The Sinner

Shantel Tessier

61 pages 2-hour read

Shantel Tessier

The Sinner

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Chapter 55-Epilogue 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination, sexual violence and harassment, rape, mental illness, child abuse, child sexual abuse, pregnancy loss, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, substance use, addiction, graphic violence, sexual content, cursing, illness, death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

Chapter 55 Summary: “Sin”

Sin enters and points a gun at Liam’s back. Liam and Lincoln are surprised to see Sin, who explains that his plans with Amelia were a ruse to lure Lincoln to Elli’s house. Sin interrogates Liam, demanding to know if he sexually assaulted Elli. Liam denies it, Sin hits him, and he admits to assaulting Elli with James. Sin hits his father, knocking him to the ground, and Nicholas enters, surprising Lincoln. Elli cries and apologizes, and Sin comforts her, telling her she has nothing to apologize for.


Ellington


Elli stands in front of Lincoln, who is hanging from the ceiling with a noose around his neck, standing on a chair. Laura enters and screams, and she is shocked when Nicholas enters. She tries to run, but Sin, dragging in Liam, stops her. Laura confesses that she and Liam killed Nathaniel, Nicholas’s twin, to transfer control of Asher Corp to Liam. When James found out, Laura allowed him to abuse Elli in exchange for secrecy. Liam blackmailed James to join in the abuse. He then had Sin kill James, hoping to expose Elli’s trauma to disqualify her from becoming a Lady, which would have left Asher Corp in his control. Sin forces Laura to watch as Nicholas kicks the chair from under Lincoln.

Chapter 56 Summary: “Sin”

Sin goes to an office and signs papers, noting that the meeting needed to be discreet. He goes home, finds Elli, and they have sex. During sex, they affirm their love for each other, and Sin gives Elli a wedding ring.

Chapter 57 Summary: “Sin”

After torturing Laura and Liam with Nicholas, Sin spends two days having sex with Elli. Early in the morning, he meets Tyson, and they drive to Carnage. Tyson tries to convince Sin to go home, but Sin feels that he is protecting Elli, even if it means leaving her. Sin leaves his Lords ring and a journal with Tyson to give to Elli, and Tyson accompanies him until the Spade brothers arrive. They bring Sin to a cold room, strap him to a chair, and promise to torture him; Sin is taking Elli’s father’s place. An old man comes in, checks Sin’s heart, and injects him with something that makes Sin scream.


Ellington


Elli wakes up and finds Nicholas and Tyson waiting for her. Tyson tells Elli that Sin is gone, giving Elli Sin’s phone, ring, and journal. The phone receives a text congratulating Nicholas on his freedom, prompting Nicholas to leave the room with Tyson. Elli reads the journal, in which Sin apologizes for leaving, says she deserves her father, and hopes she does not meet other men. He writes that he loves her and always has. Elli cries, and Nicholas enters with Tyson, demanding that they go to his house. Elli goes with them, and they collect Laura and Liam before driving to Carnage. Tyson offers Liam and Laura in exchange for Sin, and the Spade brothers joke about sexually assaulting Elli in front of Sin. The brothers are covered in blood. They accept the trade, bringing Tyson and Elli to see Sin. Sin is severely injured and bleeding, and Elli bursts into tears. Tyson retrieves Sin, and they go back to the car, driving to a cathedral to meet Gavin.

Chapter 58 Summary: “Ellington”

Elli, Tyson, and Nicholas bring Sin to the cathedral, where Gavin explains what happened to Sin. The brothers removed the Lords brand by cutting it off Sin’s chest, then they graft on a piece of skin and brand it with their own symbol, three sixes. Elli sees the same symbol on Nicholas’s chest. They give Sin a shot of adrenaline in his heart to keep him from passing out, which is why he is now unconscious. Gavin intubates Sin and prepares a section of Sin’s thigh to cut a new piece of skin, brand it with the Lords symbol, and graft it over the three sixes. Elli offers to use her own thigh, which is already branded, but Nicholas explains that the Lords brand is much larger than the one Sin made on Elli with his ring. Tyson tells Elli that no one can ever know that Sin was at Carnage.


Sin


Sin wakes up confused, and Tyson explains the exchange they made for Sin’s return. Sin is upset Tyson brought Elli to Carnage, but he passes out. Sin wakes up again and confronts Nicholas, who wanted to go back to Carnage instead of Sin. Sin tells Nicholas that he can best repay Elli by being present in her life. Gavin sees Sin walking around and tells him to rest.

