Young & The Restless Update
Recap written by Christine
Adam and Sally spotted Ashland at Society. Sally mentioned that the temperature dropped when Ashland looked at them. Adam said things got blown open between Ashland and Victoria. Some people might see that as a reason to panic, but Adam saw opportunity. Sally went to get a table while Adam went up to Ashland. Ashland was annoyed because heâd wanted to avoid Adam. Adam suggested Ashland leave town in shame. Ashland told Adam that he wasnât in the mood to be toyed with. Adam proposed a deal. Adam said that if Ashland walked away from Victoria and made a clean break from the company, Newman Media wouldnât make it its mission to publish article after article on Ashlandâs cancer fraud. Unfazed, Ashland made it clear he knew how to handle bad press. Adam was thinking about how this would affect Harrison. Ashland stated that Harrison was being raised by his biological father. Adam said he and Ashland knew that biology didnât make a parent. Adam thought that Harrison was the one person Ashland really cared about. Adam knew Ashland said heâd sent Harrison away so he wouldnât have to watch Ashlandâs decline. However, Adam thought the truth was that Ashland wanted Harrison tucked away somewhere safe in case something went wrong. And now something had gone wrong. Adam knew what it was like to want to shield your kid from the sins of your past. âFor me, it was just one article, and I had the Newman resources and power to mitigate the damage that it caused,â Adam said. Adam stated that those same resources would be unleashed on Ashland, and it would be relentless. Adam warned that Ashland could kiss his happy reunion with Harrison goodbye. Ashland said he didnât respond well to threats. Adam replied that it wasnât a threat, it was just a carefully considered offer.
Personally, Adam admired the audacity of what Ashland pulled off. Adam said lie after lie about Ashlandâs past was exposed, but he was still able to get the Newmans to build his praises. âYou were able to get Victor to see you as a younger version of himself,â Adam said. Adam said Ashland made Victoria think they had a love no one else could understand â it was masterful. However, as a Newman, Adam had to protect the family and the business. Ashland said he wasnât giving up on Victoria. He got up to leave. Adam said that the articles were being fact checked right now, so Ashland should drop the false bravado. Ashland told Adam not to ever bring up his son Harrison again.
Adam went back to Sally after Ashland left. He asked how much she heard. She didnât hear anything, but sheâd gotten a sense of things from Adam and Ashlandâs body language. She said the more confident Adam got that he was going to win, the more chill he looked. Adam said Sally was intelligent, observant, and she understood the game â she understood him. He revealed that Ashland had been lying about having cancer. He assumed she was wondering why. Sally had already figured it out â Ashland wanted Newman. âYouâre good,â Adam said. Adam said Ashland faked an illness to rush Victoria into marriage. Sally guessed that mustâve taken a ton of planning. Adam said things about Ashlandâs past kept coming up along the way, but Ashland was able to use those things to prove he was a changed man.
Adam told Sally about the talk he just had with Ashland. Adam could tell Ashland was plotting his next move. He hoped Ashland would give up and leave. âI think the stuff about his kid finding out the truth really got to him. I could tell,â Adam said. Adam thought they should make a list of reasons they shouldnât expose Ashland. Adam said if the news came out, Newmanâs leadership could look stupid. He said no one wanted to acknowledge Victoriaâs unwitting complicity in this mess. He said Victoria put the family company in jeopardy. He hoped once the dust settled, Victor faced the fact that his precious daughter put everything he built at risk. Adam and Sally envisioned Adam being the next CEO. âVictoriaâs in pain and we are plotting to take advantage of her downfall. Are we the worst?,â Adam said. Sally said not at all â this conversation needed to be had, and someone had to keep their eye on the ball. Sally said she and Adam would focus on the company while the rest of the Newmans focused on Victoria. She said theyâd teach the competitors that they were the ones to fear and teach his family who belonged in the driverâs seat. âYou are exactly what Iâve always needed,â he said. He kissed her.
Nick visited his parents at Newman Media. None of them had heard from Victoria since yesterday. Nick had been calling, but Victoria didnât pick up. Nikki thought Victoria needed space. Victor had it on good authority that Victoria spent the night at the hotel. Victor was concerned about what Ashland would do. Nikki noted Ashland made a dramatic exit. Nick thought Ashland did that to buy time to plan his next move. Nick was concerned Victoriaâs next move would be confronting Ashland. He was appalled Ashland tricked Victoria into thinking he loved her. He wished he could get Ashland out of town, and out of Victoriaâs life, like he never existed. Nikki said Ashland needed to leave of his own volition, because if they forced him out, heâd just return even stronger, and if Victoria needed to confront Ashland, for closure, they had to let her. Nick said they had to be prepared for Victoria to forgive Ashland. âShe couldnât go back to him, could she?,â Nikki wondered. Victor had his doubts about Ashland from the moment he came into their lives. Victor wanted to hug Victoria and make the pain go away, but he thought Nikki was right â they had to give Victoria her own space. Victor had his people keeping an eye on Victoria at all times. Nikki hoped Victoria didnât think they blamed her for all this. Victor said they had to figure out how to sever Ashlandâs ties to the company. Nick knew that wouldnât be easy.
