The hunt for missing Paige Greene plunges into darker territory in the fifth episode of Netflix’s Run Away. Titled “Forever Be The Shining Truth,” this chapter pulls back the curtain on the sinister cult orchestrating a series of murders and forces Simon Greene to question the very foundation of his family. With private investigator Elena Ravenscroft making a crucial discovery and hitman Ash receiving a life-altering warning, the pieces of a deadly puzzle begin to click into place.
The episode, which premiered globally on Netflix on January 1, 2026, shifts between the present investigation and a crucial flashback from three weeks earlier. This flashback finally introduces the audience to The Shining Truth, the mysterious organization behind the killings that have entangled Simon’s daughter.
Inside The Shining Truth Cult
The episode opens with a revealing flashback. Dee Dee, the young woman working with hitman Ash, is inside the compound of a religious group called The Shining Truth. Within the cult, she is known by the name Holly. The scene establishes that the mission to kill specific targets was an assignment given to her by the cult’s leadership.
The leader is revealed to be a man named Casper Vartage, who is referred to by his followers as “The One.” He has two sons known as The Visitor and The Volunteer. In the present day, Dee Dee insists she and Ash visit the cult’s headquarters so the leaders can thank them for their work. Ash is openly suspicious, calling it a “cult” and arguing that Dee Dee’s beliefs are superstitious. Despite his doubts, they proceed to the remote compound.
Once there, Dee Dee is taken away to participate in a women-only ceremony, while Ash is led to meet a mysterious figure named Mother Adiona. She questions him about the mission and suggests he could join The Shining Truth to be with Dee Dee, a comment that angers Ash and leads to him being knocked unconscious by a guard. He later wakes to find Dee Dee and is told that “The One” wishes to meet them.
In the meeting, Casper Vartage thanks them for their services. While Dee Dee is receptive, Ash is indifferent and focused on the job. Vartage provides them with a list of new names to target, keys to a new car, and information on where to find more weapons. However, as they drive away, Ash finds a note that was secretly slipped into his sock by Mother Adiona. The warning reads: “Don’t kill them. Don’t trust Dee Dee”. This message leaves Ash shaken and full of doubt about his partner and their entire mission.
Elena’s Adoption Agency Breakthrough
While the cult’s operatives are active, private investigator Elena Ravenscroft is piecing together the connection between the victims. After being released from police custody, she confronts her mother-in-law and tech expert, Lou, about knowing that Elena’s late husband had a secret daughter. Lou claims she only discovered this after her son’s death.
Elena then shifts her focus back to the case. She tells Simon that her investigation into the missing Henry Thorpe revealed he had a charge on his bank account for a DNA service called Discovered Ancestry. She learned the first murder victim, Damien, also used the same site. Elena’s theory is that both men were adopted from the same agency and may have connected through the ancestry website, possibly even discovering they were related.
“I think Damien and Henry may have been adopted from the same agency, and that they may have met on this Discovered Ancestry site,” Elena tells Simon, pushing the investigation in a new direction.
Acting on this lead, Elena visits the Hope and Growth Adoption Agency to request records. An employee named Maish refuses to help her and threatens to call the police. However, Elena cleverly leaves a listening device behind. She overhears Maish call a woman named Alison to report her visit, revealing Alison oversaw the adoptions of Henry, Damien, and Aaron Corval. Using the phone number she intercepts, Elena tracks Alison down at her retreat home.
When Elena confronts her, Alison claims she “saved the boys” but refuses to give any more information. As Elena threatens to involve the police, Alison flees and escapes. This encounter confirms for Elena that the adoption agency and the mysterious Alison are central to understanding why the victims are being targeted.
Simon’s Descent Into Doubt and Secret DNA Tests
Elena’s findings send Simon into a spiral of personal doubt. He already suspected his wife, Ingrid, was having an affair with her colleague Dr. Jay Stanfield. Now, he confronts the terrifying possibility that his children might not be biologically his and could be connected to the victims.
Checking Paige’s bank statements, he finds a charge not for Discovered Ancestry, but for a similar service called Absolute Ancestry. This discovery, combined with Ingrid’s infidelity, drives him to a desperate act. He secretly collects toothbrushes from Sam, Anya, and himself. He then calls his lawyer, Jessica Kinberg, to arrange confidential DNA tests for all three of his children.
“He wants to test all of his kids to see if they’re biologically his,” one recap summarizes, highlighting Simon’s crumbling world.
Simon offers to pay double to get Paige’s results within 24 hours. The weight of these secrets causes a rift at home. When Simon finally tells Sam and Anya that their mother is in surgery, Sam is furious he wasn’t informed sooner and blames his father for being controlling, even blaming him for Paige’s addiction and Ingrid’s accident. Although they later reconcile, the family is fracturing under the pressure.
Simon also meets with Paige’s friend, Katie, who shares more about Paige’s troubled past. Katie confirms that their philosophy professor, van de Beek, was a “creep” who had previously pursued her before targeting Paige. She admits Paige’s drug use began after a major fight over this relationship. Simon, growing increasingly desperate, later confronts Dr. Stanfield at the hospital about the affair, but the doctor refuses to answer his questions.
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The Cornelius and Fagbenle Connection
Another significant thread involves Cornelius Faber, the former soldier who has been helping Simon. Detectives Fagbenle and Todd have been investigating his possible involvement in the shooting of drug dealer Luther. In this episode, Detective Isaac Fagbenle reveals a personal history: Cornelius was once his neighbor, and Fagbenle was friends with Cornelius’s son when they were children.
Fagbenle visits Cornelius at his apartment. Cornelius speaks emotionally about losing his wife to cancer and then his son to alcoholism, which caused him to “lose his way”. When Fagbenle asks directly if he shot Luther, Cornelius neither confirms nor denies it, only stating that Luther was about to kill the Greenes. He does, however, deny any involvement in Aaron Corval’s murder, insisting Simon did not kill him either.
“He tells Fagbenle that he wants to help people in need, which is why he moved back to the homeless neighbourhood,” one recap notes, painting a complex picture of Cornelius’s motives.
Despite his suspicions, Fagbenle’s personal connection affects his judgment. He later tells his partner, Ruby Todd, that Cornelius effectively confessed to shooting Luther, but he is reluctant to pursue charges against a man he believes was doing good. Todd is adamant that they cannot bury the truth, creating tension between the partners.
The episode’s final moments return to Cornelius. In a flashback, he is shown discovering Aaron’s bloody body and taking the murder weapon—a knife. In the present, he is seen throwing that same knife into a body of water, disposing of crucial evidence as Fagbenle struggles to solve the case.
