[mellow music plays]
♪ ♪
All right, as per your instructions,
I have sent the press release to my niece.
Good. It's only professional to give Hope the heads up.
There's nothing professional about what's happening here.
I certainly don't like your tone.
It's only the truth.
Okay. What Hope did was unprofessional, Katie.
Come on. Put yourself in my shoes.
If there was a woman who was making a play for your husband,
and then you walked in and she was in lingerie,
what would you do?
I would consider that it was a misunderstanding.
Oh, my goodness. No, you would not.
Hope has disrespected me and my family far too many times.
KATIE: Steffy, if you would just for a moment--
STEFFY: The topic is closed.
Hope is no longer allowed here.
What am I interrupting?
I was just telling Katie
that Hope is no longer allowed to set foot
inside of Forrester Creations.
She's done.
And there's nothing she or anyone can do about it.
CARTER: So we're doing this?
[Hope exhales]
You signed your name on the dotted line,
named yourself as the person running the company.
I mean, I do think that is the first step.
Yeah, but are we taking another one?
[exhales] Ohh.
So you're saying that if-if these are filed...
that you will then be
running Forrester Creations?
I mean, Ridge and Steffy, they still have to sign, but...
You're sure they won't notice
that anything is amiss in these documents?
No. Because they trust me
to make sure everything's in order.
Hmm.
Can I betray their trust?
Are we taking over Forrester Creations?
[dramatic music plays]
[door opens]
Sorry for intruding.
Looks like you just got back from surfing.
Yeah, I, uh, needed to cool off.
I know why you're here. Ridge was just here too.
He was? Why?
He wanted to talk about how out of control Hope is.
♪ ♪
This is what you sent to her?
I can only imagine what Hope must be feeling right now.
She's given so much of her life to the company.
-This'll be quite a blow to her. -It's a blow to Forrester too.
Hope chose to go after my husband.
Nobody forced her to do it. Choices have consequences.
[sighs] Yep. I just wish none of this had ever happened.
Sounds like your opinion of Hope is shifting.
You listening to Brooke?
♪ ♪
BROOKE: Hope hasn't been out of control.
She made one mistake at Eric's party, and that's it.
Yeah, well, it's a pretty big mistake, Brooke,
and my wife seems to think so too.
Okay. Well, she apologized several times,
said it would never happen again, and it hasn't.
But it did. She threw herself at me wearing nothing but lingerie.
What happened in the design office
was an unfortunate accident.
No offense, Brooke, but there's no possible way
you can know what happened-- you weren't there.
Hope pinned me to the desk. Steffy walked in.
How do you expect Steffy to react?
[sighs] You and Steffy are wrong.
It's all a misunderstanding.
Hope is not interested in you, Finn.
♪ ♪
Are you sure you should be reading that again?
I guess a part of me still can't believe it.
It's just a few sentences and poof, you know,
my legacy is gone.
Steffy finally got what she wanted.
She didn't waste any time.
It's like everything that I've contributed to Forrester,
all of my hard work, it just, it meant...
nothing.
And you have a right to feel wronged and disrespected.
[sighs] So do you.
Yeah, but, uh...
Does that justify a coup at Forrester Creations?
[uneasy music plays]
♪ ♪
Am I listening to Brooke? Of course I'm listening to Brooke.
She's an important person in my life.
Her daughter's hurting, so...
yeah, it-it's upsetting her.
It's upsetting her a lot.
Look, I am completely justified in what I did.
That's not the point. The point is...
not what you did or that Hope is involved
or Brooke is involved-- this is about the company.
And getting rid of Hope
and getting rid of Hope for the Future, that's--
that's hard, those are big decisions for us.
Hope is not just some employee. She's Brooke Logan's daughter.
I mean, this is gonna send shockwaves
through the entire industry.
And that's why we're gonna wait on this press release.
KATIE: Sure.
Yeah. No problem.
Think you need to clarify where you stand on this.
Because you said you were on my side,
that you were gonna support me.
I am and I do.
It doesn't sound like you're defending me.
Sounds like you're defending Hope and Brooke.
