Written by: Dallas Walsh

"So, as you can see," Lucinda Rockwell purses her lips together as she looks at the young medic who was about to inject her son, Mac Rockwell, with a lethal drug cocktail that would have killed him. "Mac didn't kill anyone; my son, Levi, is alive and well."

The medics, along with the rest of the Rockwell family, eyes look up at the top of the stairs where Nathan Lockhart is fast asleep in a wheelchair. No one can truly understand what has happened, but they are grateful that Lucinda has seemingly stopped Mac from being sentenced to death.

"I'm not sure I understand," the medic replies to Lucinda. "How is Mr. Lockhart alive? And why is he with you?"

"All of that can be explained at a later time," Lucinda tells her before she moves up to Mac and grabs his hand. "You need to release my son at once; Mac isn't going to punish for this anymore."

"Mother, what is happening?" a confused Mac asks quickly.

"I am preventing them from making a horrible mistake," she replies to him before she looks at the medic. "Well, what are you waiting for? Tell these men to release my son at once or you will all have a lawsuit on your hands."

The medic nods to the two police guards, who move towards Mac and start to remove the strappings that are holding him in the chair, as everyone continues to wonder what just happened.

***

A short time later, Mac is sitting on the sofa in the Rockwell mansion while his son, Cole Rockwell, opens a bottle of champagne. He passes glasses to his sister, Stacey Rockwell, his brother, Lexington Rockwell, his mother, Lydia Rockwell and then, Mac and Lucinda.

"I'm still in shock by what just happened but this is cause for celebration," Stacey tells the family before she takes a sip of her champagne. "I thought we were going to lose you, Daddy."

"I thought I was going to die," Mac admits to everyone. "It is crazy to think that I had made peace with it and now… this."

"Mac, darling," Lydia moves up to her ex-husband. "I am thrilled by the turn of events, you have to know that."

"I do, thank you Lydia."

"And, I need to know what happened, but right now, I have to go and take care of something," she says before she looks over at Stacey. "Something that I should have done a long time ago."

Before anyone can ask any questions, Lydia sets her glass of champagne down and makes a beeline for the exit.

"Well, I still have questions," Lex uneasily chuckles to Lucinda. "How did you know Nathan was alive? And where was he all this time?"

"That's exactly what I'd like to know," Mac looks over at his mother, who gulps heavily.

***

"So you see, there," Sabine Andrews points to the screen of her laptop while she stands behind Helena Grant in the police detectives office at the police station. Sabine, once she saw Carmen Santos break into Mac's suite at the country club, rushed to show the detective in hopes of having enough evidence to prove that Carmen planted the gun that killed Nathan in Mac's suite; she now firmly believes that Carmen, not Mac, killed Nathan. "That's Carmen going into Mac's suite. Three minutes later, she leaves."

Helena pauses the footage when she sees Carmen leaving the suite while she lets out a large sigh. "I'm afraid this doesn't prove anything other than the fact that Carmen into the room. We didn't see her leave a gun in the suite."

"But why else would she have gone in there?"

"I don't know," Helena replies to her. "But I can ask her."

"You don't think that it's odd that about thirty minutes after this video was taken, you got the anonymous tip that the murder weapon was in Mac's room? It's so obvious that Carmen planted the gun!"

"Why would Carmen want to kill her father in law?" Helena asks her quickly. "What motive would she have?"

"Well," Sabine looks back at her with intent. "For starters, Nathan was a son of a bitch to her after Slate Lockhart died; he told Carmen that his son could have done better than her. And secondly, Carmen is running Rockwell Mining now that Nathan, Slate and Mac are out of the picture. Carmen, and her brother, have always wanted a piece of the Rockwell fortune. This was her way to get it."

"Interesting theory," Helena taps her finger down. "I'll call the jailhouse and ask them to hold off on the execution until we have looked into this."

"Oh thank you!" Sabine breathes a sign of relief, hoping that her theory is right.

