My Dreadful Darling Summary by Chapter | H. D. Carlton
Introduction
While this article delivers a detailed My Dreadful Darling Summary by Chapter, here’s a comprehensive My Dreadful Darling summary the plot and characters for readers who want to dive even deeper.
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Book Structure Overview
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Total Chapters | 33 chapters plus Prologue |
| Prologue | Yes (Freshman Year, August 2021) |
| Epilogue | No (ends on “To Be Continued”) |
| Chapter Titles | Chapters are named “Reverie” or “Dread” by POV |
| Structure | Alternating first-person present tense |
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My Dreadful Darling Summary Chapter by Chapter
⚠️ Spoiler Warning
Chapter 1: Reverie (Senior Year, January 2025)
Special Agent Barry Jones, the FBI agent who arrested her father and became a father figure, calls to say Lionel D’Amour’s parole has been approved despite Reverie’s letter detailing how she found him dismembering a woman. The warden’s glowing recommendation and Lionel’s charity work outweighed her testimony.
Lionel will walk free on February 5th, only three weeks away, and Reverie realizes the media will soon swarm Hollow Canyon University, exposing her identity. In class, Dread whispers cruel sexual harassment and mocks her by using her real last name, D’Amour.
As class ends, Dread whispers a cryptic warning that she will need her research on body disposal for tomorrow night, hinting at another planned torment.
Key Moment: Reverie learns her father is being released from prison in three weeks.
New Information: Reverie wrote a character statement to the parole board; the warden supported Lionel’s release; Dread knows about her father’s release and has a plan for the next night.
Chapter 2: Reverie
After her shift at Eterna Requiem funeral home, where her best friend Sable Vazquez is a mortician, Reverie returns to her dorm after midnight to find a bloody, chopped-up dummy posed like a Locksmith victim. Two men dressed as police officers burst in, handcuff her, and drag her outside.
She realizes they are actually Rogue Cameron and Severen Fox, Dread’s best friends and swim teammates, who chain her to a flagpole in the middle of a blizzard as punishment for accusing Dread of sexual harassment. Left alone in five-degree weather, Reverie trembles and begins to freeze.
She vows to survive the night and make him pay, preferring to burn him rather than freeze to death herself.
Key Moment: Dread’s friends fake a police arrest and chain Reverie to a flagpole in a blizzard.
New Information: Reverie works at a funeral home; Sable is her only close friend; Rogue and Severen are Dread’s accomplices; the body was a dummy.
Chapter 3: Dread
Dread wakes to texts from Severen warning that a blizzard has hit and Reverie is likely turning blue from the cold, so he drives to her dorm despite his desire to leave her to freeze. He finds her nearly unconscious, covered in snow, with blue-tinted skin and purple lips.
He carries her to his dorm, strips off her frozen clothes, wraps her in blankets, and climbs into bed with her to share body heat. When she regains consciousness and tries to leave, Dread refuses and pins her down.
He pulls out his phone and a Sharpie, writes the dates Lionel’s victims went missing on her skin while recording a video, catches her tear on his tongue, and takes a photo before falling asleep holding her.
Key Moment: Dread saves Reverie from hypothermia, then writes victims’ death dates on her skin while recording a video.
New Information: Dread keeps a secret pool for training; he possesses a lockbox of victims’ hair; he knows the names and dates of all Locksmith victims.
Chapter 4: Reverie
Reverie wakes in Dread’s bed with his hand on her breast, feeling trapped in hell, then carefully extracts herself and notices a victim notification letter on his nightstand informing him of Lionel’s parole approval. She steals the letter and searches his bathroom for melatonin pills.
She crushes the pills into powder and spikes several bottles of Gatorade in his mini fridge, hoping to drug him before his swim meet. She returns to her own dorm, finds the chopped-up dummy still there, and has a panic attack on the floor.
Sable arrives, helps her calm down, and cleans up the mess while Reverie processes her guilt over stealing Dread’s letter.
Key Moment: Reverie steals Dread’s victim notification letter and drugs his Gatorade.
