Previously…
– The gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of Objection Designs’ first fashion show kicked off.
– Trevor made a deal with Finn: he could live at the Brooks home for free for a year in exchange for not telling anyone about their one-night stand.
– Isaac arrived at the gala with Diane and was shocked to recognize Tempest’s new friend, Sienna.

“Sienna? What the hell are you doing here?”

Isaac Banks, outfitted in a black tuxedo with a black shirt underneath, stares in disbelief at the brown-haired woman before him. Moments ago, Isaac — along with his date, Diane Bishop, her friend, Brian Hamilton, and Brian’s wife, Kelsey Barker Hamilton — entered the venue where Objection Designs’ anniversary party is being held. They approached Diane’s daughter and her girlfriend, only to find them talking with a third woman, a woman Isaac is now shocked to recognize.

“You two know each other?” Tempest asks in confusion.

“Isaac?” Sienna’s eyelashes flutter. “What are you…” She looks to Tempest. “What’s going on?”

“Yeah, Tempest,” Isaac says. “What’s up here?”

“Sienna’s a friend. We met at work. Kind of.” Tempest’s head swivels between her new friend and her brother, trying to make sense of this baffling equation.

Isaac’s nostrils flare, and his eyes betray a red-hot intensity that he rarely displays. “Bullshit.”

“No, we did,” Tempest says. “Sienna works at Thaw–“

“That’s because she’s up to something,” he insists.

“I am not ‘up to something,'” Sienna counters. “Why are you even here? How do you know Tempest?”

“She’s my sister,” Isaac cuts in.

Diane, who has been standing just behind Isaac, steps to his side. “Why don’t we go outside?” she suggests.

His teeth clenched, Isaac continues to stare down Sienna.

“Isaac,” Diane says more forcefully. When she tugs on his arm, he exhales and allows her to lead him away.

“We, um, we should go get a drink,” Brian says awkwardly to Kelsey, who nods in an overly eager manner.

“It’s good to see you, Samantha,” Brian adds. “We can catch up later.”

Samantha, who is wearing a black tuxedo with a sequin-embellished lapel, manages a weak smile. “That sounds good.”

Brian and Kelsey quickly extract themselves from the group and head toward the bar.

“I am so sorry,” Sienna tells Tempest and Samantha. “That’s your brother? If I had known…”

“How do you two know each other?” Tempest asks. “And what’s got Isaac so hot?”

“He’s my ex,” Sienna admits.

“That’s a serious coincidence,” Samantha says. Then she addresses Tempest directly: “Although your brother and my mom did meet on that cruise randomly…”

But another thought has hit Tempest, one that is too pressing to ignore. One that, without even having to voice, she already knows the answer to, deep in her gut.

—–

“You are a sight for sore eyes!” Trevor Brooks exclaims as he greets his husband with an enthusiastic kiss, one that probably lasts a flash too long for a work event, but Trevor doesn’t care.

Alex Marshall chuckles. “That’s code for ‘this event is stressing me out.'”

“Shh, don’t say that too loudly,” Trevor replies, bringing a finger to his lips for emphasis. “But totally. Hey, you guys.” He looks to Jason Fisher and Sabrina Gage, who stand just behind Alex; the trio all arrived together.

“Hey, Trevor,” Jason says, greeting his friend with a half-handshake, half-hug. “Where’s that sister of mine?”

“I actually haven’t seen her,” Trevor reveals. “She must be running around dealing with a million different things. Where’s Sophie? Did she stay home?”

“She saw Bree and Christian the minute we walked in,” Jason explains.

“She asked me for goth makeup tips when she was getting ready,” Sabrina adds. “I’m afraid I wasn’t much help.”

Jason shrugs. “She did well enough using TikTok tutorials.”

Trevor is about to respond when he spots yet another familiar face across the way: Finn Campbell, clad in a black, wide-lapeled dinner jacket that Trevor immediately clocks as a Tom Ford piece. The sight strikes immediate fear into Trevor; he knows that the former Objection employee has no business being here, and all Trevor can think is that Finn has come to expose their one-time tryst in spectacular public fashion.

“Was he invited?” Alex asks, having seen their tenant as well.

“No,” Trevor says. “I’m gonna go see what’s up.”

“I’ll come with you,” Alex says.

Trevor stiffens, then says, “Wait here. I want to approach him as an Objection representative and not make it a whole personal thing. We’re his landlords, you know?”

Alex consents with a nod, and Trevor moves off to intercept Finn.

“Why do I get the feeling that him being here isn’t a good thing?” Jason posits.

Both Alex’s eyebrows rise in response. “Yeah, I don’t get a good feeling about this at all.”