***

"Good, you're here, we have to talk," Lydia slams the door to the main office at Rockwell Mining as she sees Carmen sitting behind the desk.

Carmen looks up and wonders why Lydia is in such a huff to see her; the last time they spoke, everything was set for the merger once the legal documentation was finalized.

"What is it? It seems urgent?" Carmen says as she moves to the bar to get a drink. "Here, have a brandy, it will calm you down."

Lydia takes the drink and finishes it in one giant swig. "The merger, it's off. I… I can't go through with it."

Carmen feels the blood drain from her face at Lydia's comments. For weeks now, she had been looking forward to merging Rockwell Mining together with Blackmore Ltd. because it would make huge headlines as her first order as CEO.

"What? I don't understand," a stunned Carmen replies to her quickly. "Everything is set, Lydia. We just need to sign the paperwork and it's done. This, this is unacceptable!"

"I'm sorry Carmen, I really am," Lydia looks back at her. "But my relationship with my daughter depends on this; Stacey means more to me than this deal. You understand right?"

Carmen gets an evil look in her eyes as she looks back at her. "Oh, I understand alright. Once again, the Rockwell's are trying to fuck me over and I can't stand it anymore!"

***

"I know that you all need answers," Lucinda tells her family as they continue to sit in the living room of the Rockwell mansion. "But we should really be focused on the fact that Mac is alive and here with us."

"We are all grateful for that," Cole tells his grandmother. "But we still need to understand how this happened. How did you know that Nathan was alive?"

"Because," Lucinda uneasily begins to tell them. "I faked Levi's death. I knew that if Sabine was with him when he supposedly died, everyone would believe that he was really gone."

"I don't believe this," Mac sighs back to her.

"Why would you do that Nana?" Stacey asks her quickly. "Daddy was on trial for killing Nathan!"

"I know! It all got out of hand very quickly," Lucinda replies to her. "You see, I thought if Levi was out of the picture, our family would go back to normal. The feud between Mac and Levi would be put to rest and we could all move on."

"And the trial? You didn't think you tell anyone this while Dad was being tried and convicted of murder?" Lex asks her next, reeling from her admission.

"I thought that Chase Cooper was going to get the charges dropped! It wasn't until that damn Judge sentenced you to death that I knew I had bring Nathan home. You must believe me, I never meant to hurt anyone. I was just trying to put my family back together."

"I don't know what to think," Mac admits to his mother. "This plan of yours, it was insane. But I am grateful that you came back when you did otherwise I would be dead."

Lucinda grabs his hand and squeezes it. "I wouldn't have let you die, Mac. You must believe me when I tell you that. I love you too much to let them kill you for something that you didn't do. Now, we just all have to turn our attention to finding the person who shot Levi. That person, or persons, need to pay for what they've done."

***

"Look Carmen," Lydia starts to try to explain why she needs to drop the merger while the younger woman moves back to the desk in the main office at Rockwell Mining. "I know you wanted to make a big splash as the new CEO and you still can, just not with this merger."

Carmen slowly opens the top drawer of the desk before she looks back at Lydia. "The problem is, Lydia," she hisses. "I was so focused on the merger that I haven't thought of anything else to do with the company, so you're screwing me over and I won't let that happen."

"I am sorry, Carmen but I won't change my mind on this. The merger, it's over."

"Like hell it is," Carmen announces as she pulls a gun from the desk drawer and points it Lydia. "You will sign the merger papers or I will kill you; the choice is yours."

***

"Okay, at least I've bought Mac some time," Sabine whispers to herself as she moves towards the living room of the Rockwell mansion. She freezes in her tracks when she sees Mac and Lucinda huddled in a conversation on the sofa. "What is going on here? Mac? You're here… but…but…"

Mac chuckles as he stands up and moves to hug Sabine. "Yes, I am here. It's a long story; you haven't checked your phone, have you? We tried calling you."

"No, I haven't," Sabine replies to him quickly. "I was caught up in something. How did this happen?"

