Nick walks onto the patio at Crimson Lights and grimaces in pain due to his injury. Lily is sitting there and asks if he’s OK. Nick joins her and isn’t keen to talk about what happened. Lily understands. She has a non-personal question about Newman and Nate. Nick says, “Nate was wrong.” Lily wants the full story. Nick says Nate tried to get rid of his dad to clear the path for him and Victoria, it’s as simple as that. Lily heard it’s more complicated and thinks Victor faking a mental illness was horrible. Maybe Nate really did think it was the best option to protect Victor and Newman. Nick smirks, “I can’t believe you’re defending him.” Lily thinks that maybe they were too quick to presume that his intentions were bad.

Nick says Nate was the only one positioned to gain from it. Lily asks if he or one of his siblings had suggested it, would they have been fired on the spot? Nick says if any of his children had tried to orchestrate a coup, they’d have been fired too. It was a power play. Lily thanks him for his honesty. Devon walks in as Nick tells her they dodged a bullet with Nate the first time and he has no idea why they’d invite him back into their office. Devon says he’s concerned about that too. Nick leaves as he gets a text from Victor to meet at the office. Lily asks Devon how it went with Victor. Devon says Nate has definitely burned bridges there and it seems like Nick feels the same way. Lily asks where that leaves them.

At the ranch, Nikki caresses the bottle of vodka before opening it and pouring a shot. She downs the entire glass and then quickly pops a breath mint and hides the glass in her purse when she hears Victor returning. He hands her a cup of tea and she heads to the sofa with it. Victor sits and says he’s worried about her. Nikki frets that she could have lost all of them. Victor tells her, “I know what’s going on. You’re not fooling me.”

Nikki asks what he thinks is going on. Victor knows she’s been putting up a brave front, but putting the alcohol pumped into her veins isn’t something she can brush aside. Nikki admits she’s struggling. Her sobriety is gone. She’s trying not to blame herself. Victor thinks that if anyone is responsible it’s him — his affair with Eve Howard brought all this on. They decide to focus on solutions, “Who can you call?” he asks. Nikki would have called Katherine or Neil in the old days. She’ll call her sponsor. When Nikki says she’s off to her meeting, Victor offers to take her, but she wants to go alone. Victor says he’ll talk to Nick. Nikki’s sure he’s feeling the toll from the knife attack. She wishes they’d hear back from Victoria.

Nikki is heading out when she gets another call from “unknown caller”. Once again, jazz music plays when she answers. She asks, “Who is calling? Why are you calling?” After disconnecting, Nikki realizes she knows that song, “But from where?”

At her AA meeting, Nikki talks about a recurring nightmare and waking up in a cold sweat, terrified that she had lost her sobriety. Last night she had another one of those nightmares, but when she woke up, she realized it was real. She breaks down crying. “My four years, 11 months, and 21 days of sobriety… it’s over.” The most infuriating part is that it wasn’t her fault. She was literally forced to ingest vodka against her will. Nikki explains the deranged kidnapping and having alcohol pumped into her via an IV. She’s so scared that the demon has awakened. “You need to know this. I didn’t take the first drink, but the second and the third, I took those.” The disease doesn’t care how it happened, it just feeds on it and screams for more. “I am terrified. I cannot go down this road again. I won’t. So, I am here, and I know it’s time to get humble again and just focus all of my energy on not taking a drink for a day, an hour, a minute, at a time.”

After the meeting, Nikki takes the vodka glass from her purse and flashes back to drinking in the room at the lake house. She drops the glass into the trash and walks out.

Nick joins Victor in the office at Newman and they worry about Nikki. Victor says she’s at an AA meeting as they speak. Nick complains that Victoria hasn’t returned his texts. Victor says she and Cole went up to Oregan to see if this woman is their daughter. She’s smart and she’ll figure it out. Nick asks Victor to tell him about Eve Howard. Victor’s not keen to talk about it, but she tried to kill him the same way Jordan tried to kill them — with poison. Nick learns that there’s been no luck tracking Jordan down. Victor says this has taught him, again, how important it is that they all stick together as a family. Nick nods, “Yeah.”

