Orpheus reveals his latest plan
Andre tauntingly waved a recorder at Hope as her confession continued playing on a loop. Rafe yanked the device out of Andre's hand and smashed it on the ground. "'Hernandez, our hero, rides to the rescue once again.' Only this time, it's too late. No one can save Hope now -- not even you," Andre triumphantly declared.
Andre pointed out that Rafe had just destroyed valuable evidence. "I'm about to destroy you, Andre!" Rafe countered, but Roman intervened before things could get physical. Andre praised Roman's quick thinking, noting that police brutality charges would have tarnished the commendation Rafe had just received. "What sick game are you playing now, Andre?" Roman asked.
"The game is over. Premeditated murder is a very serious crime, especially when it's against one of Salem's finest," Andre replied. He expressed confidence, however, that Roman and the rest of the members of the Salem Police Department would ensure that Hope received a suitable punishment. "And to believe that my father was considered to be Salem's most despicable villain!" he incredulously added, glaring at Hope.
Hope didn't want Ciara to witness the aftermath of Andre's revelation, but Ciara refused to leave the town square. Julie started to insist that she and Doug weren't going anywhere, either; however, she changed her mind when Hope practically begged her and Doug to usher Ciara back to the Horton house. As Ciara reluctantly walked away with Doug and Julie, Andre impatiently wondered when Hope was going to be taken "downtown."
Lucas, who was dressed as a knight and had arrived with Adrienne -- his fair maiden -- in time to hear the recording, wondered who had helped Andre doctor it. Andre implied that it was genuine, but Adrienne and Lucas refused to believe that, guessing that there had to be some sort of DiMera trickery involved. Adrienne disappointedly observed that Andre's recent acts of decency had obviously been just that -- an act.
Meanwhile, Chad -- who had also arrived in time to hear the recording -- lunged forward to confront Andre, certain that Hope wasn't capable of committing cold-blooded murder. Gabi grabbed his arm to stop him, reasoning that it wasn't the time or the place for such a confrontation. He conceded the point and stormed off in anger after shooting Andre an icy glare. Gabi followed him, with Arianna and Thomas in tow.
The deputy mayor awkwardly ended the fundraiser and dismissed everyone. He then suggested that it would be best to deal with Andre's revelation at the police station. Andre agreed, musing that it was the perfect place for the truth to finally be revealed. Justin -- another person who had arrived in time to hear the recording -- advised Hope to remain silent as he followed her out of the town square.
Elsewhere, Gabi caught up with Chad, who was ripping off parts of his Zorro costume in frustration. She tried to calm him down as he tossed aside his mask and cape. He apologized to Arianna, hoping that he wasn't scaring her. He remained upset, but he wasn't sure if he needed to be upset with Andre for playing a sick joke or Hope for killing Stefano then going on with her life as if nothing had happened. After asking Gabi to take Thomas back to the DiMera mansion, he rushed off to the police station to get some answers.
At the Horton house, Jennifer tried to find out how the fundraiser had gone. Julie was too upset to talk about it, so Doug took her upstairs so she could lie down. Lucas and Adrienne went to the kitchen to get Julie a glass of water. Jennifer stayed in the living room with Ciara, who filled her in on what had happened earlier. Ciara initially suspected that Hope's confession had been one of the infamous DiMera mind games she had heard so much about over the years, but her confidence in Hope's innocence started to waver when she realized that Jennifer didn't share her outrage about Andre's false accusation. "She did it? My mom killed Stefano?" Ciara asked.
At the police station, Rafe wondered if Hope was still convinced that Aiden had given her the only copy of her confession that he had made. She confirmed that she was, insisting that Andre had to have obtained the recording some other way. Roman soon joined them and revealed that Andre had implied that there were more copies of her confession -- and that the full recording would implicate others, as well.
Hope wanted to talk to Andre, but Rafe refused to let that happen. Meanwhile, the deputy mayor interrupted to talk to Roman about doing damage control, refusing to believe that Andre's revelation was anything more than a desperate attempt to discredit the Salem Police Department. When Rafe stepped aside to join the conversation, Hope seized the opportunity to sneak into the conference room where Andre was being held.
Hope remarked that Andre was on the wrong side of the conference table. "On the contrary -- for the first time in my life, I'm the accuser, not the accused. Perhaps you should take your place on the other side," he replied. As she complied, he guessed that she was wondering how he had managed to get a copy of her confession. He explained that he had broken into Aiden's hotel room, knowing that she never would have willingly reconciled with Aiden after everything he had done to her, and had found the recording in Aiden's safe, which had been easy to open because the combination had predictably been her date of birth.
"Did you really think that you would get away with murder and then set me up for it? Did you not think that I would seek revenge for what you did? I know you probably fooled everyone all your life, with Salem thinking that you're its patron saint, but I knew better. I know who you are, Hope, and I have proof. Not only are you a hypocrite and a liar...[you're also] a murderer," Andre spat.
Hope countered that Stefano had terrorized and tortured her -- and her family -- for years. Andre tiredly hoped she wasn't trying to justify what she had done. "This recording gives me all the power I need. But I must admit how much I admire the way you support your boys in blue," he pointedly added. She took the hint and asked him to tell her how they could settle the matter without involving anyone else.
Andre was disappointed that Hope had changed out of her costume. "I found it really interesting that you chose the Queen of the Nile for your alter ego. She, too, was outwitted by a superior foe. But in the end, she was doomed by her own arrogance. Cleopatra -- she took her own life by putting an asp on her breast. Now, let's hope we can find a less barbaric but equally effective way for you to atone for your sins," he continued.