"It's a long story," Mac tells her. "But you should brace yourself. Something shocking has happened."

"What is it?"

"It's Levi," Lucinda looks over at her. "He's alive. He didn't die; your fiancé is alive and well."

Sabine feels the blood drain from her face before she faints to the ground!

"Sabine! Sabine! Are you okay?" Mac bends down to tend to her. "Sabine!"

***

Lex takes a deep breath as he looks at the address that is on the screen of his IPhone. He recalls how Casper Ross gave him for where his deceased husband's, Jarek Williams, twin brother should be living. Lex has been determined to find the man that he saw at the hospital that looked exactly like Jarek; he was stunned when Casper uncovered that Jarek's mother, Odette Williams, actually had two babies but never knew about it. Now, he is about to, possibly, meet the brother of his husband.

He takes a deep breath before he knocks on the door of the apartment a few times. Within a few minutes, a man that looks exactly like Jarek, is standing in front of Lex. Lex forces himself to take another breath as the resemblance is uncanny.

"May I help you?" the man asks Lex.

"I, uh, I know this will sound weird," Lex replies to him. "But I was married to a man who looks just like you and I was hoping we could talk."

The man arches his eyebrow back to him. "What the hell is this?" he questions Lex.

"I know it sounds crazy but look, I have proof," Lex informs him as he unlocks his phone and shows him a picture of Lex and Jarek on their wedding day in Las Vegas.

"Jesus," the man sighs back to him. "Who are you? Who sent you?"

"I'm Lexington Rockwell," Lex tells him. "And I'm here on my own will. Like I said, I had to find out why you and Jarek, my husband, look identical."

"I'm Jaxson, why don't you come in and we can chat," the man says as Lex slowly moves into the apartment.

***

Sabine slowly opens her eyes as Cole hovers over her in the living room of the Rockwell mansion as she lays on the sofa.

"What…what happened?" she asks as she opens her eyes and sees Cole.

"You fainted, I have a glass of water for you," he tells her as she leans up and takes a sip of the water. "Mac and Lucinda told you about Nathan."

"He's alive!" Sabine asks him as he nods to her. "I, I can't believe this."

"None of us can," Cole replies to her. "How are you? Are you okay? I can call an ambulance if you need one?"

"No, I'm fine," Sabine replies to him. "Where did Mac and Lucinda go?"

"Once I got here, I said I would look after you. They both went to lay down; it's been a hell of a day for them."

"And Nathan? Where is he? I need to see him."

Before Cole can respond, Celeste Baldwin moves into the living room. "Cole, Celeste, did I just hear Nathan's name?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Cole huffs back to her quickly.

"I know you told me to stay away, but knowing what today was, Mac's execution, I had to come see how you were doing. And apologize again for what happened. I honestly never meant for Sabine to lose her child," Celeste explains to them. "I know that it doesn't erase what happened, but I am trying to make amends."

"You can save your false apologies," Cole grits his teeth to her. "At the end of the day, a child is dead because of you, nothing you say can replace that, Celeste."

"I'm sorry," she bites her lower lip. "But what was this about Nathan?"

"He's alive," Sabine glares back to her. "Your lover is alive. But I'm going to tell you this once and only once, you slut, stay away from my fiancé or so help me God, you will pay."

***

A short time later, Sabine opens the door to a room in the Rockwell mansion and gasps at the sight in front of her: Nathan Lockhart is laying in a bed in front of her.

"Hey gorgeous," he smiles over to her. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I, we all, thought you had died," she admits to him, stunned to see him in front of her. "I had no idea it was all an elaborate scheme of Lucinda's."

"What matters is that I am back and I will make a full recovery, at least that's what the doctors tell me."

Sabine sits next to him as she gets tears in her eyes. "Really? You will be okay?"

"Yes and I will never leave you again."

"I know about Celeste."

"I can explain that," Nathan tells her. "Do you still love me?"

"Of course I do!" Sabine let's a tear fall down her cheek.

"Then we can make this work."

