Chapter 37: Sloan Confronts Asa, Violence Follows

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Sloan returns home early from university, furious. She has discovered that Asa falsified an entire file of government letters and payment receipts to make her believe he was paying for her brother Stephen’s private care. In reality, Stephen’s benefits were never cancelled—Asa lied to keep Sloan dependent on him. When she demands the real documents, Asa denies everything, then physically restrains and drags her back inside after she tries to leave. He throws her onto the bed, pins her down, and forces her to say she loves him and is not a “whore.” After she complies, he has sex with her while she cries.

Key Events

Sloan enters the house around 2 p.m., visibly angry, and searches the bedroom.
She confronts Asa in the kitchen, revealing that a social worker told her Stephen’s benefits were never stopped.
Asa admits to forging the documents but frames his deception as a necessary act to keep Sloan from leaving.
Sloan calls herself a prisoner; Asa shoves her against the wall, challenges her to leave, and lets her reach the front door.
Asa intercepts Sloan on the lawn, carries her back inside, throws her onto the bed, and climbs on top of her.
He covers her mouth, pins her wrists, and threatens her with what “men like me do to whores.”
Sloan, terrified, whispers “I love you” and apologizes.
Asa undresses her and has intercourse with her, asking repeatedly “Do you love me?” She affirms while crying.

Character Development

Asa: His manipulation escalates from financial fraud to physical coercion. He views Sloan’s anger as an attack on his control and immediately uses violence to restore it. His internal monologue suggests he fears losing her but equates love with ownership. After the assault, he interprets her compliance as relief, not fear.
Sloan: For the first time, she directly confronts Asa’s lies and attempts to leave. But her defiance is crushed by his physical strength and psychological threats. Her survival instinct leads her to recant and perform love she does not feel, revealing how deeply trapped she is.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Deception as Control: Asa’s forged documents are a literal fabrication of reality. He creates a false narrative to bind Sloan materially and emotionally, eliminating her options to leave.
Sexual Violence as Punishment: Asa uses intercourse not as intimacy but as a reassertion of dominance. He frames it as reconciliation, yet Sloan’s tears contradict any mutual consent.
The Home as Prison: Asa’s house—the space where Sloan lives, studies, and sleeps—becomes a site of entrapment. Sloan never makes it beyond the lawn before being dragged back.
Coerced Confession: Asa demands Sloan say “I love you” under threat, turning the phrase into a tool of submission rather than a genuine expression.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks a turning point in the power dynamic. Sloan’s discovery of the forgery could have freed her, but Asa’s violent response makes clear that knowledge alone is not enough—physical force and psychological terror keep her captive. The scene demonstrates the full extent of Asa’s abuse: financial exploitation, isolation, physical assault, and sexual coercion. It also sets up Sloan’s deeper entrapment, making her eventual escape all the more urgent.

Study Questions & Answers

1. What is the specific lie Sloan discovers in this chapter?
Sloan learns that Asa never paid for her brother Stephen’s private care. Instead, he manufactured a folder of fake government letters and check receipts to make her believe she had no choice but to stay with him. In reality, Stephen’s benefits were never cancelled.

2. How does Asa justify his deception to himself and to Sloan?
Asa tells Sloan she should be “flattered” that she matters so much to him. In his internal thoughts, he claims she would have eventually come crawling back, so he only “made it easier.” He reframes his systematic lying as a reasonable act of love.

3. Why does Sloan say “I love you” after the assault, even though she is crying?
Asa physically pins her down, covers her mouth, and threatens her with a menacing question about what he does to “whores.” Sloan is terrified for her safety. Saying “I love you” and apologizing is a survival strategy to de-escalate his violence and avoid further harm.