New Information: Reverie changed her legal name from Charlotte D’Amour to Reverie Adams at eighteen; Dread doesn’t yet know about Lionel’s parole approval.
Chapter 5: Dread
Dread wakes to find Reverie gone, then sees the photo of her crying while he licked her tear, and the image triggers him to masturbate while feeling shame for betraying his mother’s memory. At his swim meet, he struggles to stay awake and realizes too late that Reverie spiked his Gatorade with melatonin.
Rogue confronts him about the white residue in the bottle, and Coach pulls him from the competition, furious that his captain is compromised on live television. Olive Benderman, Dread’s best friend and fellow Locksmith victim’s daughter, drives him home with her daughter Juniper.
Olive lectures Dread about his obsession with Reverie, pointing out that she always retaliates and he needs to consider what kind of example he’s setting for Junie, and Dread falls asleep vowing revenge.
Key Moment: Dread realizes Reverie drugged him and has to withdraw from his swim meet.
New Information: Olive is the daughter of Locksmith victim Olivia Benderman; Junie is Dread’s goddaughter; Dread masturbates to the photo of Reverie.
Chapter 6: Reverie
After her shift at the funeral home, Reverie returns to her dorm to find a noose strung up on her ceiling fan—a cruel reminder of her mother Regina’s suicide on her eighteenth birthday. She tears it down and has a panic attack, remembering finding her mother hanging in the garage.
Her phone buzzes with a text containing a nude photo of her with Sharpie dates written all over it, along with an address for Craig’s party, and she knows Dread is demanding she attend or he will release the video. At the party, Reverie finds multiple girls dressed as Locksmith victims with fake blood and dates on their T-shirts.
She sees Dread playing beer pong with Stacy Clark, who wears the date for Georgia Farrell—the victim Reverie witnessed her father dismember—and when Reverie tries to hide in the pool house, Dread is inside casually twirling a bloody knife.
Key Moment: Dread sends Reverie a nude photo as blackmail to force her to attend Craig’s party.
New Information: Reverie’s mother committed suicide on her eighteenth birthday; Dread has the video of her naked; Dread recruited multiple girls to cosplay as Locksmith victims.
Chapter 7: Reverie
Dread sits on the bed in the pool house casually twirling a bloody knife as Reverie stands frozen in terror, and he reveals that during her father’s trial, three women initially supported him but turned after watching the D’Amour family interview. Reverie admits she has always believed him, shocking Dread, but she refuses to explain why she stayed silent all these years.
Dread slashes a knife across her throat—but it’s the blunt side, leaving only fake blood. He writes his mother’s death date on her T-shirt, then forces her to recite the names of victims.
When she refuses to say Katherine Sharpe’s name, he accuses her of ignoring the victims, and Dread reveals his true grievance: everyone supported her while he suffered alone. He tells her people suffer because of her silence and that killing her would only be fair.
Key Moment: Reverie tells Dread she has always believed him, for the first time in over a decade.
New Information: Dread watched the D’Amour family interview obsessively; three women abandoned supporting Dread during the trial; Dread believes Reverie’s silence has caused continued suffering.
Chapter 8: Reverie
Dread’s friends force Reverie into a pre-dug grave behind Craig’s house, where a circle of girls dressed as Locksmith victims throws dirt on her one by one, each speaking the name of the victim whose date is written on their shirt. Reverie hears the names Lily, Georgia, Johanna, Rebecca, Eleanor, Jolene, Sandra, Margaret, Macy, Savannah, Amanda, and Olivia.
She cries and trembles, covering her face as dirt rains down on her, feeling utterly broken. When all the girls have taken their turn, only Dread remains, crouching at the foot of the grave.
He gathers dirt in his hand, tosses it on her, and says, “Rest in peace, Mom,” then stands and walks away, leaving her alone in the grave.
Key Moment: Dread makes Reverie lie in a grave while girls dressed as victims throw dirt on her and recite victims’ names.
New Information: Dread’s mother’s name is Katherine Sharpe; Dread has a grave prepared; the ritual includes all known Locksmith victims.