Later, Roman, Rafe, and Justin joined Hope in the conference room, along with the deputy mayor and Melinda Trask, the special prosecutor who had handled some of Salem's trickiest legal cases. The deputy mayor explained that he had contacted Trask so she could help Hope press charges against Andre for his earlier stunt, if that was how Hope wished to handle the situation.
Justin advised Hope not to say anything until they had a chance to talk privately, and Rafe and Roman backed him up, but she ignored their advice. As Andre watched through a window in an adjacent room, Hope admitted that the recording of her confession had been genuine. Rafe, Roman, and Justin each tried to stop her from saying anything else, but she forged ahead, talking over them. "I killed Stefano," she continued before letting her voice trail off, spotting Chad through the open door of the conference room. He stared at her in disbelief.
At the hospital, John and Steve checked security footage in an effort to figure out where Orpheus had taken Marlena and Kayla. Steve eventually spotted Orpheus' associate and recognized him as a cop who had bumped into him at the police station on the night of Orpheus' apprehension. "I know everyone at the cop shop. He's not on the force," John insisted. "Then he must be the one who helped Orpheus," Steve guessed.
Meanwhile, Marlena and Kayla awoke and found themselves tied to chairs in Orpheus' newest hideout. Confused, Marlena groggily wondered how Orpheus had managed to survive his overdose. "Do you really want to spend the last moments of your lives talking about how I thwarted your plan to bring me down? Or maybe you're just buying some time in the hopes that your heroes will figure out where you are and save you before it's too late. Ladies, we could be here for weeks, [and] they'll never find you -- I made sure of that," he promised her and Kayla.
Orpheus agreed, however, to recount the tale of his resurrection, if only to satisfy the women's morbid curiosity. Chuckling, he admitted that he was actually kind of proud of the backup plan he had devised to deal with the possibility of an apprehension. He explained that his associate had swapped the powerful sedative in Marlena's medical bag with a different drug when she had carelessly left it unattended at the police station on that fateful night. "The drug you took only simulated your death," Kayla realized. He joked that he had been due for a nice, long nap after what John and Steve had put him through that night, anyway.
Orpheus continued that his associate had waited for the appropriate moment and had then revived him and smuggled him out of the morgue. Revealing that kidnapping Marlena and Kayla had only been the first phase of his latest plan, he explained that the second phase would involve the women transitioning from one world to the next in a very festive, luminous way that honored the spirit of Halloween. "When I'm through, John and Patch will finally know the pain that I've felt all these years -- and they'll never stop feeling it, for as long as they live," he added.
John and Steve went to the docks to see if anyone there recognized Orpheus' associate, having determined that the boxes Orpheus had used in his magic show had originated from there. After realizing that no one was going to admit to anything, John decided to search every warehouse near the docks, guessing that Orpheus had probably chosen to return to his old stomping grounds with the assumption that no one would expect him to be dumb enough to do so. Steve warned that it would take a long time to check every single warehouse, but John pointed out that they didn't have any other leads to follow.
Meanwhile, Orpheus transferred Marlena and Kayla to custom coffins and watched as his associate nailed the lids shut, ignoring their fearful cries of protest.
In the police station interrogation room, Hope confessed to D.A. Trask, the deputy mayor, Justin, Roman, and Rafe that she had killed Stefano. Outside in the hallway, Chad overheard the confession as he entered the station. Justin ordered Hope not to say another word, and he announced that he was her legal counsel. After everyone cleared the room, Hope sat alone at the table.
Outside in the bullpen of the police station, Chad confronted Andre about the confession. Andre confirmed that Hope had told the truth. Chad sneaked into the interrogation room to talk to Hope alone. With a tired sigh, Hope confirmed that she had killed Stefano. Hope explained that she had not intended to kill him but that he had goaded her on like he had wanted her to kill him. When Chad asked Hope if Stefano had suffered, Hope said that Stefano had laughed after he had been shot.
Angry, Chad asked Hope why she had played God and framed Andre. Hope stared with sad eyes at Chad. Chad argued that Hope was the only one not paying for her crime. Chad called Hope pathetic. He said that he had been proud to have married into an honorable family, but he had been mistaken. Hope apologized. Fighting tears, Chad said that he understood that Stefano had done horrible things to her, but that was not an excuse to murder anyone.
Frustrated, Chad walked out of the room. Rafe and Roman confronted Chad in the bullpen. Chad argued that he did not want to hear Roman and Rafe defend Hope. Chad added that both the DiMeras and the Bradys acted outside of the law. When Chad marched out of the police station, Rafe followed him to the square.
In the square, Rafe begged Chad to talk to him. Chad said he was upset because he had trusted Rafe and Hope. With a nod, Rafe asked Chad to understand why Hope had killed Stefano. Rafe reminded Chad that Stefano had tortured Hope for decades and had most recently hired a man to murder her on her wedding night. Frustrated, Chad yelled at Rafe that she should have arrested Stefano instead of killing him.
Rafe countered that there was no evidence and that Hope had been emotionally spent. Rafe then appealed to Chad by comparing Hope's response to Abigail's attack on Ben. With a sigh, Rafe noted that Hope's actions had not necessarily been cold-blooded.
At the police station, Steve frantically asked for help with Kayla and Marlena's kidnapping. Overhearing Steve talking to an officer, Andre sidled up beside Steve and offered to help. Suspicious, Steve raised an eyebrow. Andre explained that Roman and Rafe were indisposed because Hope had confessed to Stefano's murder. As Steve called John to tell him about the Hope situation, Andre made a couple calls too. Andre informed Steve that Orpheus had Kayla and Marlena at warehouse 67 on the docks.
When Chad returned home to the DiMera mansion, he found Andre reviewing paperwork in the living room. Chad asked why Andre had not told him about the tape. With a shrug, Andre said that he was hurt that Chad needed a tape to believe him rather than his word. Chad asked Andre how he had obtained the tape, but Andre stressed that it did not matter.
