Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Romantically, Sylvie Cachay

and Nick Brooks were drawn to each other in a deep way.

But, in reality,

their relationship had a dark side.

- Nick Brooks' father had lost

a lot of his money

because of the legal fees that he had to pay.

So, Nick

really leaned on Sylvie financially.

Nick had a partying habit.

He had a drug habit.

And he would often

buy drugs on Sylvie's dime.

NARRATOR: Sylvie would break up with Nick.

Nick would apologize,

writing letters professing his love.

Sylvie would take him back.

It was the start of a toxic cycle

that would end tragically.

[dramatic music plays]

- To give you some idea of his maturity at that point,

when the sink was full of dirty dishes,

instead of washing the dishes,

Nicholas would just throw them all away

and then buy new dishes.

NARRATOR: In an effort

to save their relationship,

Sylvie created a to-do list.

- She asked him to do things like get a job,

not overdo the drugs and the alcohol.

She also says things like,

"Hold me after we have sex."

In making this list,

she is trying to teach Nicholas to be

a decent human being and a partner

to make Nicholas worthy of her.

She's trying to reverse years of misogyny

that Joseph Brooks instilled in his son.

SARA AZARI: To Nick, this was no big deal.

He is

not going to get better.

This is who Nick Brooks is.

CARROLL: They have these very, very intense fights,

and then they make up.

He's mean to her.

He's cheating on her.

He is stealing money from her.

NARRATOR: When Sylvie voiced her concerns

over Nick to her friends, she felt

that he'd learned his bad behaviors from his father.

However, she wanted to help him be a better person.

HEATHER HADWEN: She definitely talked about how

it was consuming her on a negative way

rather than a positive way.

She was getting very nervous

that he was just not a good guy.

[tense music plays]

- Sylvie is talking with her family over Thanksgiving

about how she is thinking of ending things with Nick.

Then she's reconciled again with Nick

and she's back together with him.

- But she found out that he was using escort services.

I know she knew she needed to leave him.

PHILIPS: In December,

it came to a point where Nick took

$30,000 out of her account to spend on drugs and escorts.

NARRATOR: Six months into their relationship,

Sylvie had had it.

- On December 8, 2010,

she wrote an e-mail

to Nick with the subject line "Fuck you."

[percussive music plays]

Sylvie said she was going to call the credit card company

and that she was gonna report him to them

and she was gonna report him to the police.

And she ended that e-mail by saying,

"Have fun in jail."

["The Wave" by Madeaux playing]

♪

- The last day I saw her,

we were at the office together,

and she was leaving to meet him.

NARRATOR: That night,

Sylvie and Nick met at her apartment.

- ♪ The love you gave away ♪

♪ Every night and day ♪

♪

NARRATOR: Nick convinced her

that he'd pay her back,

and they ended up having makeup sex.

♪

- ♪ The love you gave away... ♪

NARRATOR: Afterwards, Sylvie fell asleep,

and Nick took a shower.

- When he came back into the room,

Sylvie had accidentally knocked over

one of the candles,

and it had singed

her hair.

He was able to put the fire out,

but it had caught part of the bed on fire.

There was so much damage and smoke

that they decided

to check into the Soho House.

NARRATOR: On December 9, 2010,

at 12:31 a.m., security cameras

capture Nick and Sylvie checking into their hotel room.

- Sylvie had taken a Xanax

to sleep.

She's kind of stumbling.

She can't really write

things down.

She was completely out of it.

So Nick stays downstairs

and does the paperwork to check in,

while one of the employees of Soho House,

named Kristen, takes Sylvie up to her room,

which is Room 20.

On their way up, Sylvie complains

that she's really sick of Nick.

According to Kristen,

Sylvie is in bed and about to crash

when she leaves the room.

CHARNEIL BUSH: Nick passes Kristen on his way to the room.

And as Kristen's leaving,

she hears some unsettling noises

coming from Nick and Sylvie's room.

So she unlocks the door to the adjacent room

and puts her ear to the wall.

[tense music playing]

- She started hearing arguments,

and the arguing was

just getting worse and worse.

♪

Suddenly, it abruptly

stopped.

♪