Thursday, July 17, 2025: Today on The Young and the Restless, Nick gives Nikki and Victor shocking news, Lily cries for Damian, and Phyllis proposes a secret investigation.
In the train car, Phyllis tells Chance that the dagger looks like the one she saw in Damian’s back. Nick barks, “Of course it’s the knife that killed Damian.” Someone’s trying to set him up. “And we all know who that person is.”
Chance asks Nick not to jump to conclusions and to explain how he found it. Nick says he left Sharon’s sleeping car and went back to his. In the bathroom, he noticed the sink stopper was stuck. He reached under and pulled out that bag. Chance asks if he happened to find a bottle of bourbon in there. Nick didn’t. He declares that Cane is behind this… it’s been his plan all along.
Chance isn’t following. Nick wants Phyllis and Chance to admit this is suspicious and odd. First, he didn’t understand why Chance was invited. Why not hire a private security team if he thought his life was in danger? If he thought one of his guests had homicidal intentions, why invite them into his home. Chance says they can’t make assumptions about who the killer was targeting. Nick thinks Cane wanted Damian dead because he had something going on with Lily. It also could have been business. He wants Chancellor, so framing him is revenge on the Newmans… or a distraction from his next move. Chance and Phyllis aren’t buying it. Nick fumes.
Nick keeps arguing his case as Phyllis assures him that she is on his side. She’d kill anyone who would try to frame him for murder. She just can’t understand why Cane would set this up. They speculate that Cane may have known about Lily and Damian before now. Nick tells Chance about Adam coming to tell them Cane was buying up real estate in Genoa City, and that Chelsea had seen him there. He obviously has contact with the outside world. Chance is stunned that there’s a way out of there. Nick says he wants to keep them trapped so his little game can play out.
Chance wants to stick to the facts. Phyllis says there’s no way Cane could have planted the knife in his room… she was with him. Nick says Cane could have accomplices like that weirdo Carter. Chance tells Nick he’s going to go search his sleeping car. Nick’s irritated that Chance thinks he may have done this. Maybe the first thing he needs to look into is how Cane is getting on and off the mountain. Chance confirms he’ll expect Cane to come clean.
Amanda Thinks Cane Did It
In the maze, Amanda chews Cane out. She needs to have all the facts. She needs the whole truth and she needs it now. Cane thinks he has the right to remain silent. Amanda says not from her, he doesn’t. Cane tells her he and Damian were just chatting. Before that he’d never met him face-to-face. Amanda will need to see the security footage from the cameras on the property. Cane still wants to know if she thinks he actually killed Damian. She believes he’s the person with the strongest motive. In her experience, he will do whatever it takes to eliminate the competition.
Cane can’t believe Amanda thinks he’s guilty. She runs down all the things that make him look guilty. Cane says the bourbon and dagger are still missing. If he was guilty, why would he tell Chance what to look for? Amanda fumes that they both know he can contact the outside world… an innocent man would have called the police in by now. She has a strong suspicion that he’s guilty, but that won’t stop her from doing her job.
Phyllis joins Amanda and Cane and makes cracks about poisoned booze. She notices they fell silent when she appeared. “That’s not incriminating at all, is it?” She doesn’t think Cane did anything wrong. She tells them Nick found the murder weapon in his bathroom. Cane asks what he did with it. Phyllis says he did what any innocent man would do… he brought it to Chance. He’s sure he’s being framed… and knows who’s framing him.
Amanda wants to know Chance’s thoughts on all this. Phyllis says he just wants the facts. She says she told them Cane couldn’t have planted the evidence because she was with him from the minute they left Damian’s body until they found Chance. Nick thinks he had help though. Phyllis reminds Cane when he asked her if she was willing to betray the father of her child. She never agreed to sit back while he was framed for murder. Cane suggests maybe Nick is the one setting him up.
Cane says the Newmans are threatened by his impending return to Genoa City. Nick may have tried to kill him, and his aim was bad. He then put the weapon in his room to make it look like he’s being framed. Phyllis defends Nick and Amanda points out an innocent man goes to the authorities as Nick did. Phyllis thinks they need to launch a secret investigation of their own.