At the police station, Roman worried aloud to Justin that Hope would not defend herself. Justin said he would talk to her. When Justin entered the interrogation room, he pitched a PTSD self-defense to Hope. Hope refused to fight the charges. Hope explained that she had made a deal with Andre to take the full blame in exchange for Andre keeping quiet about Rafe and Roman's involvement in the cover-up. With a nod, Justin returned to talk to Rafe and Roman in the bullpen.
Frustrated, Rafe noted that Andre would soon have two cops to blackmail. Roman agreed and did not believe that Andre would stay quiet. Concerned, Rafe went into the interrogation room to talk to Hope. Hope assured Rafe that nothing was his fault. Rafe reminded Hope that he had pushed for the cover-up rather than confessing when the shooting had happened. Shaking her head, Hope begged Rafe to stay out of her way and let her confess. Reluctantly, Rafe agreed. Rafe swore he would not give up on Hope. The two exchanged "I love you's" before Roman entered the room and placed Hope under arrest.
In the town square, Derrick and Paul walked to a Halloween party at the Spot. When Derrick suggested that they invite Sonny, Paul shrugged and offered to text him. Sonny was home alone at the Kiriakis mansion. When Sonny saw Paul's text, he thought about when Paul had said he only wanted to be friends. Sonny then thought about when he had found Paul bleeding on the penthouse floor. Shaking off the memory, Sonny settled on the couch to watch football.
Steve called Paul and informed him about Orpheus, the kidnapping, and the lead on the warehouse. Steve asked Paul to look into the warehouse but not to go to the warehouse. Paul urged Derrick to go to the party, but Derrick refused to abandon Paul. The two went over to the Kiriakis mansion to ask Sonny for help. Sonny called his men at the office next door to warehouse 67, and they confirmed that two coffins had been carried into the warehouse earlier. Paul called John and updated him.
At the warehouse, Kayla and Marlena thrashed around inside their separate coffins, begging for Orpheus to let them go. Orpheus promised that the ordeal would be over soon. With a grin, Orpheus poured gasoline over the coffins. Reeling from the fumes, the women cried out in panic, pleading with Orpheus not to set them on fire. As Orpheus flicked open his lighter, Lazlo returned to inform Orpheus that there were kids outside, setting off fireworks.
Orpheus wanted to use the kids as a cover story for the fire, but Lazlo was worried that the kids might be hurt by the fire. With a groan, Orpheus offered to scare off the kids while he double-checked their escape plan. When Oprheus and Lazlo returned, Marlena and Kayla were unconscious from the fumes. Orpheus lit the coffins on fire. As Orpheus cackled with glee, Steve and John burst through the door.
John rushed to save the women from the fire while Steve struggled with Lazlo. In the struggle, Steve dropped his gun, and Orpheus scrambled for it. Steve knocked out Lazlo then struggled with Orpheus over the gun. A shot was fired. Orpheus laughed. As Steve stepped back, a bloody Orpheus fell against the wall and slid to the floor. The women were both rescued, and Orpheus was confirmed dead.
At the Kiriakis mansion, Derrick, Paul, and Sonny decided to go out to the party once they learned that Marlena and Kayla were safe. To Paul's delight, Sonny changed into the costume from his comic convention days. Paul asked if Sonny had sewn up all the holes. Sonny assured Paul that the suit was good as new. Derrick told Sonny that he looked hot, and Paul agreed.
On the television, the Bears scored a touchdown. The men cheered, and there was a loud rip as Sonny jumped up in celebration. Embarrassed, Sonny touched the newly ripped hole with his hand. With a chuckle, Sonny suggested that they stay in for the night and watch the game. The three men sat on the couch and toasted to the Bears.
Roman went to the hospital to see Marlena, who was asleep when he entered her room but soon awoke with a start, having just had a nightmare about her ordeal. He assured her that Orpheus would never be able to hurt her again.
"Where's John?" Marlena asked. Roman reported that John was still being questioned at the docks and had asked him to check on her in the meantime. He added that her doctor had assured him that she was going to be fine -- physically, at least. Nodding, she admitted that her nightmare had been terribly vivid. Grateful for John's persistence, she mused, "You can always count on that with John. He just -- he just never gives up."
At the Horton Town Square, Deimos greeted Nicole as she was ending a phone call. Having overheard part of the conversation, he wondered what was going on at St. Luke's. She explained that the church officials, in an effort to help heal the community in the wake of the recent chaos, had decided to leave the church open all day so everyone who wished to pray and give thanks would have an opportunity to do so.
"Hmm. Not exactly my thing. But since I do want to try to remake myself into a pillar of the community..." Deimos began before letting his voice trail off. Nicole dryly wondered if that meant he was actually considering the possibility of spending his time doing something other than trying to hunt Chloe down and ruin her life. He pointedly argued that most people would agree that he had a right to find Chloe and make her return to Salem for the birth of his child. Nicole reiterated that she was sorry she had kept the truth to herself at first. He understood that she had done the right thing in the end, but he insisted, "It's about trust, Nicole."
Philip met with Nancy at a café in New York City, hoping that she would be able to lead him to Chloe. Nancy said she had been expecting a call from him since the moment she had learned that Chloe had lied to him about the baby's paternity. He wondered if she had any idea who the real father was. "Honestly, I don't," she replied with a shrug.
Nancy explained that Chloe had been staying with her and Craig but had left without warning one day and hadn't contacted them since then. She hoped that Philip would be able to track Chloe down and help her. "Craig and I are so worried," she admitted. Philip promised that if he heard from Chloe, he would let Nancy know right away, and she made him the same promise.
