Bill walked into his office and sat down. He was about to kick his feet up when the door flew open.

"Incoming," Justin rushed in and took a seat. "Just lie."

"Lie about what?"

"Son, would you like to tell me just what the hell you're doing making a purchase this huge? You don't need a house in Malibu yet. Didn't you say you wouldn't be staying long? You wanted the lay of the land and then you and Justin were going back to New York to run Spencer there. Have you changed your mind?"

"Absolutely. Malibu is where I see my future. We have no plans on going back to New York."

"Son, I don't want you deciding you want this place and then flaking out when your plans for whoever she is fall through."

"They won't," Bill assured. "I have confidence in everything I have going on."

"Good," Senior nodded. "We need heirs, Bill. Seal the deal with her and get her knocked up after the I do's."

"I'm never getting married," Bill scoffed. "You will have to get your heirs elsewhere. Caroline—"

"Is a beautiful, lovely girl. She's a princess, but she will never run Spencer. Neither will Karen. I want a man in this chair. I want you to give me that man."

"Steffy will give me many things, her hand in marriage or kids will never be one of those things. She's a shark, I like that about her, but she's driven. So am I. I don't want children to disappoint."

Bill saw the expression on his father's face fall. He'd struck a nerve. It was quiet for a while until Bill realized his father was eyeing him questioningly.

"Steffy? The daughter of Ridge Forrester? She's the one you're interested in?"

"I wish to be the man in her life, yes," Bill answered confidently.

"And you think she's not going to want more than a roll in the hay? That girl will bring you trouble if you're looking for a fling. She's the marrying type. You will treat her with nothing but respect. She isn't her father. She isn't his crimes."

"I'm not toying with her, father. I enjoy her. She's not like the others."

"You would do well to remember that."

Senior left Justin and Bill in his office, and Justin exhaled loudly. "What the hell was that?"

"I'm not going to lie to the old man. I want Steffy, and I don't care who knows it."

"But that line about us staying here, are you serious?"

"Yes, Justin. LA is the place for us. The house is more than large enough for the both of us. We're going to set down roots here."

"All because of Steffy? Bill—"

"It's not what you think. New York is cold, and you and I both know we weren't happy there. We'd bedded all the women we wanted, and they ran in the same circles. We were running out of resources. We need this change."

"And it's not because you're in love with her? You don't want a real relationship?"

"I want exclusivity in the bedroom and a sexy temptress in the boardroom. She's everything I need in a partner."

"Umh hmm," Justin agreed, halfheartedly. "So what happened this morning? How did your ambush go?"

"You ever had sweet, delicious melon for breakfast? The way the juices just roll and get you excited shouldn't be allowed, yet, you can't stop craving it."

"Am I supposed to know what the hell that means? She served you melon?"

"Justin, I'm more determined than ever to have her. This morning was only the start."

"You slept with her?"

"No. I don't want that yet."

"I'm confused. You said it was what you wanted. You admitted it to your father. Now you don't want it?"

"Eventually, but when I finally do, it's going to be her idea. She's going to come to me, and I'm going to give her what she needs."

"What is this game you're playing? Usually, you don't let them come to you. You plant the seeds and plow them down."

"She has a home," Bill admitted something he never cared about with any other woman. He cared about this, about her, no matter how much he wished he didn't. "If she's in love with him, I won't hurt her."

"Is that why you haven't told her about his affair?"

"How would it sound coming from me? I'd sound like the lunatic that's just trying to sleep with her by any means. She would never receive it well from me."

"Then show her. You used to always say a picture is worth a thousand dollars, and a video is worth two."

"I won't do that," Bill advised. "I won't hurt her that way."

"Okay," Justin conceded. "So what will you do? You obviously plan to get close to her."

"I'm going to give her an unforgettable night. You know that place we went to the first week we were here?"

"Yeah, the lounge."

"Get us a table."

"How are you going to get her there? She's probably not going to agree to go anywhere with you."

"I'll work on that. You just have your assistant make the arrangements."

Justin nodded before leaving, and Bill just sat, twirling around in his chair. A part of him thought of calling Steffy, but he knew it would be too much. He needed to give her time to think about everything that happened this morning. It sure wasn't escaping his mind anytime soon.

"Stephanie," Ridge called her name, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Have you looked over the budget for the remote shoot?"

Steffy nodded her head and slid a file across the desk. "Lose the neon lighting and go more natural. It will fit better into the budget and not make the models look like walking glow sticks."

"You're so good at these things," Ridge bragged. He sat, looking at her for a few seconds and cleared his throat. "What's going on with you and Liam? I know he wants—"

"We're living together as you requested, and it's fine," she lied. "We're in a good place."

She didn't feel as if she could be honest with her father about Liam. He'd handpicked Liam for her, and had high hopes for a union between the two.

"You say you're in a good place, but your mother feels otherwise. You know she called and cursed me out a few days ago, right?"

