Haunting Adeline

Adeline tells Daya about Zade’s involvement with Mark and the Society, including that Adeline is a target for the Society’s trafficking operation. Daya is shocked, but she is more hurt that Adeline did not tell her this information earlier. Ultimately, Daya forgives Adeline, and Adeline asks if Max has contacted Daya, which he has not. Feeling a bit safer, the two investigate an envelope that Adeline found on her counter, and it contains photos from the 1940s of Gigi and a man neither Adeline nor Daya recognizes. The man is Frank, Mark’s father and John’s best friend. In the photos, Frank is close to Gigi, but she looks uncomfortable, and there is a letter in the envelope from Frank to Gigi, in which he confesses his love for her and his feeling of betrayal that she is having an affair with another man. Adeline and Daya think this may point to Frank as Gigi’s killer, but they head to the attic to investigate further.

In the attic, Adeline knocks at the walls to find another hidden compartment, like the one she found the missing diary entry in earlier, and she finds another loose board. Inside, she finds a plastic bag with blood, a watch, and note inside. The note has instructions to hide the watch, and Adeline recognizes the watch as the same one Frank is wearing in the newly acquired photos. Daya tries to find the serial number on the watch, but it is scratched away. She tells Adeline that she will get the blood tested to find out to whom it belongs.

The chapter ends with a diary entry dated May 8, 1946, in which Gigi expects she will die soon. She laments that she will be abandoning Sera, who is just 16, but she does not know how to handle the man she expects will kill her. The entry ends with Gigi deciding to take a nap.

Zade broods on the ritual that took place while he was at Savior’s, and he remarks on how Jay is unable to console him. Dan calls Zade, and Dan tells him that the Society wants to have an appetizer before their main meal, referring to abusing a child before committing the full blood ritual to ensure Zade’s loyalty. Zade agrees, and Dan plans the initial meeting for two days later.

Two days later, Zade prepares to meet Dan. He has Jay promise to watch Adeline, but Zade is still worried that equally trained men will assault Parsons Manor. Arriving at Dan’s home, Zade is greeted by Dan and ushered into the main room. The paintings on the walls form portions of a larger image of a girl crying tears of blood. The guests all gather in the dining room, and Zade has a hard time pretending to be as relaxed as the rest of the crowd. An old man enters the room with a six-year-old girl and announces that dinner is served.

Daya and Adeline get the results on the blood on the watch, the serial number of the watch, and handwriting samples from the letter implying a confession to Gigi’s murder. The blood matches Gigi, the watch belonged to Frank, and the handwriting matches Frank’s, as well, leading Daya and Adeline to conclude that Frank killed Gigi out of jealousy. Daya also reveals that she had the note confessing to covering up the murder tested against John and Sera’s handwriting, and it seems that Adeline’s grandmother covered up the murder. Adeline is distraught, and she remembers comments her grandmother made that implied guilt, saying that she now understands her grandmother’s guilt.

After Daya leaves, Adeline drinks a lot of alcohol. She settles into bed, and she feels sad that the mystery of Gigi’s death is solved, especially considering the implications about her grandmother. She masturbates while thinking about Zade, but, afterward, she still feels sad.

The chapter ends with a diary entry dated May 18, 1946, in which Gigi is convinced that she is going to be killed by a man she trusts. She comments that she pled with him to spare her and her daughter, and she notes that she trusted him.

At Dan’s house, Zade takes control of the situation by demanding to get the young girl first. He puts her on his lap and whispers in her ear that she will be safe. When Dan tries to touch the girl, Zade grabs his hand and acts like he is possessive of the child, when he just wants to keep her safe. Pressing an alarm on his watch, Zade initiates a fake FBI raid on Dan’s house, causing the guests to yell and try to flee. Zade takes the girl, Sarah, out of the kitchen and into the backyard, where he hands her off to Ruby. Sarah asks Zade if he will adopt her if her parents are dead, and Zade considers it, noting that he will need to ask Adeline, first.

Once Sarah is safe, a fake FBI agent arrest Zade, pulling him past Dan. Dan is relieved to see that Zade is also being arrested, and he even attempts to defend Zade, noting that he is not involved in Dan’s operations. However, Zade’s plan is for Dan to be let go the next day, allowing him to fire the fake FBI agents that Zade hired for this plan.

Zade comes to Adeline’s room while she’s sleeping and gets into bed next to her, happy to take off the suit he wore at Dan’s house. After Zade and Dan were arrested, the fake FBI agents separated them and let Zade leave. Zade suspects that Adeline was drinking, and he wakes her up by pressing against her. They have sex, and Zade chases Adeline across the house, finally landing in the sunroom where Zade initially assaulted Adeline. They continue to have sex in the sunroom.

The next day, Zade tells Adeline that he is going to resolve the ritual issue that night, extracting the child the Society intends to sacrifice and ending their ring. He tells Adeline about Sarah, the girl he saved from Dan’s house, and he comments that she asked Zade to adopt her. Adeline is worried, but Zade tells her that he would never adopt a child without Adeline’s agreement, as he says they would both become parents.

Zade goes back to Savior’s unarmed, noting that some of the security guards in the club are working for him and can give him a gun if needed. He meets Dan, who apologizes for the raid on his house. Zade asks what happened to the girl, meaning Sarah, and Dan suspects that one of the guests took her for themselves. Zade pretends to be upset, and he asks Dan who it might have been. Dan says he does not know, but he will tell Zade if he finds out.

After some drinks, Dan leads Zade to the ritual cave, and Zade puts on a long robe and ouroboros necklace like the rest of the participants. Zade and three other new recruits walk up on an altar where a little girl is strapped to the stone slab. A mysterious figure in a black robe comes up to the altar and gives Zade a large knife before walking away. As Zade prepares to stab the girl, he gives a signal to the security guards that work for him, then he stabs the initiate at his side. Chaos ensues, and one of Zade’s men, Michael, comes to take the girl, while another of Zade’s men lets in a team of Zade’s people. Before Zade can pursue the mysterious figure, an explosion knocks him back against the altar. Jay rushes to Zade, and Zade is confused that Jay is here at all. Jay says he figured out that the last video was intentionally leaked to draw them in, claiming that this ritual initiation was a setup to draw Zade out. Someone behind Jay tells Jay and Zade to put their hands up, but it is not revealed who that person is.

Adeline tells her mother about Gigi’s murder and that Sera covered up the murder. Adeline’s mother does not seem surprised, though, and only comments that Sera must have had a hard time concealing the secret. Adeline asks if her mother sent the photos of Gigi and Frank, and her mother implies that she did send them. Adeline concludes that her mother knew about the murder, and she was also complicit in covering it up after the fact. Adeline worries about Zade, and she feels conflicted that she cares about Zade, now, but she cannot secure his safety.

That night, Adeline wakes up to multiple text messages from Daya asking for help. She tries to call Daya, but she is sent straight to voicemail. Getting in her car to drive to Daya’s, Adeline notices that another car is driving close behind her. The car behind her rams into her car, knocking the phone from her hand and flipping her car upside down. Two men come to her door and drag her from the vehicle, noting that Adeline is worth a lot of money. One of the men mentions Max, and the men knock Adeline unconscious.