Bad Dreams and Bad News
In Victor and Nikki’s train car, he’s doing a crossword puzzle when his wife awakens with a start. She just had a terrible dream about their children. Victor gives her a tea to calm her nerves. Nikki shudders that the dream was so horrible and real. She tells him Victoria and Nicholas were on the edge of a massive chasm. They were calling her, but she couldn’t get to them. Victor remarks that she’s been worried about Victoria since they left. Nikki laments being cut off from Victoria and Claire. Victor offers to get Nick, but she says it’s alright. She admits she’s also worried about Chancellor. Victor vows to be Cane’s worst nightmare if he comes after anyone in his family or his business.
Nikki doesn’t like the look in her husband’s eyes. He just hates seeing her upset and worried. They’ll go home soon, and she’ll see that Victoria’s alright. Just then, Nick knocks. They let him in, and he says he’s glad they’re OK. “Cane made his next move and it’s a bloody one.”
Nick tells his parents that Damian was murdered. Up to a few minutes ago, Cane was the only suspect… he was with Damian when it happened. It turns out, however, that he’s trying to frame someone in their family. “It’s me!” He found the bloody knife used to kill Damian in his bathroom. Nikki gasps. She just had a dream that he was in trouble. Victor declares this to be an obvious set-up. Nick nods. Cane has a much more compelling motive for wanting Damian out of the picture… Lily.
They go over Cane wanting Lily back and her moving on with Damian. Nick thinks it’s a true crime of passion. Victor muses, “Maybe.” It’s crazy to try and pin it on Nick. Their son tells him he confronted Cane and has a quick temper. Nikki sniffs that anyone could have planted that knife in his room. Nikki wonders why Cane would do all of this. Victor says for six years he’s been playing the long game… now this? It seems reckless. Nick thinks if they can figure out the endgame, they can figure out who’s playing them. Nikki thinks they need to do it before anyone else gets hurt.
Lily Fingers Cane for Murder
In another train car, Lily cries into a tissue and paces. She looks at the bed and flashes through her history with Damian. She lays on the bed and sobs, “Damian, I am so sorry!”
Moving to a chair to sip tea, Lily flashes to finding out Dumas was Cane and recalls her confrontations with him. Finally, she remembers kissing Damian in front of him. Back in the present, she shakes her head. A knock comes at her door… it’s Chance, who wants to talk.
They sit and Lily tells Chance that Damian was amazing. He had secrets kept from him that upset him. He was trying to accept it all and was actually excited about starting a new life in Genoa City. She cries, “And now…” Composing herself, Lily says she wants justice for Damian. Chance asks her to walk him through what’s happened since they arrived. Lily says that’s a waste of time. Only one person has a motive to kill Damian and it’s Cane.
Chance asks when she last saw Damian alive. Lily was with him, Cane and Amanda by the maze. They told Cane they were a couple. He acted like he accepted it, but then asked to speak to Damian privately. After that, she and Amanda went for a walk. The next time she saw Cane, he was with the men carrying Damian’s body. Chance asks Lily if Cane was possessive when they were together. She says he could be. Chance asks if he was violent with other men. Lily says nothing serious, but he’s a different man now. Chance asks if he wanted to get back together. Lily says he did, but she told him it would never happen. She thinks that’s why he killed Damian. If he couldn’t have her, no one could.
Chance doesn’t see the logic there. Why would Cane risk everything to kill Damian? It seems less calculated than he would expect. Lily’s convinced Cane did this. He killed Damian in cold blood, and he needs to pay for it.
Nick Threatens Cane
In the maze, Nick confronts Cane and fumes, “You’re not going to get away with this!” Cane insists he didn’t kill Damian… the knife was meant for him. Nick says he found the knife he planted in his room. Cane denies putting it there. He swears on his father’s soul. Nick says Colin didn’t have one. He screams at him to leave his family alone and come at him man-to-man. “Or trust me, you’re going to wish you’re the one that was dead.”
