Traci Crumbles Under Pressure While Victor Sets His Sights on Audra—What’s Coming Next?

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Claire joins Kyle at Crimson Lights, and they kiss. Esther walks over and says, “Oh, young love.” She quickly realizes from their expressions that they haven’t said the “L” word yet. Kyle confirms they haven’t. Esther wonders what they’re waiting for and urges them to just say it already. They sit and discuss how awkward that situation was, before sharing small talk about their lattes and work. Claire tells him Nikki wants her to learn as much about the company as she can. Kyle asks her for dinner, and she agrees. They flirt over her whipped cream and she asks why he’s in such a good mood.

Traci Breaks Down

At the Club, Diane pushes Traci to open up to her about Alan. Realizing her sister-in-law feels pressured, she apologizes if she’s over-stepped. Traci tells her she doesn’t want to burden her with her personal problems. Diane realizes there is an issue. Traci says she’s working through it. Diane reminds her she can trust her and confide in her. Traci sees the effort she’s made to get back in the family’s good graces. Diane loves this family and wants to prove herself and be accepted as an Abbott. Just then, Jack appears. “What are you two talking about?” he asks.
Diane Traci Y&R

Traci says they were talking about the restoration of the house. Diane has to go to work, so Jack decides to stay back with his sister. Once alone, Traci tells her brother that Diane suspects something is going on with Alan. She suspects she hurt her feelings by not being willing to get into it with her. Jack says she also saw something was off with him earlier, but he didn’t betray Traci’s confidence. Traci’s sorry. Jack reassures her; he and Diane are just fine. Traci says it’s not about trust; it’s about protecting the people she loves. Anyone who knows what he did has a target on their back.

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Jack can’t understand Alan going after Sharon and Phyllis. Traci doesn’t know why he’d do that, but she can’t risk putting anyone else in his crosshairs. This has to stay between them and Chance. Jack agrees, but warns Kyle has also picked up on the tension. Traci feels bad for putting her brother in this position, but she won’t risk the safety of their family. Jack won’t risk her safety. If the worst-case scenario is true, they have to let Ashley and Diane know so they can protect themselves. It’s going to be critical going forward, “I hope you agree with that.” Traci agrees, but only if Alan turns out to be a threat. Traci fret that if Alan is Martin, he’s lived among them for months and knows all their habits… and it’s her fault. Jack hopes Alan turns out to be the man they all think he is. Traci realizes she hasn’t told him yet that he called. It’s what caused Diane to be suspicious. She starts crying, “It was my Alan. It was the man I’m in love with.” Traci breaks down crying in Jack’s arms. Hearing Alan say he misses her, and saying he loves her… Jack sighs. He has to believe, somehow, some way, this is all going to turn out for the best. He embraces her.

Nate Updates Audra

At Nate’s place, Audra asks Nate how Amy is doing. He says she’s resting; the new treatment did her in. He tells her about her hearing him and Damian getting into it. Audra asks what happened. Nate says Lily dropped by and accused Damian of lying to them. He fills her in on Lily’s information. Damian denied it vehemently. Her source was Victor Newman. They go over the situation and Audra is sure Victor’s working an angle. Nate says Lily believes she can trust him. Audra scoffs at the idea of The Mustache making amends to his cousin. She points out Lily went to Victor behind his back. Should she worry she’s having her investigated too? Nate muses, “It’s not like there’s anything to find out, is there?” Audra says she’s an open book.

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They wonder why Victor would want to make Damian look bad. Nate suggests Victor was given false information, although someone would have to be pretty clever to get away with that. Audra thinks it’s possible Damian is lying. Maybe he really does have an agenda. They debate and Nate says Damian seemed genuinely surprised and upset by Lily’s accusation. Amy convinced him Damian was telling the truth. Her son never flinched and looked her dead in the eye. He watched Damian work hard to let go of the anger and hurt. That’s the man he trusts. He hates that the accusations could throw a wrench into the progress that’s been made. Audra can understand Nate being frustrated about Lily causing this tension, but she’s protecting the family. Nate’s afraid Damian will bolt if they keep pushing him. Audra asks her boyfriend to be careful. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.” They kiss and canoodle. He promises to be careful, but he’s more suspicious of Victor than Damian. He’s involved himself in this for a reason. “And I want to find out what it is.”

