Sean admits to Dom that his feelings for Cecelia are significant, and he wishes Dom would acknowledge his own attraction to her. They begin to play fight, and Dom chases Sean outside. Then they see Tyler and Ginger.

Ginger’s face is bloodied and swollen. They tell Ginger to go to the police, but Jeffrey’s cousin is a local cop. Dom tells Tyler to take Ginger to Layla’s house. A short while later, Dom and several other birds burst through the door of Ginger’s house wearing ski masks. While the birds wrestle all of the substance users outside, Dom finds Jeffrey and beats him senseless, then Dom takes the baby and calls child protective services. Later, Dom hears a news report about eight intoxicated men who were found naked, wandering down a highway median. They told conflicting stories to authorities, but one said they were taken by birds.

Dom is listening to the feed from an hour earlier at Roman’s house; Cecelia is telling him off and asking him to do right by his employees. Dom is impressed that Sean has been teaching her what the group “collectively stand[s] for,” and she’s taken it to heart (135). He gets in the car and goes to pick her up, though he’s not sure why. They pull in at a gas station, and Cecelia goes to the bathroom while Dom checks on Zach, the 11-year-old son of the owner, Tim. Dom wants to know what happened to the new shoes and backpack he gave Zach and sees the bruises around the boy’s neck. Dom confronts Tim, squeezing his throat and accusing him of stealing from his own son. He gives Zach a wad of cash and tells Tim not to touch one dime. He also gives the kid a burner phone with his number and tells him to call if Tim hits him again.

Dom checks on Delphine at his childhood home. His feelings for her are complicated; she was cruel to him after his parents died because she felt compelled to take him and Tobias in. However, she’s been trying to be better, offering what wisdom she has before she dies. She is weak and terrified, and this makes it difficult to resent her. Cecelia is there, and Delphine tells Dom in French that Cecelia will be his ruin. On the way home, he thinks of Delphine, who hates Roman even more than he does, and wonders why she seemed to feel guilty around Cecelia.

After getting some sleep, Dom joins Jeremy, Peter, Tyler, and Russell at the garage to discuss the next part of their plan to take down Spencer. They know he’s dealing with corrupt foreign governments and military contacts, and more crates are delivered to his warehouse daily. Dom checks his phone and finds a message from Sean telling him to come to the lake.

Much later, Dom remembers his mom calling him a “little lark” and her “gentle little bird” as they sang together (156). Now, he feels like a bird of prey, fueled by retribution. He didn’t expect to have sex with Cecelia at the lake, but he did, and it was “otherworldly.” Being with her allowed him to reconnect with himself and breathe deeply; it gave him the first peace he’s felt in a long while. However, he also fears that he has betrayed Tobias by becoming involved with the daughter of the group’s target. He goes to Denny and Layla’s, wordlessly makes his way to the guest room, and passes out.

Dom sleeps for 18 hours. Afterward, he heads back to the townhouse. Sean greets him, wondering where he and Cecelia have been for two days. Sean is concerned that Dom will hurt her, and Dom reminds him that Sean and Cecelia have no future because they are going to ruin her father. He thinks that once Cecelia learns everything, she’ll run from them both.

Dom sends Tobias a fraudulent report that seems to be from the bird assigned to watch Cecelia; he wants to keep Tobias from learning what’s really happening with her, Sean, and Dom. When Dom gives Cecelia a ride later, he realizes the futility of his resolve to abstain from sex with her. She tries to talk about their feelings, to initiate intimacy. Suddenly, he pulls the car over and tugs her onto his lap. He can tell that she’s struggling with her own sense of morality, troubled by her sense that she’s cheating on Sean.

Later, after being stood up for a meeting by Andre, the head of the Miami chapter, Dom is livid. He tells Tyler that the Miami chapter has switched to killing innocents because it pays more. He also claims they tried to kill Sean, though he thinks Sean is unaware of this; if Dom hadn’t intervened, he says, Sean would be dead. Dom calls Tobias and is disheartened when his brother reminds him that the club’s actions are not up to Dom.

Cecelia tells Dom that her rainy days are his. She hasn’t fled from him, even after seeing him at his most hostile and violent at the meetup. Instead, she lays ground rules, with the central one being that they can be together as a couple only on rainy days. Now, he watches her run through the sprinkler, her joyful innocence on full display. While Sean cuts the grass, Dom pulls her into the bathroom and taunts her, arousing her though it’s a sunny day. When Cecelia begs him to take her, he says it isn’t in the forecast, referring to her new rule.

Tyler and Dom work in the garage. Unsettled, Dom wonders how he, Cecelia, and Sean are going to make this work. Tyler asks how he’s doing, and Dom expresses his frustration with the metaphorical cage Tobias has him in. A storm breaks outside, and Cecelia appears, soaked in a thin sundress.

Tyler excuses himself, and Dom and Cecelia “collide” (196). He makes a quick phone call, then leads Cecelia to his car. They arrive at a nearby deserted winery, and he takes her into its wine cellar. He opens a bottle that was left out for them, and then they have sex. Dom revels in the intensity of their emotional and physical connection, amazed at how whole she makes him feel.

Dom rolls a joint and drives Cecelia to a lookout with a beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Dom doesn’t believe in love or romance, but Cecelia does, and he finds this endearing. Cecelia thinks he’s being a little romantic, an idea he wholly rejects, and then a rainbow appears in the sky above them. It seems fateful to them both.

Dom, Sean, and Cecelia stand around the kitchen drinking coffee; this is the first time they’ve all been alone together since Dom and Cecelia’s sexual relationship began. After Sean heads upstairs for a shower, Dom asks Cecelia if Sean made her come last night, and she won’t answer him. He taunts her with kisses, and she reminds him that he’s breaking the rules; it’s sunny today. He says Sean should know better than to leave the two of them alone together. Still, Dom knows that Sean is attached to Cecelia, and his own feelings for her grow daily. Aware of his erection, she taunts him back. Later, alone, Dom swears he won’t allow her to “domesticate” him, reminding himself that “Love is a four-letter curse” (224).