Sally Squares Off With Chelsea — and Adam Leaves Nick With a Warning

At Crimson Lights, Sally watches through the door in disbelief as Adam thanks Chelsea for her advice regarding Jack’s offer. She walks inside and chirps, “Hi guys! How are you?!” She starts complimenting Chelsea on her podcast and Adam turns to ask, “Sally… what’s going on?” Sally insists she’s just being polite and leaves them to their chat. Adam apologizes to Chelsea, who say, “She doesn’t scare me.” Adam grins — he forgot how tough she could be. Chelsea urges him to go get in touch with Jack and he takes off.

Sally marches over to Chelsea’s booth and sits down. “Well you certainly didn’t waste any time!” Chelsea sniffs that Sally’s obviously sad that Adam no longer looks at her with affection. “Clearly what you guys had was based on lust.” Sally fumes, “What Adam and I had was very special.” Chelsea rebuts, “To you.” She informs the redhead that what she and Adam have has lasted for year — they have a child together. They’re finally in a great place and she’s not going to let Sally get in the middle of it. Whatever is going on between her and Adam, whether friendship or otherwise, is none of her business. Chelsea stalks out and Sharon appears. “It’s hard to let go of him, isn’t it?”

At Newman Enterprises, Victoria tells Nick that they have to find a way to stop Adam. Nick relays that he and their father saw Adam at Society and he’s definitely on the warpath. Victoria thinks Sally is the key to this. They’ll buy time by having her tell Adam she’ll publish his article and let him believe she’s on his side. Nick barks, “So you want to use Sally as a pawn. Absolutely not, Vick.”

Nick doesn’t think it’s fair to enlist Sally in a Newman family fight, she’s been nothing but loyal. Victoria decides he’s right. Nick points out she’s still dealing with heartache, and it will get messy and complicated. Victoria is determined to protect her brother and father. Nick gripes that he doesn’t need protecting and all the talk about it is starting to make him understand Adam.

In the park, Mariah, Tessa, Devon, Chance, and Abby are gathered to celebrate Dom’s first birthday. They tease Devon about his huge present and Abby announces they’re going to make a time capsule for the kid including their best memories of his first year. Chance looks distracted. After a while, Abby declares that everyone should read theirs. Mariah and Tessa read theirs and Mariah suggests they add sonograph photos to the capsule. Devon reads his, which recalls bringing him into the world. Mariah’s glad he left out the part about the psycho who kidnapped her. Abby recalls her best memory was when his dad came home and got to meet him. That’s Chance’s favorite memory too.

Tessa and Mariah put their wishes for Dom in the capsule and then tell the others they’re leaving — they have to get the new Face of Marchetti to Marchetti. They all wish her luck, and Devon adds that Tessa’s fans are hoping she’ll soon get back to doing what she does best. Once alone, Abby tells Chance he was pretty quiet this afternoon — did the time capsule idea bother him or is something else wrong?

At Newman, Victoria asks what Nick means by saying he understands Adam. Nick just gets his frustration with Victor constantly interfering and how he has to fight the urge to teach him a lesson. Victoria’s sick and tired of Adam lashing out every time his ego gets bruised. Nick isn’t defending him, but he gets what motivates him. He didn’t want their father’s help but it was forced upon him and she’s been in the same position. Victoria insists they’re nothing like Adam. Nick repeats that he’s not defending their brother and admits it’s too bad he’s regressed — he was cool with the new Adam. Victoria snips, “The new Adam is a fairy tale. I never bought his so-called transformation and clearly, he’s up to his old tricks trying to print slander about our father.” Nick argues it’s not slander if it’s true. Victor appears and declares it’s over. He’ll take care of the threats from Adam. Victor wants to celebrate and put the dreadful chapter behind them.

At Crimson Lights, Sally is humiliated about getting dressed down by Chelsea. Sharon notes she’s good at pushing people’s buttons but wonders if it’s her or Adam that has the redhead triggered. Sally’s trying to let go of him. Sharon knows the feeling. She assures Sally it can be done. “I’m proof of that.” Sally reveals that he finally admitted the truth about why he dumped her, but it just made the wound raw again. “He caused me too much pain and there was no going back.” She alludes to him not trusting her to go down his new path and Sharon learns he’s out to get his father… again. Sharon is sure Adam didn’t want her to get caught in Victor’s crosshairs. Sally shrugs, “Maybe he was looking out for me,” but it doesn’t matter — there’s no way to move past his daddy issues. Sharon warned her before and she gets it now… Victor will always be Adam’s primary relationship.

Outside Society, Adam leaves Jack a voicemail message to call him back. He disconnects and is about to go inside when he notices Victor, Victoria and Nick sharing a toast at a table.

Inside, Victor compliments his kids. He loves them running Newman Enterprises with Nikki. They drink to the fact that Ashland Locke is now a part of history. Nick looks uncomfortable. Adam walks up and finds it convenient that he can address them all. He announces he’ll pick up their tab. Victoria questions why he wants to drag the family into another fight. Adam’s had an epiphany about his life with the help of someone close to him and won’t be pursuing revenge. He leaves and Victoria tells Nick and Victor that she isn’t buying it. Victor assures he’ll deal with him.