After Philip left, Nancy turned her attention back to the book she had been reading before his arrival, having decided to finish it before returning home. A man eventually approached her table and asked if he could join her. As a New Yorker, she thought nothing of the chance encounter -- until he admitted that it wasn't a chance encounter at all. "I'm Deimos Kiriakis. I'm the father of your daughter's baby," he explained.
Nancy demanded to know how Deimos had managed to find her. He explained that he had hired someone to keep an eye on Philip. He assured her that he had no intention of threatening her; he simply needed her to tell him where Chloe was. He warned, however, that things could get very complicated if she refused to cooperate. "Whoa. Well, that sounds like a threat to me, so, uh, why don't you try this on for size, Mr. Big-Shot Kiriakis: get the hell away from me, and you leave my daughter alone!" she spat.
Adrienne and Lucas went to the Horton house to talk to Jennifer about the menu for their wedding, but Jennifer was preoccupied with concern for Hope -- and the way the Spectator was portraying her. "I would expect this kind of yellow journalism from the Intruder, [but] not from the Spectator!" she complained, tossing aside her tablet computer in disgust.
Lucas wasn't surprised, noting that the newspaper had been going downhill since Jack had stopped running it years earlier. He reported that he had actually heard that Titan was thinking about buying it "on the cheap" and making it an online-only publication. Sighing, Jennifer sadly mused, "You know, this newspaper was such a part of my life with Jack. It kind of breaks my heart to see how far it's fallen. And you know what? If I had the money, I would buy it back, and I would make this newspaper something our town could be proud of again!"
Jennifer turned her attention back to the article, still fuming over its inaccuracies. Meanwhile, Adrienne pulled Lucas aside and shared an idea with him. After receiving his support, she yanked the tablet out of Jennifer's hand to seize her full attention. Excitedly explaining that she had recently deposited her fairly substantial lump-sum alimony check from Justin, she suggested that she and Jennifer could pool their money together and buy the Spectator themselves.
Jennifer wondered if Adrienne would really be willing to do that. "Use Kiriakis money to buy an investment out from under them and go into business with you? Oh, I think so," Adrienne replied with a laugh. Jennifer happily accepted the offer, and Lucas cringed as they sealed the deal with a spit handshake.
At St. Luke's, Brady and Theresa greeted Victor and Maggie. After a brief chat, Theresa excused herself, admitting that she couldn't even begin to guess how long it had been since her last confession. Brady went to light a candle for John and Marlena, and Paul soon arrived and joined him, having had the same idea. They marveled at their father's ability to face any danger head-on and emerge unscathed, like a cat with nine lives.
Later, Nicole arrived and greeted Brady. She was disappointed to learn that he hadn't heard from Chloe lately. She told him about Chloe's lie and admitted that she had gone along with the deception at first but had eventually decided to tell Deimos the truth. Brady thought it had been wrong of Chloe to lie about the baby's paternity, but he hoped, for the sake of everyone involved, that an ugly custody battle wouldn't occur once the baby was born. He advised Nicole to stay out of the mess, reasoning that it was none of her business.
Brady suggested that Nicole and Deimos' breakup was actually a blessing in disguise, but when she tried to protest, he shrugged and dismissively encouraged her to fight for Deimos' forgiveness if she really wanted to be with him. "It's your life, so..." he conceded before turning away from her. She apologized and assured him that she appreciated his concern and understood his point of view. "But despite [Deimos] being completely different from Daniel -- I don't know, there's just something about him that's drawn him to me, and I think I did have something special with him," she explained.
Brady said he hadn't realized that Nicole's relationship with Deimos had been that serious. "How could you? You and I never talk like this [anymore]," she pointed out. She sadly admitted that her decision to go along with Chloe's deception had likely ruined any chance at happiness she'd ever had with Deimos, and she doubted that she would ever be able to forgive herself for the pain she had caused him.
Meanwhile, in the confessional, Theresa was shocked when she recognized the priest's voice as that of her father, Shane. "Jeannie, I've come to warn you -- you're in danger," he quietly revealed. When he explained that the danger had something to do with the time she had spent in Mexico years earlier, she realized that he was talking about Mateo.
"Yes, Mateo. The ISA has men inside his cartel, and it's come to our notice that he knows you are living in Salem, and he wants you back," Shane reported. Theresa wondered why Mateo was interested in her. "I think you know the answer to that, sweetheart. He loved you -- and you loved him, as I remember," Shane pointed out. She argued that she had been a different person back then, and she guessed that Mateo had deliberately waited to track her down until after she had established a good life for herself, just to make her suffer.
Theresa assumed that Shane would be able to do something to stop Mateo, but Shane sadly admitted that he couldn't. "We'll be watching him, of course, but we haven't been able to get anyone close enough to get anything solid on him. He runs one of the largest drug cartels in the world, he's responsible for hundreds of deaths, and we haven't been able to prove any of it," he explained. He started to offer Theresa a faraway place to hide with Brady and Tate, but she refused to force her family to go on the run with her. "Brady and Tate, they shouldn't have to pay for my stupidity," she reasoned.
Shane hesitantly suggested that Theresa might want to consider leaving Salem on her own. "What? And just leave my family? What, like you left us? No, you know, I'm not gonna do that, because they actually mean something to me, okay? And I can't. I can't, and I won't," she insisted before rushing out of the confessional. She tracked Brady down and nervously asked if they could leave the church early. He tried to get her to tell him what was wrong, but she refused. "Just hold me," she tearfully begged him.
Brady took Theresa to the town square for some frozen yogurt. She blamed her earlier behavior on a case of claustrophobia, and he accepted that explanation. Later, as they were passing through the park, she suddenly excused herself, claiming that she had just gotten a strong urge to return to the town square and do some shopping. She promised to meet him back at their place as soon as possible. After Brady walked away, Theresa took a seat on a nearby bench and waited. A man soon approached and greeted her in Spanish, and she nervously replied in kind.
