Three-paragraph version: 13 years after the events of The Housemaid’s Secret, Millie is now a social worker. She and Enzo, a landscaper, are married with two kids — Nico, 9, and Ada, 11. They’ve just moved into a new house, and their neighbor flirty Suzette asks Enzo to help with her backyard. They hire Suzette’s housemaid Martha to clean for them as well. Suzette and Enzo spend a lot of time together. When money goes missing from Millie and Enzo’s joint account, Millie starts to suspect Enzo is cheating on her. Soon, Suzette’s husband Jonathan winds up dead with his throat slit. Enzo denies that it was him, saying that the missing money had to do with helping Martha escape her abusive husband.
The police suspect Enzo since he went to at Suzette’s house two hours before the murder. They get a search warrant and find a pocket knife at Millie’s house that has traces of Jonathan’s blood on it. When he learns this, Enzo admits to Millie that he killed Jonathan. However, after Enzo is arrested, Millie’s daughter Ada then says that she was the one who killed Jonathan and that Enzo is covering for her. It’s revealed that Ada found out that Nico had been acting out because Mr. Lowell had been forcing him to go over to their house to “play” in a hidden room. Ada went to confront Mr. Lowell and when he wouldn’t let her leave, she stabbed him with a pocket knife that Enzo had given her for protection.
Millie learns about this, and an NYPD detective friend of hers, Benito, also tells her that the DNA of a local boy who went missing was also found in the Lowell home. Millie and Benito confront Suzette and force her to admit to murdering her husband (saying she found out about his misdeeds) or Benito is going to come after her for the murder of the missing boy, since her DNA was found in the hidden room as well. Suzette confesses to killing her husband. In the Epilogue, it’s revealed that even though Ada stabbed Jonathan, it was actually Martha, who had happened to come back to steal a few things, who finished him off by slicing his throat.
In Part I, 13 years after the events of The Housemaid’s Secret, Millie is now a social worker, and she and Enzo are married with two kids — Nico, 9, and Ada, 11. They’ve just moved into a house on a cul-de-sac with two neighbors nearby.
Janice is a single mother with a son, Spencer, who is in Nico’s class. Janice is nosey and a little unpleasant. Suzette and Jonathan Lowell are a well-off couple, who offer to help Enzo promote his landscaping business to people they know or work with. They have a housemaid, Martha, who Enzo ends up hiring to come clean for them twice a month. Millie finds Martha odd and dislikes how Suzette flirts brazenly with Enzo.
When Millie catches Martha stealing a necklace from her jewelry box, she fires Martha. Meanwhile, Millie has been hearing a scratching noise coming from the house. They end up finding a small hidden room in the house, and Millie asks Enzo to seal it up. Soon, Nico gets into a fight at school and also while playing little league, so Millie plans to send Nico to see a therapist.
As Suzette and Enzo spend more and more time together, Millie gets increasingly convinced that Enzo is cheating non her. She also finds out Enzo has secretly withdrawn $1,000 from their joint account. One day, Millie comes home and Enzo isn’t around. She goes looking for him at Suzette’s place, but instead she finds Jonathan Lowell lying dead on the ground with his throat slit.
In Part II, the police investigate and suspect Enzo. Suzette had recently increased her life insurance payout, and Janice has told them about how often Enzo was going over to Suzette’s house. Janice also says Enzo had gone over two hours before Jonathan’s death and that she was the one who called the police when she heard yelling coming from Suzette’s house.
When confronted, Enzo tells Millie that the missing money and a motel stay that the police have found out about were because he was helping Martha. Enzo says that Martha’s husband is abusive and controls their money. Martha has been stealing in order to get money to be able to leave him. Enzo used the $1,000 to purchase a gun for Martha. Enzo didn’t tell Millie because her blood pressure has been high and she’s been stressed out, and he didn’t want her to have more stress.
Millie reaches out to Benito Rodriguez (from Book #2), a NYPD detective who they have become close friends with. Benito reaches out to a public defender who turns out to be Cecelia Winchester (the little girl from Book #1), who remembers them and wants to help them. As they talk to Cecelia, Enzo admits that he used to work for Dario Fontana, a mobster, when he was in Italy. Dario married his sister Antonia, but Dario was abusive to her, so Enzo killed him, which is why he left Italy.
when the police search their house, they find what they believe to be the murder weapon, and they go to arrest Enzo. Enzo then admits that he killed Jonathan. However, after Enzo is arrested, Millie’s daughter Ada then says that she was the one who killed Jonathan and that Enzo is covering for her.
In Part III, it’s revealed that Ada found out that Nico has been acting out because Mr. Lowell had been forcing him to go over to their house to “play”. Ada went to confront Mr. Lowell, but found a room filled with toys and a creepy cot with stained sheets. Mr. Lowell found her there, and when he wouldn’t let her leave, she stabbed him with a pocket knife that Enzo had given her for protection.
In Part IV, Ada reveals all of this to Millie who understands that Enzo must’ve realized it was Ada because of the pocket knife, and he must’ve admitted to the murder to protect Ada. When Enzo calls, she pleads with him not to confess to the police, since Ada is unlikely to be convicted for this.
Benito then tells Millie that Suzette’s DNA was also found in the Lowell’s hidden room, as well as DNA and blood from a boy a few towns over who went missing. Millie and Benito go to see Suzette. They present her two two options: either (falsely) confess to murdering her husband (saying she found out about his misdeeds), or Benito is going to come after her for the murder of the missing boy, since it’s clear from her DNA all over that room that she was involved as well.
Suzette confesses to killing her husband. In the Epilogue, it’s revealed that even though Ada stabbed Jonathan in the stomach, it was actually Martha, who had happened to come back to steal a few things, who finished Jonathan off by slicing his throat.
For more detail, see the full Chapter-by-Chapter Summary.
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