Struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh is still processing the death of her mother, which left her emotionally isolated and responsible for her own financial survival. Eager for any opportunity that could advance her career, she goes to meet with a famous publisher. On her way there, Lowen witnesses a road accident which splatters blood onto her clothes. A pedestrian helps a distraught Lowen calm down and gives her his shirt so that she will not have to wear her blood-stained clothes to the meeting. When she arrives, the man who helped her is present. She learns that he is Jeremy Crawford, the husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford. Verity has fallen
comatose in the wake of a car accident and is consequently unable to finish her bestselling book series, which Jeremy enlists Lowen to
ghostwrite. Lowen agrees, and travels to the Crawfords' home to look through Verity's notes about the series. Lowen arrives at the remote lake house, where an unconscious Verity resides in the couple's bed. Lowen learns that the couple's daughter Chastin passed away from an allergic reaction months earlier. Shortly thereafter, while Verity was on a boat ride with Chastin's twin sister Harper and the couple's youngest son Crew, the boat capsized, resulting in Harper drowning while Verity was focused on saving Crew. Unable to cope with losing both of her daughters, Verity attempted suicide by driving her car into a tree, leading to her current condition. Lowen finds an unpublished
autobiography manuscript titled "So Be It", detailing Verity's obsessive love for Jeremy and resentment toward Chastin and Harper, whom she viewed as competition for his affection. Verity admits to having tried to terminate her pregnancy with the twins and attempting to murder them multiple times in their infancy, and professes that she blames Harper for the death of Chastin, which ultimately led her to intentionally capsize the boat to cause Harper's drowning. The manuscript ends with Verity proclaiming her intention to kill herself by driving her car into a tree to escape the legal consequences for her actions. Disturbed and overwhelmed by these revelations, Lowen begins to suspect Verity of faking her condition, especially when she hears suspicious noises from Verity's room on numerous occasions. Meanwhile, Lowen also begins to develop an attraction to Jeremy, and eventually begins a romantic affair with him. Lowen sets up a security camera in Verity's room, and witnesses Verity moving her leg slightly. After much contemplation, Lowen informs Jeremy of her findings. Furious upon discovering that Verity has been feigning her condition, Jeremy attempts to strangle her. Catching this on the camera system, Lowen arrives to stop Jeremy, warning him that he will be indicted for her murder if his handprints are found on her throat. At Lowen's insistence, Jeremy forces Verity to vomit and subsequently covers her mouth and nose until she stops breathing to make it look like she aspirated in her sleep. After Verity's death, Lowen and Jeremy profess their love for each other. A while later, Lowen and Jeremy are expecting their first child and revisit the Crawfords' home to clear it out. While there, Lowen discovers a handwritten letter to Jeremy from Verity beneath the floorboards. In it, Verity reveals that "So Be It" was a work of fiction written from the perspective of a
villain and asserts that she never harmed her children. The letter also reveals that the car crash was not a suicide attempt, but that Jeremy had been the one to crash the car in an attempt to kill Verity after finding the manuscript. Though Verity miraculously emerged unscathed, she became too afraid to attempt to explain herself to him, and instead resolved to pretend to have brain damage until she could figure out a way to escape with Crew. Horrified at the revelation that they may have murdered an innocent woman, Lowen destroys the letter before Jeremy can find it. She surmises that the letter could have been another deceitful way for Verity to cover her tracks, and concludes that Verity was a master at manipulating the truth, but continues to wonder which truth Verity had been manipulating. == Characters ==