Jason wakes in Mercy Hospital under Dr. Julianne Springer, who reports a normal MRI but ketamine and an unknown psychoactive in his tox screen. She cannot locate Daniela, and public records depict Jason as a celebrated physicist who won the Pavia Prize, later joined Velocity Laboratories, and has been missing for months. Declaring him incapacitated, Springer plans to call his brother and place him on an involuntary psychiatric hold; Jason calms himself, then slips out of the hospital before police arrive.

Alone in a rain-swept Chicago, Jason counts dwindling cash, finds familiar places altered, and rents a room at the faded Hotel Royale. He verifies that his old landline answers with a stranger’s voicemail, then methodically reframes his approach: start small and find Daniela. A phone book leads him to “Daniela Vargas”; her voicemail points to painting. At her Bucktown building she is absent, but a poster reveals an opening that night for her installation, “Entanglement.”

At the packed gallery, Jason experiences Daniela’s immersive labyrinth, which evokes separation and existential indifference. In the reception, a radiant, successful Daniela recognizes him, says she dedicated the piece to him after a farewell visit a year and a half ago, and has been unable to reach him. She does not know who “Charlie” is. Ryan Holder appears, now a UChicago neuroscientist and Daniela’s partner, implying he built a compound for Jason’s secret work at Velocity. Ryan resents Jason’s secrecy and assumes NDAs bind him.

After the party, Jason joins a gathering at Daniela’s loft. Stoned and buzzed, Jason poses a “hypothetical” that mirrors his ordeal. He insists he isn’t crazy and recounts their life together, including their son, Charlie; Daniela and Ryan counter with their own history in which Jason ended the relationship 15 years ago and Daniela pursued art while Jason became a star scientist. Ryan leaves uneasy; Daniela keeps Jason, offers tea, and questions him gently. Jason describes Charlie and their home life, while Daniela recalls her version of their breakup.

Jason develops a fever overnight; Daniela nurses him, cooks her family’s bean stew, and tests Jason’s knowledge of intimate details, which he knows. They share a grounded evening—talking, cooking, and cleaning—deepening their complicated bond. Later, Daniela slips into Jason’s bed and they have urgent, unguarded sex. Jason resolves to return to his Logan Square house to search for evidence of his work.

Before morning, pounding shakes Daniela’s door. Through the peephole, Jason sees a man in black calling Daniela’s phone. He forces the door with a silenced pistol, and when Jason offers to go peacefully, the man shoots Daniela in the forehead, killing her instantly, then incapacitates Jason with a Taser, binds his wrists, and tapes his mouth. As Jason watches her blood pool, the intruder makes calm calls to associates and a lover, confirming a coordinated extraction. The chapter ends with Jason restrained beside Daniela’s body, his hunters proven real and lethal.