Ash and Nina returned from Bangate Cove in shock after witnessing Nick Radcliffe stride into the sea and disappear. In the kitchen, Ash discarded the vegan curry Nick had made for her, symbolically erasing his presence. Nina, shaken and grieving the unresolved cases of Tara Truscott and Amanda Law and Emma’s trauma, lamented the lack of closure but asked Ash to affirm that they would be “great” moving forward.

Ash and Nina discussed future plans they had been forming: Nina would find a partner to help with Paddy’s restaurants, sell the large family house she never wanted, and move to a modern seafront apartment in Folkestone with rooms for Ash and Arlo. Ash felt a profound shift—relief from months of pressure tied to Ritchie Lloyd’s letters, police scrutiny, her diagnosis, her father’s death, and Nick’s intrusion—believing she was finally clear and ready to leave home and step into adulthood.

That morning, Ash had received a handwritten letter from Nick. In it, Nick claimed Ash’s family was not perfect and urged her to confront Nina about a difficult truth only Nina could share, telling Ash to “own your truth” and become who she was meant to be. The letter framed itself as well-intentioned guidance and suggested Nina would “know what you’re talking about.”

When Ash showed the letter to Nina, Nina told Ash “everything,” revealing a painful family secret (not detailed in the scene). Ash initially felt torn apart by the revelations but then reframed them, deciding that the truth explained her lifelong sense of unreality. She asserted her identity as an adult with agency and recognized that, despite being Nina’s child, it was time to go. She concluded that Nick’s attempt to destabilize them had inadvertently helped by forcing honesty, allowing mother and daughter to stand side by side as equals and friends.

After embracing, Ash and Nina left together for Bangate Cove, where the day’s events unfolded. Back home, Ash looked again at Nick’s letter and noticed the font, layout, and paper sheen were familiar. She retrieved letters sent to her previously by Ritchie Lloyd during the summer of her breakdown.

Comparing the two, Ash saw that Nick’s letter and Ritchie Lloyd’s letters were identical in appearance, strongly implying a link between Nick and the earlier letters or that the same person produced them.