Late at night, Krista watches Blake sleep and uses his thumb to unlock his old phone that still has fingerprint recognition. She justifies invading his privacy as acceptable within an impending marriage. She bypasses email and photos to read his text messages.

Among routine work exchanges, Krista focuses on a thread with Stacie, Blake's boss's assistant. She discovers a 1:30 a.m. message from Stacie: “I had a great time tonight. If you ever change your mind about doing it again, you know where to find me.”

Krista scrolls further and finds earlier flirtatious messages between Blake and Stacie. The last exchange before the suggestive text shows Stacie inviting Blake to take a break and Blake replying “Sure,” after both mention being at the office late.

Connecting the texts with Blake's late return home smelling of perfume and with his shirt misbuttoned, Krista concludes Blake cheated on her. She feels anger and betrayal, recalling Blake's promises of love and marriage.

Krista replaces the phone and studies Blake as he sleeps, acknowledging his attractiveness and understanding Stacie's interest. In a surge of rage, she imagines scalding him with boiling water to scar him permanently and prevent future cheating.

She ultimately rejects acting on the impulse, reasoning that an assault would lead to arrest and risk revealing that she is actually Whitney Cross. The chapter ends with Krista lamenting that she believed Blake was the one and condemning him as another cheating man.