“Betrayed By Love” is a 2024 film written by Peter Sullivan, and directed by Marla Sokoloff. The film stars Sara Ball as Carrie, Andrew Fultz as Adam, Marc Herrmann as Dylan, Jessica Ruth Bell as Lana, Cayman Cardiff as John Valentine, and more. “Betrayed By Love” revolves around Carrie who returns to her hometown to attend her sister Riley’s funeral. However, Carrie soon starts to suspect that her sister’s death wasn’t an accident but a cold-blooded murder.
Betrayed By Love (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
How Does Riley’s Death Affect Everyone?
Riley is a lively woman who has lived her life to the fullest without worrying about what tomorrow will bring. However, for some reason, lately, she has been worried sick, as seen on her face at the film’s beginning. In the film’s opening sequence, Riley gets in her car to meet someone. But on the way, she is met with a horrible accident. Riley is taken to the hospital, and her family is notified about her condition. The doctors try their best. But Riley has already lost a lot of blood and couldn’t be saved.
Dylan, Riley’s friend, takes control of the investigation. After interviewing a few witnesses, he thinks that there’s no foul play. According to the man who was driving behind Riley the night of the accident, Riley was driving erratically. Her car swirled off the road after she lost control. Dylan also asks Carrie if Riley has been under medication or is taking any drugs. Carrie confirms that her sister kept herself miles away from drugs and harmful meds.
Carrie and the entire family are heartbroken over Riley’s death. The saddest thing is that Riley’s son, Cody, has no idea that his mother is not coming back. When Carrie asks Adam when he’s planning to tell his son, Adam, that his mother is dead, Adam doesn’t have an answer. We can also see that even though Adam has just lost his wife, he is not grieving. Even though Adam gives a compassionate speech at his wife’s funeral, we can say that something is definitely off! However, this could mean nothing as everyone has their own way of dealing with the loss of a loved one.
What does John Valentine Reveal about Riley?
At the funeral service, Sarah Hannigan asks to see Carrie in private so she can tell Carrie something about her sister. However, Carrie gets distracted when she sees Adam fighting with someone, whom Adam later confesses is John, Riley’s ex-boyfriend. Adam also belittles John, saying he is a loser who lives in a trailer and has no job prospects and little to no ambition. However, Carrie believes that Adam is hiding something and decides to find John Valentine. Carrie calls Alison, one of her reporter friends. She asks her to find out more information about John Valentine.
Alison, after doing some research, learns that John is no stranger to police records and has been booked many times for DUI, breaking and entering, violent breakouts, and owning a firearm without a license. Carrie asks Dylan to pay John a visit for some friendly questioning. Dylan agrees, on the condition that if nothing comes out of it, she’ll stop letting her suspicions run amok. When Dylan visits John, the latter tries to run but is soon apprehended and taken into custody.
In custody, John reveals that he was at Riley’s funeral to pay his respects. John also reveals that a few weeks before her death, Riley came to see him because she believed that someone was out to get her. Because of this, Riley also asked John for a gun to protect herself. Unfortunately, John has no idea from whom Riley is running.
Was Riley Poisoned, and Could John Valentine Be Involved in Her Death?
Carrie is suspicious that Riley’s death isn’t a simple road accident and in some way, John Valentine is connected to it. When Carrie takes this to her parents, they tell Carrie that John really loved Riley and would’ve never put her in harm’s way. Carrie finds Sarah’s number in Riley’s phone and sets up a meeting.
During the meeting, Sarah reveals that she works for an insurance company, and was also a good friend of Riley. On the day Riley died, she was supposed to meet Sarah, but unfortunately, she never arrived. As per Sarah, Riley was feeling dizzy on the night of the accident. So, Carrie asks Dylan again to run some tests on Riley’s blood and find out if she was poisoned.
Did Adam Poison Riley for Financial Gain?
The same day, Carrie also receives a call from a stranger, who asks Carrie to take care of herself and not spend too much time in Adam’s office. From that point, Carrie begins to entertain the idea that Adam may not be who he seems to be. Cody’s babysitter, Lana accidentally, in a slip of the tongue reveals that she heard Cody crying in the middle of the night, making Carrie think that Adam is sleeping with the babysitter, Lana. Alison, Carrie’s friend, also finds some incriminating evidence regarding Riley’s death but before she can relay it to Carrie, someone attacks her. Fortunately, Alison is saved and taken to the hospital.
In Alison’s hotel room, Carrie finds some documents that reveal Riley has a five-million-dollar life insurance policy. When Carrie asks about the policy, her father reveals that he had to pay for it because Adam was having some financial troubles. So, it is possible that Riley was killed because of the insurance policy. The toxicology report also suggests that Riley was poisoned by cyanide over a long period. On the day Riley died, Adam made her dinner, so it is possible that he upped the dosage, making Riley lose consciousness behind the wheel, leading to her death. Carrie also managed to get the ESA reports of Adam’s latest project and found that the site was contaminated, making the entire investment worthless.
Betrayed By Love (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
How Does Adam’s Greed and Betrayal Lead to His Downfall?
So did Adam really kill his wife? Yes, Adam is guilty of murdering his wife and making it look like an accident. Also, it was Adam who attacked Alison at the motel. To save himself, Adam also kills John Valentine and places Alison’s wallet and ID near the body to make it look like it was John who had attacked Alison and then killed himself to avoid being arrested. Adam is also having an affair with Lana and lies to her that he’ll divorce his wife for her. However, if Adam had divorced Riley, he would no longer be the beneficiary of Riley’s life insurance policy.
In simple terms, Adam would’ve gone bankrupt. Adam had been having financial problems for a while and had sunk whatever money he had in his new project, which turned out to be worthless. Thus, Adam convinced Riley’s father behind Riley’s back to buy a hefty life insurance policy. Once everything was settled, Adam killed Riley so he could benefit from the insurance policy.
Towards the end of “Betrayed By Love,” when Lana learns about the life insurance policy, she turns against Adam. Lana tricks Adam into confessing, but halfway through it, the latter catches the wind of it and tries to kill Lana and Carrie. Fortunately, the cops arrive, and Adam is arrested.
