Two Nights in Lisbon

Ariel remains stoic as Griffiths pressures her for her history with Wolfe. Griffiths sees John as the plot’s mastermind, whether he is acting on his own or on behalf of a foreign power. He used Ariel to extract the ransom. Griffiths reminds herself, however, that John’s crime is less significant than what it reveals about Wolfe: “John Wright and Ariel Pryce are not the real security risk. The real risk is just days away from being sworn in as vice president” (369).

Griffiths explains that the goal is to intimidate Ariel into revealing more about the plot. In a brief shift to John’s perspective, he arranges a meetup with the getaway driver.

Ariel reminds Griffiths that her NDA cannot be waived merely for the sake of this operation and that the guarantee of her safety must come from the attorney general. When Griffiths scoffs at this, Ariel says, “The truth has a steep price” (371).

The perspective shifts to Kayla Jefferson, elated because airport security footage shows John entering a white car. Jefferson soon realizes John and an accomplice likely switched vehicles, making further investigation nearly impossible. Griffiths shows Ariel blurry security camera footage, possibly showing a woman driving John away, but Ariel says she cannot identify her.

Griffiths prepares to call her superiors. She is aware that Wolfe’s allies may order retaliation. Griffiths suggests they let Ariel return home and see what happens next. She watches Ariel through a window, certain she has missed Ariel’s motivation.

John rides in the getaway car with the unnamed woman, who the reader will soon learn is his sister. She thanks him for his effort. John realizes that now that the work is over, he will truly miss Ariel and has fallen in love with her.

Griffiths peppers Ariel with questions and insinuations as they walk through the Seville airport. She asks Ariel again what she meant about the costs of her old life, but Ariel refuses to answer, though part of her is tempted to explain.

The narrative turns to Wagstaff on the phone with Ariel’s former friend Tory Wasserman. Tory admits that it is likely Ariel left New York after a conflict with Wolfe. Once Wagstaff promises her total confidentiality, she says, “Charlie Wolfe is definitely a rapist” (381). Wagstaff feels further vindicated when the police officer who took Laurel Turner’s rape report refuses to comment.

Griffiths is briefing her boss about a new finding. Many years before, Wolfe raped John’s sister, Lucy. Social media rumors are now circulating that Ariel is Wolfe’s mistress or a Russian asset, but Griffiths thinks the truth is simpler: Wolfe raped both women.

These updates are interspersed with Ariel’s anxious flight and drive home, as she believes the CIA is still following her. She is happily reunited with George and her dogs.

Ariel wakes after a sleepless night. She evades her mother’s questions about John, part of the history of mistrust between them.

The narrative turns to Griffiths. Jefferson shows her footage of John’s sister making a bank deposit in Geneva, Switzerland. Griffiths is increasingly convinced John will successfully remain a fugitive.

Ariel has a difficult conversation with George. She explains that he will soon hear stories about her, some true, some false. One of the truths, a difficult one, is that she was sexually assaulted by the soon-to-be vice president. George surprises her by knowing who Wolfe is. She tells George his father is Bucky, though Wolfe believes he is. Ariel knew the settlement money from Wolfe could protect them both.

George is surprised Ariel lied to him for so long, and she admits that as disappointed as she is in Bucky she cannot regret their marriage since it brought her George. Ariel weeps when George points out her habits of deception and inwardly admits this was her “first multimillion-dollar lie” (391).

Griffiths finds herself unable to stop investigating. She interviews a bartender who worked with Lucy and hears his account of Lucy’s rape, including Wolfe’s parents paying her only $10 thousand in exchange for her NDA.

Ariel finds the first news story with rumors of Wolfe’s history of sexual violence. One of the coauthors is Persephone’s friend, the journalist the reader saw her speak to.

The narrative turns to Wagstaff, reading the same clickbait story Ariel is. He decides it is time to call Ariel. She cannot answer his questions but ask what evidence he has. He recounts what he believes he knows: that Ariel signed an NDA after Wolfe raped her then used the threat of exposure to get John’s ransom money. Wagstaff reminds her that Wolfe is clearly unfit for high office, and a tremendous security risk. Ariel is relieved the truth is now clear. 

Ariel’s next call is from a congressional staffer who is soon disappointed she will not speak about Wolfe on record.

Griffiths’s boss, Jim Farragut, takes a call from the deputy chief of intelligence, who is furious at the danger to Wolfe’s nomination. He implies Ariel should be neutralized, likely through illegal means.

Ariel is soon bombarded with phone calls from journalists. She remains resolutely silent, knowing that even if the courts get involved, “all these subpoenas and depositions and testimony will all need to crash on Ariel’s unwavering insistence on her inability to comment” (403).

Griffiths watches the coverage of Ariel,. She now understands the goal of the plot: to have others discover the truth behind her NDA by staging a kidnapping that would bring Wolfe’s original crime to light.

That night, Ariel hears men near her house and urges George to run upstairs and hide. She calls the police to report a home invasion.

As Ariel and George flee their house for a nearby shed, voices tell her she is in no danger. They have tackled paparazzi seeking pictures of her. Ariel reflects that this scrutiny is, in a sense, unsurprising.

Ariel watches the news, which details Wolfe’s withdrawal from the vice-presidential nomination process. The TV journalists also discuss Wagstaff’s article about Ariel. By the next day, Wolfe has resigned his cabinet post, his wife has left him, and his fortune is dramatically decreased, with more women speaking out about his violence against them. Ariel finds women in her town do not support her.

The narrative turns briefly to Moniz and Santos, who are interrogating a woman spinning an unlikely story. Moniz catches sight of the American news and begins to realize he was wrong about Ariel’s motives but says nothing to his partner.

Ariel enters a bar and sees her lawyer and neighbor, Jerry. Ariel pretends John is well, though she has not heard from him since they left Spain. Jerry reminds Ariel she is in danger, saying, “Be very careful, about everything” (417). Ariel does not answer, reflecting that her recent choices were born out of a different conviction: passivity would no longer serve her.

Three months later, Ariel wakes on a plane bound for Europe. She sold the bookstore, and George attends boarding school to protect his privacy.

John arrives to meet her at a resort in Montenegro, and they embrace. Ariel is uncertain what the contact means—the two are not romantic partners with the exception of one night in Lisbon.

Finally, Ariel looks back on their first meeting, which was not the narrative she told others. John came to her bookstore and told Ariel about Lucy. He discovered Ariel had a similar history with Wolfe. He suggested they seek real accountability because of Wolfe’s increasing political prominence.

Ariel and John married and cultivated a fictional romantic history. Together with Lucy, they planned and executed a scheme to extort money from Wolfe before revealing his crimes without violating the NDA. (Lucy was the motorcyclist who gave Ariel the burner phone and John’s getaway driver.) Things changed for Ariel and John on their arrival in Lisbon, however. Ariel was surprised by how much their sexual encounter moved her.

In the present, John passes Ariel the key to a Swiss bank box, insisting she should have access to emergency funds. She alludes to their night together, deciding it is time to be open “not about what she doesn’t want, but what she does” (432). She quietly basks in the success of their scheme.