Victor Newman stands on the edge of something much darker than fury as he watches his son’s fate slip further away. What began as a celebratory trip to Nice has spiraled into a nightmare. Nick and Sharon have vanished without a trace, swallowed by a maze of locked doors, missing clues, and a silent staff that refuses to speak. A perfect trap is closing around them, and only Victor knows it’s not by chance.

The moment Carter’s silence began to stretch and his behavior grew increasingly evasive, Victor knew something was wrong. The suspicion grew when he learned that Carter had been seen alone the night of Damen Cain’s stabbing, and soon enough, the truth became too clear to ignore. Victor wasted no time. He summoned Chance Chancellor, who had already been investigating the murder. Their shared goal was simple: Find Carter, extract the truth, and bring Nick and Sharon home—alive.

But Carter, who had spent years quietly serving Cain Ashb, was no ordinary man. His loyalty had turned into obsession. To him, Cain wasn’t just a boss. He was a symbol. And for that symbol to thrive, Nick and Sharon had to disappear. For Carter, this was never personal—it was about the bigger vision. Nick had to be neutralized, and Sharon, well, she was collateral damage in a plan Carter believed was inevitable.

The confrontation between Carter, Victor, and Chance was not dramatic—it was a war of words wrapped in chilling civility. Carter sat stiffly in his chair, his voice almost prayer-like as he confessed his unwavering loyalty to Aristotle Dumas, even if it meant the destruction of everything in his path. But Victor was done with words. What he needed was his son back.

The search for Nick and Sharon became a race against time. Deep beneath the villa, Nick lay bleeding, barely holding onto consciousness. His failed escape had left him wounded, the pain and blood loss eating away at his strength. Sharon, by his side, pressed a cloth against his wound, whispering fragments of hope even as time slipped away.

Upstairs, Carter’s cold demeanor never faltered. When Victor warned him, his voice thunderous with promise, Carter’s resolve remained unbroken. He insisted he wasn’t the one who killed Damian, but his actions told a different story. The missing footage, the erased data, all pointed to Carter’s involvement in a much bigger cover-up. But without a confession, they had nothing.

Meanwhile, Amanda Sinclair, already suspicious of Carter’s actions, watched the interrogation unfold. She knew Carter was hiding something, and she was convinced that the entire scheme—from the missing footage to the framing of Nick—was orchestrated by him. But in a world full of secrets, the truth was elusive.

The most unsettling moment came when Victor received an anonymous burned CD. The grainy audio it contained—just breathing and a few whispered words—offered no clarity but led them to a nearby abandoned monastery. Was this where Nick and Sharon were held, or just another twisted diversion to lure Victor closer into a trap?

As Victor processed this new lead, his promise to bring his son home—dead or alive—grew more desperate. He was prepared to burn everything to the ground if it meant finding Nick. But as the search escalated, Carter slipped away, his silence deafening. And with him vanished Phyllis Summers, a woman with her own reasons for getting involved, and whose actions would only complicate everything further.

Back inside the estate, Nick’s condition worsened, his strength fading with each passing hour. But as Sharon desperately clung to him, hope arrived in an unexpected form. Sally Spectra, flashlight in hand and eyes wide with determination, appeared in the cellar, rushing to Nick’s side. Her arrival was nothing short of a miracle.

Together, Sally and Sharon managed to drag Nick to safety, their hearts racing with the urgency of the moment. Every step was agony for Nick, but he moved forward, clinging to the light of freedom just ahead.

As chaos continued upstairs, Billy Abbott arrived at the estate, convinced that Cain was being framed. But his timing couldn’t have been worse. A power outage plunged the estate into darkness, and the sinister presence of the rail killer lurked just beneath the surface, watching and waiting for the next strike.