The chapter shifts to Josh's POV as he watches Aly through a hidden camera he disguised as her phone charger and planted in her bedroom before leaving. He sees her armed reaction to discovering the mask and realizes, after a quick Google search on home invasion trauma, that he badly miscalculated how terrified she'd be. He reviews his precautions: no DNA, a decoy social media trail leading to an unsuspecting man named Carl, and stolen funds from a wealthy criminal that he uses to bulk-order home defense gear and roses for Aly.

Josh internally grapples with his attraction to her competence and fear, acknowledging he is the son of a serial killer and was recently weaned off antipsychotics. A flash of jealousy when Aly speaks to "Fred" dissolves when he learns Fred is her cat. He watches her barricade her bedroom door with a chair, drink wine with shaking hands, and scroll his account, where she deduces aloud that he isn't a serial killer using the app to lure victims.

Aly DMs him directly, asking if he broke in. Josh responds without confirming or denying, then engages in a flirtatious, taunting exchange, refusing to disclose his intentions and telling her she can't trust him. Sensing her arousal beneath the fear, he impulsively sends her the explicit second half of the video he filmed in her room, in which he strokes himself.

Aly, visibly aroused, props the mask against her pillows, secures Fred in the bathroom, retrieves a vibrator, and begins to masturbate to the video. Josh forces himself to cut the feed, drawing a moral line at watching without consent. He recognizes he is becoming dangerously obsessed and resolves to put Aly to an "ultimate test," hoping it doesn't end in trauma or death.