—–

“I like the black lipstick,” Christian Taylor tells his cousin, Sophie, as they cluster around a high-top table with Bree Halston and Marcus Gray. The buzz of conversation and the quirky, folksy strains of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” fill the air around them. “It’s giving Wednesday Addams.”

“Thank you,” Sophie says, with a mock curtsy.

“Very demure and very cutesy,” Bree comments. The college student has her blonde hair pulled up into a loose knot, and she wears a bright pink sheath dress that flatters her lithe, athletic figure.

“I’ve gotta catch up on this whole ‘demure’ thing,” Marcus says. “Why is everyone saying that all the time?”

The other three young adults share a tight-lipped look, then break out into laughter.

“It’s a thing,” Christian says. “Online.”

“Sorry I only spend eight hours a day on my phone,” Marcus jokes back. “Hey, is that your little brother?”

The other three turn their heads to see what he is talking about, and they witness Peter Ragan in a black suit, looking quite dashing for a second-grader, entering the party with his parents just behind him.

“That’s weird,” Bree says. “My mom said they got Peter a babysitter.” She throws Marcus a confused and slightly perplexed look. “We should go check in.”

“For sure,” he says, and he takes his girlfriend’s hand before she leads him away.

Christian scoots around the table so that he is beside Sophie.

“Do you want to go say hi to Peter?” he asks carefully.

After a substantial pause, she says, “I will. In a little.”

“Is it still weird for you?”

“It’s not weird. It’s… I don’t know. It’s not like he remembers when he was my brother. Or that’s what we thought.”

“He remembers you, though.”

“I know.” Another beat passes, and Sophie pushes a faint smile across her darkened lips. “I know.”

Christian isn’t quite convinced, but he also knows that he can’t force her to feel a certain way. He glances around the party, hoping to find something that he can use as a topic for small talk — particularly commentary on people’s fashion choices. Instead, he sees his mother emerging from a drapery that is set up to establish the start of the runway for the fashion show.

“There she is,” he utters, half to himself.

Sophie looks around. “Who?”

“My mom.” As he observes Molly, though, he furrows his brow. “That’s weird, though. Her makeup is totally different than it was when she left the house.”

“Maybe she got bored.”

“Maybe,” he says, although Christian knows that his mother thinks far too much about her styling to ‘get bored’ of a look shortly before an event that she is hosting.

—–

The faint sound of the music from inside continues to thump as Diane leads Isaac to an alley outside the studio that is being used for the Objection Designs event.

“That woman is your ex?” she questions as soon as the door slams closed behind them. “How?”

“From med school,” Isaac says. He casts a glance back at the door, as if expecting Sienna to appear again.

“And she knows Tempest?”

“That’s the part that’s sketchy as hell.” Isaac grits his teeth. “She’s up to something.”

Diane pulls her faux-fur coat tighter around her body as she thinks. Then she asks, “Is that her M.O.?”

“Yes. She cheated on me. With my best friend from med school. Then she tried to act like it was my fault for being in med school to begin with. She kept trying to get back with me, until I totally cut her off.”

“Wait,” Diane says. “Is that why you went on that cruise calling yourself Ben?”

He lets out a massive sigh. “Yeah. She had me all twisted up and… yeah. I lost my girlfriend and my best friend all at once.”

Diane can see the hurt in his eyes as he talks about this. She places a comforting hand on his chest and can feel his heart thumping beneath his tuxedo.

“No way this is a coincidence,” he seethes.

“Look, I come from a strong background of Trust No Bitch,” Diane tells him. “Partly because of my mother — the one who raised me — and partly because I have been that bitch no one should trust. If that’s your instinct, go with it.”

“It’s not an instinct. It’s a blaring alarm.”

“Then something’s up. Don’t fall for her shit.”

“I won’t,” Isaac says. “But I want to know how she got my sister involved in this.”

—–

Tempest takes a hearty glug of the cocktail that she just picked up from the bar before fixing her attention on Sienna again.

“Now you wanna tell me what that was all about?” Tempest asks.

Sienna appears shaky as she explains, “Isaac and I dated. Back when he was in med school. I never thought…” She drops her head into her hands. “Oh my god.”

“Coincidences do happen,” Samantha interjects from the sidelines of the conversation.

“This would be a big coincidence,” Tempest says. “But what I really wanna know is about your daughter. Is she Isaac’s kid?”

Sienna bows her head, overcome by emotion. That tells Tempest all that she needs to know.

“That little girl is my niece,” she says through a heavy exhale. “She’s really his?”