♪ ♪
Steffy's wanted Hope out of the company for a long time.
You have to admit
she might have other motivations for firing her.
Okay, what I can admit is that it was pretty big of Steffy
to let Hope stay on after she kissed me.
Okay, what she did at Eric's party was wrong.
We all know that. But this is different.
How can you say that? Brooke, look at the facts.
[sighs]
I know what it's like to be accused
and punished for something that you didn't do.
It stings.
I bet it does, but that's not what happened here.
There was no injustice.
What Hope did was wrong, and honestly,
what she needs to do is take responsibility for this
and move on.
Denying it--it's a bad look.
Let me make something perfectly clear.
Hope does not want you.
She's moving in an entirely different direction.
She has no interest in you whatsoever.
♪ ♪
I can see that you're torn.
I mean, I-I am too.
This isn't-- this is not something
I thought we would ever be contemplating.
I've always valued loyalty.
Lived by my conscience.
It's a part of who I am. I'm proud of that.
And you should be.
But...
sometimes loyalty can be misplaced.
Is this one of those times?
We have both been trying so hard to play by their rules,
only, how can we...
when the game was always designed for them to win?
We've been overlooked.
Undervalued.
Discarded.
Steffy has been given too much power.
She calls the shots.
And it doesn't matter if it's good or bad for the company.
No one even questions it.
Look, your idea for Forrester,
turning it into an international luxury brand,
I mean, that is something that Steffy and Ridge--
I don't think they would have been able to dream of,
let alone have the nerve to pursue.
And-and Carter,
the only reason they are shutting you down
is because they didn't think about it first.
You've been taken advantage of too.
All the Logans, for years, for decades,
if we're talking about Brooke.
And think about everything you've given this company,
to be discarded,
disrespected.
And my mom has been given a shell of an executive position,
and we all know that her line
is dependent on Ridge's support.
Katie is head of PR,
but if Steffy wanted to, on a whim, she could fire her,
and no one would even do anything about it.
And me--well...
I no longer have a line or a job.
Carter, it might just be a matter of time for you too,
especially if you're supporting the Logans.
If you continue down this road, Steffy--
she's going to want you out, and Ridge,
your best friend?
Who do you think he's going to support?
You...
or his beloved daughter?
I think we both know the answer to that.
We need to defend ourselves.
If only to protect our life's work
and everything we have poured our heart and souls into.
I mean, is it really that bad
that we-that we are finally standing up for ourselves,
that we're fighting back?
♪ ♪
If we do this, there's no going back.
You realize that, right?
There'll be ramifications for all of us.
I'm conflicted too, I mean, this isn't really like us.
We're not usually the ones fighting back.
Carter, do we...do we really wanna go down this road?
They left us no choice.
Look, I'm meeting with Ridge and Steffy,
and I'll try one more time to get through to them.
Maybe Ridge can get his daughter to back off.
And I hope you can get through to them,
but Carter, if-if you don't...
We follow through with the plan.
We take a leap of faith.
And I can do that if I'm with you.
CARTER: Hmm.
Wait for my call.
By the end of the day,
our lives could be changed.
Carter.
I believe in you.
[softly] Always.
[edgy music plays]
BROOKE: You and Hope
-were friends once. -Yeah, you're right.
We were friends.
Then she took it too far and crossed the line.
And it's sad, because there's no way
I was gonna betray my marriage, all right, my family.
She is not a homewrecker.
And you know that.
She did cross the line when she kissed you at Eric's party,
but she knows that that was a bad mistake,
and it's never gonna happen again.
She shouldn't have to be punished
for the rest of her life because of that
or lose everything that she's worked so hard for.
Steffy's made mistakes too.
Disparaging my wife isn't gonna help your argument.
Well, she should be careful,
because once the press finds out about this,
they're gonna wonder why
Steffy's making such a foolish choice of firing Hope.
Steffy's a brilliant CEO.
I trust she knows what she's doing.
It could blow up in her face.
And even if you think this isn't the right thing to do for Hope,
it is the right thing to do for Forrester.