Chapter 9: Reverie
Three nights after the grave incident, Reverie sits in the campus library working on paperwork to transfer to a university in London, desperate to escape both Dread and her father. A girl named Roxi Jenkins approaches her, nervously introducing herself as Lionel D’Amour’s girlfriend of two years whom he met on a dating app for prisoners.
Roxi reveals that Lionel talks about Reverie constantly and they plan to move wherever Reverie goes after college, even discussing having children together. Reverie is horrified, realizing her father has known where she was this entire time and has been manipulating an innocent girl.
She calls Barry, who confirms another copycat murder has occurred, and suggests Lionel and the copycat may be working together because the copycat’s cuts are cleaner and more methodical than Lionel’s jagged, passionate cuts.
Key Moment: Reverie learns her father has a college-age girlfriend attending HCU who believes he is innocent.
New Information: Lionel has been dating Roxi for two years; the copycat’s dismemberment style differs from Lionel’s; Lionel may have trained the copycat.
Chapter 10: Dread
Dread is cornered in a hallway by a girl named Victoria who tries to give him her number, but he rejects her bluntly, saying he’s only interested in sex. Still irritated from not seeing Reverie for two weeks, he storms across campus and finds her laughing with a guy named Luke, who is giving her notes from a missed class.
Enraged with jealousy, Dread approaches, and Reverie kisses Luke in front of him as a provocation. Dread’s vision blacks out with rage; he throws Reverie over his shoulder and carries her to the sports center pool, where he throws her into the shallow end despite her obvious terror of water.
She thrashes and panics, revealing a phobia of drowning, and he pins her against his chest. Their faces inches apart, he crushes his lips against hers in a violent, passionate kiss.
Key Moment: Dread throws Reverie into a pool and kisses her for the first time since childhood.
New Information: Reverie has a phobia of water stemming from her mother’s drowning attempt; Dread is intensely jealous of any man near her; Bryan Gate is the guy she kissed at the party.
Chapter 11: Reverie
Reverie’s phone is lost at the bottom of the pool after Dread threw her in, and she later buys a new one. In her forensic science class, Dread crashes the lecture, sits beside her, and whispers accusations about her father and her knowledge of forensic science.
He references the drugging incident, telling her she never needed to drug him—all she had to do was say his name to affect him. The tension between them is electric, and Reverie struggles to focus on anything but his proximity.
After class, she returns to her dorm to find a note on her bed from Lionel, who calls her “Angel”—his childhood nickname for her—and says he has her bedroom ready for her arrival, confirming he has found her.
Key Moment: Lionel leaves a note in Reverie’s dorm confirming he knows where she is and expects her to come home.
New Information: Lionel called Reverie “Angel” as a child; no one else knew that nickname; Lionel has already been in her room.
Chapter 12: Reverie
Reverie panics after finding Lionel’s note, calls Barry, and learns that Lionel is being released from prison that very day—February 5th. While on the phone, a fire alarm is pulled, forcing all students to evacuate the dorm.
In the chaos, Reverie tries to call an Uber to escape to a hotel instead of staying with Sable, not wanting to endanger her best friend. As she walks through the dark parking lot, someone grabs her from behind, slaps duct tape over her mouth, throws a sack over her head, zip-ties her wrists, and throws her into a car trunk.
Reverie frees her hands using her shoelaces and removes the hood and tape, but finds the trunk’s safety release has been removed, so she pretends to still be bound, waiting for the trunk to open.
Key Moment: Reverie is kidnapped from her college parking lot after a fire alarm evacuation.
New Information: February 5th is Lionel’s release date; Reverie’s North Star necklace was left on her nightstand before the kidnapping.
Chapter 13: Dread
Dread opens the trunk to find Reverie inside, and she attacks him, only to freeze when she realizes it’s him—not her father. He drags her into an indoor pool facility, and she breaks down crying, confessing that she stole the victim notification letter and that Lionel has been out of prison for three weeks.
Dread is blindsided, realizing he’s been checking the CDCR website for updates while Lionel was already free. He rages at her, accusing her of being complicit in his mother’s death, and pins her at the edge of the pool, threatening to drown her.
