You're Next

The men create a group chat with Carly to discuss what could’ve happened to Ashley.

Ashley has been committed to a mental health facility where staff gaslight her, claiming Heath is dead from suicide and her mother died in a plane crash. The medication she is given seems to have no effect, making her question whether she is actually “insane.” A kind nurse, Annette, asks if she would like to walk in the garden, but Ashley learns her stepbrother Nate is unavailable to visit—a fact she clings to as hope. She refuses to believe the narrative the hospital is telling her until she hears it from Nate. She is also disturbed to have seen Dr. Fox, a man she believed was dead, at the hospital, which makes her question her sanity even more.

In the garden, Ashley sees a seemingly catatonic brunette woman in a wheelchair near the duck pond. Recognizing her as someone Dr. Jocelyn Russo, Nate’s mother, often speaks with, Ashley approaches and tries to look at the journal in the woman’s lap. The woman suddenly snaps to, clutches the book, and warns that they will kill Ashley before lapsing back into her unresponsive state. Jocelyn arrives.

As Ashley backs away, she overhears Jocelyn greet the woman as Abigail. The name, combined with the woman’s earlier mumble about the ducks, makes Ashley realize she has just met Abigail from the Devil’s Backbone Society. Abigail’s diary guided Ashley through her confrontations with the Society in the first book, but she’d assumed Abigail was dead. When Jocelyn wheels Abigail away, Jocelyn glances back with a cold, knowing smile, leaving Ashley to question her own sanity.

Nurse Annette texts her partner, claiming something is suspicious about the medical center. She feels not all of the patients actually seem to have a mental illness.

In the common room, Ashley plays cards with Jean-Luc, a French-speaking patient, while looking for Nurse Annette. When a patient named Cheryl refuses to leave her puzzle, claiming someone steals pieces, orderlies restrain and sedate her. Ashley watches a nurse pocket one of Cheryl’s puzzle pieces, validating the woman’s paranoia and reinforcing Ashley’s resolve to appear sane to avoid sedation.

Neither Annette nor Abigail appears at lunch. After a frustrating few days of trying and failing to get help from another nurse, Ashley finally finds Annette at the nurse’s station and pleads with her to call Nate. After hesitating, Annette agrees and calls the number from Ashley’s file. The call goes to voicemail, and Annette leaves a message identifying herself from Mallard Psychiatric Hospital in Great Falls, Montana, stating that Ashley listed him as her next of kin and medical power of attorney before the recording cuts off. Hearing footsteps, Ashley tells Annette the message is enough and hurries to her room. Alone, she worries that Nate will not listen to a voicemail from an unknown number and tearfully prays he will check it.

Nate’s phone buzzes with a missed call from an unknown number. Carter wakes him, but Nate assumes it is a telemarketer and deletes the notification without listening to the voicemail. He makes coffee while Carter waits for updates from private investigators who have found no trace of Ashley—no credit card use or CCTV footage.

Heath and Royce return, reporting that Ashley’s work manager received an email requesting two weeks off for a death in the family. Nate agrees to call Ashley’s mother, Carina, but goes to his bedroom for privacy. Royce and Carly eavesdrop on the call. Meanwhile, Carter’s investigator calls with news that a military medical transport was spotted outside the party venue the night Ashley disappeared.

Nate emerges angry about the eavesdropping and reports that Carina has not heard from Ashley either. Carly proposes threatening whoever’s posing as Ashley over text with a police wellness check to make them nervous, but Nate dismisses the plan. He angrily declares he is done playing games over a “flaky chick” and storms off. Carly yells after him that she will save Ashley herself and leaves. The remaining men agree that Nate is definitely lying about something. Carter resolves to get Nate’s phone, then goes to Ashley’s room to feel closer to her, vowing to get her back.

Over text, Carter confronts the imposter, who teases him for taking so long to figure it out and threatens to kill Ashley.

Three days after Annette’s call, Ashley sits by the pond in the hospital garden. Nurse Tabitha wheels Abigail out with her journal. From a hiding spot, Ashley watches Abigail write frantically. Jocelyn arrives and tells Abigail that experiments are progressing, though some new subjects are resisting. She tears pages from Abigail’s journal and burns them, lamenting that their time with the “little bitch” is running out but they have achieved their intended result. Jocelyn reveals that the encrypted notes of Dr. Fox—Heath’s former psychiatrist—were on a hard drive that melted in his house fire. This makes Ashley realize his murder was real and the Dr. Fox at the hospital must be a look-alike. Jocelyn concludes that she will succeed even if Ashley’s mother Carina loses her daughter in the process. Ashley concludes that Jocelyn stalked Carina, a plot point of a previous novel.

