Amber intentionally knocks Daphne Parrish's magazine off a gym elliptical machine and pretends they share a dead sister.

Amber volunteers with Daphne's cystic fibrosis foundation and attends her first committee meeting at the Parrish estate.

Amber photographs Bunny committing adultery to force her resignation as committee co-chair, then claims the vacant position herself.

Amber meets Jackson Parrish for the first time at a New York City dinner and is immediately attracted to him.

Amber falsely claims her boss sexually harassed her, convincing Daphne to arrange a job for her at Jackson's company.

Amber secretly spikes Mrs. Battley's coffee with anti-anxiety medication until Jackson's loyal assistant grows confused and resigns.

Jackson promotes Amber to his permanent personal assistant after she impresses him with detailed client research.

Jackson arrives unexpectedly at the New York apartment where Amber is staying and she successfully seduces him.

Amber becomes pregnant, alters an ultrasound to appear to show a boy, and presents Jackson with a bib reading 'Daddy's little boy.'

Amber threatens to abort the baby unless Jackson leaves Daphne immediately, forcing him to act.

Jackson tells Daphne about Amber's pregnancy and his intention to remarry; Daphne pretends to be devastated and agrees to divorce.

Amber and Jackson marry in a courthouse ceremony with only his assistant Douglas present as a witness.

Daphne visits Jackson at his office with a file exposing Amber as a criminal and demands he sign over his parental rights.

FBI agents arrive at Parrish International and arrest Jackson for money laundering, tax evasion, and wire fraud.

Daphne visits Amber at the Parrish estate, exposes her true criminal identity, and reveals her own role in engineering the divorce.

Amber Patterson targets wealthy socialite Daphne Parrish, using a fabricated dead sister to build a friendship and gain access to her world. She manipulates her way into a job at Daphne's husband Jackson's company by inventing a sexual harassment claim and poisoning his loyal assistant into retirement. As Jackson's personal assistant, Amber seduces him in the couple's New York apartment and engineers a pregnancy to force his hand. She threatens to abort the baby unless Jackson divorces Daphne, setting events in motion that culminate in a courthouse wedding. However, Daphne reveals she knew about Amber's scheme all along and has orchestrated Jackson's downfall, exposing Amber as a criminal and delivering Jackson to the FBI.

Amber travels to New York City museums and studies art and culture to make herself appealing to Jackson's wealthy social circle.

Amber fakes the anniversary of her invented sister's death to earn Daphne's sympathy and spend the night at her home.

Amber bonds with the difficult younger daughter Bella by pretending to love the Eloise books during a Plaza Hotel stay.

Amber spends Christmas with the Parrish family, giving Jackson a cave-painting book and receiving a pearl necklace from Daphne.

Amber meets Daphne's disapproving mother Ruth at Tallulah's birthday party and overhears the two women arguing afterward.

Amber joins the Parrish family on their yacht over a summer holiday, wearing a revealing outfit to attract Jackson's attention.

Daphne invites Amber to a dinner party and deliberately pairs her with a wealthy man named Gregg to make Jackson jealous.

Daphne gives Amber a key to the New York apartment, inviting her to stay there on nights when Jackson is away.

Amber and Jackson begin taking reckless risks during a business trip to London, nearly exposing their affair to Daphne.

Jackson surprises Amber with a week-long romantic trip to Paris and a closet filled with designer clothes.

Tallulah and Bella visit Jackson and Amber's home for a weekend and Bella bluntly insults the appearance of the new baby.

Daphne reconciles with her estranged mother and fully explains the years of abuse and manipulation she endured under Jackson.

Daphne discovers a naked portrait of Amber displayed among wedding photos when she visits the Parrish home to collect her daughters.

Daphne, her mother, and daughters buy a house on the California coast, adopt a dog, and begin attending therapy together.

Daphne writes a letter to her late sister Julie while riding in a cab away from Connecticut for the last time.

Amber carefully constructs a false persona, studying art and culture in New York City museums to blend into Daphne's wealthy social circle and attending family milestones to embed herself in the Parrishes' lives. She works every angle simultaneously, using a new boyfriend named Gregg to make Jackson jealous while accepting a key to the family's New York apartment from the unsuspecting Daphne. The affair with Jackson escalates from discreet meetings to reckless risks taken on business trips to London and a romantic surprise week in Paris, with Amber growing ever more comfortable in Daphne's world. After the divorce, Daphne quietly rebuilds her life in California with her daughters and mother, while a visit to collect her girls reveals a brazen naked portrait of Amber now displayed among wedding photos in the family home. Daphne's long-planned escape concludes with Jackson's arrest and a peaceful final letter written to her late sister Julie.

Amber logs onto a fake Facebook profile to spy on people from her past and finds something that enrages her.

Meredith interrupts a movie night at Daphne's home to reveal she has found that Amber is living under a stolen identity.

Daphne confides to Amber that Jackson cheated on her after Tallulah was born, giving Amber renewed confidence in her plan.

Daphne meets Jackson for the first time while seeking corporate funding for her cystic fibrosis nonprofit organization.

Jackson arranges his private plane and secures a specialist doctor when Daphne's father suffers a serious heart attack.

Jackson proposes to Daphne at Christmas and they marry quickly so her still-recovering father can attend the wedding.

Jackson threatens infant Tallulah with a stuffed animal and then sexually assaults Daphne when she tries to resist and flee.

Daphne flees the house with Tallulah but is arrested and institutionalized for a month using Jackson's falsified medical documents.

Jackson wakes Daphne by pressing a gun into her mouth and forces her into bondage gear, sexually assaulting her again.

Daphne secretly has an IUD implanted at a distant clinic and secretly enrolls in psychology courses while pretending to study art.

The moment Meredith leaves, Daphne gets a new phone, withdraws cash, and hires a private investigator to look into Amber.

Daphne reads the private investigator's file revealing Amber's real name is Lana Crump and she has an outstanding warrant for her arrest.

Daphne resolves to feed Amber damaging information about Jackson and actively encourage their affair to engineer her own escape from the marriage.

Jackson shines a flashlight in Daphne's face and presses a gun to her cheek, interrogating her about things Amber claimed she said.

Jackson forces Amber to keep a strict food journal and diet, then wakes her at night by pressing the engraved gun to her head.

Pool 3 traces the hidden revelations that reshape the novel, beginning with early hints of Amber's criminal past before exposing the full truth of Daphne's marriage through her own perspective. Jackson's whirlwind courtship quickly gives way to escalating abuse — controlling Daphne's body, threatening her infant daughter, and using falsified documents to have her institutionalized when she tries to flee. Daphne endures by secretly gathering resources: a hidden IUD, a covert psychology education, and a growing emergency fund. When Amber's stolen identity is flagged by a suspicious friend, Daphne immediately recognizes the opportunity and hires a private investigator to uncover the full truth. Armed with the knowledge of who Amber really is, Daphne turns her manipulative husband and her scheming false friend against each other — and watches Jackson inflict upon Amber exactly what he inflicted upon her.