"Mom is wildly protective of me and Thomas. You know that, dad."

"Is there any truth to what she's saying?"

This was her moment to speak and scream that being with Liam was a mistake. She wanted to tell her father how she thought he was seeking comfort in another. She needed him to know how utterly unhappy she was. She opened her mouth, and then her office door opened, haunting her speech.

"How dare you do this, you bastard?" Taylor slapped a piece of paper down and glared at Ridge as she walked into the office, slamming the door. "A restraining order, Ridge?"

"I didn't—"

"You did this." Taylor's bag hit the desk, and Steffy stood, taking the paper from her grasp.

"Mom, let me see this."

Steffy looked over the papers then up at her father. "This says mom can't come within a hundred feet of you, Brooke, or Hope. It also says she can't contact you. What the hell, dad?"

"I didn't—"

"Well who did, Ridge? I don't give a damn that I hate you. Who cares if I loathe the sight of you, but how dare you? After everything you've put me through, you pull this?"

"I didn't do it, Taylor. I would never do that to you. I didn't leave you. You left me!"

"You slept with her! We'd gone through this for years, Ridge. You promised me you were over her, and when Phoebe died, you ran to her. So, yes, I left you. I wasn't going to share with anyone, least of all her."

"I didn't want her, Taylor," Ridge screamed, and Steffy just watched her parents go at it. "I didn't. You made that decision for me."

Steffy had no clue what he meant, but she sat quietly awaiting answers.

"You want to blame me now? I'm to blame for you sleeping with her?"

"No. You didn't make me sleep with her, but you made a choice to make that one mistake more important than our marriage."

"My daughter died. My little girl, Ridge," Taylor yelled. "Phoebe died and you hopped into bed with Brooke."

"I'm sorry, Taylor. I never meant for this to happen. I tried to get you back, I begged on my hands and knees."

"You didn't beg hard enough, and now this?"

"I would never put a restraining order on you. This has to be a mistake."

"There is no mistake." Brooke.

Steffy's eyes rolled unintentionally, and she prepared herself for the battle she saw raging in her mother's eyes. She seemed to get a lot of practice in around Brooke. Taylor had no chill factor when it came to her.

"You're not supposed to be here, Taylor. That court order says you have to stay away from us. I could have you arrested right now. Leave."

Taylor's eyes bucked, and her hand drew back. Before she could strike Brooke, Steffy stood.

"No."

"What?" Brooke eyed Steffy angrily.

"No, she won't be leaving. She owns a stake in this company, you don't."

"I work here," Brooke pointed out.

"You used to. You're fired. Get out." The words left Steffy's mouth, and she was surprised she even said them. She looked at her father and saw the bewildered expression on his face, and crossed her arms.

"Now. Go now. Clean out your things, and take Hope with you. If you don't want to disrupt your restraining order, I'd suggest you go. My mom was here first, and she'll be here after you."

Brooke eyed Steffy a second longer before huffing on her way to the door. "Don't think this is over, little girl. Don't forget I know who you really are. You're a chip off the old block. You're nothing but a little slut who had daddy clean up her mess. Ridge is the reason why you sit in that chair."

"And you're the reason why he doesn't," Steffy clapped back. "You want to know why grandfather picked me, the sworn whore, over dad? It's simply because he married you. I may have eluded to a few indiscretions, but you're a walking, living, breathing liability. You've slept with my grandfather, father, and all my uncles. Thank god no children came from those mistakes. Now you're too old to even think of producing a Forrester heir. It kills you that my mom had three."

"Stephanie that's enough," Ridge warmed. "Brooke, just go home. We will figure this out once we've all had time to cool down."

"She will still be fired then," Steffy warned. "Until my mom is free to come and go as she pleases here without worry of being arrested, they don't have jobs."

"You're behaving like a child," Ridge argued. "My mother—"

"Dad, I'm not grandmother. I'm far from being the person she was. I loved her so much, but I'm not like her in the ways you want me to be. I'm Steffy, your daughter. She's all I want to be."

"I want you to be yourself, sweetheart, but the mistakes you're making—"

"Are mine to make," Steffy finished for him. "Take your wife home, dad. And your daughter."

Steffy knew her words stung him, but she needed to do this for her own self-respect and for her mother.

Ridge ushered a fuming Brooke out of Steffy's office, and she smiled before turning around to look her mother in the face. With a few wordless stares, Taylor shook her head.

"What, Mom?"

"What is right. You've never spoken to your father or his whore that way. What's gotten into you, daughter?"

"Nothing," Steffy lied. "Nothing at all."

She was thinking about Bill. All she could think about were his hands as they crept up her thighs and flicked over her womanhood. She'd never felt such need for someone. She'd never betrayed anyone the way she had done Liam this morning.

It was true he might have been cheating, she didn't have proof, but did she have to do the same? Did she have to become the person most already thought she was? Even if the possibility of being with Bill outweighed the desire she'd had for Liam for the entire three years they had been a couple.