Before she can say anything else, Mac appears behind her. "Before anything else, it's time that you tell the truth. Who shot you, Nathan? This lie that it was me has gone on long enough."

Sabine looks at Nathan and squeezes his hand. "Mac is right; we need to know the truth: who shot you? Who did this you?"

Nathan sighs heavily before he looks at Sabine and then over at Mac. "Fine, you didn't shoot me. I just wanted you to suffer, are you happy now?"

"No," Mac whispers back to him. "I won't be happy until the son of a bitch that tried to kill you pays for their crime, so tell us, who did this to you? Who shot you, Nathan?"

"It, it was Carmen Santos," Nathan reveals to them. "My daughter in law shot me."

***

A panicked Lydia looks back at Carmen, who is still pointing a gun at her while they stand In the main office of Rockwell Mining.

"Carmen, please, you don't have to shoot me," Lydia tries to plead with her. "If you want the merger that badly, I will sign the paperwork."

Carmen chuckles back to her. "See, that wasn't too hard, was it? Why does it always take the presence of a gun for people to do what I want?"

"What other people?" Lydia asks her quickly. "Who else have you threatened or hurt, Carmen?"

"That doesn't really matter," Carmen snaps back at her. "Just know that I have worked too damn hard to get into this position and nothing will stop me from achieving my goals."

Lydia slowly nods back to her as her mind wonders about Carmen; she wonders if she is the one who shot Nathan. After all, Carmen is in the position she is in now because Nathan is dead.

"Is it true?" Lydia asks her quietly. "Did you shoot Nathan? Did you try to kill Nathan?"

"I told you to shut up," Carmen hisses back at her. "Wait, you just said try to kill Nathan? He's dead! There was no trying; I killed the son of a bitch!"

Lydia gulps heavily. "You're wrong, we all were wrong. Nathan is alive, Carmen. You didn't kill anyone."

"My God," Carmen gasps back to her. "How did this happen?"

***

"I can't believe that Nathan is alive," Kent Blackmore tells Stacey as they stand next to one another in the living room of the penthouse that he lives in. Stacey just finished telling him about how Lucinda interrupted Mac's execution with an alive Nathan. "But you must be relieved that Mac is alive and out of the hot seat."

"It has been a whirlwind," she admits to him. "Mac was literally about to get the injection when Lucinda showed up. We all thought Mac was going to die. Not only is he alive but we know that this was all a master plan of Lucinda's."

"I have to admit," Kent chuckles back to her. "Your grandmother has a twisted sense of helping situations. It reminds me of when she faked Houston and Lydia's deaths and was holding them hostage."

"She has made mistakes, but she does love her family, that much is for sure. Lydia is the same way."

"Speaking of your mother," Kent sighs back to her. "Do you think she is still going ahead with the merger? I believe the announcement is scheduled for later today?"

Stacey uneasily smiles back to him. "I believe she will call off the merger," she reveals to him.

"Really? How can you be so sure?"

"I basically told her that I would drop my restraining order against her if she stopped the merger," Stacey replies with an arched eyebrow. "Earlier she left saying that she had something to do; I think she went to Carmen to call it all off."

Kent smiles back to her. "If she does, I will owe this all to you," he says as he looks into her eyes. "How will I ever thank you?"

Stacey puts her hand on his firm chest. "I think you can find a way," she winks back to him.

***

"Actually, can you make that a double?" Celeste asks the bartender as she sits in the country club at the bar. After Sabine and Cole refused to accept her apology, Celeste came to the club hoping to have a drink to take the edge off.

"Rough morning?" Houston Blackmore asks her as he moves up to the bar and sits next to her.

"I took your advice," Celeste replies to him before she takes a sip of her bourbon.

"You reached out to Cole? How'd that go?"

"He refuses to accept my apology," she admits to him. "He said no matter what a child is dead, and I'm too blame. Oh, and Nathan is alive."

"What?" Houston gasps back to her. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know all the details," she reveals to him. "I just have to accept that Cole and I are over, for good this time."

