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Summary
Chapters 9-10
Chapter 9: Present Day
Evie returns to the mailbox, reflecting that she never knows what to expect since every job is different. Her boss deliberately keeps her in the dark as long as possible, withholding the client's identity to maintain control. The process is always the same: first, she receives the location, then the name of the mark. She recalls the detailed profile she was given on Ryan—his general bio, childhood, and personal history. She knows his father died in a car accident when Ryan was ten, his mother quickly remarried, and tensions with his stepfather led him to move in with his grandparents, who passed away within a year of each other. The profile includes information about Ryan’s past relationships and close-knit friend group, with instructions suggesting she present herself as a “damsel in distress.”
Evie spent weeks preparing, meticulously studying Ryan’s life—stalking him on social media, researching his past, and even watching old high school football games. Once her preparation was complete, her boss gave her a new identity, complete with a name, job, and backstory. She wears her hair long and dark to resemble Ryan’s ex-girlfriends but dresses in a bohemian style to stand out from them. Her mission is to gather information about Ryan’s work in East Texas, a difficult task that could require her to stay in town for an extended period.
She reveals that she is already on thin ice with her boss after her previous job ended badly. She failed to obtain information being used to blackmail her boss’s long-time client, crime family leader Victor Connolly. As a result, she expected her boss to test her this time, which makes her suspect that the woman claiming to be Lucca was sent by the same people. Hoping for answers, she checks the mailbox, but it’s empty. There is a number she can call if things go wrong, but doing so would mean admitting defeat—a last resort she’s desperate to avoid.
Lucca Marino: Eight Years Ago
Lucca works as a bartender at a fundraiser auction, where patrons spend tens of thousands of dollars to support the opera. She installs a scanner on one of the credit card machines to collect patrons' credit card information, intending to use the cards later in small increments to avoid detection. However, this time she gets caught removing the scanner from the machine. She is arrested and cuffed, but before she’s taken in, another detective intercepts and hands her a phone.
The phone contains only one contact: Mr. Smith. Speaking on the phone through a voice changer, he tells Lucca that "we" have been watching her since her time in Greensboro and that she once stole something important to him, which impressed him. He explains that he pulled strings to get her out of trouble and offers her a job, promising more money and the resources to avoid getting caught in the future.
Lucca follows the instructions to a nondescript AAA bail bonds building. Expecting to meet someone older and unimpressive, she’s surprised when an attractive blond man named Matt Rowan introduces himself. He praises her ability to infiltrate and escape difficult situations, explaining that their team could offer her real money if she works with them. The job would involve dropping her into high-stakes situations to gather the information they need.
Lucca realizes she’s at a turning point—either dive deeper into this world and gain the protection she needs or try to go straight for good. Though she dreams of one day returning to her life as Lucca Marino, the small-town girl from Eden, she knows she needs to make enough money first to make that life possible. With that in mind, she accepts the offer.
Chapter 10: Present Day
Three days after the watch party, Evie hasn’t seen the imposter calling herself Lucca Marino again, but stories about her encounters with others are spreading. Sara mentions bumping into Lucca at the tearoom, and Allison and her husband have dinner with her and James. Evie also stumbles across a Facebook post from James’s mom, praising Lucca’s homemade soup. Through this post, Evie finds Lucca’s Facebook account, which is only a few weeks old. The account claims that her old one was hacked, urging friends to reconnect on the new profile. One of the posts is a "Throwback Thursday" photo from Evie’s class trip, with several of her old classmates tagging themselves, believing it’s the real Lucca Marino.
Evie realizes that under normal circumstances, she would abandon the job immediately. However, with the previous assignment already botched, leaving isn’t an option. She decides to call her boss, knowing it’s better to report the situation now rather than risk him finding out from someone else. When she tells him about Lucca, her boss confirms that the woman was sent by his people, reprimanding Evie for waiting three days to inform him. He reminds her that she’s replaceable and warns that once this job is completed, she’ll be the only Lucca Marino—hinting that being "replaced" isn’t the same as being fired, as she knows too much to simply walk away. His comment about her eating Chinese takeout the night before leaves no doubt that she’s being closely monitored.
Realizing the game has changed, Evie decides to go off script. She intentionally drives her tire into a curb until it pops, then calls Ryan for help. While the car is being repaired, she leaves, rents a vehicle, and heads to East Texas. Although she’s already searched Ryan’s Glenview office, she feels she’s overlooked something important. With new urgency, she’s determined to review everything with fresh eyes, knowing the stakes have just escalated.
Analysis
The concept of identity grows even slipperier with the arrival of the woman calling herself Lucca Marino. It is unsettling how easily the new Lucca integrates into Evie’s life, even winning over Ryan’s friends and her own former classmates. This raises disturbing questions about the nature of identity—if everyone accepts the imposter as the real Lucca, does that make her more “real” than Evie? The imposter’s seamless performance highlights how fragile Evie’s constructed identities are, forcing her to confront the possibility that she could be replaced without anyone noticing.
The theme of identity as performance is central to these chapters, especially through Evie’s transformation into Ryan’s perfect match. Her preparation mimics the way anyone might curate themselves at the start of a relationship—stalking social media, dressing to impress, and trying to be the ideal partner. However, Evie takes this performance to an extreme, constructing an entire identity based on Ryan’s preferences and past relationships. This highlights the slippery nature of identity in the novel—Evie is so good at adopting roles that she erases her own sense of self in the process.
Evie’s mission reinforces the tension between authenticity and performance. While she tells herself that she dreams of one day becoming “Lucca Marino, small-town girl from Eden,” the irony is that she already is that person, though she has buried this part of herself beneath layers of constructed identities. Her dream of returning to a simpler version of herself is impossible—her current life depends on the lie she has become, a role she must inhabit completely to avoid being replaced or discarded. This tension reflects the novel’s core theme: that survival in this world means not just wearing masks but fully embodying them, even at the cost of personal identity.
