Two Nights in Lisbon

Ariel and John take a taxi back to their hotel. The couple know they are likely under surveillance. Moniz and Santos are near the hotel, and John decides to greet the detectives, knowing an interview is inevitable. Moniz tells them other officers will be nearby as a precaution, which both Ariel and John know is “just another one of those lies we pretend isn’t” (259).

The narrative moves back in time 14 years. Ariel is reluctantly preparing for another evening of socializing as Bucky’s wife. The event is a sumptuous gathering at Wolfe’s home in the Hamptons. As women at the party discuss their children and jewelry, Ariel is aware she has failed to meet another social expectation: She has not yet carried a pregnancy to term. Her husband was especially angry after a recent miscarriage. She and Bucky also disagree about how many children to have.

Alone with John in their hotel room, Ariel weeps in relief and then explains obliquely that she had to ask an outsider for the ransom money. John intuits that this means Wolfe, saying, “Not him. You didn’t” (264). He then apologizes for the ordeal he put Ariel through. Ariel says that Wolfe is the vulnerable party now, not her.

The perspective jumps to embassy official Saxby Barnes, whose boss, the US ambassador, orders him to find out why Griffiths is making cryptic references to a political firestorm. Barnes posits that this may be due to John and Ariel’s situation, and the ambassador asks Barnes to keep him updated.

Ariel reflects on her new intimacy with John and their lack of familiarity with one another, reminding herself that the security she felt in her first marriage turned out to be illusory.

The narrative flashes back to Wolfe’s party. Ariel is consumed by her failure to become pregnant and exhausted by the vapidity of those around her. She retreats to hide in the bathroom. She remembers Bucky’s anger at her miscarriage and her doubts about the marriage since then. Ariel reminds herself she cannot ask to leave the party early. The chapter ends abruptly, just as she is preparing to exit the bathroom.

Ariel and John call business associates and family members. Ariel’s mother tells her Wagstaff contacted her to ask about George’s paternity. She told him what she believes: that George was conceived via anonymous sperm donation. Privately, Ariel reflects that she did not tell Elaine about her rape because she knew she would get no support. The NDA has kept her silent since.

The narrative returns to Ariel in the past. An inebriated Wolfe enters the bathroom and invades her space, intent on assaulting her. Ariel realizes no one will believe her against such a powerful man.

The chapter closes with a brief conversation between Kayla Jefferson and Nicole Griffiths. Griffiths discovered a key part of John’s past: He briefly worked for the CIA after army service in Afghanistan. 

Moniz interrogates John about his kidnapping, including the food he ate and his every movement before his abduction. John is aggrieved when Moniz suggests he drugged Ariel to guarantee she would not be awake when he left.

John explains that a man came up to him on the street, mentioned a work emergency, and summoned him into a waiting car. He was then struck on the head and regained consciousness in the apartment, where Ariel later found him. John describes his captors. John is caught off guard when Moniz asks about the bathroom he used during his captivity.

The narrative returns to Ariel’s past. At his party in the Hamptons, Wolfe rapes her.

The narrative turns back to Griffiths and Jefferson discussing John’s CIA history. He briefly worked in Belgrade and then left the agency for his current consulting career. Jefferson also unearthed John’s calls to a mechanic. It seems likely he purchased a motorcycle using an alias and paid in cash.

Moniz now asks John for details of the layout of the hallway and how he injured his face. Moniz pointedly asks John if he is eager to retire, implying that the ransom is a scheme to this end.

The narrative turns to the aftermath of Ariel’s rape. Wolfe is calm and casual, suggesting he should exit the bathroom first so they are not seen together. Ariel tells him, “You are a monster” (287). 

John explains that his kidnappers took him to the location where Ariel found him. Ariel takes over the conversation, showing the detectives the hood John wore.

In a flashback, Ariel is doing her best to clean up after her rape and walk back to her table. Bucky notices nothing wrong, though another acquaintance, a woman, does. Ariel takes in the opulence of the room and its contrast to the horror she just endured.

Barnes tells Wagstaff about Ariel’s late-night visit to the embassy and her call with an obviously important political figure on the secure line. Wagstaff, in turn, explains George’s paternity, the NDA, and the near-certainty that the man involved in the original case is the same person who provided the ransom money.

Ariel stuns Moniz by explaining that she can say nothing about how she got the ransom money and that even mentioning the NDA is a risk to her well-being. Moniz wonders whether Ariel noticed that the people who arranged the kidnapping so carefully timed it for when a ransom would be difficult to secure.

In a flashback, Ariel contemplates the nature of luck and privilege—she looks the epitome of success in her luxury car next to Bucky, yet she is grappling with unimaginable pain. Ariel realizes she has to shower and avoid her husband, and she spends the night awake in the living room, too terrorized to sleep. Ariel’s thoughts race as she considers whether to disclose what happened. She realizes she should take a pregnancy test “when it would still be absolutely clear who the father was if the test was positive” (297). She does, but the reader does not learn the result, only that Ariel cries afterward.

Moniz asks John why he told Ariel her presence in Portugal was necessary, effectively deceiving her. John insists his motives were merely a loving desire to take a vacation. Santos jumps in and asks about John’s sister and her current location. Ariel takes John aside for a private conversation, telling him that it is time to stop answering questions because “it’s what rational people do when they realize the cops are not on their side” (299).