Houston reaches over and grabs her hand. "I am sorry, Celeste. This was my idea and it has backfired."

Celeste looks back at him and smiles. "It's not your fault, Houston. I needed to know one way or the other. And now I know. It's time for me to start to move on."

***

"Do you have any idea what this plan of yours almost cost you?" Helena Grant asks Lucinda as she stands in the living room of the Rockwell mansion. Helena just learned about Lucinda faking Nathan's death; she can't believe that Lucinda went to such extremes all to try to stop her children from fighting. "Not only was Mac's future and life on the line, but you wasted everyone's time and energy with the trial."

"What you call a waste of time, I call saving my family," Lucinda replies to her quickly. "I had to do something before Mac and Levi's feud escalated further. I don't expect you to understand, Ms. Grant."

"You realize that I could charge you with obstruction of justice?"

"Do what you must," Lucinda coldly replies to her. "My legal team will get any charges you throw me dropped. I am not scared of you or any charges. Now, If we are done here, I suggest you focus on finding the real person that tried to kill my son."

Helena sighs heavily as she shakes her head, stunned that Lucinda is refusing to realize that she did anything wrong.

***

"So, let me get this straight, you spoke to Jarek's twin brother?" a flabbergasted Cole asks Lex as they sit across from one another on the patio of the country club. "How is any of this possible?"

Lex smiles back to him as he recalls his conversation with Jaxson; Jaxson admitted that he knew he had been adopted but never could find out information on his biological parents; now, they'd like to know how he got stolen from Odette Williams in the first place.

"I know it's a crazy story but I couldn't have done this without Casper."

Cole nervously looks back at him. "You and Casper are still growing closer, huh?"

Lex nods back to him. "He's been so supportive, not just with finding Jaxson but even during Mac's ordeal."

Lex looks back at Cole, who takes a health sip of the white wine in his glass. Lex can tell that Cole is thinking about something.

"What is it Cole? I know that look on your face," Lex chuckles back to him.

"Okay," Cole takes a deep breath. "I have something to tell you but you're not going to like it."

"Tell me? What's up?"

"Last year, I was trying to find myself," Cole begins to tell him. "And, well, I had an affair with a guy."

"What?" Lex gasps back to him. "You're gay?"

"No, no," Cole waves his hand in the air. "I'm pretty fluid. I go with the flow."

"Okay, that's cool. What does this have to do with Casper and I?"

"The guy that I was sleeping with," Cole looks back at him. "Was Casper. Casper and I were lovers."

***

"Yes, Nathan told Sabine and I earlier that Carmen was the one who shot him," Mac tells Helena, who is about to leave the mansion after her conversation with Lucinda. "The sooner you can track her down, the better. She might still be dangerous."

"I suspected as much," Helena replies to him. "I will put out and APB on Ms. Santos as soon as I get to my car. And Mr. Rockwell," she looks at Mac. "I am sorry for everything that you went though."

"Please, call me Mac; and there is no need for apologies; you followed the evidence, I can't blame you for that."

Helena smiles back to him. "Alright, I need to go and find Carmen. You take care of yourself."

Mac waits until the detective has left the foyer before he turns around and walks up the stairs of the house. Once he gets to the second level, he pauses outside of Nathan's room. He, then, opens the door and peers into the room.

"Nathan?" He asks as he enters the room. "Are you awake?"

"I am," Nathan replies to him. "What can I do for you, Mac?"

"Just listen to what I have to say, Nathan," Mac tells him as he sits next to the bed that his brother lays in. "The last few weeks have been hell for me and the family. And now, you're back. Mother went to such extremes to keep us from fighting; you're hurt, and I almost died. This is a chance for us to start new; no more fighting, no more feuding; instead, the two Rockwell men working together to create a dynasty. Don't answer me right now, but think about it, Nathan. This is our chance to start fresh."

***

"The paperwork was just faxed over to me," Carmen tells Lydia, she passes the documentation to the woman that she is still holding a gun on. "Sign the paperwork, Lydia. Then, we can start the press conference."