You need to protect the company.
So talk to your wife
and tell her to back off-- before it's too late.
♪ ♪
Let me know what you think.
Steffy.
Can you please look at me?
I have your back. I always have your back.
You know that.
Do you?
Yes!
And Hope not being here right now,
that-that's the right thing, so I sent her away.
Then why do I feel like you're wavering?
Look, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't personal.
But I would never put my feelings above this company.
But what message would I be sending
if I have Hope back here, after everything she did to me?
I understand why you did what you did--I do.
But we gotta do this the right way--this is delicate.
And I think going to the press and telling them about Hope
and Hope for the Future-- it's not-not the right time.
So you think everything with Hope
will just sort itself out?
CARTER: That's what I'm hoping.
[door closes]
Look, I think we can, um,
that we can resolve this before things escalate out of control.
[tense music plays]
♪ ♪
[soft music plays]
♪ ♪
CARTER: Believe me when I say
that you deserve the very best.
And that best is on its way.
♪ ♪
CARTER: They're not getting away with this.
Hope?
Mom.
I, uh, didn't hear you come in.
Are you okay?
Yeah, it's just...
it's been a lot to process.
Yeah. What Steffy did is just not right.
I really haven't had
much time to think about anything else, really.
We both know you weren't wearing lingerie for Finn.
I went to talk to him.
And how did that work out?
Not so great.
I just wish he'd believe that you were innocent
and you weren't making a play for him.
[chuckles] Certainly wasn't.
My heart belongs to someone else.
Carter stole your heart.
Well, I wouldn't say that he stole it.
It's more like I...
I gave it to him.
Anyway, I told Finn
that he's gotta convince Steffy to change her mind
and not fire you or cancel your line.
And she's gotta do that before it's too late.
Yes. Before it's too late.
I'm not here to litigate what happened in the design office.
We have to agree to disagree on that.
I'm here because of business.
And business dictates it's not smart to fire Hope
and cancel her line. The optics are terrible.
Oh, okay, I should be worried about optics
when Hope threw herself at my husband--got it.
You should be worried about doing what's best
for this company. That's what a CEO does.
Okay. Easy. That's exactly what she's doing.
She's moving this company forward.
Mm, well, I'm concerned about this company moving forward too.
I love this place.
I've dedicated over a decade of my life to it.
We all have something at stake here.
Are you really gonna fire Hope,
Brooke's daughter?
How's that gonna play to our buyers, to the press?
Carter, we're always in the press, every single day.
It's gonna be old news tomorrow.
You're like grasping at straws here.
You say that you-you support Hope--
You're right. I do.
Hope and the Logans have been sidelined for years.
Even though they contribute so much to this company,
they're discounted and dismissed.
And I get it, Steffy, I do.
You have a lotta wounds where it comes to Hope.
But that's no excuse for what you're doing.
Firing hope has nothing to do with business--it's personal.
You're damn right, it's personal.
Hope has zero respect for me and my family.
But it is also business.
I can't trust her.
How am I supposed to work with her, Carter?
Why is this so hard to understand?
Steffy, I'm saying this as a friend.
Your issues with Hope-- it's holding you back.
You need to heal yourself. You need to do something.
Because all of this is interfering
with your business decisions.
Ridge, you know I'm right about this.
I think you need to take a breath.
-I need to take a breath. -RIDGE: Uh-huh.
Okay, I'll take a breath. How 'bout this?
I am concerned about this company.
I'm fighting for the future of Forrester,
and believe me, I wouldn't be fighting this hard
if I wasn't certain you misread what happened
between Hope and Finn.
Now, Ridge, you know me.
We're not just best friends. We're brothers.
Trust me when I tell you that Forrester Creations
will never be the same
if you don't reinstate Hope and her line.
And I get it, Steffy, she's your daughter.
But this company runs through your veins too--protect it.
Make it right. Say that Hope for the Future
will always have a place at Forrester.
You have no idea what's at stake if you don't.
[intense music plays]
♪ ♪
Captioned by Los Angeles Distribution and Broadcasting, Inc.