'Betrayed by Love' Movie Ending Explained And Recap: Who Killed Riley?

I have this habit of guessing the “who/what” in Lifetime thrillers within its first half hour or so, and ten out of ten times, I am proved to be right. It probably wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call myself a Lifetime movie expert (wish that was a job). That said, Betrayed by Love made me second guess for the longest possible time, which automatically makes this one top-tier Lifetime content. I mean, I did guess the culprit behind Riley’s murder, and by the end of it, I was right—but this movie managed to make me consider other possibilities, thanks to a narrative loaded with characters—all of whom could have been ‘the bad guy’.

Spoilers Ahead

What Happens in the Film?

Riley bids her husband Adam and son Cody goodbye before leaving for somewhere. She looks quite cheery from the outside, and so are they. However, just when she’s about to start the car, she has this spell of dizziness. But she ignores it, telling someone on the phone (for sure the person she’s about to meet) that she’s been having those for a while but it’s not alarming or anything—and starts driving anyway. That proves to be a terrible judgment, as soon, she gets dizzy again, behind the wheel, and suffers a crazy accident. She is rushed to the hospital in time, but sadly, Riley doesn’t survive. 

Who’s Carrie, and what does she want?

Crime journalist Carrie, who also happens to be Riley’s sister, just can’t accept her sister’s tragic death. She refuses to shake off her belief that something must be wrong, even though the primary investigation concludes the death was a freak accident. Police officer Dylan, aka Carrie’s ex, also asks her to drop the pursuit and move on with life. But Carrie is a Lifetime heroine who’s not going to listen to anyone, and like my predictions, they’re always on the right track. At her sister’s funeral, Carrie comes across this woman, Sarah, who introduces herself as Riley’s friend. Just when Sarah is about to tell Carrie something very important, Riley notices Adam having quite a heated exchange with a disheveled-looking man. When she asks Adam about it, he tells her not to worry. In the meantime, Sarah is gone (clearly something that doesn’t make much sense considering she was there to tell Carrie something important). However, Adam does reveal who that man was to Carrie later. It was none other than Johnny Valentine, a notorious man that Riley’d once dated, before settling down with Adam. 

Does Johnny Valentine Have Anything To Do With Carrie’s Death? 

There’s always this guy who seems like the bad apple but never actually is. This is a pretty common thriller movie trope, and Lifetime movies use it extensively. From the moment Johnny is introduced to the story, you know for a fact that he’s playing that part here. Thanks to Carrie’s very helpful colleague and friend Allison, we find out that the guy is a loose cannon who lives in a trailer and has quite the record. After getting this bit of valuable information from Carrie, Dylan has no other option but to look into the matter. So he pays Johnny a visit, and instead of having a normal conversation, Johnny tries to run away, only to get caught eventually by Dylan and then arrested. However, during the interrogation, he claims to have had no part in Riley’s death. In fact, according to him, Riley actually came to him for help. She needed a gun (which clearly means she wasn’t feeling safe), and who’s better than Johnny to get her one? Johnny also mentions that he would never hurt Riley, and the police should really look into someone else. Dylan may play the part of the idiot cop or the second fiddle to the lead heroine, but he still realizes that Johnny is telling the truth. But if it’s not Johnny, then who is it? 

Who Killed Riley?

Who else but the husband? The guy’s been acting shady from the beginning, hired a nanny who looks just like his wife right after Riley’s death (clearly dude had a type), and thanks to Carrie’s investigation, we find out his real estate business is pretty much doomed. It’s admirable that the writers of Betrayed by Love put some effort into the whole ‘Carrie doing the detective work’ part. We see her making phone calls to Adam’s business partner, sweet-talking a city councilwoman to get the report that says the construction site of Adam’s dream project is contaminated, and also sneaking into Adam’s house to find nanny Lana’s birth-control pills just lying in her late sister’s bedroom.

Carrie also has some good luck, and Allison is by her side. She does manage to track down Sarah, who finally agrees to meet and reveal that it was her who Riley was going to meet on that fateful night. She has been feeling guilty about not telling Carrie about the dizziness that Riley mentioned. Sarah did pass that tidbit on to the police though, but of course, they didn’t consider the possibility that Riley was being slowly poisoned and it was just the result of that. Also the fact that, just before leaving home, she ate a slice of pizza made by her dead husband. 

The final nail in Adam’s coffin has to be Carrie finding out about the life insurance policy, where Riley’s death is going to yield a whopping five million dollars for him. That effectively clears his debt and gives him the opportunity to start a new life with Lana. Except Lana doesn’t know about the part where Adam didn’t hesitate to murder his wife for money. Naturally, Carrie has no problem getting Lana to her side, and in a dramatic, choppy climax, these two women team up and nail Adam. Not to forget, Adam has also attacked Alison and tried to pin that on Johnny (poor dude didn’t have to die though, but I guess the director made it a point to further explain what a terrible piece of crap Adam really is). Betrayed by Love ultimately turns out to be exactly what its name suggests. Riley did get betrayed by the love of her life. At least she got some justice thanks to her brave sister. 

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