Lydia gulps back as she tries to think of a way to get out of this situation. "How will we do this press conference?" Lydia asks her as she grabs a pen and starts to sign her name on the merger documents.

"We will stand next to one another," Carmen informs her. "And, I will keep the gun firmly against your boney little back. If you try anything, I won't hesitate to kill you. And you know that I'm telling the truth because of what happened to Nathan. Don't fuck with me, Lydia."

"Okay, I signed," Lydia uneasily tells her as she hides the pen in her hand. "We can start the press conference anytime."

***

"When Marat told me that Casper Ross' was on Quinn's phone, I knew we had to talk," Dyhannah Cooper tells Chase Cooper as they stand in his suite at the country club while Marat Kafelinkov stands at the bar. "Remind me, again, how you know him?"

Chase arches his eyebrow back to her. "I have missed a lot since I was helping with Mac's trial. What does Casper have to do with Quinn's baby?"

"That's what we are trying to figure out," Marat replies to him. "She was texting him. but it was all in a weird code. They never actually said what they were doing together. She also called him a couple
Of times. If we can figure out what Casper's connection is to her, we might be able to figure out what the truth is."

"And so you see, that's why I came to you," Dyhannah purses her lips to her ex-husband. "How do you know Casper?"

"I don't, I mean not really," Chase reveals to them as Dyhannah nervously looks back at Marat. "He is a tenant in one of the buildings that I own. I threatened to pull his lease when I found out that he was sleeping with Cole; I used that information to stop Madison from marrying Cole."

Dyhannah clasps her hands together. "That's it! We can do the same thing and force his hand! Casper will have no choice but to tell us the truth now! This is perfect!"

***

Lex slams the door to Casper's office closed which causes the private investigator to look up from his paperwork.

"Lex, hey, how did it go with Jaxson?" Casper asks as he gets a sly grin on his face.

"Tell me that it's not true," Lex ignores his question.

Casper arches his eyebrow back to him. "Tell you what's not true? What's going on?"

"You and my brother, Cole, did you have an affair? Did you fuck my brother?" Lex asks him as he puts his hand on his hip.

Casper gulps and feels some sweat start to form on his forehead. "I, uh, who told you this?"

"Cole," Lex spits back to him. "So, I know it's true but I want to hear you say it, so just say it, Casper! Tell me that you and Cole had sex!"

Casper bites his lip as he nods back to him. "We did but it ended. That ended a long time ago."

Casper doesn't even have a chance to respond before Lex is storming out of the office, leaving the private investigator rattled to his very core. Just when he thought he and Lex were growing closer, everything seems to be disaster now.

***

The gun barrel firmly in her back, Lydia forces a smile on her face as she looks into the crowd of media representatives. She then looks over at Carmen, who nods to her to start the press conference.

"Good afternoon," Lydia announces to everyone. "Carmen and I, we are thrilled that you could all be here today. We are officially about to merge Rockwell Mining and Blackmore Ltd. together into one company."

"That's right," Carmen smiles. "All the paperwork has been drawn up and signed and we are thrilled that this moment has arrived."

Then, Lydia sees Helena Grant appear at the doorway of the office with two police officers next to her. She immediately realizes that they must have figured out that Carmen shot Nathan. She realizes, however, that she will to do something to get away from Carmen and the gun pointing into her back.

She slowly looks into her hand, which is clutching the pen that she used to sign the documents earlier. She can hear Carmen still speaking but she has no idea what she is saying. Without thinking, Lydia stabs the pen into Carmen's leg! Carmen screams in pain and she falls back, dropping the gun i the process. The members of the media gasp in shock.

"Help me, please!" Lydia screams as she looks at Helena, as her two guards draw their gun.

Carmen, meanwhile, looks at her bleeding leg and fumes. She grabs her gun and fires it towards Lydia, while a police guard also fires his gun while the crowd of media personal gasps out in shock and horror!