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In the park, Chance assures Abby he wasn’t upset about anything and enjoyed the birthday picnic. She asks why he was so quiet then. Chance doesn’t want to get into it but she insists. Chance admits he’s still worried about shutting down the investigation into Ashland’s death. Abby thought he’d put that to rest. Chance can’t stop thinking about it. He’s trying to reconcile the decision he made. Abby assures that he did the right thing, and her family is grateful. Chance reminds her she’s the only person he has to talk to about this — it’s not like he can go around town saying, “Well, my father-in-law committed a crime and I’m having trouble letting it go.”

Abby doesn’t like what this is doing to her husband or to them. She never meant to influence her and asks, “Are you having second thoughts?” Chance tells her not to worry about it and takes a call. He listens, disconnects, and tells Abby he has to meet an informant about Rey’s last open case. Abby’s disappointed and wants him to promise they can get away soon. He’ll think about it. Chance kisses her and Dom and goes. Devon returns for his tablet and notices Abby’s emotional. She was expecting the day to go differently than it did — she was hoping to have time with Chance, but he got called away on a case. Abby complains that his work is consuming him. Doesn’t that mean that something’s wrong or off? The way she grew up, family always came first. Devon says Neil instilled the same thing in him. He points out that Chance is crazy about her and Abby, but he’s built differently. Standing up for what he believes is right is right up there with family for him. That’s something she’ll have to understand. Abby admits it’s hard sometimes because her father always put family first. Devon knows Chance loves her and Dominic. “You two are his first priority.” Abby thanks Devon and hugs him but looks upset.

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At Crimson Lights, Sharon thought Sally’s relationship with Adam could survive his vendetta against Victor… but now he’s alone again. Sally isn’t a fan of being alone and muses, “How do you handle it?” She then quickly apologizes, but Sharon assures her that there’s a difference between being alone and being lonely. She has family and cherishes her time by herself. Sally loves that outlook. Maybe one day she’ll get there. Sharon continues that the people around her make her feel safe. Sally says, “Like Nick.” Sharon nods. He is one of those people. Sally thinks it must be nice having an ex who isn’t an enemy. Sharon says Nick is a good man and she knows how lucky she is to have him in her life.

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At Society, Victor and Victoria have gone and Nick approaches Adam at the bar. He asks if the epiphany is real. Adam says it is and Nick asks why the abrupt shift. Adam had a conversation with someone who convinced him he was going down the wrong path. Nick questions if they’re just supposed to take him at his word. Adam knows they’ll believe whatever they want but assures his brother that none of his issues are with him — he’s been nothing but fair since Faith’s accident. “This all has to do with dad.” Nick reminds Adam that if he changes his mind and weaponizes what he knows about Ashland’s death, he will get hurt. Adam suggests he worry less about him and more about Victor turning on him. Nick tells him about the night he killed Ashland and suggests that Victor’s actions prove how far he would go to protect them. “Including you, Adam. I wish that you could drop some of your resentment.” Adam does too but he doesn’t know if it’s ever going to happen. He swears to Nick that he’s backing off and wants to find a new path. Nick really hopes that’s true.

At the rooftop bar, Chelsea gets an email from Billy with a crying emoji — he’s sent her the recording of their last podcast. She listens as he says goodbyes are a chance for new beginnings and then turns it off and stews. Her eyes fill with tears briefly before she calls Connor to tell him she’s missing him.

At Crimson Lights, Mariah and Tessa tell Sharon about Tessa’s first day on the job and Dom’s first birthday party. It made them realize they don’t want to wait any longer — they’re going to wade back into the adoption process. Sharon is thrilled and they all embrace.

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At Newman, Victor chuckles when Victoria teases that she may have too much of a champagne buzz to go over the reports. Victor admits, only to her, that he may have one or two too many tequilas back in the office back in the day and made some deals. She laughs and then turns serious as she thanks him for what he did that night and hugs him. They express their love. Victor wishes her brothers felt the same. Victoria feels Nick does deep down, but she has no idea what’s going on in Adam’s head. Victor assures her he’ll do whatever it takes to protect the family even if it means protecting them from one of their own.

At Society, Adam reasons to Nick that when Victor covered up the deaths of AJ Montalvo and Locke, he prevented them from processing their actions. They were both accidental and self-defense but they never had to properly face what happened. “I don’t know about you, but for me it meant I have to bury all of these feelings about killing a man in the deepest part of my psyche.” Victor thought he was helping but what he was essentially saying, “You did something wrong.” He repressed his feelings for a long time, and it turned him into what he is today. “Is that what you want, Nick?”

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Next on The Young and the Restless: Jack makes a shocking decision, Chance gives Chelsea words of encouragement, and Noah opens up about his past.

Look back on Nick and Sharon’s love story in the gallery below.

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