. When he returns home, Ayana is there waiting for him and tells him she chooses to remain with him, despite his past. She then asks him to teach her how to shoot a gun.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Ayana”
Vuk and Ayana arrange to have shooting lessons after her trip to her parents in DC. He personally drives her, unexpectedly accompanied by Shadow once again. On the way, Ayana asks why Vuk began to speak to her verbally instead of signing in ASL after her bachelorette party. Vuk explains that he stopped speaking because of the injuries to his neck after the Brotherhood choked him with a rope and set it on fire during the break-in. Healing required months, and Vuk became accustomed to using ASL instead of speaking. He tells her he doesn’t speak unless he can help it, or if the person he’s speaking to is special.
When they arrive at Ayana’s parents’ home, her mother thanks him for saving Ayana during the wedding. Vuk is about to leave to stay at a hotel, but her mother insists he stay with them. As he enters their home, he remarks how much love there is in it. He has dinner with her whole family and joins their game night. As they all settle in for the night, Vuk reflects on how Ayana’s family reminds him of everything he’s lost and wants to recover.
Chapters 24-32 Analysis
In this third section of the narrative, Huang uses spoken communication and ASL to signal a growth in Vuk’s emotional development as he confronts his past and Cruelty Versus Personal Justice in his feud with the Brotherhood. For Vuk, his methods of communication attest to the trauma he endured with the Brotherhood. As he explains, “I got used to not speaking [after the fire]. I learned ASL and used that to communicate instead. But even after I healed, I’d feel a phantom pain when I talked. It reminded me too much of that night […] Being quiet was…easier” (312). In this passage, Huang creates a symbolic parallel of multiple layers. First, Vuk’s intentional silence embodies the remnants of his unfinished feud with the Brotherhood. They metaphorically plague Vuk’s voice and corrupt his ability to express himself by making any sounds he produces a reminder of his failure to protect Lazar. Emotive sounds such as laughter are thus effectively robbed from Vuk, as any notion of joy in this corrupted voice brings with it the “phantom pain” of Vuk’s trauma.
Second, his preference for silence and using ASL also represents Vuk’s general emotional state. As ASL is not a widely spread language outside of the non-speaking community, his preference for it erects a communication barrier between himself and most of the people with whom he associates. Other than Jordan and Ayana, no one else seems to be able to sign with him. When Vuk chooses to verbally speak with Ayana, therefore, Huang signals a change in his behavior. Prior to his developing relationship with Ayana, the only person he spoke with—and reportedly rarely—was Jordan, since, as he explains, “‘sometimes I have no choice but to speak […] Those situations are rare. I don’t like wasting my words on people unless […] Unless they’re special to me” (312).
Vuk’s choice to opt for spoken speech with Ayana when they’re alone thus speaks to a growing intimacy and trust between them. It signals a lowering of Vuk’s emotional barriers and his growing willingness to be vulnerable with Ayana as his love for her flourishes. Though he retains crucial information from his past—specifically, that he brutally murdered the Brotherhood members responsible for the break-in—his communication style nevertheless demonstrates an honesty and rare openness for the sake of their relationship.
This section also attends to a complication in Huang’s overarching theme, The Cost of Loyalty. In prior sections, Vuk has largely privileged his loyalty to Jordan over his love for Ayana. Here, however, there is a noticeable shift, where the cost of Vuk’s loyalty to Jordan far outweighs what Vuk is willing to sacrifice, since he now knows Jordan and Ayana’s wedding isn’t a love match but an arrangement for financial gain. The author implies that, so long as Vuk believed Jordan was marrying for love, he wouldn’t have been able to confront him about his feelings for Ayana.
The lack of honesty and depth of attachment, however, muddle Vuk’s standpoint. Huang demonstrates the culmination of his shift in priorities when Vuk chooses to protect Ayana over Jordan during the wedding shootout. In this scene, he undeniably chooses his own love over his loyalty to Jordan, thereby signaling that the cost of his loyalty to Jordan now far outweighs its benefits.
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