Victor Confronts Adam — and Traci Goes Off on Jack After Ashley’s Wedding

At the ranch, Audra tells Victor and Nikki that Adam has information on her that could destroy her. Nikki wants to know how Nate fits into all of this.

At the club, Victoria tells Nate that Audra met with her mother and pitched the same idea he did. Playing dumb, Nate asks, “Oh, which idea was that?” Victoria tells him it was the idea to merge Newman Media with Adustus, “How about that for a coincidence, huh?” Nate muses, “How about that?” Victoria tells him she isn’t that naïve. That could lead to Audra getting a demotion. She informs him that they know each other too well for this, “Just tell me what you and Audra are up to.”

Nate says he told Audra about his idea and perhaps she caught onto his excitement about it and thought if she made a successful pitch to Nikki, she’d end up with a higher position in the company. Victoria snaps that Audra is too smart for that; there is no way that she would have a chance at winning in that situation, “Why would she push so hard for something that would jeopardize the executive position she’s already in?” Nate can’t answer that. Victoria thinks he can and that there’s something he’s not telling her. She wants to believe they’d never play games with each other, “I really hope that I’m not wrong.”

At home, Adam gets a call from Victor, who summons him to the ranch, “Now.” Adam grabs his keys and opens the door to leave, but Sally’s standing there with a gift. She wishes him a happy housewarming and asks, “Or is this a bad time?” Adam lets her in and she admires the place. Adam thanks her and asks if she’s heard from Nick. Sally says he’s flying back first thing in the morning. Adam would love to stick around, but he’s been summoned to the ranch by Victor. Sally says she’ll join him so he can tell him face-to-face that she’s accepting his offer. Adam asks her to wait; he can tell he’s ready to rip into him. “Why don’t you just stay here? Make yourself a drink and order some dinner.” Adam has something he’d like to talk to her about when he gets back. With that, he leaves.

At the Chancellor Estate, Jack tells Ashley he’s giving her everything she wanted… everything except the original patents. Those she developed on her own are hers to keep. Ashley muses, “So I just separate from the company and that’s it?” Jack reminds her that’s what she said she wanted. If that’s changed, he’d like to know why. Abby tries to switch gears to appetizers but Ashley replies, “I’ll tell you what’s changed — your attitude.” She reminds her brother he already offered her everything back once before and then changed his mind and rescinded his offer. She demands to know if he’s doing that again — a little bait and switch on the worst possible day; her wedding day?! Jack insists it’s supposed to be a generous gesture on his part and hopefully a genuine effort to end the war between them. Tucker steps in to shake Jack’s hand and thank him, explaining to Ashley that he wants to take the deal before he snatches it away so they can celebrate their wedding, “The sooner we get this Jabot crap over with, the sooner we can spend our first night together as husband and wife.”

Kyle heads to the door and Diane stops him. He’s sorry he even came. Diane knows he’s in a lot of pain and is trying to drown it in a meaningless affair, “Trust me, you’re going to regret this.” Kyle tells his mom, “Not tonight,” and exits.

At the ranch, Audra asks Nikki and Victor to please not blame Nate for this. She told him Adam had her backed into a corner and there was no intent on his part to be malicious or manipulative; he was just trying to help her. She regrets not coming to them immediately to alert them to what was going on. Audra values her position and will never take for granted the opportunity they’ve given her, “Which is why I’ve finally come to you… for advice.”

At the club, Nate tells Victoria she’s right, “I owe you the truth.” He reveals that Adam is blackmailing Audra over something she did to help keep Tucker out of trouble. Adam’s price was to make the merger happen with Newman Media. Victoria sighs, “Of course.” Nate was trying to protect Victoria and Newman from Adam going public with the scandal. Victoria sniffs, “Unbelievable.” Nate reminds her he dropped the issue when she asked him to. Victoria says this is classic Adam and asks, “So, just how serious is the situation?”

At the ranch, Victor wants Audra to tell them everything and then he’ll decide whether or not to help her. She finds this fair and tells them about the singer who slept with underage girls. Tucker fired the people in PR who participated in the cover-up and then put her in charge of erasing every trace of the cover-up, “I was following my boss’s orders.” Nikki asks how Adam found out. Audra explains he found old emails that fell through the cracks. Audra says, “If I facilitate the merger, Adam keeps his mouth shut. If I don’t…” She confessed the whole thing to Nate, who offered to help convince Victoria to go through with the merger, but only because he believes in it. Nikki muses, “And then you came to me.” Audra apologizes; she was frightened and felt trapped. She promises if she helps her survive this nightmare, nothing like this will ever happen again. Just then, Adam walks in. Victor asks, “Did you really think you were going to get away with this?”

At the Chancellor Estate, Jack tells Ashley what more he can do, “What more do you want?” Ashley replies, “You’re right.” She appreciates the wedding gift and him and Diane coming today. Diane congratulates her on her new life and new business; they’re relieved she won’t have to worry about Jabot anymore; the company her father created will be in good hands. Billy interjects with a chuckle, “You’re kidding right?” He predicts with Diane involved the company will go to hell. Jack fumes, “What is it with you? You can’t go five minutes without making some snide comment to piss me off.” Billy tells him to stop gaslighting their sister. Tucker erupts, “Excuse me! Would you please shut up! This is supposed to be our evening — Ashley’s and mine — not yours!” He won’t let them ruin it. If this is how they want to spend their evening they can take it elsewhere. Or they’ll take it somewhere else. Ashley informs him, “No, we’re not going anywhere.”

