Two Can Play Recap Part 24: The Paris Proposal

This Two Can Play recap part 24 covers chapters 583–598, the newest chapters in our copy. Content note: the first chapters of this arc are the darkest in the book, including something unforgivable done to Tasha and thoughts of giving up. We mention them once and never describe them.

Part 23 ended with three questions. What happened to Tasha in room 20? Will Seraphine get off the island? And what is Kingsley planning for Pat? These sixteen chapters answer all three, and the answers could not be further apart.

Room 20

The book returns to the night Tasha walked into Big Bryan's room. We will say this once and move on: Bryan sedated her and did something unforgivable, and he filmed it. The chapters describe it at length. We won't.

What matters for the story comes after. Lucia was working for Bryan all along. She lured Tasha to that club and handed her the key. Bryan reveals that he "bought" Tasha from her mother long ago, and that he used her phone through the night to turn away Scarlett's calls. Then he names his price. Tasha will work for him whenever he calls. If she refuses, the video goes viral, and Sparrow's name goes with it. Her contract with Sparrow says a scandal like that would cost her a billion dollars.

He even spared her face on purpose, and sends her home before dawn in a turtleneck. That is the turtleneck from the end of Part 23.

The rooftop

Walking home, Tasha finally sees the truth about the night. Scarlett never ignored her calls; Bryan did. For a moment she nearly gives up entirely. What stops her is a memory of Scarlett holding her face and promising to keep her safe for as long as she lives. She decides to tell Scarlett that Bryan is in the city, without the details, so that Sparrow can deal with him.

Lucia brings back Tasha's car and tries to blame her for everything. Tasha's answer is quietly devastating: she has no right to blame Lucia, because she was the fool who trusted her over the best person in her life.

The lie at the bedside

At home, nobody is there. Then Sparrow's guard arrives: Scarlett is in hospital. Tasha, in the same turtleneck, kneels by the bed. Scarlett pulls out her drip, kneels beside her and tells Sparrow that Lucia hurt Tasha.

And Tasha lies. She says she only means that Lucia made her treat Scarlett badly, because she's afraid the truth will send Scarlett's blood pressure even higher. Sparrow, who doesn't know any of it, drags Tasha out of the room. That's where her story pauses.

Our read: this is the most painful choice in the book so far. Tasha protects Scarlett in exactly the way Scarlett has always protected her, by carrying it alone. After everything, it's also the moment we stopped thinking of her as a villain.

Sin Island

Meanwhile, Seraphine finds Cara in the club's bathroom, and Cara finally explains the island. It's called Sin Island, and it belongs to a man everyone calls the Don. People with debts they can't pay sign contracts with him and work them off. Cara has been there seven years to pay for her brother's thirty-million-dollar debt. She didn't know the gambling night was a trap. And she has learned that Seraphine is the only person on the island held against her will.

So Cara gives her everything: her clothes, her pass for the family visit she was due to take, the route to a red boat, and a bag of the "happy pills" with a warning to get help afterwards. She asks for one thing: when Seraphine is free, help her pay off the last four million.

Seraphine runs past two checkpoints and reaches the boat. Then she laughs at the idea of ever repaying Cara.

Our read: the most Seraphine moment imaginable. She is free, and she has learned nothing. She is also heading back towards Dominic and Celeste with two weeks to the wedding.

Pat out-acts Sharon

The arc ends somewhere much warmer. Pat still feels plain next to Kingsley, now richer and more handsome than ever, and she still hasn't told him about the baby. At lunch, Sharon, the only member of her family who escaped prison, bursts in crying that she is his fiancée, accuses Pat of jailing her family, and then fakes a heart attack for the cameras.

Pat, who learned from the best, clutches her stomach. Kingsley drops Sharon and carries Pat out. In the car he admits he knew she was acting and played along anyway. Then he promises a restraining order, and the line Pat has waited her whole life to hear: she will always come first.

The beach in Paris

Kingsley has a surprise. A private jet ("if we're going to take trips together, it would be nice to have our own"), a blindfold, a team of stylists and a white gown. Then a beach at night: rented and empty, with lanterns, roses, a white tent and a buffet.

He kneels, and fireworks spell out "Will you marry me?" over the water. Pat remembers a night in their college lab. Seraphine wanted the most expensive proposal in the world, broadcast live. Celeste wanted anything special from the man she loved. And Pat, embarrassed, described this exact beach, in Paris. Kingsley found out, and built it. The Eiffel Tower glows in the distance.

Chapter 598 ends with him still on his knees: he loves her, and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Her answer is in the next chapter.

What we noticed

• The three storylines mirror one another: Tasha can't tell the truth, Seraphine won't repay a kindness, and Pat finally lets someone give her what she wants.
• Pat's college dream pays off one of the oldest details in the book: the three friends, Celeste, Seraphine and Pat, in one lab, each describing the love they wanted.
• Pat still hasn't told Kingsley she kept the baby. A proposal this perfect makes that secret even heavier.

Previous: [Part 23](/posts/two-can-play-recap-part-23-my-treasure) · Next: [Part 25](/posts/two-can-play-recap-part-25-a-better-family) · Read our [review of chapters 501–582](/posts/two-can-play-review-chapters-501-582) and [Pat and Kingsley](/posts/pat-and-kingsley-two-can-play).