Avery goes to find Max first, intending to persuade Max to accept a bodyguard. Instead, Avery finds Max, Eve, and Xander in the bowling alley. Eve immediately asks whether Skye knew anything about the disk or was involved, but Avery says Skye is not involved and shifts attention to the urgent matter: the photograph of Toby.

Avery gives Eve the picture of Toby, and Eve reacts with visible distress, demanding that the photograph be removed. Xander picks it up and examines it with his phone flashlight, looking for a hidden message in the paper. Avery realizes that if Toby’s abductor understands Tobias Hawthorne-style games, the photo might contain more clues, so she asks for a black light and heat source.

While examining the photo, Avery notices that letters in the newspaper Toby is holding have been blacked out. She zooms in, extracts eighteen altered letters, and types them into the bowling computer. The message appears on the scoring screen: I ALWAYS WIN IN THE END. Avery recognizes that Toby’s abductor is not merely tormenting them but actively playing against her.

When Xander returns with tools to search for more hidden messages, he sees the ominous sentence on the screen. Avery then turns to Max and insists that Max accept a bodyguard when she leaves the next day. With Xander jokingly offering the possibility of a mysterious protector, Max agrees. Oren also reassures Avery that Jameson and Grayson each have protection and are not facing external threats, though their emotional conflict remains “Hawthorne ugly.”

Avery analyzes the message, noting that its singular first-person wording suggests an individual opponent and that “in the end” may imply earlier losses. After two and a half hours, Jameson and Grayson still have not returned, and Avery has made no progress despite reexamining the photo, envelope, and possible meanings tied to revenge.

Eve admits that she hates feeling helpless. Xander proposes distractions to break their mental loop, explaining that stepping away can help people see what they missed. Eve briefly agrees to let Xander distract them, but when he suggests increasingly absurd games, Eve cannot continue and leaves, while Xander calls after her with one last offer.