He gives her an ultimatum: drown, or let him fuck her, and Reverie chooses sex. Dread carries her to the locker room, strips her, and begins exploring her body with a mix of hatred and desire.
Key Moment: Dread gives Reverie the ultimatum to drown or have sex with him.
New Information: Dread has had the pool facility since freshman year; Mark is his lawyer; Lionel has been free for three weeks without Dread knowing.
Chapter 14: Reverie
In the locker room, Reverie decides she will not be humiliated—instead, she will ruin him too, and she strips confidently, sits on his lap, and takes control of the kiss. The tension explodes, and Dread devours her, lowering his mouth to her breasts, then between her legs, and eats her out with an intensity that shocks her because she’s never had a man do that before.
He tells her he’s not doing it to get her wet, but because she has the prettiest pussy he’s ever seen and he needs to taste her. She has her first orgasm from oral sex, crying afterward from the overwhelming pleasure.
She returns the favor with a blowjob, taking him deep into her throat and nearly making his knees buckle, then he bends her over the bench and enters her from behind, stretching her to the point of pain before pleasure overtakes everything.
Key Moment: Dread and Reverie have sex for the first time in the locker room.
New Information: Reverie has never received oral sex before; Dread is extremely vocal during sex; Reverie squirts for the first time.
Chapter 15: Reverie
Dread continues fucking Reverie on the bench, alternating between rough thrusts, spanking, and pinching her nipples, each sharp pain only heightening her pleasure and making her laugh with joy. She admits that she only comes like this with him, and no one has ever made her do that before, which pushes Dread over the edge.
He demands she tell him she won’t let anyone else fuck her, that only he can make her come, and she agrees eagerly, desperate for release. He makes her promise he owns every part of her, then fucks her through another powerful orgasm.
Afterward, she tries to leave, insisting their deal meant nothing, but Dread tells her she signed over her soul to him and declares she’s moving in with him as his girlfriend, and that he will protect her from Lionel.
Key Moment: Dread declares Reverie is his girlfriend and will live with him.
New Information: Reverie’s IUD prevents pregnancy; Dread overheard her talking about it with Matt; Dread has never had unprotected sex before.
Chapter 16: Dread
Dread wakes with a pinched nerve from coming so hard, feeling guilty for betraying his mother’s memory by sleeping with the daughter of her killer. He tells Rogue during practice that he made Reverie his girlfriend to keep her close so he can get to Lionel, and Rogue warns him not to fall in love with her.
After practice, Dread finds Reverie being confronted in the cafeteria by Gabi Loren, Mindy Sackler’s best friend, who accuses Reverie of being involved in Mindy’s disappearance. Gabi shows them a dating profile for “Charlie Love,” a 22-year-old car salesman who likes horror movies, hunting, and collecting—an obvious reference to Lionel and a set-up to frame Reverie.
Dread defends Reverie, lying that she has an alibi with him, and later Severen and his girlfriend Octavia join them. Reverie publicly announces that Dread fucked her as part of his ultimatum, horrifying Octavia, and storms out.
Key Moment: Gabi Loren publicly accuses Reverie of being involved in Mindy Sackler’s disappearance.
New Information: Mindy Sackler went missing on February 5th; the dating profile uses a variation of Reverie’s birth name “Charlie Love”; Octavia is Severen’s girlfriend.
Chapter 17: Reverie
Three days after storming out, Reverie returns to campus to find everyone staring and discovers Dread posted a picture of them in bed—her naked, him shirtless biting her shoulder—with over 800,000 likes, taken the night he chained her to the flagpole after she fell asleep. She returns to her new dorm room to find it completely destroyed, all her belongings ripped to shreds.
A note pinned to her desk reads, “There’s nowhere for you to go but home, Angel,” accompanied by a knife, a newspaper clipping praising Lionel as a father, and a chunk of black curly hair. Dread arrives, cleans the room, and reveals the hair looks like Roxi’s.
He challenges her to finish her London transfer paperwork while he eats her out, making a deal: if she finishes before she comes, she can go; if not, she stays with him. She loses, and he fucks her against the door, which a girl across the hall records and posts online as a sex tape.
