Wednesday, May 03, 2006, Episode #4799

Nick has stayed the night at Brooke's house, where he is on his cell phone as he dresses. He tells the person on the other end that he wants it to be quick and clean. Brooke wakes up and calls for him, so he goes to the bed, kisses her and tells her how wonderful last night was. Brooke agrees and admits that she feared he wasn't coming back when he left the cabin last night, since she feared he didn't believe her about Ridge. He tells her again that he's not going anywhere. She tells him that she feels so safe with him and promises not to give him one trauma after another. Nick tells her that she isn't responsible for what happened. She says she knows, but... He stops her and says she's got a man who will stand up for her and make sure that this never happens again. As she watches Nick dress, Brooke tells him that this will never end if he goes after Ridge and his father, so she wishes he would let this need for revenge go. He says that it's justice, not revenge. She asks him to stop. He asks if she trusts him; she says she knows he does and they kiss.

Stephanie is stunned by what Ridge tells her.

Ridge drops by his mother's office and asks how Felicia is. After giving her son the lowdown, Stephanie guesses he's here to talk about the new promotional campaign and goes to call Megan. Ridge tells her that Megan isn't there, because she resigned. She admits she's not really surprised, since Megan didn't seem too happy when they talked the other day. Ridge says that Megan's departure was about more than that, since Megan helped Massimo frame Jackie! Stephanie is stunned as Ridge explains how Massimo set his ex-wife up by having Megan plant phony evidence, just to distract Nick. Stephanie is stunned, but she also has to laugh after all the times Ridge has called her "manipulative." Ridge tells her that Massimo swore he was not involved in the charges against Jackie. Believe what he wants about Mass, Stephanie tells him, asking when he's giving up on his obsession with Brooke. Brooke is the mother of his son, Ridge reminds her. She's just glad that Massimo's scheme failed, since Ridge would be with Brooke if it hadn't. Actually, Ridge says, he and Brooke slept together the other night. So alert the media, Stephanie quips. Ridge explains that Nick found out that he had slept with Brooke and claimed it was rape!

Ridge tells his mom that Brooke forgave him.

A stunned Stephanie asks Ridge why Nick would make such a claim; did Brooke tell him that? she wonders. No she didn't, Ridge says. He explains how Brooke had been taking some sedatives at the time, but he didn't know that. But Brooke isn't crying rape. Ridge says that he was the one who made the mistake of climbing into Brooke's bed. And after all the times he's slept with Brooke, she asks, he didn't realize how out of it Brooke was? Ridge sticks to his story. Stephanie shakes her head in disbelief and says that it's Caroline all over again; the only difference was that Caroline had been drinking when he slipped into her bed, back when Caroline was married to Thorne. That was a joke, Ridge states. Oh, sure, Stephanie says, but he still slept with her. He asks if she thinks there's a pattern here. She recalls how Caroline knew it was him, but pretended he was Thorne to ease her own guilt over what happened. Brooke wasn't pretending, Ridge says. Still, Stephanie points out, Thorne shot him when he found out, and it almost tore the family apart. And now he's going after the woman Nick loves. Ridge tells her that Brooke forgave him. And that will only make Nick more dangerous, Stephanie predicts. She bets that Brooke is thrilled by the excitement of watching two brothers fight over her. Ridge says that he loves Brooke, so he's sure they'll work this out. Stephanie can't believe he still wants Brooke, especially after this fiasco, and she wonders why he would let Brooke do this to him. Ridge reminds her that he had married Brooke, but then he walked out on her, which is why he's going to make sure that it never happens again.

Brooke tells Bridget what happened at Big Bear.

Bridget stops by to see Brooke; she wants to make sure her mom is OK after what she heard from Taylor. She's worried about the fact that her mom was on such heavy medication. Guessing that Taylor may not have told her everything, Brooke explains how Ridge didn't know she was medicated when they slept together, so he didn't realize that she didn't want it to happen. Once he found out about the medication, he apologized, so Brooke has forgiven him. Bridget mentions that Taylor said that Nick found out. He did, Brooke admits, thanks to Taylor. Guessing that Nick was devastated, Bridget asks what happened after Nick found out. Brooke tells Bridget that Nick was angrier than she'd ever seen him at Big Bear, where Brooke found him fighting with Ridge, mad enough to kill him. But they talked it out, and she told Nick that he's the one she loves. Bridget thinks it's time her mom stopped TELLING Nick and started SHOWING him. Brooke hesitantly tells her that she already DID show Nick. She knows she promised to wait, but she's sorry. Bridget tells her it's OK; her marriage is clearly over and the divorce is just a technicality. Meanwhile, she's doing what she said she would and has moved on.

Bridget assures her mom that she's moved on.

With Dante? Brooke asks. Bridget says yes. Brooke agrees that Dante adores Bridget and asks what happened to the trip to Italy. It got delayed, Bridget admits. Brooke fears it was because of her and assures Bridget that she threw the pills away, but Bridget assures her that it wasn't because of her, although she admits her mom has a lot on her plate now. Brooke agrees, noting how Nick wanted to press rape charges against Ridge, but she couldn't do it. At first, Nick wasn't sure how to deal with that, but he came around. Nick does feel betrayed, though, by Ridge and Massimo. God help them, Bridget says. She agrees when Brooke says Nick is a reasonable man, but he's also a man with whom rules don't always apply, so can he really be OK with accepting that Ridge didn't force himself on Brooke.

Nick wants the board to address Massimo's recent actions.

Massimo arrives at Marone, having been summoned by the board. He greets them by name -- Vijay, Suzanne and Rinaldo -- and asks how they are, but they get right to the point. They show Mass a fax they got last night from Megan Conley confessing her complicity in framing Jacqueline Marone, something that she claims she did because she was coerced with Massimo. The board members grill him: Did he know Ms. Conley? Did he bear any ill will towards his ex-wife because of their scandalous divorce? Are the allegations true? Mass says that the charges are preposterous. Yes, he was involved with Megan, but it ended badly, and apparently she wants to get back at him for being scorned. He even reads the confession and says that Megan must have had help writing it, with all the legalese throughout. He bets his son Dominick helped Megan, which makes this a family manner for him to deal with in the family. As if on cue, Nick comes in, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. Nick reminds the board that as a publicly traded company, they have a duty to disclose behavior that can threaten Marone Industries, so they have to settle this now. Mass asks Nick what he's doing. Nick says that Ms. Conley has disclosed some damaging information about the founder of this company that she is willing to testify about, so they need to deal with this at this meeting.

Massimo warns Nick that this isn't over.

Mass reminds the board how strong this company has been since he built in and points out that the only place Ms. Conley has accused him is in this ghost-written document, And Megan won't confess to the authorities, Nick states, since he assured her the board would take the necessary action. Mass thinks they can deal with that later, but Vijay stops him and says that they need to deal with this now, by Massimo stepping down as the head of this company. Mass is incensed, since he built this company up with his own two hands. A Marone should always be in charge, he says. The board members state that a Marone will still lead the company; they'd like Nick to run things. Nick accepts, so the board members thank him and end the meeting. Once the board members are gone, Massimo warns Nick that this is isn't over. He'll never forgive Nick for this. Nick motions to the door, where two guards are waiting to escort Mass out of the building. Nice touch, Mass says as he turns to the door. As he exits, he tells Nick, "I'll be back!" and shuts the door behind him.