Chapter 59 Summary: “Ellington”

Elli wakes up and confronts Sin, telling him that he had no right to decide that he would leave her. Sin grins, and Elli thinks he is not taking her seriously. She leaves the cathedral and drives to her parents’ house, feeling weird inside the house now that Laura is gone. Elli hopes Laura lives long enough to be tortured at Carnage for nine years like Nicholas. A masked man enters the house, and Elli, assuming it is Sin, tells him to stop playing around. Her phone rings with a call from Sin, and Elli realizes the masked man is not Sin. She flees, and another masked man appears. When a third masked person appears, Elli tackles them, knocking them into a mirror, and using a glass fragment to kill them. The first two men subdue Elli and force her to take some pills, and Elli assumes they are the Spade brothers. One man says Sin is already dead, and Elli cries.


Sin


Elli does not answer her phone. Sin gets a call from an unknown number. One of the Spade brothers greets Sin and asks where Sin’s wife is. Sin gets angry, demanding to know what they did to Elli. Tyson asks more calmly. The brother suggests putting a tracking device in Elli, implies that the brothers are going to sexually assault her, and hangs up. Sin checks the cameras in Elli’s and her parents’ homes, finding her phone in her bedroom. The recording shows two masked men attacking her. Sin, Tyson, Nicholas, and Gavin head to Elli’s parents’ home.

Chapter 60 Summary: “Sin”

Sin, Tyson, Nicholas, and Gavin arrive at Elli’s parents’ house and find Elli drugged on a couch. They do not see anyone else around, so Gavin and Nicholas take Elli to a bedroom to guard her. Tyson and Sin find the body of the person Elli killed and find that it is Amelia. Confused, they continue their search and hear voices. When the intruders pass by, Sin and Tyson knock them unconscious.


Ellington


Elli recalls being forced to take the drugs. The men said the pills were ecstasy. They were surprised to see that Elli killed Amelia, and one of them forced Elli to watch the video of Sin tying Amelia, naked, to his bed. In the video, Chance enters the room after Sin blindfolds Amelia, then Chance has sex with Amelia. Elli wishes she had let Sin explain the video.

Chapter 61 Summary: “Sin”

Sin and Tyson restrain and unmask the two men, finding they are Chance and Holland. Confused, Sin tortures Chance. Chance explains that he made a deal with Liam before he and Sin came up with the scheme to pretend that Chance would marry Elli and Sin would marry Amelia. Chance gave Amelia the video of them having sex in Sin’s room and told Amelia about Lincoln and James’s abuse of Elli. Chance always assumed Liam would remove Sin, and someone texted Chance saying that Sin was dead. Chance notified Holland and Amelia, both of whom wanted to torture Elli. Elli killed Amelia, and Holland forced Elli to take ecstasy. Sin kills Chance.

Chapter 62 Summary: “Sin”

Sin brings Elli, who is unconscious, back to their house, and he finds one of the Spade brothers waiting for him. Irritated, Sin asks what he wants, and the brother explains that Liam confessed to Chance’s role in his schemes against Sin and Elli. The brothers invited Sin back to Carnage for a second meeting because Liam called to ask about Nicholas, which led them to investigate why Nicholas was at Carnage at all. They concluded that Liam and Laura wronged Nicholas, and Chance and Liam planned to harm Elli without reason. The brothers enjoy torture for revenge, so they chose to help Sin by telling Chance that Sin was dead, telling Sin that Elli was missing, and leading Sin to kill Chance, thus eliminating the last person who would threaten Sin and Elli’s life. The brother promises to torture Laura and Liam for as long as they are alive, and he leaves. Sin brings Elli upstairs.

 

Ellington

 

Elli wakes up in bed and sees Sin sleeping next to her. She is aroused and decides to masturbate. After masturbating, she sees Sin is awake and watching her. They have sex, affirming that they belong to each other.

Chapter 63 Summary: “Sin”

Sin goes through Liam’s office, finding evidence that he, Lincoln, and James abused Elli. Sin uses a golf club to break things in Liam’s office. Kira finds him and tells him to tell Elli to call her. Sin’s mother and Kira now know about Liam’s actions, and their family is struggling to move forward. Kira asks Sin to make sure their father suffers.


Time passes. Sin takes over Asher Corp, while Elli continues her studies to become a sex therapist, noting that she wishes she had someone to talk to during her abuse. Sin has secured a new identity for Nicholas and has given him a job at Asher Corp. Nicholas calls Elli and arranges to have dinner with her and Sin to introduce them to his girlfriend, Tamara, who does not know anything about the Lords. An unknown number texts Sin to talk, but he ignores it. Elli is pregnant, and she wants to tell Nicholas. Sin agrees, and they have sex.