At Crimson Lights, Lily tells Devon she’s torn — Nate is right that Victor set him up. Devon counters, “Yeah, but what does it say about him that he fell into a trap like that.” Lily argues that Nate used to be a doctor and always put his patients first. Devon says he lost his damn mind when he moved into the corporate world. They have enough on their plate with Tucker, do they really want to invite another potential threat in.

Audra lets Nate into her suite, where a grinning Tucker is propped up on the bed. Nate fumes, “Why didn’t you tell me he was here?” Audra asks Tucker to give them some privacy. Tucker, grinning, tells her he likes him much better than the other guy, as he leaves. Once alone, Nate demands to know what Audra is cooking up with Tucker, and why she kept his involvement a secret.

In the Club dining room, Nikki tells Victor about the AA meeting, “I shared. It was nice to do it in a safe space, but it brought up feelings that I’m not used to.” She hates that she’s facing this again. Victor reminds her she’s strong. She worries that the disease is back — he doesn’t know what it’s like. Victor will be there every step of the way and tells her she’s the strongest woman he’s ever known.

More: Headwriter teases more past menaces

Nikki appreciates his faith in her. Her phone rings and she exhales. Victor asks, “Who was that?” It clearly has her rattled. Nikki admits she’s getting calls from an unknown caller and when she answers music plays. It seems like it might be tied into this whole mess. Victor wonders if it’s Jordan trying to get into her head. He asks about the music and she hums it. Victor’s never heard it. Nikki thinks it’s a clue. If she could just remember the song, she’d know why someone is tormenting her. Victor has an idea.

At Crimson Lights, Lily decides they should turn Nate down and muses that Mamie will be disappointed. Esther brings them some cookies and gushes about how happy she is that they mended fences. If Nate was back with them, then everything would be perfect. Devon muses that they were just discussing that. Esther walks off and Devon thinks that Nate may need to keep falling until he learns his lesson. Lily counters that maybe they’re the only ones who can save him from himself.

More: Conner Floyd’s family reunion

In Audra’s suite, she tells Nate he’s over-reacting. Tucker’s involvement is purely financial. Nate wants to know what the venture is, with details this time. Audra argues he has to trust her. His trust went out the window when he found out Tucker was involved. Audra admits they’re targeting a company. Tucker wants no part in the day-to-day, so she will run it. Nate says Tucker made it seem like he’s running the show. Audra insists he has no interest in details. Nate guesses that the company is Chancellor-Winters and asks if she really thinks he’d go along with it. Audra denies it. Nate says it must be Jabot then — he wants to destroy the Abbotts. Audra asks, “What are the Abbotts to you? It’s not like you’ve got many other options!” Just then, Nate gets a text from Devon, “Ready to meet.” Nate tells her, “Maybe I do.”

Nate meets Devon and Lily on Crimson Lights’ patio and asks if they’ve made a decision. Lily says they have and asks him to sit down.

More: Courtney Hope’s life-changing car accident

At Society’s bar, Nick leaves Victoria a voicemail saying he’s really worried about her. “You’ve got to keep your eyes open. Jordan’s still out there and these women are dangerous. Please, please, please be careful.”

Victor and Nikki walk into the jazz lounge and ask the piano player to play and identify the melody Nikki hums to him. When he gets it, he tells her it’s a piece form the swing era called Kitty’s Bounce. Nikki realizes it’s a number she used to dance to back when she worked as a stripper. Victor says he’s sorry. They figure it must be Jordan trying to rile her. “She’s trying to break me, Victor.” Victor says they won’t allow her to get to her anymore. Nikki finds this so disturbing and worries it’s just the beginning. Victor’s sorry he pushed her to remember. Nikki says this is like Eve all over again. Victor vows he won’t allow her to do this and embraces Nikki.