Oren and two guards drive Avery and Jameson to Wayback Cottage while Rebecca stays behind with Thea and Xander. At the cottage, Mrs. Laughlin tells Avery that Grayson and Eve are in the kitchen with Mallory. Avery finds Eve seated across from Mallory while Grayson stands protectively behind Eve.

Avery asks to speak with Grayson, but Eve follows and asks what Avery has learned. Suspicious of Eve’s connection to Vincent Blake, Avery demands that Eve open her locket, believing it may contain one of Vincent’s family seals. Grayson stops Avery from reaching for the necklace, forcing Avery to explain that Vincent had a son named Will, that Will may have called himself Liam, and that Will was probably Toby’s father.

Mallory and Mrs. Laughlin react with anger and distress as Avery presses on. Avery says Will Blake likely sought out sixteen-year-old Mallory, was brought onto the Hawthorne estate, then vanished. Avery concludes that Mrs. Laughlin and her husband allowed the Hawthornes to adopt Mallory’s baby, Toby, and conceal the truth in order to protect Mallory and Toby from Vincent Blake.

Eve moves toward Mallory and asks whether Liam really left, which makes Avery realize that Eve may have come to Wayback Cottage to get answers about Will for Vincent. Grayson sharply tells Avery to stop, but Jameson supports Avery. Avery warns Grayson that Tobias Hawthorne’s final message was to trust no one and that if Eve is present, Vincent may be close.

Eve appeals to Grayson’s feelings of rejection, saying Tobias chose Avery and never wanted Eve. Avery argues that Eve has been steering the search toward Hawthorne secrets, Toby’s father, and the Blake seal, but Grayson defends Eve and says Eve is not responsible for her family. When Avery insists that Eve open the locket, Eve reveals that it contains a childhood photo of herself and explains that she wears it as a reminder to put herself first.

The confrontation collapses into a standoff. Mrs. Laughlin asserts that Tobias Hawthorne’s will gave the Laughlins lifelong rent-free tenancy, meaning Avery can fire Mrs. Laughlin but cannot evict her. Mrs. Laughlin orders Oren to take Avery, Jameson, Grayson, and Eve out of her home.