Enraged, Ashley launches from her hiding spot and attacks Jocelyn, wrapping her hands around her throat. She is determined to kill Jocelyn to keep her mother safe. Orderlies grab Ashley and inject her with a sedative, but she holds on. When her grip weakens, Jocelyn orders them to inject Ashley again, dismissing concerns about the maximum dosage and telling them to write it up as an accidental double dose if Ashley dies. As Ashley loses consciousness, she vows to kill Jocelyn if she survives.

Carter, Royce, and Heath tell Nate they know he’s lying over text, but Nate says he’s “handling” Ashley’s disappearance on his own.

Thirteen hours into a fifteen-hour drive to Montana, Nate is consumed with guilt for not listening to the voicemail from four days ago. A Google search revealed the hospital conducts rumored military research. Armed with prenup paperwork giving him medical power of attorney and a gun, Nate blames himself for Ashley’s situation—he had assumed she disappeared because of what he said at his party. He sends his location to Heath, asking for an hour before backup is sent.

At the hospital, a panicked nurse denies Ashley is there, but Nate demands to see a superior. Dr. Marion confirms Ashley is there but is reluctant to discharge her, revealing she was involved in a violent incident and has been heavily sedated with Haldol. Nate refuses to leave without her and threatens to use his family’s influence.

After nearly an hour, an orderly brings Ashley out in a wheelchair, incapacitated. Nurse Annette—who made the original call—asks for his ID and expresses suspicion that Ashley called him her stepbrother, but he is calling her his fiancée. When Annette asks if Ashley is comfortable leaving with Nate, Ashley rouses slightly and says she hates him before confirming she wants to leave. In the truck, a sleeping Ashley mumbles that she hopes to kill him and that he broke her heart.

Nate ignores numerous calls and texts from his friends as he drives.

Heavily sedated, Ashley feels safe as Nate carries her into a hotel room. He wakes her slightly to remove her hospital clothes, and she calls him a pervert. After he leaves to dispose of the clothes, Ashley panics that she is still dreaming, but the hotel room reassures her. Nate returns and strokes her hair, whispering that he regrets everything and destroyed his own heart.

Later, Ashley wakes spooned by a warm body she assumes is Royce because of his scent. She initiates sex, only to learn from the voice that it is Nate. He explains she smells like Royce because he dressed her in one of Royce’s T-shirts.

Convinced Nate betrayed her and had her committed, Ashley attacks him, screaming that she trusted him. Instead of resisting, Nate becomes aroused. Shocked, Ashley slaps him, but he asks her to hit him again. Convinced she is hallucinating from the heavy dose of drugs, she slaps him harder, and he climaxes in his boxers. Still believing it is a dream, they have sex. When they finish, she claws his chest bloody. Ashley remains convinced the entire encounter was a fantasy.

Ashley texts the other men to say she’s safe and will be back soon.

Ashley wakes alone in the hotel room. Nate enters with coffee and shopping bags of new clothes, calling her by the nickname Duckling from her supposed dream. When their fingers touch over the coffee cup, she notices a bruise on his cheek, confirming the sex was real.

After showering, she exits to find Nate waiting. He casually asks if she wants to talk, touching his bruised cheek. She lies and says no. Setting up her new phone, Ashley creates a group chat with Carter, Royce, and Heath but refuses to give Nate her number, stating she is angry he had her committed. He denies it, pointing out he rescued her. She confronts him about the medical rights document she signed in their prenup. Nate explains the medical power of attorney was a standard, reciprocal clause never intended to harm her. When he uses the nickname again, she hits him, which he finds pleasurable. After a moment of silence, he quietly tells her the medical form was reciprocal, giving her the same power over him.

Over text, Carter and Royce beg for a picture of Ashley from Nate to confirm she’s safe.

Fifteen hours later, Nate wakes Ashley as they arrive at her mother’s house. Realizing where they are, Ashley begins crying and shaking, since the hospital staff told her Carina was dead. Inside, Carina happily greets Ashley and scolds Nate for not mentioning he was bringing her. She believes Ashley has simply been avoiding her because she was upset over her romantic relationships.

In the living room, Ashley explains she was held against her will in a psychiatric hospital where they told her Carina and her partner, Nate’s father Max, had died. Carina immediately asks if Nate had anything to do with it. Confused, Ashley learns that Carina and Nate had briefly discussed sending her to a secure rehab facility in Switzerland for her protection, a plan separate from her actual commitment. Carina insists she would only do it with Ashley’s full agreement. Nate admits the medical power of attorney was a backup for this plan, as he knew Ashley would never voluntarily agree and he did not want Carina to be the “bad guy.” Ashley feels betrayed and pulls away when her mom tries to comfort her.

Nate checks his phone and goes to answer the front door. Hearing voices, Ashley races to the foyer and launches herself into Heath’s arms, sobbing that the hospital told her he was dead. When Heath furiously asks who did it, Ashley reveals that Jocelyn—Nate’s mother—is behind it. Something smashes in the living room.