Abby and Devon point out this is a wedding and not an opportunity for them to take shots at each other. Traci interjects to remind them they promised a truce tonight. Jack thinks it’s time for them to leave. Abby tries to stop Jack from leaving, but he insists. Ashley jokes, “Do we know how to throw a party or what?” She tells Billy she’s sorry for Jack’s words. Billy has a thick skin. He wishes them the best and he and Chelsea exit. Ashley quips, “More champagne for us, right?” They head to the other room for cake. Abby tells Devon this isn’t how she pictured this evening going. He says that considering the guest list, maybe they should have.

At the ranch, Adam won’t pretend he doesn’t know what this is about. Victor’s glad. Adam assumes Audra filled them in on everything. He saw an opportunity and tried to take advantage of it to try to get something he wanted, “Call it genetic.” He’s disappointed in Audra, however, as he didn’t take her for a coward. Audra says he didn’t leave her much choice but to look for an escape route. Victor tells Adam it’s time to shut up and listen now.

At Adam’s place, Sally roots through the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water before perusing the boxes he still hasn’t unpacked. She finds photos of the two of them together that he’s kept and sighs as she looks through them.

At the ranch, Victor appreciates Audra coming forward. He admires the fact that she managed to get out from under his son’s grip. Her position at Newman Media has not been compromised but he wants time alone with his son. Audra thanks them and walks out, texting Kyle to meet her at her room right away.

At the jazz lounge bar, Kyle reads Audra’s text and smiles.

At the ranch, Victor complains to Adam about going behind his back like this. Adam points out he built his fortune doing the same kind of thing, “Don’t take it so personally.” Victor insists it is personal to him. He’s given him one lucrative opportunity after another. Is his animosity so deep that he doesn’t mind being duplicitous with his own father?! Nikki tells Adam that he keeps proving her right — he cannot change. Victor says the dirt on Audra can’t go public. Whatever evidence Adam has he must eliminate it. Adam asks, “Anything else?” Victor says he doesn’t know how much longer he can do this. His constant defiance is getting on his nerves, “I can’t do this anymore.” Adam throws up his hands, “Then don’t.” Victor says he should fire his ass but he won’t because he just acquired a lot of capital from Europe to finance his company, “I’m not going to lose those damn investors because of you!” Victor warns, “You’re hanging by a thread.” Adam walks out.

At the GCAC, Nate asks Victoria not to be too hard on Audra; she was just scared she’d find out what she did for Tucker in the past. Victoria is a little conflicted. On one hand, she admires Audra’s willingness to protect her employer, but on the other hand, covering up a heinous crime… Nate assures her she didn’t cover up the crime but the actions of the PR team. He thinks she should get a pass. The real problem is Adam’s relentless determination to take back Newman Media. “I think it’s time to finally push your brother off the cliff.”

At the ranch, Nikki asks Victor how much longer he’ll put up with Adam’s outrageous, disrespectful behavior. Victor thinks he got through to him. Nikki’s skeptical. She knows how much her husband wants to hear Adam says, “Thanks, Dad,” but he’s never going to hear it. “When it comes to Adam, enough is never enough.” Victor and Nikki embrace.

Adam returns to his apartment to find Sally unpacking takeout food. He smiles, “You stayed.” She replies, “You asked me to.”

At the GCAC, Audra bumps into Nate and Victoria, who muses, “You seemed very pleased.” Audra replies, “I am. Very. Thanks to a friend’s advice, I dodged a very dangerous bullet.” Victoria would like to hear all about it; it seems they have things to discuss. Nate lets Audra know he’s told Victoria everything. Audra knows firsthand what a relief it is to have everything out in the open. She tells them that Adam has been neutralized and no longer has any power over her, “Thanks to your father.”

At the Abbott house, Traci enters in time to hear Jack complaining to Diane, “I hated watching Ashley marry that jackass, but I’m still shocked at her reluctance to accept my very generous gift. Traci slams the door and fumes, “That’s what shocked you, Jack?! Really?! Our sister had every reason to behave the way she did!”

At Adam’s place, Sally guesses that things didn’t go well with his father. Adam says it’s not worth talking about. He notices she unpacked some of his boxes and tells her, “You didn’t need to do that.” She did it because she got bored, but she’s really glad she did because in the process she came across the photos. She holds them up and asks why he held onto them. Adam wanted to remind himself that once, whether he deserved it or not, he was happy, “And I didn’t want to forget what that felt like.”

Audra enters her suite smiling. Kyle arrives and she lets him in. He asks, “So how’d it go?” Audra tells him he’s a genius. Kyle replies, “Yes, but let’s not talk it to death.” They start making out.

At Crimson Lights, Billy wishes Chelsea hadn’t been exposed to the Abbott family meltdown. Chelsea says that wasn’t what upset her the most. She knows the performance was for the scheme he has going with Jack and Diane, but she hasn’t seen him like that in years, “It made me shudder.” Billy promises it was just an act and hugs her.

At the Abbot mansion, Traci tells Jack that Ashley doesn’t trust him and Diane, “And think about it — why would she?!” Jack insists he gave the gift from his heart with no strings attached. Diane argues Jack thought she would be pleased. Traci gawps, “Really?!” She reminds them of the last time when Ashley had to practically flee to Paris and Jack and Jabot were left flailing to keep from falling apart. “Now she’s supposed to believe you’re just going to hand it all back to her with no agenda. That same non-agenda you’ve got Billy wrapped up in the middle of, right?!” Jack’s silence speaks volumes. Traci fumes, “What the hell are you up to?! Whatever it is, you are about to rip this family apart again!”

In their suite at the GCAC, Tucker pours champagne and says he’s the happiest, most lucky man in the world. He toasts his exquisite bride. Ashley replies, “To the most… you are the most.” Tucker says, “I love you.” He wants to dance. Ashley still can’t believe she’s saying this, “I love you too.” They kiss passionately. Tucker tells her, “Nothing else matters.” They sway in an embrace.