'Run Away' Ending, Explained: Breaking Down All the Twists in the Harlan Coben Netflix Series

A show only needs one good twist to surprise audiences. The Netflix thriller Run Away has about 5,000 of them—and each will leave your head spinning. Based on the book by Harlan Coben, Run Away follows Simon Greene (James Nesbitt), a desperate father searching for his daughter, Paige (Ellie de Lange), who struggles with substance abuse. But, as becomes clear by the time Run Away's end credits roll, this is more than just a show about a missing daughter

Netflix's Run Away has everything you want in a thriller and more, including—in no particular order—a creepy cult, catfishing, hitmen, a super hot detective duo dating in secret, a vigilante, and a brief dognapping incident. It's a lot to keep track of, so much so that even the most dedicated viewer might have missed a few things during their binge. Here's a breakdown of the Run Away ending, including all of the show's twists and turns.

What happened to Paige in 'Run Away?'

After his run-in with Paige in the first episode, Simon believes that his daughter is being held against her will by her boyfriend, Aaron Corval (Thomas Flynn), who he also believes got her addicted to drugs. However, over the course of his investigation, he finds that the truth is much more complicated.

As it turns out, Aaron isn't Paige's boyfriend at all; he's her half-brother. The two connected on a genealogy website and became close after Paige was drugged and raped by a classmate. She told Aaron about the incident and watched as he viciously beat her attacker in the school gym. Vulnerable and feeling alone, Paige started getting high with Aaron, which eventually led to her estrangement from her parents and her dropping out of school.

After she came home one night to find Aaron dead, Paige ran away—not because she was guilty, but because she wanted to get clean. It's not until the investigation into Aaron's murder has reached its end that Paige reunites with her parents and tells her dad the truth.

Who killed Aaron Corval on 'Run Away?'

Throughout the eight-episode series, there are many prime suspects in Aaron's gruesome murder. First, the detectives focus on Simon, then pivot to Paige, and then to Cornelius (Lucian Msamati), Aaron's neighbor and occasional vigilante. In the end, however, the murderer is none of them: It's Paige's mother, Ingrid Greene (Minnie Driver).

As Paige reveals in the final episode, she had gone straight to her mother after Aaron beat her following her run-in with her dad in the park. Ingrid told Paige to get away for a bit and, unbeknownst to her daughter, went to kill Aaron. She knew that Paige would never get clean as long as Aaron was alive. What she didn't realize was that Aaron was her eldest son—a boy she believed was stillborn during her youth spent in the Shining Truth cult.

What is the Shinning Truth cult in 'Run Away?'

Throughout Run Away, there are two parallel storylines: Paige's disappearance and the mission of two hitmen, Dee Dee (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) and Ash (Jon Pointing). Dee Dee is a member of the Shining Truth cult, a mysterious organization that Ingrid had been a part of before meeting her husband. It's through the Shining Truth that Dee Dee becomes a killer, as she and Ash are tasked with killing a list of seemingly unconnected white men.

The men, it turns out, are all half-brothers, children of The One—the cult leader—who frequently slept with his female followers. Except for two sons, all the boys born were immediately given up for adoption, as they were deemed unworthy heirs. Some women knew the truth, but others were told that their children had been stillborn. And, after The One is diagnosed with cancer, Dee Dee and Ash are hired to kill all of The One's unrecognized children so that his two sons can have their inheritance.

Among the names on their hit list is Aaron Corval, who Paige discovers is Ingrid's biological son. As Paige reveals to her father in the finale, Ingrid believed her son was stillborn, and doesn't know that in killing Aaron, she actually killed her firstborn.

Does Elena Ravenscroft die in 'Run Away?'

Private investigator Elena Ravenscroft (Ruth Jones) is one of the last people killed by Ash and Dee Dee. After joining forces with Simon to find Paige and investigate Aaron's killing, she uncovers the recent death of a few other young men, and that they were all related and had connected on various genealogy websites. Her investigation leads her to an adoption agency with ties to the Shining Truth.

Amid personal struggles—Elena has just found out that her dead husband donated sperm to an unknown woman so that she could have a child and didn't tell her about it—the P.I. is lured into a trap while investigating the adoptions. Dee Dee and Ash kill her on the night she's set to meet her husband's biological daughter. In her final moments, Elena finds peace with the knowledge that she will be reunited with her dead husband. The police later recovered her body.

What happens to Ash and Dee Dee on 'Run Away?'

After killing Elena Ravenscroft, Dee Dee and Ash realize that she was working with Simon and add him to their hit list, right below Aaron Corval. Upon their arrival at Aaron's apartment, they realize that somebody else had already killed him, but before they can work out the specifics, they spot Simon entering the basement next door. He's there to meet with Paige's drug dealer, Rocco (Marcus Fraser), in the hopes of gaining information on his daughter's whereabouts.

Dee Dee and Ash follow Simon, ready to kill him, when they're interrupted by Luther (Connor Porter), one of Rocco's lackeys, who shoots Ash and kills him. Simon runs and makes it up the stairwell before Dee Dee corners him, but just as she's about to kill him, she's pushed off the landing and killed by a mysterious woman. She later tells Simon that she is a member of the Shining Truth (one of the mothers of the adopted sons).

How does 'Run Away' end?

Run Away ends with the Greene family reunited. Paige completes rehab and returns to her family, happy and healthy. Having arrested The One and (temporarily) taken down the Shining Truth, Detective Fagbenle (Alfred Enoch) and his partner, Detective Todd (Amy Gledhill), determine that Ash and Dee Dee must have killed Aaron and returned to the scene of the crime, where they confronted Simon.

With the Greene family now officially cleared of Aaron's murder, they are finally free to move on. Of course, Simon and Paige will have to live with the knowledge that Ingrid killed her own son, but perhaps that's a small price to pay for avoiding jail and getting their family back together...