Victoria flashed back to her last conversation with Ashland. Heâd said he wished his love was enough for her, but it wasnât, so he was done trying. She was on the patio of Crimson Lights looking depressed when Billy approached and asked why she looked upset. Heâd just talked to the kids, so he knew they were fine. He asked if Ashland took a turn for the worse. Billy said he cared about Victoria, and he always would. She asked if that was why he felt he had to blow up her wedding and humiliate her in public. He said he was worried she was making a mistake. He noted that he deleted the video about all the things Ashland did. Victoria brought up the article on Ashland that Billy had written up. He said the article was true, and Billy was lost his credibility and his job over it. Heâd hoped he was wrong about Ashland. Victoria didnât believe that. She said Billy wanted to be right about Ashland. She bitterly congratulated him and said that he was right all along.
Victoria said that it was all a lie â the cancer, Ashlandâs deep love for her, every time she told herself she was lucky to be with Ashland and all the time she spent terrified heâd die. She felt shattered. Victoria cried as Billy digested the news that Ashland lied about being sick. Victoria was angry, and she regretted all the time she directed the anger at Billy and Nick for warning her about Ashland. Sheâd been angry with Billy for taking something from her that she never had â this great love. She was angry at Ashland and even more angry at herself. Victoria said Ashland wanted this merger from the day he set foot in town, and he took advantage of her love and ambition â she was the weakness he exploited. Billy was adamant that Victoria wasnât weak. He said Ashland was a parasite who let his own friend die and stole his name. Billy wished he could say he was surprised. Victoria wished sheâd listened to Billy. He was so sorry, and he said she didnât deserve this. Victoria kept thinking about the last time she saw Ashland. He told her how much he loved her, but she saw the truth in his eyes and his voice â the mask dropped, and she saw the monster he really was.
Billy wondered what this was really about â it couldnât be about money, because Ashland had enough to buy a small country. He asked what Ashland wanted. âNot me,â Victoria mumbled. Billy called Ashland an idiot. Victoria theorized that Ashland had planned for something to happen to her, once he was in the position to take over the merged company. Billy asked if Ashland ever threatened Victoria or made her feel unsafe. She didnât think so. Billy hated the fact that Victoria had to even consider that Ashland might be capable of getting her out of the way. He said she deserved to be happy, especially after everything Billy put her through. Victoria thought Billy was a good man, despite all his flaws. He said it took him a long time to deal with some of his more stubborn demons. She said he was doing the work to change. She said they might disagree a lot, but she knew when it really mattered, she could count on him. He said she could trust him with anything. Billy wanted to help Victoria, but she said sheâd figure it out. He said she was a force to be reckoned with. She didnât feel that way. He said she would. He was sure sheâd be okay, and heâd be there for her. She said talking to him helped a lot. She asked him to keep this talk between the two of them. He said he would.
Ashland came into Crimson Lights, and Billy saw him go up to Victoria. Ashland told Victoria heâd been looking for her everywhere.
Rey ran into Chelsea at the hotel right after she finished a work meeting. He assumed it went well, based on her broad smile, and she said it was fake. âThe lengths we will go to show the world weâre perfect and perky,â she said. They commented on social media influencers who didnât have a hair out of place. They thought that was exhausting. She sid sheâd rather be with someone whoâd seen her at her worst â an authentic person she could be herself with. He agreed wholeheartedly.
Connor was going through a preteen stage, and Chelsea didnât recognize him anymore. She was about to vent, then she decided not to dump all this on Rey. He said he had a while before he had to go back to the station. She asked what brought him here. He was going to buy a spa gift certificate for Faith. She was stressed because college acceptance letters were going out. He figured that if she got into her top choice, itâd be a congratulations, but if not, she could look forward to a day at the spa. Chelsea thought Rey was a great stepdad. He said he liked kids, then in a teasing tone, he told her he used to be one. One minute, Connor was hugging Chelsea and wanting to spend time with her, and the next, he acted like everything she did was wrong and embarrassing. She said Connor had his heart set on his parents getting back together, and that didnât happen. Now Connor was saying he missed all the sports he played at boarding school. Apparently Walnut Grove wasnât focused enough. Rey asked if Chelsea thought about sending him back to boarding school. She didnât want to, but if that made Connor happy, how could she say no? Rey said Connor was looking to fix things, and sometimes a change felt like a solution, but often, it was just a distraction.
Chelsea asked what she should do with Connor, long term. Rey said to just listen without rushing into anything. Chelsea said for a kid that age, a few weeks felt like an eternity. Rey said Connor was acting like a kid, which he should. Rey was raised by a single mom, and he felt like he had to grow up early. Connorâs father was around, so he didnât feel like he had to be the man of the house. Rey said Connor felt fine going back to boarding school, because he was confident Chelsea would be okay without him, and that was a compliment to her parenting. She said she was just trying to be better than Anita. He said she was doing a great job. He spent a lot of time with her and Connor, and he saw how much her son trusted her. He said Connor knew he could be himself without Chelsea judging him. Chelsea felt like she was in no position to judge anyone, given everything sheâd done. Rey said Connor knew he could go to Chelsea about anything, which made him a lucky kid. Chelsea started crying.
Rey apologized for upsetting Chelsea, but she said they were happy tears. She told him that he said all the right things. She often felt like she was failing Connor, and Rey made her feel better. Rey said Connor was happy and healthy because of Chelsea. He told her she was doing a great job. âYou were just what I needed today,â she said. She hoped to return the favor. He didnât consider this a favor – he enjoyed talking to her and found her fun and unpredictable. She said she trusted him, and he was easy to be around.
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