As Victor and Maggie were leaving St. Luke's, they ran into Jennifer, who was pleased to see that Maggie was walking on her own again. A short time later, Sonny arrived to light a candle. Paul watched from the doorway, knowing who it was for. Sonny soon returned to the Kiriakis mansion to get some work done. Brady was glad to see that Sonny was getting invested in the new era of Titan. He hoped, however, that Sonny would make time for a life outside of work. He wondered how things were going between Sonny and Paul. "They're okay, I guess. You know, we found a way to be friends, but that's all -- and I'm fine with [that]," Sonny replied.
Nicole ran into Philip in the town square and wondered if he had heard from Chloe lately. He reported that even Chloe's own parents had no idea where she was. Nicole admitted that she had told Deimos the truth about the baby's paternity. Confused, Philip informed Nicole that the paternity test hadn't been doctored, after all -- meaning that Deimos wasn't the father of Chloe's baby. "Then who is?" Nicole asked. "Not a clue," Philip replied with a shrug.
At the park, Mateo told Theresa that he wanted her to return to Mexico with him. "Or what?" she asked. "There is no 'or,'" he replied.
At the Horton house, Jennifer received a visit from Adrienne, who feigned disappointment at first then cracked a smile and announced, "We are the owners of the Spectator!"
Adrienne admitted, after she and Jennifer calmed down enough to talk about how the negotiation had gone, that she had shamelessly played up her connection to Jack and had even gotten a bit teary-eyed at one point. Jennifer's jaw dropped in shock, prompting Adrienne to clarify that the tears hadn't been an act. "You know I miss my brother every single day," she stressed.
The negotiation's true turning point, according to Adrienne, had been the moment when the old owner had learned that Jennifer would be the new editor-in-chief. She explained that the man was familiar with Jennifer's work for the Spectator and shared her outrage about the newspaper's decline in quality -- a decline he had blamed on a loss of subscribers and advertisement revenue due to the rise of the Internet and social media.
Jennifer started to worry that she and Adrienne might have gotten in over their heads, but Adrienne assured her, "You take care of the journalism; I'll take care of the biz." Jennifer thanked Adrienne for having faith in her despite her own recent fall from grace. "Why wouldn't I? You learned from the best, remember?" Adrienne reasoned, smiling as she gestured toward a nearby picture of Jack.
Later, someone started pounding insistently on the front door. When Adrienne opened it, she found Justin standing on the other side. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded to know as he barged into the house. He complained that she had bought the Spectator right out from under him, just days after she had claimed that she wanted to maintain a friendship with him. He found it hard to believe that she hadn't known about Titan's interest in the newspaper when she had made the purchase, since it had been all over the news lately. "You do read the paper you just bought, don't you?" he asked.
Adrienne told Justin to calm down. "Jennifer and I put in a bid. It was accepted. Everything was aboveboard," she reported. "Because we had not made our offer yet!" he countered. She wondered if his wording meant that he was back at Titan, a place he had been thrilled to get away from just a few years earlier. He insisted that was none of her concern. Conceding the point, she stressed, "This is about the Spectator -- the newspaper that my brother, Jennifer's husband, put his whole heart and soul into. It's ours. So you accept it, Justin. We won; you lost. Not that I knew it was a contest, all right? So stop attacking me!"
Jennifer emerged from the kitchen and said she was sorry to hear that Justin was upset about how things had played out. She insisted, however, that she and Adrienne had acquired the Spectator fair and square and hadn't been trying to best him or Titan in the process; they had simply been trying to revive a once-great newspaper. He nodded skeptically as she received a phone call and left the room to answer it.
"You don't know the first thing about running a paper," Justin reminded Adrienne. She said that was precisely why she and Jennifer would make a great team. "Thanks for stopping by, though. You can show yourself to the door," she dismissively added. He stayed where he was, suddenly realizing that she had used his divorce settlement to buy the Spectator. "No, I used my money. It doesn't matter where it came from. It was mine to spend. I don't know, what was it you used to say? Oh, yes -- 'it's not personal; it's business,'" she clarified.
"Ha! Throwing my words in my face, spending the money I gave you -- okay, I think we're done here," Justin countered before storming off. Jennifer soon returned and tried to start a discussion with Adrienne about ways to repair the Spectator, but Adrienne couldn't stop thinking about the things Justin had said. "You're divorced. What does it matter what he says?" Jennifer asked. Adrienne explained that she didn't care about his opinion; she simply thought it was weird that he had gotten upset. Jennifer carefully pointed out that Adrienne seemed pretty upset, too. Scoffing, Adrienne insisted, "Me? No way! Ha! I couldn't care less."
Deimos stormed into the Kiriakis mansion and tossed his jacket aside in frustration as he informed Victor that even Chloe's own parents had no idea where she was. "Well, good luck. Let me know if there's anything I can do," Victor disinterestedly replied as he left the living room with the newspaper he had been reading before Deimos' arrival.
Deimos went to the bar and started to pour himself a drink. Meanwhile, Maggie entered the living room and observed that his trip to New York hadn't lasted very long. Nodding, he carefully started to ask if she had spoken to Parker recently. Knowing where the conversation was headed, she preemptively refused to grill Parker for information about where he and Chloe were hiding.
Deimos clarified that he didn't want Maggie to do that; he simply wanted her to call Parker and talk to the boy for a while. "So you can trace the call?" she guessed. She understood his desire to be a part of his child's life but maintained that she wasn't going to use her grandson to help him locate Chloe. He accepted her answer with a sigh and promised that he wouldn't try to change her mind later.
