Major spoilers are ahead from Run Away episode 8!
We've finally reached the end of Harlan Coben's Run Away. The last episode ended with two major deaths and Simon discovering when Paige was last seen. Now, let's see how this gripping thriller series comes to a close in the eighth and final episode!
The Shining Truth is taken down
The final episode of the thriller series picks up where the seventh episode left off. After getting shot in the back, Simon is taken to the hospital. He tells the paramedics to contact Fagbenle and tell him that he's got a lead on Paige. Meanwhile, Fagbenle, Todd, and the police force swarm the Shining Haven, arresting all of its members and leaders.
The only person still missing is Casper Vartage, aka The One. Fagbenle eventually locates him in a hidden room at the compound. Casper tries to persuade Fagbenle to let him take his own life, claiming he’s already dying, but Fagbenle refuses and seizes him. Additional police officers then burst through the door and assist in securing him.
With the cult members arrested, Fagbenle and Todd still hope to find Paige at the compound. But they give up after she's nowhere to be found. Later on, Fagbenle meets with Simon at the hospital and tells him everything he knows about Casper, the cult, and Casper's many sons. He explains how Casper hired a hitman to kill his "un-divine sons," so they couldn't expose him. Fagbenle then asks Simon if he's seen the woman (Mother Adiona) who saved him from Dee Dee, but Simon tells him he hasn't. In a brief flashback, we find out that Mother Adiona did visit Simon at the hospital. He lied to Fagbenle to protect her.
Simon then asks Fagbenle if there are any updates on Elena, but Fagbenle gives him unfortunate news. Although they haven't found her yet, they did find CCTV footage of Ash and Dee Dee driving her car. This leads them to believe that Ash and Dee Dee killed her and then stole her vehicle. The conversation ends with Simon telling Fagbenle to find Paige and Fagbenle telling him he'll do his best.
Paige finally returns
Time passes, and Simon, now free from the hospital, is still searching for Paige. Meanwhile, Elena’s body is discovered. Fagbenle and Todd inform Lou and then Simon. The scene then shifts to Simon as he returns to the hospital, discovering Paige quietly sitting by Ingrid’s bedside. They embrace each other before Paige reveals where she's been.
Paige had been at a rehab facility the whole time. She only returned home because her counselor at the facility told her about Ingrid being in the hospital. Paige tells Simon that she needs to get back to rehab and finish her six weeks because being back home already has her struggling. Simon promises to take her back, but they talk a little more at the hospital before leaving.
During their conversation, we learn that Paige ran and hid after finding Aaron's dead body. Then, she went to rehab. Simon asks her how she knew about the rehab facility, and Paige tells him that she had been there before. She explains that she had started to get clean in the past, but then Aaron tracked her down at rehab and shot her back up with drugs while she was asleep. The next day, she left the facility with him.
Paige then explains how she first learned about the rehab facility. Ingrid had told her about it, sharing that she had attended when she was younger. This surprises Simon, who had no idea his wife had ever been to rehab. Simon then drives Paige back to the facility, but before letting her go, he asks her a difficult question.
He asks her if Aaron used to physically abuse her. Paige responds that it happened only once. It was after Aaron found out about his half-brothers. He was going to contact Henry, but then he got jealous and changed his mind. A heated argument followed, prompting Paige to stay with Sam for a while at his college campus.
However, Simon tells Paige that he doesn’t think she’s being completely honest about what happened after Aaron assaulted her. Paige then admits that she killed Aaron, but Simon refuses to believe her. He asks her if she went to Ingrid for help after the attack, and Paige confirms that she did. Her plan was to return to rehab, but the next day she discovered Aaron’s body and panicked. She fled to Aaron’s caravan, got high, and slept in his vehicle for several days. One morning, it finally hit her. Ingrid had killed Aaron. After revealing this to Simon, she pleads with him to keep it a secret from Ingrid. He reluctantly agrees.
Ingrid admits to killing Aaron
With time passing, Ingrid finally emerges from her coma, and the community gathers for Elena’s funeral. Paige eventually returns home from rehab as well. Later on, Simon and Ingrid take a walk through the park before sitting on a nearby bench. He lets her know that he’s aware she was the one who killed Aaron.
Ingrid then admits to Simon that she couldn’t let Aaron continue tormenting their daughter, so she intervened after discovering he had assaulted her. She explains to Simon that Aaron’s existence posed a constant threat to Paige, so she did what she thought was necessary. On the night of Aaron's murder, Ingrid told Paige to go back to rehab and to stay away from Aaron's apartment. She then got Dr. Stanfield to be her alibi. Yes, that's all he was to her. Ingrid and Dr. Stanfield never had an affair like Simon had thought.
That night, she made her way to Aaron's apartment and then killed him. While leaving, Luther spotted her. That's why Luther panicked and shot her when he saw her later in Rocco's basement. He thought Ingrid was going to start killing others. Simon then asks Ingrid why she didn’t involve him in her plans, and she replies that she knew he would have tried to talk her out of it. She explains that she wanted to protect him and ensure that, if she were caught, their children would still have at least one parent. The conversation ends with Ingrid telling Simon that they're not going to have any more secrets between them.
Simon finds out Aaron is Ingrid's son
Although Simon and Ingrid had a good conversation at the park and we're open and honest with each other, Simon can't help but think that Ingrid still isn't being completely truthful. He believes she's hiding something about her past. So, he heads to Yvonne's house to look through her old photos. What he finds is an old picture of a pregnant Ingrid at the Shining Haven.
He then returns home and speaks with Paige about it. During their conversation, we find out that Paige and Aaron were never romantically involved. Instead, Aaron was her half-brother. Simon found this out after speaking with Doug Mulzer, aka the guy who sexually assaulted Paige. Doug explained to Simon that when Aaron attacked him at the gym, he kept repeating over and over that "No one hurts my sister."
Simon then shows Paige the photo of Ingrid. Paige tells him that Ingrid had once confided in her about being in a cult and becoming pregnant. But after she was told the baby was stillborn, she escaped the cult and went to rehab. Paige then explains to Simon how damaged Aaron was. According to her, Aaron was abused by his father from a young age. They had gotten close after finding out they were siblings, but then Aaron introduced her to drugs and became a bad influence.
However, Paige believes he was mentally unstable. She thinks that Aaron had liked the idea of having a sister, but was scared she would eventually abandon him. So, he got her hooked on drugs to make her stay. She also thinks that there was a possibility that he got her addicted to drugs as a way of getting revenge on his birth mom, aka Ingrid. Simon asks Paige if she ever confronted Ingrid about having another child, and Paige tells him that she did. However, Ingrid told her she didn't have another one. But what Ingrid didn't know was that the cult had lied to her about her baby being stillborn.
Paige then tells Simon that Ingrid can never know that Aaron was her child because it would absolutely destroy her to realize she killed her own son. Simon doesn’t agree at first, but after thinking it through, he understands that revealing the truth would only cause Ingrid more pain and ultimately agrees to keep it from her. The final episode then ends with the Greene family having dinner together, while Simon looks to be in a daze after everything he’s learned.
All eight episodes of Run Away are now streaming on Netflix.