April brings Verity downstairs before leaving for the evening, which unsettles Lowen because it changes the usual routine. Left alone with Verity in the dim living room, Lowen tests her by tossing a wooden ball near her wheelchair, but Verity does not react. Later, while cooking dinner, Lowen notices the television has been muted. Convinced Verity did it, Lowen confronts her directly, insults and threatens her, and tries to provoke any sign that Verity is conscious and faking her condition.

Verity still does not visibly respond, but Lowen suddenly smells urine and concludes that Verity was frightened by the confrontation even if she managed not to move. When Jeremy comes downstairs, Lowen tells him Verity needs to be changed. Jeremy takes Verity upstairs to bathe and care for her, and Lowen is struck by how much of Verity's daily physical care falls on him. That deepens Lowen's anger toward Verity and her belief that Jeremy is trapped by the consequences of Verity's past cruelty.

Lowen eats with Crew and puts him to bed while Jeremy tends to Verity. Afterward, Jeremy comes downstairs and notices that Lowen is upset. Lowen finally tells him she feels sorry for him and argues that Verity should be placed in a care facility, at least part time, so Jeremy and Crew can have a life outside the house. Jeremy refuses because Crew has already lost both sisters, and Jeremy believes removing Verity from the home would feel like another loss for his son.

Lowen urges Jeremy to take some selfish time for himself and insists he deserves moments that are not defined by Verity's needs. That emotional push breaks the restraint between them. Jeremy admits that what he wants is Lowen, then kisses her and takes her to the bedroom, where they undress and have sex for the first time. The encounter is driven by mutual desire but also by the tension that has built between them while living under Verity's shadow.

Even during the intimacy, Lowen cannot fully escape Verity's presence because details from the manuscript haunt her, especially the marks Verity left on the headboard. In response, Lowen deliberately leaves her own marks, treating the act as a way of claiming the space and separating Jeremy from Verity in her mind. The chapter ends with Jeremy climaxing and Lowen realizing this is not a brief lapse but the beginning of a deeper affair inside the Crawford house.