"Thank you. Now...let's talk about Nicole," Maggie suggested. Deimos insisted that he couldn't forgive Nicole for her betrayal. Maggie pointed out that he didn't exactly have much room to cast judgment, given everything he had done to people, and he conceded that she was right. "But I learned something from the pain that I caused: I learned that family matters more than anything. That's why I want my child to be with me. And Nicole may have ruined any chance I ever have to make that happen," he added.
Maggie pointed out that Nicole and Chloe had been friends for decades. She guessed that it had probably been really hard for Nicole to tell Deimos the truth about his child, breaking Chloe's trust in the process. "She didn't have to, you know," she stressed. Nodding, Deimos guessed that Maggie was trying to tell him to give Nicole another chance. Maggie advised him to at least try to look at things from Nicole's point of view. "Or don't you ever want her back in your life?" she asked.
Deimos admitted that he wasn't sure if he and Nicole had ever had a future to begin with, since she had never even bothered to return his declarations of love. Maggie reasoned that it was only natural for Nicole to have her guard up around him, not just because he was a complicated man but also because she was still trying to recover from Daniel's sudden death. "You might think about showing some patience, Deimos, if you can -- and some compassion. That is, if you think [Nicole's] still worth it," she added.
Theresa returned to the mansion after her meeting with Mateo and found a gift box sitting on her bed. As she picked it up, the enclosed cell phone began ringing. When she answered it, Mateo greeted her and observed that she was really living the life in Salem. "You know, that little boy of yours is so cute. And that nursery of his -- more like a palace, huh?" he added.
Theresa started to panic after realizing that Tate wasn't in the nursery. As she rushed back outside in search of Mateo, she remembered that she had left Tate with Brady earlier. Hyperventilating, she worriedly demanded to know what Mateo had done. "I taught you a lesson: never walk away from me again," he replied. She started to promise that she would do whatever he wanted as long as he didn't harm Brady and Tate, but before she could finish the sentence, she spotted them approaching the mansion.
Relieved, Theresa rushed over to Brady and wrapped her arms around him. When he questioned her odd behavior, she claimed that she had simply gotten worried about Tate's health when she had realized just how chilly it was outside. "Classically overprotective mom," she dismissively added as they entered the mansion. Brady wasn't entirely convinced until she said she was also still a bit shaken up about all the chaos that the escaped convicts had caused during their reign of terror. He reminded her that the criminals couldn't harm them anymore.
After Brady went upstairs to put some of Tate's things away, Theresa resumed her phone conversation with Mateo, who observed that she and Brady sounded like a cute couple. "You scared me half to death!" she complained. "Good. You learned another lesson: that I can reach Brady and that little one anytime, anywhere," he replied. He smiled as he stretched out on a bench at the park, noting that he had never had to use coercion before to get a woman to do what he wanted her to do. "It's quite exciting," he admitted.
Mateo instructed Theresa to get ready for her trip to Mexico, promising that they would be leaving soon. As she began to protest, Brady returned and started telling her about the many dogs Tate had spotted during their walk through the park. Theresa removed Tate from his stroller and found a black business card on the seat, emblazoned with a gold skull on one side. "How did Tate get this?" she asked nervously. Shrugging, Brady guessed that the boy had picked it up somewhere. "You should see what the other kids in the park were picking up off the ground," he added before excusing himself so he could get to a meeting with Philip.
Later, at St. Luke's, Theresa clutched her rosary tightly while waiting for Victor, who eventually joined her and wondered why she had asked to see him -- and at a church, of all places. "I, uh, figured this was the only place where we could talk without being watched," she quietly explained. He pointed toward the ceiling as he joked that she was forgetting someone, but she wasn't amused.
Theresa tearfully admitted that Brady and Tate were in danger because of mistakes she had made years earlier. "When I was nineteen, I met this guy -- Mateo -- and I thought -- no, I really did love him, but, I mean, I was nineteen, so what did I know, right? This guy was way too much for me. I mean, for one thing, his father was the head of a drug cartel, and... Well, anyway, after Mateo and I split up, he took his father's place, okay? And they have all these nicknames for each other. They call him El Fideo," she explained. Victor seemed to recognize the name but didn't say anything.
Theresa continued that Mateo had tracked her down and had ordered her to return to Mexico with him. "You must have some idea why," Victor guessed. Shrugging, Theresa suggested that she might have hurt Mateo's pride when she had left him years earlier. She tearfully added that his reasons weren't really important; the only thing that was important was that he would kill Brady and Tate if she refused to go with him.
Theresa knew that she couldn't tell Brady about what was going on because he would insist on confronting Mateo -- and would wind up dead as a result. "Listen, I know you have connections -- people who will...do things... But I also know you hate me. But, Victor, you're the only person that I can turn to, so please, will you help me? For Brady and Tate's sake? Please? Look, I know that it's asking a lot, but can you take care of this for me? Please?" she tearfully requested.
"No," Victor replied. Outraged, Theresa started to lash out at him, but he told her to shut up and let him finish. "I didn't say I won't help you. I can't help you. El Fideo is too powerful," he clarified. "More powerful than you?" she quietly asked. "Infinitely," he stressed. He advised her to ask Shane for help, but she refused, explaining that her father just wanted her to spend the rest of her life running from Mateo, unable to have any contact with Brady and Tate ever again. She guessed that Victor would love that, but he insisted that he didn't want to see Brady left heartbroken and Tate left motherless.
"[But] I have to admit, I don't see any other option for you," Victor added. Devastated, Theresa admitted that she couldn't run, and she couldn't stay in Salem, either, because in either case, Mateo would just kill someone she loved to send her a message. "Oh, God. I've got to go to Mexico with him and do whatever he wants," she sadly concluded. Victor wondered how she planned to explain her sudden departure to Brady. She said she wasn't sure, and she broke down as she added that she was just glad that Tate was too young to really understand what was about to happen. Victor put a comforting hand on her shoulder as she sobbed.