"Steffy, what's on your mind? You spaced out on me there."

"Mom, what if we're both—"

Steffy stopped short to look at a text that lit up her phone. While she had been having these thoughts of another man, here was her boyfriend, arranging a sweet rendezvous for them later in the evening.

"Steffy?" Taylor prompted. "What if we're both what?"

"Nothing, Mom." Steffy shook away the admissions about Bill that she was about to make. Liam's assistant texting when she did put her mind back into focus. "Listen, hang out here or meet me at the house. You're welcome to stay in the guest house."

"Your grandfather has offered his up. I'm actually looking into getting a place here. That place near yours still on the market? It was an amazing property."

"No," Steffy shook her head, hating how rapidly her thoughts flew back to Bill. "Someone closed on it a few days ago."

"That's a shame. I would have loved it. What is your new neighbor like? I really should shoot them for stealing that prime real estate from under my nose."

"My new neighbor is interesting," Steffy said honestly. "I don't know how we're going to get along."

"Is she some snooty Malibu princess like your flaky stepsister or worse, some muscle-bound Judas surfer guy? Probably a suntanned mess," Taylor joked.

"Muscles, yes, but his body is perfect. I mean I think it is if you like that kind of thing," Steffy carefully corrected.

"You think his body is perfect, but yet you don't think you will get along. Why? Does he have a lot of tramps running in and out of his house? Is he a man whore?"

"Not that I've seen. As far as I know, he only wants one thing, one person, me."

"You? So—wait, man meat, Bill Spencer, is your neighbor? Now, I know you said you hadn't, but have you slept with this man? He's awfully persistent for a one night ordeal. Or am I just reading too much into his actions?"

"We didn't sleep together."

"But—You want to, don't you?"

"I stopped him. I shut him down when he kissed me, but this morning—"

"You kissed? This morning?" Taylor kept interrupting, and Steffy was losing her nerve to tell the whole story.

"He kissed me that day you walked into the office and again today. He came over for breakfast."

"You fed him after he kissed you?"

"Not exactly, but I think he got what he wanted."

"Oh, Steffy," Taylor grinned. "Bill Spencer is crazy about you. His gestures alone are more than that asshat you live with. He's bold and oh so damn beautiful."

"I don't know him that well. He's mysterious to me, and what if he's just messing with me for the fun of it? He knows I have a boyfriend. I'm committed to someone else. Bill Spencer—"

"What about Bill Spencer?"

Steffy sighed at the sound of Ridge's voice questioning her as he made his way back into her office.

"Dad, I thought you left with Brooke."

"I wanted to talk to you about that. I think you're being unreasonable. Brooke had the restraining order drafted as a joke. She's trying to get a rise out of your mother after their spat a few days ago. It's not valid. But I want to know why you're discussing Bill Spencer. He's trouble."

"He's our new media contract," Steffy offered.

"Kill that deal. I won't allow you to work with that family. They don't mean us well."

"Why do you think that?" Steffy was confused about how her father knew them. Liam had brought the company to her attention, but they were mainly based out of New York. Los Angeles was a fairly new venture for them. Bill had only just gotten here.

Steffy looked at Ridge, and he didn't speak. It wasn't until Taylor cleared her throat that Steffy heard any sounds in the room besides her own breathing.

"Tell her, Ridge. Tell her why you're afraid of her being near Bill Spencer." Ridge didn't speak, and Taylor crossed her arms. "Fine, I will. Your father was married to Bill's older sister Caroline. She died, and I was her doctor. She was a beautiful person, but just like now, your father couldn't keep it in his pants. He cheated on Caroline with Brooke while she was undergoing cancer treatments."

"Dad, how could you?" Steffy was flabbergasted. She never knew about this marriage or that her father was a serial cheater.

"Your mother is making it more than what it was. I was upset one night, and Brooke was there. Besides, when Caroline died, instead of going back to Brooke, I married your mother. I chose her."

"And that makes it right?" Steffy huffed. "You're a hypocrite. I turned myself inside out to meet your approval only to learn you cheated on a woman with cancer. That's low, Dad."

"You changed for you, sweetheart. You were making bad decisions. You were sleeping with so many men, and people could have taken advantage of you."

"I've only slept with two men in my entire life. I let you think I was sleeping around because it seemed to be the only way to get your attention. Brooke and Hope had you, Thomas and me didn't after Phoebe died. What little scraps we did get were clouded by what they wanted. So yes, I lied."

"Honey—"

"Steffy. My name is Steffy. Start using it." Tears were emerging in her eyes when she grabbed her purse and keys. "I have to go. I have plans."

Steffy sighed as she walked out, leaving her parents stunned. After a few seconds, she could hear her mother berating her father and shook her head. He'd made her feel like a whore when he thought she was sleeping around and basically told her she needed to change or be disowned. She'd bought into it and conformed. Now all she wanted was to be free.