Lily Drops In

At the ranch, Victor is on the way out when Lily appears. He lets her in, and she tells him that Damian has adamantly denied knowing about her and Devon three months ago. “So, is what you told me the truth?” Victor wonders if she expected him to admit it. He stands by his information. Victor tells her Dumas is trying to make inroads in Genoa City and he needs to stop him. The man is trouble. He’s up to something and he wants to find out what it is. “Let me just say he may be after more than your company.” He’ll let her know when he finds out – he’s keen to heal their rift. Victor suggests Lily and Devon focus on keeping Winters out of Dumas’ clutches. Lily doesn’t know who to believe… Damian was insistent that he was telling the truth. Victor asks, “Has it occurred to you that Damian and I are telling the truth and Dumas is lying?” Lily realizes he’s suggesting that Dumas deliberately planted the lie that Damian was investigating Devon and I months ago, and asks, “Why?” Victor says to turn them against Damian. Lily doesn’t understand. Victor says Damian Kane is employed by Dumas, for one reason or another, Dumas thinks Damian is a threat to him. Either way, she and Devon need to protect their company.

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Kyle and Claire Tangle With Victor

At Crimson Lights, Kyle tells Claire he’s in a good mood because he and his father worked together to come up with a solution for a potential problem at Jabot and it felt wonderful. He recaps all they went through, and he laments being blind to the fact that his mom was a damn good CEO. He’s just glad his family is stronger every day despite Victor’s dire predictions to the contrary. Victor walks in and says, “We’ll see about that.” Kyle announces they’re going to dinner and suggests a restaurant to Claire. Kyle says they’ll stick with Society and needles that they might get room service. Victor ignores him. Victor keeps talking to his granddaughter and acts as though Kyle isn’t even there. As he’s leaving, Victor wishes Kyle luck with his renewed relationship with his father. Kyle says they’re close and that will never change no matter how much gloom and doom he piles on. It’s like his connection with Claire… real and always growing stronger. “You’ll just have to learn how to deal with that.” Victor mutters about surprises and things not turning out as you plan.

Later, at Society, Kyle tells Claire he’s sorry Victor put a damper on their evening. She warns it’s not that easy for her to ignore her grandfather’s concerns. She wants him to approve of them. “I can’t pretend that I don’t care.” Kyle understands. He promises never to judge her or her feelings about him. Claire thinks she knows a way this could be less of an issue, but it would require a favor of Kyle. “I would love it if you could not intentionally rub our relationship in my grandfather’s face.” Kyle looks taken aback. He admits he did that “maybe a little” and apologizes for upsetting her. Claire hopes one day he’ll see how happy they are and will support their relationship. Kyle promise to stop needling him.

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Nate Draws the Line

Lily and Devon turn up at Nate’s door and he warns Amy is asleep, so this needs to be short. Audra announces she has errands to run, but Nate says they can speak in front of her. Audra leaves anyway. Devon admits he doesn’t know why they’re here. Lily says she has an update: Victor stands by his source, but he has an interesting theory. He and Damian are telling the truth and Dumas is the liar. Nate frowns… so he’s planting false information? To what end? Lily says, “To go after our company.” Nate’s skeptical at Victor being concerned for their company. Devon points out he was close to Neil. Nate says he lied and used Lily. She argues that he apologized for that. Nate still doesn’t trust him; Victor will put himself first every time. Devon can’t argue with that. Lily tells them Dumas reached out to Billy about Abbott Communications too. Lily and Devon point out that Damian kept quiet about his connection to Dumas, which proves they need to keep their distance from him. Nate frowns, “Just like that… on the word of a man who has taken advantage of us all, we ice out my brother. I’m sorry, but this is going too far!”

Audra walks into Crimson Lights and runs into Victor, who muses, “I’ll be damned… Audra Charles. Fancy meeting you here.” He sees no reason they can’t be cordial, and asks about her job prospects these days. Audra has some promising leads. Victor asks if they can sit down one day and discuss her various options. “Join me for a drink and we’ll discuss it.”

Coming Up: Dumas achieves his goal

Back at Nate’s place, he reminds his cousins that Damian is a man who just found out his mom is dying, and he has family he didn’t know about. They can’t keep pushing him or they could lose him for good. He won’t let that happen. Lily argues that his brother has been lying to him since day one. They can’t trust him! Devon agrees there are red flags, and tells Nate he should probably slow down a bit. Nate points out they don’t know what Victor’s stake in all this is, and he’d trust his brother over him any day. Lily really hopes Nate’s not making a mistake.