At the Horton Town Square, Nicole promised Philip that she would keep trying to reach Chloe and would let her know, if they did speak again, that he was sorry about the way he had treated her and would still like to help her. After Philip walked away, Nicole contacted Chloe and left her another message, demanding to know what was going on. She was shocked when Chloe immediately called her back.
Chloe reported that she and the baby were both doing just fine. Relieved to hear that, Nicole quickly changed the subject, demanding to know who the baby's real father was. Chloe apologized for failing to keep Nicole up to date on the baby's true paternity, explaining that she had simply been ashamed about the situation she had gotten herself into. "There was this guy at the club that I met [when] I was singing, and we had a one-night stand. And when Philip made me feel like I was some kind of a whore, I don't know, I just -- I guess I couldn't take it," she continued.
Nicole insisted that there was nothing for Chloe to feel ashamed about, and she added that Philip was really sorry for the way he had treated her. Chloe said that she and Parker had gone into hiding after she had learned that Nicole had told Deimos that he was the baby's father. "But if Deimos isn't the father, then what's the problem? Honey, come home! Stay with me," Nicole suggested. Chloe ignored the offer and abruptly ended the phone call. "So, what do you think, little one? Think she bought the whole thing about the one-night stand? Lord, I hope so," she muttered with a sigh.
Recalling how her life had gotten so messy, Chloe thought about how she had offered to be Nicole and Daniel's surrogate the previous year so they could give Parker a sibling. "If only it could have been that simple," she mused as she sadly shook her head. She remembered that it had been hard to convince Daniel to go along with the idea at first due to their complicated history, but he had eventually agreed, knowing that he and Nicole would always have trouble adopting or finding another surrogate because of Nicole's criminal record. They had all been devastated to learn, however, that the in vitro fertilization process had been unsuccessful.
"[Then] Daniel died, and so did Nicole's dream," Chloe muttered with a sigh. She recalled that she had received a visit from Nicole one month after Daniel's death, on the day that Nicole had received a letter from the fertility clinic about her unused frozen embryos. Nicole had briefly entertained the idea of asking Chloe to try the process again, but she had decided not to, knowing that she wouldn't be able to handle another failed attempt.
"She was so devastated. I knew the only thing that would make her happy would be to have another try -- without telling her. So guess what, little one -- I went back to that clinic," Chloe continued. She recalled that the doctor had understood her desire to secretly attempt the process again and had assured her that the consent forms that had been signed before the first attempt had given her permission to try the process as many times as she wished, even without Nicole's knowledge.
"When that next test came back negative, I was happy I didn't tell Nicole...until that paternity test said that Deimos wasn't the father. I knew there was only one other possibility: the fertility clinic had it wrong, 'cause you, my little love -- you are Nicole and Daniel's baby," Chloe concluded. Meanwhile, Nicole received a phone call from Deimos, who apologized for the way he had been treating her lately and wondered if she would be willing to give their relationship another try.
Theresa went to the pub to meet her grandmother, but she was surprised to find the pub empty when she arrived. Worried that the text from her grandmother was actually from Mateo, Theresa panicked. When a pair of hands grabbed Theresa's shoulders from behind, Theresa screamed. The hands belonged to her mother, Kim. While Theresa calmed down, Kim asked Theresa to change her mind about going into hiding.
Theresa said she could not vanish because Mateo would lash out against Brady. Worried, Kim asked Theresa what she planned to do. After Shane arrived, Theresa told her parents that Mateo had already gotten close enough to Tate to leave a calling card. Shane asked Theresa what Mateo wanted. Theresa told Shane and Kim that Mateo wanted her to return to Mexico. With tears in her eyes, Theresa said she planned to give Mateo what he wanted.
Theresa said she hoped to get close to Mateo and uncover information about him for the ISA. Shane and Kim were worried about Theresa, but Theresa said she would make her plan work. Crying, Theresa said she needed to leave Brady and Tate. Theresa said she planned to pretend to be old Theresa and start drinking and carousing. Angry, Shane said that Theresa would get herself killed. Theresa said the only way to save her loved ones was to go undercover and spy on Mateo to leverage her way out.
Fighting back tears, Theresa said that the situation was her fault, and she needed to pay for her mistakes. Theresa asked Shane to help her. Shane warned Theresa that a mission like Theresa had proposed needed years to plan. Theresa said she had no choice. Kim took Shane's hand and told him they needed to help their daughter. Shane relented. As Shane made phone calls, Kim asked Theresa how she planned to blow up her relationship with Brady. As Theresa talked, Kim grew emotional.
"I know that you slept with Victor to save daddy," Theresa blurted out. "You don't have a moral high ground to stand on here. This is going to happen, no matter what," Theresa added. Kim patted Theresa's hand reassuringly. Kim said her concern was that no one would believe Theresa would want to leave Brady and Tate. Choking back tears, Theresa said she needed to break Brady's heart.
At the police station, Hope and Rafe talked in the interrogation room. Hope said she was scared. Hope was also worried about why Ciara had not returned her calls. Rafe assured Hope that Ciara needed time to process the information and would eventually want to talk to Hope. When Rafe stressed that he was fighting the murder charges for Hope, she reminded Rafe that the D.A. wanted to prosecute her for obstruction and falsifying evidence as well.
Taking her face in his hands, Rafe assured Hope that everything would be fine. With a grin, Rafe offered to get Hope a cheeseburger from the pub. Hope shook her head and asked Rafe not to break any rules for her. As Rafe chuckled, an officer escorted Ciara into the room. Rafe eagerly greeted Ciara. Hope hugged her daughter, but Ciara left her arms at her side. When Hope pulled away, Ciara said that she had not intended to visit Hope, but Theo had made Ciara go to the station.