Key Moment: Dread posts a naked photo of Reverie sleeping, then later fucks her against the door, creating a viral sex tape.
New Information: The note references her childhood nickname “Angel”; the hair belongs to either Roxi or Margaret Lever; Dread threatens to watch over Roxi if Reverie leaves.
Chapter 18: Reverie
After the sex tape goes viral, Reverie hides in a hotel for eight days, blocking Dread on everything, but he tracks her down through Sable and shows up with a backpack. Reverie confronts him, but he deflects, telling her she’s his girlfriend and they’re going home together.
The argument escalates into sex, during which Dread pulls out a Fleshlight and fucks it instead of her, withholding pleasure to punish her for running away. He makes her confess how often she masturbated thinking of him—a few times a week for four years, sometimes more, and she lost count.
He reveals he’s had the Fleshlight made to her measurements and that he’s going to keep it for when she’s not around, then leaves her there to pack, saying, “Never make me come find you again, Reverie.” She masturbates alone, then packs her bags and goes back to him.
Key Moment: Dread uses a custom Fleshlight to fuck instead of Reverie, punishing her for running away.
New Information: Reverie has masturbated thinking of Dread for four years; Dread had a Fleshlight made to her measurements; Reverie unblocks Dread and returns to him.
Chapter 19: Reverie
Back in Dread’s dorm, Kaitlin and her friend Hannah recorded their sex tape and posted it, so Dread has his lawyer Mark Agassi arrange NDAs and settlements to delete the video. After the meeting, Dread sees Bryan talking to Reverie again, and his jealousy explodes—he grabs her and carries her back to his dorm.
Reverie, tired of his caveman behavior, kisses him voluntarily for the first time, then drops to her knees and gives him a blowjob without being asked. He records it, takes pictures, then eats her out until she squirts repeatedly, and they have sex again, more intimate this time, with Dread finally admitting he’s falling in love with her.
Lionel calls Reverie’s phone, and Dread answers, taunting the serial killer and inviting him to come to Colorado. Reverie hangs up, runs to the bathroom to vomit, then finally confesses everything she witnessed as a child: walking in on Lionel dismembering Georgia Farrell, his threat to kill her mother, and her years of silence out of fear.
Key Moment: Reverie confesses she witnessed Lionel dismembering Georgia Farrell at age six and stayed silent out of terror.
New Information: Reverie’s first memory is her mother drowning her; she saw Lionel cutting up Georgia Farrell’s body; Lionel showed her his lockbox of victims’ hair; she touched the hair; she never told anyone.
Chapter 20: Dread
Dread processes Reverie’s confession in shock, realizing that if she had spoken up, his mother might still be alive. He visits Olive to clear his head, and she helps him work through his conflicting emotions—anger at Reverie’s silence, but understanding of the impossible position a six-year-old child was in.
Olive tells him that both he and Reverie were kids who lived very different lives with very different traumas, and that neither is more or less valid than the other. Dread returns to his dorm, determined to let go of his anger.
He finds Kaitlin and Hannah, the girls who recorded the sex tape, and threatens them with legal action until they confess and sign NDAs, then goes to find Reverie.
Key Moment: Dread decides to let go of his anger at Reverie after talking with Olive.
New Information: Olive is the daughter of Locksmith victim Olivia Benderman; Dread planted his mother as a bleeding heart plant in his cottage; Mark Agassi is his lawyer from the murder trial.
Chapter 21: Reverie
Reverie wakes up trapped inside a mortuary rack at the funeral home, lying between two dead bodies, realizing Dread must have drugged her Gatorade and brought her here. He appears, drags her to the crematorium, and shoves her inside the retort—the oven where bodies are burned.
He tells her she has ten minutes to make him come, or he’ll close the door and burn her alive. Reverie strips naked, sits on the brick chamber still warm from previous cremations, and begins having sex with him while confessing her darkest secret: the first time she came while fantasizing about him was freshman year.
