Chapter 48

Contains spoilers

Overview

Nina secretly meets Enzo to assemble an escape plan requiring IDs, cash, and plane tickets. After dropping Cece at school, Nina returns to find Andy has discovered her fake identity and cash from one safe-deposit box and tries to confine her again. Nina flees, preserves a second cash stash, and turns to Enzo. Enzo proposes killing Andy, but Nina rejects it and conceives an alternative plan.

Summary

Nina meets Enzo discreetly, avoiding Andy’s surveillance by leaving her phone and switching cars. In Enzo’s basement apartment, they talk over beers. Enzo admits he understands more English than he lets on and shares why he left Sicily: his sister Antonia died after abuse from her powerful husband, and Enzo fled after seeking his own justice.

Focusing on escape, Enzo lists what Nina and Cecelia will need: passports, driver’s licenses, birth certificates, cash, and plane tickets. He offers some savings, but Nina must secure more. Nina plans to use a safe-deposit box holding a new passport, driver’s license, and cash, then buy last-minute tickets with cash to avoid Andy’s tracking. She drops Cece at school, promises to pick her up, and heads home to finalize the weeklong countdown.

Nina arrives to find Andy waiting at the table with three piles: her fake passport, driver’s license under the name Tracy Eaton, and cash. Andy makes clear he knows and orders her upstairs. Refusing another imprisonment, Nina bolts from the house, speeds away, and debates grabbing Cece and running, but recognizes the risks without ID and with police likely alerted.

Nina remembers Enzo’s precaution of two separate safe-deposit boxes and takes solace that Andy found only one; a second stash of cash remains. She goes to Enzo, devastated. Enzo proposes “Plan B”: kill Andy. Nina rejects the idea, unwilling to let him sacrifice himself. As they weigh options, Nina realizes a different, simple plan she believes will work against Andy’s predictability.

Who Appears

  • Nina
    Narrator planning to flee Andy with Cece; fake ID discovered; she escapes and devises a new plan.
  • Enzo
    Gardener ally; shares tragic sister backstory; helps plan escape; offers money; proposes killing Andy.
  • Andrew (Andy) Winchester
    Abusive husband; discovers Nina’s fake ID and cash; orders her upstairs, triggering her flight.
  • Cecelia (Cece)
    Nina’s daughter; anxious about Andy; Nina promises to pick her up and plans escape for her.
© 2025 SparknotesAI