Carter Issues a Warning — and Hope Stirs the Pot With Brooke… and Gets a Big Result
At Brooke’s place, Hope tells her mother she’s exhausted, whining that Steffy’s killing Hope for the Future. Brooke insists it’s a temporary shift, leaving Hope to wonder to herself is she can leave. Over at Logan, Liam’s chewing to Katie about Hope’s big decision. He goes over the arguments he’s been making for the past three days. At Forrester, Ridge and Steffy bicker about Hope. She insists it’s not personal, it’s business.
Carter joins the meeting. He agrees that putting HFTF on hold is best, but as a friend, he knows it must be hard on Ridge and Brooke. Steffy puts her two cents in, and Ridge asks her to have a softer touch with Hope and show her some respect. Carter warns they don’t want to lose her as they did Katie. Steffy smugly assures that Hope’s not going anywhere.
Steffy, Carter and Ridge are all on the same page about putting their resources into couture, but the COO warns they shouldn’t alienate Hope.
Stirring the Pot
At Brooke’s place, she tries to explain to her daughter why they had to redirect. Hope keeps insisting it’s personal. Trashing Steffy, Hope tells her mother she should be co-CEO.
Hope runs down her list of grievances yet again (can we just get to the part where she quits already?!), as Brooke tries to placate her. Hope brings up the coup before circling back to HFTF being in trouble. Brooke doesn’t want her to worry. Hope is worried and thinks Brooke should be too. She hates that her mother has to answer to her.
Brooke continues trying to keep the peace, which irks Hope to no end. Warming to her theme, she makes a pitch for her mother to run the company. Brooke couldn’t put Ridge in a position to choose between her and Steffy. Hope admits she’s not sure how much longer she can endure it.
Pressure Cooker
At Logan, Liam and Katie go over how she was treated at Forrester. They choose their own and others are expendable. Hope deserves to be with family. Katie fears doing anything that drives her and her sister further apart. She’ll see this as a huge betrayal!
Liam asks Katie to put a pin in Brooke while he goes over his campaign to hire Hope again.
The Final Scenes
Liam tells Katie he realizes hiring Hope would be a risk for her, but it could be worth it given Hope’s established fanbase. Katie warns it would destroy her relationship with Brooke, and she could lose Donna too! She’s not sure Logan succeeding is worth losing her sisters.
At Brooke’s place, she tells Hope she’s content, but her daughter doesn’t believe her. Hope doesn’t believe it… she’s a fashion icon and not content with sitting on the sidelines. She’s sure her mom has made herself small to survive. Hmm… not sure about that one.
Hope finally gets Brooke to admit she’s felt a little lost at Forrester lately. Hope finds it insulting that she’s treated like a mascot. If they don’t do something, Steffy will have her boot on their throats forever. Her line is being made irrelevant! Brooke sighs.
Hope warns she doesn’t have much time left. Her mother asks what that means. Hope won’t allow Steffy to use her as a punching bag anymore. She begs Brooke to tell her she knows she deserves the co-CEO position more than Steffy. “Admit it!” Brooke nods. “You are right. You are absolutely right.” She and Ridge need to run the company as Eric and Stephanie did. “I deserve to be co-CEO!” She and Hope hold hands and cry.