She tells him she used her vibrator and dildo while thinking of him, lost count of how many times, and stopped being able to come at all unless she thought of him. Dread is undone by her confession and fucks her until they both orgasm, revealing he left the timer running as a test—she passed.
Key Moment: Dread threatens to burn Reverie alive in a crematorium unless she makes him come in ten minutes.
New Information: Reverie has only been able to orgasm while thinking of Dread; Dread left her naked in the retort afterward; she returns to him anyway.
Chapter 22: Dread
Dread returns home to find that Kaitlin and Hannah have signed NDAs and the sex tape has been scrubbed from the internet. He sees Bryan talking to Reverie again and loses his temper, but Reverie kisses him voluntarily and takes control, leading to more sex.
Afterward, Lionel calls again, and Dread answers, taunting him. Dread and Reverie have a long conversation where she explains that Lionel is escalating—he’s already killed Jennifer Holbrook as punishment for her defiance, and he’s threatening to kill Roxi next.
Dread pieces together that Lionel has been sending messages she couldn’t understand until after she disobeyed: the pink barrette belonged to Mindy Sackler; the black hair belonged to Margaret Lever, tied to a newspaper clipping about what a good father Lionel is; and Lionel is proving he can hurt anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Key Moment: Dread pieces together Lionel’s pattern of sending messages that only make sense after Reverie disobeys him.
New Information: Jennifer Holbrook’s remains were found at Blackwood Assisted Living; Lionel killed Margaret Lever after her son broke Reverie’s wrist; Lionel is methodically punishing Reverie for every act of defiance.
Chapter 23: Reverie
Reverie has a nightmare about the grave and the walking dead girls, then wakes to find Lionel has thrown another note at Dread’s window saying, “I don’t see you, Angel,” with a black box containing two bloody eyeballs with moss green irises, likely Mindy Sackler’s. She calls Barry, who confirms Lionel was home in California at the time and the copycat committed another murder there, making it impossible for either to be in Colorado.
Barry also reveals the blonde hair from the previous delivery belongs to Georgia Farrell, confirming Lionel still has his lockbox. Reverie hangs up and, realizing all her information has come from Barry, begins to suspect someone might be lying.
Dread’s phone shows texts from Rogue and Severen confirming they didn’t help with the notes, but Reverie isn’t convinced, and she confronts Dread, accusing him of being behind everything—the notes, the eyeballs, all of it—as another cruel prank. Dread is hurt but says nothing as she calls him just as sick as her father and walks away.
Key Moment: Reverie receives Mindy Sackler’s eyeballs in a box and accuses Dread of being behind the harassment.
New Information: The eyeballs are likely Mindy Sackler’s; the blonde hair belongs to Georgia Farrell; Barry confirms Lionel and the copycat were both in California; Reverie suspects someone is lying to her.
Chapter 24: Dread
Dread goes for a brutal swim practice to clear his head, pushing himself to exhaustion. Severen and Rogue text him about the sex tape circulating online, teasing him about how it sounds.
Dread calls Coach, who is furious about the tape, and Dread agrees to deny it’s him. He goes to find Reverie and discovers her talking to Kaitlin and Hannah, the girls who recorded the tape.
He threatens them with legal action, and they confess, signing NDAs, after which Dread makes Reverie promise to come back to his dorm.
Key Moment: Dread threatens legal action against the girls who recorded the sex tape.
New Information: Dread’s coach is furious about the tape; Dread’s publicist helps him craft a denial statement; the girls recorded the tape from across the hall.
Chapter 25: Reverie
Dread reveals he has a custom dildo molded after his own dick, and he makes Reverie fuck herself with it while he records. She confesses more secrets: the real reason Matt broke up with her was because she called him by Dread’s name during sex, and she wouldn’t let herself come until he allowed her to in her fantasies.
Dread is undone by her confessions, and they have intense sex, during which Dread admits he’s been with only blondes because of her and that he pretended they were her. Afterward, Dread uploads the video to a secure drive and shares it with Reverie, telling her he wants it to feel like theirs, not like blackmail.
He tells her he’s falling in love with her, and when she doesn’t respond, he says he’ll make sure she never learns how to look at him any other way.
