Sharpay looked distant and worried as she sits through an interview about her upcoming wedding.

Troy ends up seeing Gabriella on his way out, and she hides the photo and swallows down her emotions to maintain a calm façade. She's barely responsive as he tells her he's got someone to meet, but he stops himself from heading off to check on her, noting she doesn't look good.

Gabriella's eyes are strangely unfocused as Troy checks her forehead for a fever, and his gentle touch reminds her of the first time all three of them had been in a room (Troy, Gabriella and Sharpay). And how he'd lied only knowing Sharpay from her news reporter days.

Gabriella stares back at him with a fierce look.

Troy has no idea what's going on, and just thinks she's sick from her drinking. Gabriella thought of the words that Sharpay said "You'll be the one to get hurt!".

Gabriella musters up the strength to wish him off, and even adds

'Come back quickly'

However, the second he's out of sight her knees go weak. She stares at the photo and takes it all in, her mind reeling to connect the dots, until she remembers the envelope that Jason gave her and she tears it open. Inside is the indictment she'd filed against Troy when the whole blackmail debacle happened, only now realizing that they're the same person.

Just before in the café Jason tells Gabriella what he knows about Troy Bolton. He was the one who saved her on the plane, he and Sharpay go back 19 years, and that the money Sharpay gave him was meant to keep him quiet about their relationship.

'In any case, that friend, Troy Bolton, approached you with an ulterior motive'. Says Jason

Gabriella listens as she keeps adding more and more sugar to her coffee.

Meanwhile Troy meets up with Ryan at a bar, and lies to him that Sharpay died 6 years ago. Ryan doesn't buy it since he got her number off Troy's phone.

'Sharpay killed him, right? Sharpay killed him and you took the blame, right?' Ryan suddenly asked.

They go way back, and Ryan knows Troy well enough to make that assumption.

'I don't know about Sharpay, though' says Ryan.

Jason tells Gabriella about Troy's murder charge and sentence, citing that as the reason why he was kicked out of medical school. Gabriella then asks

'What else'. As though she's not impressed or frightened yet

Jason blinks at her, before stressing that Troy and Sharpay have been close for a long time

But Gabriella interrupts him

'You said that before'

Jason continues and that Troy approached Gabriella with ulterior motives.

'Are you dense? You already said that too'.

He tries getting through to her, but she continues to shrug him off. Troy's list of crimes is nothing special to her. When he suggests legal action, Gabriella turns to him fast

'Don't you touch him. Don't you dare touch a single hair on his body'.

So while Gabriella protects Troy, Troy protects Sharpay against the threat of her brother. We know by this point that first impressions are deceiving; Ryan is no model citizen, but he claims to be on Troy's side against his self-described satanic sister.

'I will take revenge for you. She's a terrible girl who used you. I can't explain everything to you, but there is not comparing me with that bitch' Ryan claims that he'll take care of Troy's revenge, his mom's revenge, and his own revenge against Sharpay.

This sets Troy off, and he kicks Ryan down before pouncing on him, shoving his face into the seat cushion as he grates out

'Don't you lurk anywhere near Sharpay. If you do, I'll kill you with my bare hands'. He makes sure to drive the point home that he did kill someone before, and he can do it again.

Jason is back at the Montez house and asks Chairman Montez to reinstate Gabriella now that she did as he asked and blocked the strike.

When Chairman Montez protests against honouring the deal, Jason smartly uses his resignation as a bargaining chip. However, their conversation takes an even darker when Jason tells him that if he doesn't get Gabriella back now, she may never return, especially since she may have found something more important outside of her Dad's cutthroat world.

Chairman Montez asks for clarification, so Jason spells it out, meaning every word

'Chairman, it seems Gabriella has gone crazy'.

Meanwhile, Gabriella meanders through Troy's neighbourhood and thinks of their first serious talk in the car, when he'd asked her what she would do if he wanted her to give him something much more valuable than a watch.

Sharpay musters up the courage to give Troy a call, and thinks he's behind her brother's sudden reappearance in her life.

'How far will you go? You and I, how far are we going to go? Let's go till the end'

Troy then hangs up.

Sharpay finds Chairman Montez unwell and knocking back some pills, but agrees when he orders her to bring back Gabriella. He hands over Troy's address, and wonders why Sharpay hasn't taken care of him yet.

Money won't work on Troy and she tells him as much, but before leaving, she comes up with an idea. Chairman Montez knows some people in low places, ones that could beat the tar out of Troy.

But then Sharpay has the nerve to ask if there won't be any bad consequences from using that kind of force.

Gabriella catches Troy on his way home, and takes him to a pretty vista over looing Albuquerque for a drink. Gabriella tries to drink less in front of Troy, in case something happens again.

She points out all the lights, and says that among those lights are Troy's future wife and her future husband. She turns to him cool as a cucumber, and says that he'll have to send her an invitation when he gets married.

Troy turns to her

'Could it be…. You thought of me as a potential marriage partner?' asks Troy

But Gabriella tells him that she was way out of his league from the start.

She explains herself with a cold face.

'My feelings lasted longer than I expected. That's a compliment'.

Gabriella vulnerability begin to peek through as she explains what he hopes he's feeling- enraged, maybe even struggling to accept the harsh reality of being without her.