Epilogue 1 Summary: “Sin”

Sin and Elli go to Carnage after the Spade brothers reach out on urgent business. They bring Sin and Elli to see Laura, who is strapped to a bed and screaming. The brothers report that Laura is pregnant, meaning Liam lied about Laura’s hysterectomy. Elli wants to bring Laura to a hospital and adopt the baby, but the brothers will not release Laura. They intend to put Laura in a coma and give Sin and Elli the baby after delivery. Elli is furious, and Sin asks to see Liam. Liam is beaten and unhealthy, but he laughs when Sin and Elli enter. One of the brothers implies that they have been sexually assaulting Liam, which makes Liam go quiet. Sin sends Elli out of the room and interrogates Liam, who admits to sleeping with Laura. Sin beats Liam and leaves, bringing Elli back to the car. He explains that Laura is pregnant with Liam’s child. Elli is shocked, noting that the child will be their sibling. Elli wants to adopt the child to protect it and give it a better life than Liam and Laura gave them.


Ellington


A month later, Elli gives Nicholas the receipt for the sale of the house in which Elli grew up. She knew neither of them would want to return, and she hopes the money, multiple millions of dollars, will help Nicholas reclaim some of the lifestyle he maintained as a Lord. Elli’s only condition is that Nicholas does not leave Pennsylvania. Nicholas agrees, and he plans to marry Tamara.

Epilogue 2 Summary: “Sin”

It’s 18 years later.


Sin and Elli have coffee in the morning, and their daughter, Annaleigh, comes in with her best friend. Anna claims they went to get coffee, but Sin notes that they do not have any drinks and Anna is wearing men’s sweatpants. Elli urges Anna to get ready for school, and their son, Brexton, enters. Anna and Brexton are both 18-years-old, and they tell people they are twins, though they know that they are not. Elli gets Brexton some breakfast, and Nicholas enters, ready to take Elli to her job as a sex therapist before going to Asher Corp. Nicholas invites Brexton to practice shooting later, and he agrees. Anna wants to practice throwing knives the following day. Sin reflects that Anna is just like him, though she looks like Elli, while Brexton is calmer and less violent. The kids leave, Nicholas goes to wait in the car, and Sin kisses Elli. The kids are going camping over the weekend, and Elli and Sin look forward to having sex for two days.

Chapter 55-Epilogue 2 Analysis

Liam and Laura. are the true antagonists. Liam was involved in James and Lincoln’s abuse of Elli, and was also behind Nicholas’s staged death by suicide and subsequent imprisonment in Carnage. Laura worked with Liam and had an affair with him, culminating in a plan to secure Asher Corp for Liam.


In accordance with romantic tropes, the protagonists, Sin and Elli, triumph. They enjoy a happily ever after. Sin and Elli subvert Liam and Laura’s aims, with Sin taking control of Asher Corp, Elli overcoming her trauma and becoming a sex therapist, and Elli enjoying her father as an active participant in her life. The final scenes of the novel explore Elli and Sin’s joy. Sin reveals that Elli is pregnant, representing a victory over the antagonists of the novel: Liam, Lincoln, and Chance. Elli has not just survived; she’s thrived.


In the first Epilogue, Liam and Laura’s fates are revealed. They mirror the abuses that they inflicted on Elli. Liam is sexually abused and beaten and denied any of his former power; this recalls his attempts to sexually abuse Elli and remove her inheritance of Asher Corp. Laura is also sexually abused. Her pregnancy echoes her desire that Elli would have a child with Chance or Lincoln after both men abused her daughter, as she allowed James to do before them.


The first Epilogue resolves the predominant conflict of the text, which is the in-fighting between Lords and Ladies. Sin and Elli ultimately win, and their adoption of Laura and Liam’s child represents the hope they have for a brighter future. In the car, as Elli and Sin drive away from Carnage, Elli remarks of the Lords: “All they do is ruin everything. Everyone. I won’t let them ruin this child’s life” (603). Though Elli is talking about Laura and Liam’s child, she is also talking about herself, noting how she will overcome the trauma she faced because of the Lords.


The second Epilogue presents the hopeful future promised by the first Epilogue. Elli and Sin have two happy, healthy children. Tessier does not reveal which child is Laura and Liam’s biological child; this underscores how Elli and Sin see them as equally their own.


Sin focuses on Annaleigh and Brexton’s personalities rather than their biological heritage. His description subverts the theme of Gendered Social Grooming and the Commodification of Women. Annaleigh is characterized as Sin’s “twin.” Sin suggests that Annaleigh embodies traits that Lords value for men; she would “stab someone multiple times if you try to tell her how to drive. Then she’d hide the body while setting up a search party” (610), In contrast, Brexton “could [not] shoot anyone unless his life depended on it” (610). The subversion of gender roles, along with Elli’s decision to have her sex therapy practice outside the home, establish how Sin and Elli defy The Privileges and Prohibitions of Elite Societies. The couple ensures that the next generation will not face the same challenges that they overcame in the novel.

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