Taylor looked into Ridge's eyes and knew she couldn't tell him anything. If he knew what she had done, if he even suspected, he would never forgive her. The guilt hurt worse than her broken leg.
"How is RJ?" Taylor asked, looking away from her ex-husband. She had been so concerned with her secret, with Sheila, that she had forgotten all about the kid until his father walked into the door. "How are things at Forrester?"
"You didn't hear?" Ridge blinked at Taylor as he opened his bag of cotton candy. He didn't offer to share. "It's been all over the news."
"I've been preoccupied," she explained, pointing to the cast on her leg. She didn't feel it was necessary to explain that most of her free time was spent trying to contact Massimo. And she couldn't. He had just vanished.
"You know RJ's ex, Noah Newman?" Ridge pulled free a tuft of the blue and pink confection as Taylor nodded. "Noah's ex tried to kill RJ. They got into a fight and both of them went flying out of a window at Spencer. RJ's okay, I guess, but Eden died."
All Taylor could do was feel her heart stop. She had... She had known Eden's secret, that she wasn't who she claimed she was. And because she had stayed silent, Ridge's son had almost died.
"What did RJ tell you about it?" Taylor scratched at the edge of her cast and watched Ridge's face. "Why were they fighting?"
"I don't know. He refused to talk to me, even after almost dying. Can you believe that? And he has a new boyfriend already. I haven't met this one, either."
"Thank you for stopping by, Ridge. It was good to see you, and I'm glad RJ's okay, but I'm so tired. I need to take a nap," Taylor lied. She needed to be alone with her thoughts.
Ridge stuffed a handful of cotton candy in his mouth, then said farewell to Taylor and promised to visit her again. She waited until she was sure he was gone and grabbed her cell phone from the stand next to her hospital bed.
Searching RJ's name on Google, Taylor saw articles about the fall, but also more recent ones, not even an hour old, about a tape. Thinking it was rehashing the one she had leaked, she clicked on one of the headlines and felt her heart stop again.
It wasn't the tape of Noah kissing RJ at the airport. In fact, Noah wasn't in the tape at all. The article only had still images with the nudity blurred out, but there was RJ's face plain as day. The other man was unnamed, but there was a link to a previous article. The author of the article didn't seem to know who he was, but Taylor recognized him.
The man having sex in the video with RJ was the same man who had threatened her into silence about Eden Baldwell. Everything clicked. Sheila hadn't escaped: Victor Newman had released her. Even though Taylor had stayed silent, even though she kept what she knew to herself, a woman was dead and two others were on the verge of it.
Nobody could know that Taylor knew. She needed to get a hold of Massimo Marone as soon as possible. Where was he?
B&B
Jane's Addiction looked like the kind of place poor people would hang out, Bill thought to himself. The girl had agreed to meet him, thinking he was going to offer her an internship since his last one had died, but she had no idea what was coming.
"One large coffee. Black." Bill threw a twenty dollar bill on the counter and stared at the barista.
"You forgot to say please," the woman replied, not moving.
"No, I didn't." Smiling, Bill crossed his arms over his chest.
The barista picked up the bill, held it to the light, and then dropped it to the floor, where it settled at Bill's feet. "Well, then, I guess I didn't hear your order."
"Can I talk to your manager?"
The woman laughed and leaned on the counter. "You're looking at the manager. And the owner. Or did you not notice my name on the sign over the door?"
"You would do well to know your place," Bill scanned her nametag, "Jane. I am not somebody you want to make mad."
"And I'm quite sure I don't care. Now either change your attitude or get off my property," Jane shot back, an irritating smile on her face. Bill made a note to have one of the editors of one his food magazines give the place a terrible rating.
Not wanting to be kicked out before he could meet Celia, Bill picked the bill up from the floor and held it out to her. "My apologies. One large black coffee. Please."
"Coming right up. You're order number 47," Jane told bill, ringing the order up and holding his change out with a receipt.
"Excuse me," a young woman interrupted, stepping up beside Bill. He recognized her from the picture Justin had sent. "Are you Bill Spencer?"
"You must be Celia Fitzgerald." Bill ignored Jane and his money, shaking Celia's hand instead. "Let's have a seat. We need to talk."
Celia led him to a table and looked like she was doing her best not to explode. "Thank you so much for the opportunity, Mr. Spencer. I don't even remember filling out an application, but I did so many last year that I..."
Holding up a hand, Bill silenced her. "I lied to you, Celia. I'm not here to talk to you about being an intern."
Crestfallen, Celia's entire demeanor changed. "You're not?"
That was when Bill smiled and said the magic words. "This may come as a surprise, it certainly was to me when I found out, but you're my daughter."
B&B
RJ stood in front of the door to his loft and sighed. Liam hadn't wanted to leave him alone, not after RJ's new phone had exploded with calls and texts over the fucking tape. Reaching into his pocket, RJ pulled out the shattered remains of the device and stared at them.
"Just go fuck my mother already," RJ whispered, repeating the words he had hissed when his friend offered to spend the night with him. He regretted that, and he desperately wanted to apologize. The hurt look on Liam's face haunted him.
The door to the loft wasn't locked. Noah had probably forgotten after he moved all of his stuff out. But when RJ pushed it open, the loft wasn't empty.
"Oh, hello, Chooky! We were wondering when you would get back. Desiree, your cousin is home!"
"Who the hell are you? Who is Desiree?" RJ asked, carefully stepping into his apartment. He had no idea who the woman was, or why she was smoking in his loft.
"She means me. My poor mother hasn't been quite right ever since the stroke."
RJ's blood went cold and he slowly turned towards the voice. She was sitting on his bed, holding the guitar Noah had bought all those months ago. A fox stole hung over her shoulders and valuable jewels dripped from her ears and fingers.
"You... You're..." RJ stuttered, unable to complete his thought.
"Surprise, Bitch," Ivy said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and giving her cousin a Cheshire smile. "I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me."
"You're dead!" RJ screamed, stumbling backwards into the door and accidentally slamming it shut. "And a terrorist!"
"Rumours of my demise, much like my alleged criminal activity, have been greatly exaggerated, my miniscule little cousin." Ivy sat the guitar on the bed and rose to her full height. "You will be happy to know that all proper authorities have cleared me of those erroneous charges those fools in New York brought against me. I am an innocent woman. And I need your help, RJ."
"What can I do? Why would I help you with anything?!" RJ was terrified and sore and exhausted. Ivy could tell and he knew that it pleased her.
"It's simple, you tiny fool." Ivy sauntered across the loft until she was looking directly down at RJ. She slammed her hand on the wall beside his head and he flinched. "I'm going to scratch your back, and you're going to scratch mine."
"How?" RJ squeaked fearfully.
Pulling back, Ivy kept that same threatening grin on her face as she looked to her mother and nodded. "You're going to put us up here. You're going to get me my job back at Forrester. And until that happens, you're not going to tell anyone I'm here."
"Why would I do any of those things?" Even though he wanted to vomit, RJ did his best to keep his voice steady. "I don't even work at Forrester. I never did! You know this."
"But your brother is the CEO, RJ. You help me, I help you, you wretched little poofter. You get me back in at Forrester Creations, and I will do everything in my power to see that Ridge and Steffy are destroyed. For good."
Ivy held her hand out to RJ, and for several seconds he just stared at it. Then, with a shaky hand, he reached out and grabbed it. Her grip was like iron.
"Dez!" Ivy's mother yelled from her seat. "Where's Shakira?"
"Mother, I don't have a fucking daughter, you stupid bitch!" Ivy yelled back hatefully. "Can I please plot the demise of my enemies without being interrupted by your idiotic delusions?"