Key Moment: Dread reveals he’s only been with blondes because of Reverie and that he pretended they were her.
New Information: Matt broke up with Reverie because she screamed Dread’s name during sex; Dread has a custom dildo of his own dick; Dread shares the secure drive with Reverie.
Chapter 26: Reverie
Reverie sits in her dorm, staring at photos Lionel left in her backpack—one of her and Lionel from 2008 when she was five, and another of Margaret Lever’s crime scene. She pieces together Lionel’s pattern: he sent the pink barrette as a first warning, then the black hair with a newspaper clipping about what a good father he is, then killed Jennifer Holbrook and scattered her remains at Blackwood Assisted Living, the location visible in the childhood photo.
She realizes Lionel is punishing her for every act of defiance and that he’s holding Mindy as a last resort, keeping her alive or her remains hidden as leverage. Rogue arrives to babysit her again, and they go to lunch with Sable, where Sable and Rogue’s sexual tension is obvious.
Sable confesses she slept with Rogue and feels guilty, but Reverie forgives her, and Rogue apologizes for all his past bullying, which Reverie accepts.
Key Moment: Reverie pieces together Lionel’s pattern of sending messages tied to specific victims as punishment for her defiance.
New Information: The childhood photo was taken by Margaret Lever; Blackwood Assisted Living is the location in the photo; Lionel killed Jennifer Holbrook there as a message; Rogue apologizes to Reverie.
Chapter 27: Reverie
Reverie goes to the pool late at night, determined to overcome her fear of water, and Dread finds her there, but instead of tormenting her, he helps her learn to swim. He tells her he gave himself one night to feel everything about her confession so he could let go of his anger, and that he doesn’t want to be angry at her anymore.
He admits he’s falling in love with her and says it has nothing to do with Lionel—only her. Reverie is stunned, struggling to trust him after everything he’s done.
She tells him she has to go back to Silent Mist because Lionel will keep killing until she does, but Dread refuses to let her go, saying it would break him. He teaches her to float, and for the first time, she feels safe in the water with him.
Key Moment: Dread teaches Reverie to swim instead of tormenting her, and admits he’s falling in love with her.
New Information: Dread gave himself one night to process his anger; Reverie can hold her breath for over three minutes; Dread promises not to drown her.
Chapter 28: Reverie
Back in Dread’s room, Reverie accidentally puts on his Nirvana T-shirt, and Dread becomes intensely aroused. He pulls out her vibrator and dildo, throws the dildo in the trash, and reveals he had a custom dildo made of his own dick.
He makes her fuck herself with it while he watches and records, and she confesses that in her fantasies, she wouldn’t let herself come until he allowed her to, asking for his permission. He is undone and has sex with her, during which he admits he’s been with only blondes because of her and that he pretended they were her.
Afterward, he uploads the video to a secure drive and shares it with her, telling her he wants it to feel like theirs. He tells her he’s falling in love with her, and when she doesn’t respond, he says, “I never laughed, darling.”
Key Moment: Dread shares the sex tape with Reverie on a secure drive so it belongs to both of them.
New Information: Dread has a custom dildo molded from his own body; Reverie’s fantasies always included asking permission to come; Dread shares the video willingly.
Chapter 29: Dread
Dread tells the media that Reverie will have his babies someday, and she’s furious when she finds out. He pins her against a window where reporters could potentially see, threatening to let them watch him fuck her so they’ll believe him.
She fights him, but they end up having intense sex against the window. Afterward, someone throws a heavy object at the window.
Dread goes outside to investigate and finds a black box containing two bloody eyeballs and a note that says, “I don’t see you, Angel.” Reverie calls Barry, who confirms the blonde hair from the previous delivery belongs to Georgia Farrell and that Lionel and the copycat both have alibis in California, making it impossible for either to be in Colorado, leading Reverie to suspect Dread might be behind everything.
Key Moment: Reverie receives Mindy Sackler’s eyeballs in a box and begins to suspect Dread is behind the harassment.
New Information: The blonde hair belongs to Georgia Farrell; Lionel and the copycat have alibis in California; Reverie suspects Dread might be the stalker.