Her head still down, Sienna manages a nod. “Yes. I thought she would never meet him. I thought I’d never see him again.”

“Why not?” Samantha asks, unable to stop herself from trying to make sense of this improbable situation. “Why didn’t you tell Isaac he had a daughter?”

“Because I couldn’t get a hold of him!” Sienna says. “I tried. I tried so hard. He didn’t want to be found.”

Samantha moves to Tempest’s side, knowing that her girlfriend is going to need support throughout whatever this turns out to be.

“So he found out you were pregnant and didn’t want anything to do with it?” Tempest asks. Samantha can see the anger flaring in her eyes.

“It’s not like that,” Sienna says. “He didn’t know about her.”

Tempest recalibrates, but the utter force of her displeasure doesn’t abate. “Then why didn’t you tell him?”

“I tried. I really tried.” Sienna’s light brown hair waggles side-to-side as she shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know what’s going on. I have to go. Thank you for inviting me.”

Without awaiting a response, she hurries off. Tempest takes a step as if about to chase after her, but then stops in place. Samantha holds onto her.

“Don’t do anything rash,” Samantha says.

“I won’t,” Tempest answers. “But I met that little girl of hers. If she’s my niece… this has gotta get worked out one way or another.”

—–

“You made it!” Molly Taylor exclaims as she hurries to greet a guest she has just noticed.

Andy Fitch pulls his attention from the collection of vintage Objection advertisements on display. He has a short glass containing an old-fashioned in his hand, and he lights up once he lays eyes on Molly.

“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” he says. The two greet one another with a brief hug. “It looks fantastic in here, Molly.”

She surveys the landscape uncertainly. “I hope so. We all put a lot of work into tonight.”

“Your accomplishments are worth celebrating.”

“Was your mother able to make it?”

Andy hesitates, then takes a small sip of his cocktail. “I’m afraid not. She had a nasty fall a few months ago, and she hasn’t been the same since.”

Molly frowns. “I’m sorry to hear that. Katherine has been an influential board member over the years. And I know you two after closer than you used to be.”

“We are, yes.” Andy lets out a troubled exhale. “She does send her best, though.”

“Give her mine, too. You know–” But she stops mid-thought when she sees something that sends a chill through her body.

“What is he doing here?” she mutters.

—–

Finn has just snagged a flute of champagne from a tray carried by a waiter when Trevor steps in front of him.

“What are you doing here?”

Finn brings his champagne up to his mouth for a sip, but he pauses mid-movement, and instead purses his lips as his eyes gleam with… something that Trevor can’t pinpoint, although it makes his pulse quicken even more.

“I wanted to celebrate. What’s wrong with that?” Finn slurs.

“How much have you had to drink?” Trevor asks in a harsh whisper. The sound system begins to emit the sounds of “Take My Breath” by The Weeknd.

“Not enough.” Finn takes a big slug of the champagne. “Why are you in my face?”

Trevor can feel Finn’s hot breath on his own face. Suddenly conscious of their proximity, he takes a step backward.

“What are you so worried about, Trevor?” Finn asks. “I’ve got my year of free rent. I promised I wouldn’t say anything about our–“

“Good,” Trevor cuts him off. He receives a smirk from Finn in response.

“You still shouldn’t be here,” Trevor says. “You don’t work at Objection anymore.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” Finn drops his own voice to a whisper. “But this is the company my mother founded. It should be mine, Trevor. So if Molly thinks I’m not going to be part of celebrating its anniversary–“

“You cannot make a scene. Okay? Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“That’s the thing about me,” Finn says. “I don’t have regrets. They’re a waste of time.” He finishes what’s left of the champagne, sets the glass down on a nearby high-top, and struts off into the crowd.

Trevor remains frozen, unsure if it would be better to chase after him or to leave it alone. Either way, he suspects, will not end well.

“Is everything okay?” a voice asks, and Trevor shakes off his stupor and looks to see Molly and Andy right behind him.

“I think so, yeah,” he tells them. “He says he just wants to celebrate.”

“I’m going to have Security throw him out,” Molly says. “He and Gia already tried to destroy me once. I’m not letting them pull anything tonight.”

“Maybe just wait,” Trevor says. “Have them keep an eye on him. But I’m not sure poking the bear right now is going to do us any good.”

Molly considers that for a moment, then says, “Okay. I’ll have them watch him closely. I really don’t want any disturbances tonight.”

“I think we all feel that way,” Trevor agrees, but the twisted knot in his stomach tells him that they might not get their wish.

END OF EPISODE 1237

Is Finn going to ruin the celebration?
Should anyone believe Sienna’s story?
Where was Molly that whole time?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

Next Episode