Who does Stephen end up with in the Tell Me Lies book series? Explained
Hulu's adaptation, Tell Me Lies, is based on the novel of the same name by Carola Lovering. Like its adaptation, Stephen DeMarco's relationships are tumultuous and toxic in the book series Tell Me Lies. He is involved in several relationships throughout the series.
The series shows that Stephen does not end up with Lucy Albright, the protagonist with whom he has such a complicated history. Rather, he is engaged to Lydia Montgomery, Lucy's friend. However, at the novel's end, he becomes engaged to Jillian, who is introduced later in the story.
His affair with Jillian ends his manipulative and long relationship with Lucy, a pattern of emotional drama that defines so much of Lucy's college years. The novel centers around Stephen's ineptitude for emotionally fulfilling relationships by using Lucy and other pawns to act out his games.
Although Stephen and Lucy have a powerful physical relationship throughout the novel, emotional abstinence and destructive actions make Lucy step away from him in the end. Their relationship falls apart, allowing Lucy to heal from her past and confront the deeper traumas in her life. At Bree’s wedding in 2017, Lucy finally feels indifferent toward Stephen, realizing she no longer desires to be with him.
Stephen's engagement to Jillian in the Tell Me Lies book
After breaking his relationship with Lucy, Stephen starts dating Jillian. By the time Bree's wedding takes place in 2017, Stephen and Jillian are engaged. This ends up ending his entire affair with Lucy. However, his engagement to Jillian serves more as a plot point where the show sees Stephen just moving on superficially and not emotionally.
The novel Tell Me Lies does not dwell on his relationship with Jillian to a great extent, as the activity is centered on the extent to which Stephen influenced Lucy and others who came into contact with him.
Stephen's complicated relationships in Tell Me Lies
Stephen is involved in several toxic relationships throughout Tell Me Lies. He starts seeing Lucy while staying involved with Diana Bunn, the steady girlfriend with whom he shares an on-and-off relationship. Although his relationship with Lucy drives a lot of the plot in the novel, he never really commits to her at all.
His manipulative personality features a huge control point throughout the plot as he keeps lying to Lucy to make his life more pleasurable while keeping her emotionally distant. Stephen later dates Alice after breaking up with Diana.
However, he soon grows tired of Alice, mirroring the emotional pattern he followed with previous partners. A failure to succeed in meaningful relationships drives him to Jillian, and once more, his engagement is a practical impulse rather than an emotional experience.
Influence of Lucy and Stephen's relationship
Lucy's relationship with Stephan leaves her emotionally drained. Throughout their time together, she becomes isolated, depressed, and obsessed with him. Stephen's manipulations precipitate Lucy's mental illness, causing her to end up with anorexia and depression.
As Stephen continues to abuse and ignore her emotionally, Lucy's other relationships—especially with her friends Pippa and Bree—are struggling. Eventually, Lucy is forced to deal with the emotional destruction that Stephen and her past have wrought upon her life, prompting her eventual decision to break free from his toxic influence.
By the end, Lucy's character has undergone significant development. At Bree's wedding, she is indifferent about Stephen. It proves that she is ready to accept whatever healing and move forward. Leaving New York marks a threshold of her life free from Stephen's manipulations.
Tell Me Lies ending is more centered on Lucy's growth and healing from the toxic, emotionally abusive relationship that Stephen had commenced.
While Stephen's engagement marks the end of his time with Lucy, her newfound independence and insight that she no longer needs him in her life mark the end of their connection.