It takes some serious wind out of her when Troy replies

'It's not hard. I understand'.

'You understand?' asked Gabriella

Gabriella said what a bother it would have been if he'd hung on to her. But Gabriella was thinking 'Hang on to me, please'.

But he doesn't, and she stumbles home alone while she fights back tears. Troy is unreadable as ever as he keeps drinking where she left him.

Gabriella looks more than unwell, and we can see her world crashing down as her vision begins to blur. Sharpay slowly filters into view, having to bring her back, but is promptly shocked when Gabriella faints on the spot.

Troy finally gathers himself up to go home, only to have a mysterious attacker brutally smash a piece of wood over his skull.

Sharpay is driving the unconscious Gabriella home. At the mention of hiring thugs, Chairman Montez said no. So Sharpay orchestrated the attack on her own.

Two thugs beat Troy until he's bloody and wheezing, and hold the phone to his ear once he's knocked down with Sharpay on the line.

She coldly refers him as 'Mr Bolton' and tells him that all he has to do is sign a few documents promising t never step near her 'daughter' again, and in return, he'll get a lavish estate in California and a speedy plane ticket.

Sharpay mentions Chad will be taken cared for too, however,

'If you decline it this time, next time, your most loved one will get hurt'.

Gabriella stirs awake at different points during this conversation, but it is not clear how much she hears.

Troy has no choice but to listen silently.

Gabriella is in bed undergoing IV treatment at home and under Sharpay's care. Jason comes for a visit. Sharpay tells Jason things but clearly knows its lie so he doesn't buy it.

He come's at Chairman Montez's call, and it looks like he found the tape of Zeke and Sharpay kissing.

'You knew about this?' asked Chairman Montez

'So you already knew about this? Why didn't you say something? Are you in this together with them?'

Jason says that he and Gabriella thought the shock would be too much, and Chairman Montez is upset that everybody knew except him. Still, he warns Jason against letting anyone know, even Gabriella, that he knows.

With fire in his eyes, Chairman Montez tells Jason to use every power under the law to bring down Zeke and Sharpay. And when the law isn't enough, he suggests doing anything and everything necessary, even framing the innocent, to make sure Sharpay and Zeke rot in prison for 30 years.

He finishes his calculating tirade by adding that only the can he die in peace, and will entrust Gabriella to Jason's care once he's gone.

As for Zeke, having a spy told him that Chairman Montez saw the tape this morning. Also with Jason. He rages uselessly.

A neighbourhood woman brings some soup to Troy's house, but no one comes to the door. A pair of shows at the entrance seems to indicate Troy is inside.

Gabriella finally regains consciousness and stares wistfully at a packet of medicine Troy gave her. Gabriella crumples up the parting gift.

Sharpay stops Gabriella trying to go to work in her weakened state, explaining her dad has it so that she can't take one step outside.

Gabriella isn't fazed, and calls Sharpay out on sending thugs to beat Troy

'You knew I was listening'

Sharpay shrugs then she owns up to it, but Gabriella gets the last laugh when she adds Troy didn't give in

'I really chose my man well'.

Sharpay just leaves, and makes sure to lock Gabriella inside her room.

A call from Ryan puts Sharpay on the edge, but her brother commends her on raising a loyal do like Troy.

'He threated to tear me apart if I came anywhere near you' Ryan explains

Sharpay felt like someone stabbed her. After all, she had Troy beaten because she thought he was working with Ryan, not because of Gabriella.

Sharpay knows she's done wrong and barely listens to Ryan on the phone, he asks her to meet up but she hangs up on the phone.

Later that night, Gabriella holds her Barbie as she remembers how Troy risked himself to save it, how he gave her strength when she fought for her mom's resort, how he kissed her in Bahamas, and how he'd warned her to run away from him with all her might.

At the memory of that specific conversation, Gabriella gathers her resolve and again tries to leave, but the door is locked. She notices that the outside guard is missing due to the storm, and rips her curtains to use as a rope to make it down to ground level.

During this time, Sharpay prepares a meal and puts them in lunch boxes while Chairman Montez is asleep.

Gabriella drives to Troy's neighbourhood and starts walking shoeless, all while getting soaked to the bone. No one answers at his gate and she rails against it, calling his name.

Just when she's about to give up, the gate creaks open, and Troy comes out holding his arm while limping. His face is a disaster, and Gabriella registers the shock in tears. Gabriella confesses with all the feeling in the world.

'That was my first kiss. The one we had in Bahamas. From someone…. It was also the first time I told someone 'I love you' with all my heart. It was the first time in my 29 years of my life. 'I love you, Gabriella Montez'. I heard that kind of heart thumping confession for the first time because of you. Because of the guy named Troy Bolton, waking up, breathing, living…. Those things felt wondrous for the first time.'

Troy inches up to her, and wipes her tears away with his thumb.

'So… my only wish now is to be able to see you every day, to hear you tell me you love me everyday, to dream the same dream, to have children, to raise them, and grown old with you. Is that possible?' asked Gabriella

And the way she stares at him, scared out of her mind that she's laid everything out, just makes her seem so vulnerable.

Troy finally wraps her up in his arms, but then his eyes focus on something over the shoulder- Sharpay.

She's standing with an umbrella and a disbelieving look, and Troy just holds Gabriella tighter, and send her a silent warning in glare. She is mine.