Chapter 30: Reverie
Severen approaches Reverie in the cafeteria and shows her texts from Dread ordering his friends to protect her and never hurt her feelings, leaving her conflicted about whether Dread is innocent. Octavia sits down and reveals she wants to be friends, then confesses her twin brother Orion died by suicide after being bullied.
Octavia explains why she can’t be with Severen even though she loves him—being with him would be a betrayal to her brother’s memory. Reverie tells her she can either live in the past hating Dread or live in the future loving him, but she can’t do both.
They exchange numbers, and Octavia leaves. Severen arrives and they discuss his romance novel while walking back to Dread’s room, but when they open the door, Reverie is sprayed with blood—Mindy Sackler’s severed head hangs from the ceiling fan, her skinless torso sits in a chair, and her skin is spread across the mattress like a blanket.
Key Moment: Reverie opens Dread’s door to find Mindy Sackler’s dismembered body staged throughout the room.
New Information: Octavia’s brother died by suicide; Severen and Octavia are still in love; Mindy Sackler is confirmed dead and staged in Dread’s room.
Chapter 31: Dread
Dread takes Reverie to the cottage where he buried his mother’s ashes under a bleeding heart plant. He tells her about his mother Katherine—how she was gentle but fierce, loved gardening, and wanted to be a bleeding heart plant because the petals look like hearts.
He admits he’s been following Reverie since childhood, that he knew where she lived, who her friends were, even where they lived, watching her from afar for years because he wanted to see her happy so he’d have more reason to hate her. But instead, he fell in love with her.
He shows her the plant and tells her she can rip it out if she wants to see him break, but she doesn’t. Instead, she stays, and he tells her he loves her.
Key Moment: Dread takes Reverie to his mother’s grave and admits he’s been stalking her since childhood.
New Information: Dread’s mother was cremated and planted as a bleeding heart flower; Dread has stalked Reverie for years; Dread’s father died in a car accident when Dread was five.
Chapter 32: Reverie
Reverie sits in the cafeteria scrolling through her phone when Octavia sits down, apologizes for not checking on her after the party, and asks to be friends. Octavia reveals her twin brother Orion died by suicide after being bullied, explaining why she can’t be with Severen even though she loves him.
Reverie tells her she can live in the past or live in the future, but she can’t do both. They exchange numbers, and Octavia leaves. Severen arrives and updates Reverie on his romance novel while they walk back to Dread’s room.
When Severen pushes open the door, Reverie is sprayed with blood—Mindy Sackler’s severed head hangs from the ceiling fan, her skinless torso sits in Dread’s chair, her hands on the keyboard, her skin spread across the mattress like a blanket. Severen calls 911, police arrive, and one officer immediately arrests Reverie for the murder.
Key Moment: Reverie is arrested for Mindy Sackler’s murder.
New Information: Octavia’s brother died by suicide; Severen and Octavia are in love but can’t be together; Mindy Sackler’s dismembered body is staged in Dread’s room; Reverie is arrested.
Chapter 33: Reverie
The final chapter shows the immediate aftermath of finding Mindy Sackler’s body. Reverie is sprayed with blood as she opens the door, and Severen calls 911 while she stands frozen in shock.
Police officers arrive and enter Dread’s room, where they find the dismembered body staged throughout: Mindy’s head hanging from the ceiling fan, her skinless torso in a chair, her hands on the keyboard, her skin on the bed, her leg used as a lamp post.
One officer recognizes Reverie as the Locksmith’s daughter and immediately arrests her, stating, “Reverie Adams, you’re under arrest.
Consider using this time to think of your own moniker, since you can’t use your father’s.” The book ends on this brutal cliffhanger, with Reverie in handcuffs, framed for a murder she didn’t commit.
Key Moment: Reverie is arrested for murder.
New Information: The body is definitively Mindy Sackler’s; the officer who arrests Reverie knows who her father is; the book ends on a “To Be Continued” cliffhanger.
A Similar Next Read: Tattered Tides Summary | Sarah A .Bailey