Ciara asked Hope for answers to Theo's questions. Ciara demanded the truth. When Rafe asked Ciara to go easy on Hope, Ciara insisted that Stefano had not deserved to die. Rafe added that if Stefano had lived, he would have hurt someone else. After Rafe left, Ciara called Hope a hypocrite and a murderer. Ciara told Hope that she'd had no right to murder Stefano. Hope agreed. When Ciara asked why Hope had killed him, Hope explained that she had been broken after Bo had died. Hope said she had found evidence that Stefano had kidnapped and tortured Bo, and when Ciara had been kidnapped, she'd thought that Stefano had been torturing the family again like he had done in the past.
Hope explained that when she had confronted Stefano, he had laughed in her face and then had said horrible things about Bo. Through tears, Hope said she did not remember pulling the trigger, but she knew she had shot him. Hope said she did not want forgiveness because she could not forgive herself. Crying, Ciara said that Hope's behavior since Stefano's death finally made sense to her. Hope said her greatest worry was about how it would affect Ciara. Ciara hugged her mother and assured her that she would never stop loving her. Ciara promised they would get through the ordeal together.
Worried, Ciara asked Hope if she could plead temporary insanity. Hope reminded Ciara that she had confessed on tape, but she said she also wanted to take responsibility for her actions. Ciara told Hope not to worry about her and said to concentrate on herself. As the two women broke down in tears, they hugged each other tightly.
After Ciara left, Rafe returned to comfort Hope. Rafe promised to watch over Ciara. When Rafe asked Hope what she needed, she asked for a meeting with Andre. Ciara met with Theo in the park. Ciara offered to tell Theo what she knew, but Theo declined, noting that he could never forgive Hope. Theo told Ciara that he wanted to remain friends with her, and Ciara agreed.
In another area of the park, Dario and Eduardo discussed whether to work with the DiMera family or the Kiriakis family. When Dario asked how they could decide, Eduardo suggested that they pick the family with the greatest weakness so that they could exploit it.
At the Kiriakis mansion, Deimos called Nicole to apologize. When Deimos asked to meet in the square, Nicole took a deep breath and then agreed. After ending the call, Deimos went to the park to meet with Dario and Eduardo. Eduardo explained that they needed a company to take delivery of their shipping containers and avoid customs. Deimos said he could meet Eduardo's needs. Deimos handed a card to Dario with his shipping rates.
Incensed, Dario growled that the rates were astronomical. Dario noted that the DiMera shipping representatives had better rates. With a shrug, Deimos informed Dario and Eduardo that if they wanted someone with established ties to customs inspectors, they should choose the Kiriakis family for their shipping needs. Eduardo asked Deimos for his bottom line. Deimos countered with a 20% discount. With a nod, Eduardo shook Deimos' hand.
After the meeting, Eduardo and Dario went to the square to talk over lunch. Both men agreed that they had made the right decision in giving their business to the Kiriakis family. Eduardo stressed that neither Gabi nor Rafe could learn about their business.
In her hotel room, Chloe called Parker at his friend Taylor's house. Chloe promised to pick up her son later that evening. After hanging up the call, Chloe thought about her conversation with Nicole about being a surrogate for Nicole and Daniel. Chloe announced to the room that she would tell Nicole the truth about the paternity -- that the baby was Daniel and Nicole's.
While Nicole waited in the town square to meet Deimos, Chloe called her on the phone. Chloe asked Nicole to meet her at Café Leo outside of Chicago. When Nicole offered to meet later, Chloe insisted that Nicole meet her right away. As Nicole hung up the phone, Deimos asked Nicole if she had been in contact with Chloe the whole time he had been looking for her. Nicole explained that Chloe had just called her. Furious, Deimos argued that he had rights as a father.
Somberly, Nicole told Deimos that he was not the father of Chloe's baby. Deimos asked Nicole if she was toying with him. Nicole explained that she had learned that Chloe had not tampered with the test results. When Nicole told Deimos what Chloe had told her, Deimos groaned in confusion. Nicole apologized to Deimos. Furious, Deimos said he did not believe Chloe or Phillip. Deimos demanded another paternity test. Deimos asked Nicole to take him with her to meet with Chloe.
When Nicole arrived at the café, Chloe cheerfully hugged her old friend. Chloe's face fell when she saw Deimos walk around the corner. Chloe and Deimos bickered, and Nicole jumped in to note that Deimos had joined her because he had heard that the paternity test had been accurate. Chloe smiled and asked Deimos to leave, since he was not the father. Deimos demanded a second paternity test. Reluctantly, Chloe agreed so that Deimos would leave her alone.
At a nearby clinic, Chloe, Nicole, and Deimos waited while a doctor ran the paternity test. Deimos was restless and went to the lab to watch the technician. After Deimos left, an angry Chloe yelled at Nicole for escorting her stalker right to her. Nicole argued that it was better for Deimos to confirm that he was not the baby's father so that he would back off as soon as possible. Furious, Chloe accused Nicole of being too in love with Deimos to see the situation clearly.
"How dare you desecrate Daniel's memory with that man!" Chloe barked. Unfazed, Nicole growled, "Don't ever school me on Daniel's memory, got it?" Chloe argued that Nicole had ruined their friendship by continuing her relationship with Deimos. Chloe reminded Nicole that Deimos had bullied her into two paternity tests against her will. With a groan, Nicole said Deimos had been lied to and was concerned. Chloe reminded Nicole that she had called Chloe to warn her about Deimos and should know better.
"This is not about him. This is about you and how I don't know you anymore," Chloe said. Hurt, Nicole offered to leave. Nicole asked what Chloe had wanted to tell her. "Was it something about the baby?" Nicole asked.