The narrative shifts so that the reader can see three CIA agents watching Ariel and John’s police interrogation. Griffiths tells Jefferson that she is alerting her superiors to a possible crisis.

Ariel ends the interview with the Portuguese detectives, promising to return in the morning. Santos asks, in parting, whether John’s sister is left-handed, implying that she was part of the kidnapping plot.

Once they are alone, John admits Ariel was right to seek a quick exit. She is “surprised at how much love she feels for this man” and his willingness to admit he was wrong (301). Ariel insists they leave Lisbon early rather than return to speak to the police. Moniz and Santos agree to have John arrested the next day after briefing the US embassy. Wagstaff is watching the police. He decides to list candidates for George’s paternity based on Ariel’s social circle at the time.

Moniz and Santos find evidence that Ariel and John changed their flight. Santos reminds her partner that this is not necessarily evidence of wrongdoing.

The narrative returns to Ariel in the Hamptons. She is thinking of the social norms and rules she followed since her marriage, including a strict exercise routine to stay thin. She realizes “this perfect life was bankrolled by entitled men” and that Wolfe raped her as a display of his power (307).

Ariel and John leave their suitcases behind in the hotel. Wagstaff takes a dose of cocaine to help him work all night. He compiles a list of Laurel Turner’s social connections, focusing particularly on men. Ariel realizes the CIA is following them. They stop briefly so that Ariel can dispose of her burner phone in a crowded market.

Griffiths and her team are indeed surveilling Ariel and John. The CIA agents notice Lisbon police nearby, and Griffiths realizes she must prevent them from arresting the couple.

Ariel and John meet their driver. Ariel says she will give him directions, offering no hint as to the destination. The CIA agents realize Ariel and John are on the move. When Antonucci wants to know why they are pursuing them, Griffiths says, “It’s a matter of national security” (313).

The narrative shifts to Ariel and Bucky in the past as she describes her rape. When he expresses skepticism, she has him stop the car and exits.

The perspective alternates between various action sequences. As Wagstaff works on his list of names, Griffiths briefs her boss. She tells him she is fairly certain of Charlie Wolfe’s connection to the matter and reminds her boss that the secret is likely not containable now that a journalist is involved. When her superiors suggest Ariel could be removed, Griffiths reluctantly admits that Ariel’s death might “solve the problem” (322). As the chapter closes, Wagstaff has zeroed in on a consequential name, implied to be Charlie Wolfe.

Ariel and John arrive at the Seville airport. John surprises Ariel by confessing that he loves her, and she reciprocates. The two split up, and Ariel books a ticket to Brussels.

The narrative returns to the end of Ariel’s first marriage. She stays at a friend’s empty vacation home and decides to report her rape to the police. She knows she will face skepticism, including questions about her level of intoxication and sexual history.

In the present, the CIA agents realize they must race to intercept John and Ariel.

In another flashback, Ariel reports her rape to a skeptical detective. The officer, the same one who refused to speak to the CIA and Wagstaff, asks her “Are you sure you really want to do this?“ (328). Ariel thinks of the women assaulted and raped daily and tells the officer, “I definitely don’t want to do this. But I have to, don’t I?” (328).

Ariel accepts a prescription for emergency contraception but resolves not to take it, implying that she is already pregnant as a result of consensual sex with Bucky and intends to continue the pregnancy.

Back in the present, Ariel attracts the attention of airport security for her lack of luggage. She concocts a story about a theft but soon finds herself confronted by more armed men, likely police officers.

Ariel’s employee Persephone is meeting a friend. Persephone shows her friend the documents she found in Ariel’s cache, and the two discuss the rape accusation and George’s age. The reader only learns later that this friend is a local journalist.

Ariel is interrogated by the Spanish police. She tells them about John’s kidnapping and their desire to get home to George. When they are skeptical, she gives them Moniz and Santos’s business cards.

The narrative returns to Ariel in the past, anxiously preparing for a meeting with Wolfe that she senses may determine her future. Ariel tells him she is pregnant, and he is responsible. Wolfe is skeptical she can know this but asks what her demands are. When she suggests she only wants to see him arrested and moves to go, he stops her.

In the present, the Spanish police suggest her account is far-fetched. She responds, “wouldn’t a criminal have a better story?” (341).

Wagstaff found a photograph from the night of Wolfe’s party. It depicts Ariel and Bucky, Wolfe and his wife, and Tory Wasserman with her husband. Wagstaff decides to contact Tory.

The narrative returns to Ariel and Wolfe. Wolfe insists Ariel remove the battery from her cell phone and leave her bag to ensure she is not hiding a recording device. After some bargaining, Wolfe agrees that if Ariel signs an NDA, he will give her $3 million. Ariel considers this as victory. 

Santos calls Moniz and points out they will both be humiliated if they explain to Spanish airport security that Ariel and John eluded them and that, whatever is happening, it is not a crime against the Portuguese public.

In the past, Ariel faces her impending divorce from Bucky and the end of his financial support. She prepares for her new life in small-town New York.

Moniz reaches his Spanish counterparts and substantiates Ariel’s story. He suggests they let Ariel go.

Ariel boards her plane but is soon escorted off, likely by Griffiths.

Wagstaff awakens his London editor saying, “This woman just extorted the next president of the United States” (354).