In early 2003, a charismatic man named Michael Kinsey ran into Kendall Hart during her trip to Aspen. He was sympathetic to her needs, and the vulnerable Kendall fell for him immediately. She soon learned that he was actually Michael Cambias, an infamous corporate shark, but he gave her a good excuse for using an alias. He assured he had no plans to take over her company, FUSION, and tried to get her to help him in his battle against Enchantment. In truth, Michael planned to take over both FUSION and Enchantment, and knew Kendall's hatred for her mother Erica Kane could be a major asset to him. He also had a spy inside Erica's company named Lena Kundera. Lena was his lover and worked to charm chemist Boyd Larraby and Erica's lesbian daughter Bianca. Unbeknownst to Michael, Kendall had discovered his affair with Lena. Stung by his deep betrayal, she told Erica of his plans and became a double agent. When Michael caught Kendall snooping around his computer, he almost raped her until Erica intervened.

Meanwhile, Lena had fallen hard for Bianca and only threats of violence against her mother and deportation could keep Lena in line. She stole a formula from Erica's office safe. Erica agreed to step down as long as Kendall was not named as her replacement. Michael thought he had all the cards in place and promised his father that he had acquired Enchantment for him. His father, Alexander, was skeptical, having only given responsibility to Michael after Michael's older brother Alexander Jr. had died in the mid-80's. At a big press conference Michael threw to announce his acquisition of Enchantment, Erica announced the whole thing had been a grand ruse, the formula was a fake, and she had the upper hand over Cambias Industries. Alexander was forced to give Erica a seat on the board of directors. Humiliated, he essentially disowned Michael.

Michael was arrested for his corporate espionage, but was bailed out by Adam. Michael went to Erica's office and nearly raped her before Kendall smashed a glass pitcher over his head. He got out of charges since Kendall was the only eyewitness. He then used the CFO of Chandler Enterprises, Bob Barrett, to help him frame Lena for insider trading. Lena was arrested and Michael bullied Bob into hiding. Mia Saunders, Aidan Devane and Kendall teamed up to prove Lena's innocence. Mia got information from Michael's papers while cozying up to him. Aidan and Kendall tracked Bob down and convinced him to rat Michael out. Lena was exonerated, Michael was arrested yet again, but his victims knew he was nowhere near done with them.

Michael also made trouble for Fusion, as the company's success was overlapping Enchantment. Using resources from the IRS, Fusion received a notice claiming they owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes! One of the Fusion employees, Simone, decided to fix the situation without consulting the other Fusion ladies. By doing so, she thought she was wiring Liza Colby Chandler's money into their account to fix the problem. But, what she did was giver Michael ownership of Fusion instead! Thanks to some small writing on the tax paper, he paid for their taxed and received ownership of Fusion.

Michael's lawyers managed to get him out of jail and his next victim was Erica's other daughter, Bianca, a fresh college student who was romantically involved with Lena. On a dark, rainy night when the power went out in every Pine Valley household, Michael broke into the boarding house Bianca resided at and raped her. Traumatized from the rape, Bianca did not tell anyone about it for weeks. By the time she confessed to district attorney and her uncle, Jackson Montgomery, the physical evidence from the rape was gone, leaving only her word against Michael's.

Bianca decided to take the stand at her preliminary hearing. Although she made a compelling and heartfelt testimony, it was not enough. The judge let Michael go on lack of physical evidence. The town of Pine Valley was shocked and it seemed that everyone had their own agenda that evening when Michael walked away a free man.

A few weeks after the trial, Kendall Hart claimed that she was the sole heir of the Cambia's fortune and the new Mrs. Michael Cambias. No one believed her, not even with her fancy, expensive ring or marriage license. Shortly after her announcement, Michael's father, Alexander died, leaving the Cambias fortune in question and possibly out of Kendall's hands. To complicate matters even further, Michael showed up dead in a meat freezer that Kendall bought. It seemed that all eyes were on Kendall as the primary suspect, when really, everyone in that town wanted to see Michael rot in hell. Only one person was brave enough to actually send him there.