Nightfall

The fourth and final novel in the Devil's Night series alternates between two timelines: the present, in which architect Emory Scott wakes imprisoned in a secret mansion with five dangerous men, and flashbacks to nine years earlier, when she was a teenager at an elite prep school hiding her brother's abuse while falling for the boy who would become her greatest heartbreak.

In the present, Emory regains consciousness in a lavish bedroom with no memory of how she arrived, her last recollection being a lunch break from her architecture firm in San Francisco. Taylor Dinescu, a fellow captive, explains that she is in Blackchurch, a secret estate where wealthy families send their misbehaving sons to disappear from public life. No resupply crew will arrive for a month. When Taylor mentions a prisoner named Grayson, Emory realizes he means Will Grayson, someone from her past she helped send to prison. Will finds her and carries her to the cellar, where she meets the other prisoners: Micah Moreau, son of the criminal Stalinz Moreau; Rory Geardon, imprisoned for killings he committed in revenge for an attack on his twin sister; and Aydin Khadir, who functions as the group's alpha. Aydin pledges that no one will touch Emory but warns that escaping into the surrounding wilderness would mean death.

Nine years earlier, Emory is a work-study student at Thunder Bay Preparatory, an elite private school in a small coastal town. She endures daily abuse from her older brother Martin Scott, a police officer who beats her, force-feeds her, and controls every aspect of her life while their ailing grandmother lies bedridden upstairs. At school, Will Grayson and his best friends, Michael Crist, Damon Torrance, and Kai Mori, collectively known as the Four Horsemen, dominate socially. Will oscillates between taunting Emory and showing unexpected tenderness, but she rebuffs every advance, terrified that involvement will expose her home life.

In the present, Emory discovers a two-way mirror in Aydin's room, fashions a weapon from fishhooks, and begins training with Micah in exchange for cooking meals, gaining covert kitchen access to hoard food for an escape. Will watches her through the mirror, torn between desire and fury, and their encounters escalate into charged sexual confrontations Emory refuses to concede. Aydin exerts a different influence, coaching her through a panic exercise involving snakes hidden in greenhouse soil and teaching her to remain calm rather than reactive. The experience transforms her self-concept.

The flashbacks trace Will and Emory's deepening bond. He takes her to Adventure Cove, a local theme park near Cold Point, the sea cliff tied to the town's founding legend: In 1954, a girl named Reverie Cross died on the rocks below, and basketball star Edward McClanahan left a confession and jumped after her. Will confides that he is most himself at nightfall. He sneaks into her house on the October night the town lights candles in Reverie Cross's memory and meets her grandmother. After Martin beats Emory for the visit, she discovers a hidden room in the town cathedral, a secret sanctuary passed down to those in need of refuge. She dubs it the Carfax Room and begins using it as her escape from Martin.

On Homecoming night, after another savage beating, Emory fights back for the first time and flees to the Carfax Room. She attends the dance in a vintage pink dress as Reverie Cross, her real bruises serving as her costume. She and Will leave together and have sex for the first time. That night, Will examines her bruises while she sleeps and confirms they are real, resolving to uncover what is happening.

The darkest flashback occurs on Devil's Night during senior year. Emory witnesses Damon carry the body of his mother, who had been sexually abusing him since he was 12. His mother is still barely alive. Emory does not run. She watches Damon strangle his mother and helps cover the body, an act born of shared understanding of what it means to be trapped by the people who should love you. Damon asks Emory to look after his hidden sister, Banks, if anything happens to him. Will discovers Emory and Damon together, assumes they had sex, and a violent confrontation erupts. Emory walks away and ignores Will for the rest of high school. He spirals into substance addiction in college.

Two years after graduation, Will, Damon, and Kai ambush Martin after catching him in his cruiser with a 16-year-old girl. Will beats him while Damon films it. When the videos surface online, Emory, now at Berkeley, flies to Thunder Bay. Martin coerces her into signing a false statement claiming the Horsemen physically and sexually abused her, using Polaroid photos of her own bruises as fabricated evidence. He leverages their grandmother's medical care, threatening to place her in a neglectful facility if Emory refuses. Emory signs. Will, Kai, and Damon accept a plea deal and go to prison for two and a half years.

In the present, Emory discovers that Alex Palmer, a woman she befriended the previous spring, has been hiding in Blackchurch's secret passageways with a satellite phone and blueprints. Alex came to extract Will on behalf of his friends. When Aydin discovers Alex, violence erupts. Aydin reveals he orchestrated Emory's kidnapping to torment Will by forcing him to watch the woman he loves bond with another man, revenge for Will's closeness with Alex, whom Aydin loves.

A fire breaks out in Blackchurch's foyer. The Horsemen, along with their partners, arrive via a private train running through underground tunnels beneath the coast and evacuate the group. Aydin and Taylor are left behind in the burning house. On the train, Will reveals that Emory is the reason they all went to prison. Emory tells the full story of Martin's coercion. Will is furious not about the original act but about her years of silence. Over the journey, Emory apologizes. Damon defends her by pointing out the Horsemen's own cruelty. Michael orders Emory to stay in Thunder Bay and pay her debt.

Back in Thunder Bay, Rika Fane, Michael's fiancée, orchestrates a group wedding at a new wrought iron gazebo in the village park, built secretly by Damon from Emory's abandoned architectural blueprints. The ceremony begins for all four couples, but an explosion at the Cove interrupts it. Will reveals his master plan: He voluntarily asked his grandfather, Senator Grayson, to send him to Blackchurch so he could get sober and recruit allies like Micah and Rory for Graymor Cristane, the Horsemen's company. Senator Grayson reveals that Evans Crist, Michael's father, masterminded the Horsemen's imprisonment using Martin as his instrument, motivated by business rivalries.

Martin draws a gun and shoots Alex in the shoulder. In the ensuing brawl, Martin and Will plummet off Cold Point into the sea. Will breaks Martin's neck underwater and is rescued by a rope left on the cliffside by Athos, a child previously encountered by the group who has been secretly living in the underground tunnels beneath the abandoned Cove theme park. Evans is taken into custody. Alex survives.

In the aftermath, Emory proposes to Will in the rain, and he reveals he has carried a vintage family ring for nearly 10 years. Aydin arrives at the hospital and declares he wants to marry Alex. The judge completes the interrupted ceremony for all four couples at midnight. Months later, Emory has put a down payment on her family's Victorian house. Micah and Rory have settled into Thunder Bay. Will has enrolled in college, and Emory works alongside Damon in construction. At the hospital where Damon's wife Winter is giving birth, Emory tells Will she is pregnant. He is overjoyed. In a quiet final detail, Senator Grayson's initials are revealed to match the mysterious "A.P." from the 1954 McClanahan legend, suggesting the full truth of Cold Point has never been told.