During a trip in 1993, Victor turned up at the Kansas farm of the blind, strong, and independent Hope Adams just in time to rescue her from a rapist. Victor became a kind and gentle man, content to live there as a farmhand, and growing closer to Hope. Hope revealed to Victor that she had never been with a man sexually. Soon after, she and Victor made love. When Victor proposed marriage to her, Hope accepted and they returned to Genoa City engaged. Hope soon learned that she was pregnant.

Victor and Hope were forced to do some serious soul-searching when her doctor said the baby could inherit her blindness. When medical tests revealed that there was a good chance the baby would be born blind, Victor urged Hope to have an abortion, but she resisted, and the tension in their marriage escalated. Frustrated by Victor's remote behavior, Hope returned to her farm in Kansas after she received word that her former boyfriend, Cliff, had been injured in a farming accident.

Victor's friend, Douglas Austin, arrived at the farm and pressured Hope to return to Victor. During their argument, Hope accidentally tripped over a chair and had to be rushed to the hospital. Victor arrived to make sure Hope was okay, then returned home. The next day, Hope gave birth to Victor Adam Newman, Jr. To Victor's disappointment, Hope decided to stay in Kansas and raise their son on her farm. She asked him to stay out of their child's life, so the boy could be raised without the Newman influences, and they were later divorced.

In 1996, as Victor recovered from a gunshot wound, his near-death experience prompted him to re-evaluate his life. He left Genoa City for several weeks and again visited Hope on her farm in Kansas, where she was married to Cliff. Cliff had adopted Victor, Jr., and his name was changed to Victor Adam Wilson. Victor enjoyed spending time with his son, a straight-A student who loved all sports, but Cliff made it clear that the boy thought Cliff was his father.

Victor returned to Genoa City. When Victor received word that Cliff had been struck by a drunk driver, he quickly returned to Kansas to lend Hope support. Hope was grief-stricken when Cliff died. Eventually, Victor persuaded Hope to relocate to Genoa City with their son. But she was a fish out of water in the big city, and after her purse was stolen and she nearly got assaulted, she and their son returned to Kansas.

In 2006, Victor was diagnosed with epilepsy, Nikki was informed, and he was given medication. But he liked the effects of the mini seizures that made him feel uncharacteristically mellow and caring, so he quit taking his medication. He shut off his cell phone and told the family he was going on a trip that landed him in Kansas at Hope's farm once again. Hope welcomed him, and informed him that his son was at soccer camp.

Victor stayed on a while, helping Hope out around the farm and feeling free, happy, and content like he was when they had first met there many years before. One day, Hope entered the house to find Victor having a seizure on the floor, but because she was blind did not realize it. Victor recovered from it in time to fool her that he had fallen, then left to continue his spiritual journey, unaware that his family at home was in crisis.

In May 2007, while Victor was mourning the supposed death of this son, Nick, Hope phoned Victor to let him know that their son, Victor, was missing and had been hanging out with a bad crowd. Victor traced the boy to Colombia, but he'd disappeared without paying his rent. Victor then traced him to Sri Lanka, went there, and disappeared for quite some time. When Victor returned, he told those who asked that he had not found his son.

In early 2008, Hope contacted Victor and told him that she was terminally ill with carcinoma of the pancreas, and he sent specialists to try to save her. But by February, Hope called him to go to her in Kansas. He arrived to find her recently released from the hospital, because she had asked to be sent home to die. It was her last wish that Victor be united with his son, who was going by the name Vic. Hope felt he finally needed to be told that Victor was his father.

Vic arrived, and was 27 years old. He was shocked to see his mother's condition, then appeared further shocked and disbelieving when she gave him the news of his paternity. Victor started to get to know his son through Hope on her deathbed. She described Vic to Victor as independent like his father, yet sensitive and vulnerable. Vic told Victor how he secured his own scholarships to attend Harvard Business School, but still had student loans to pay off. He also relayed that he'd written his thesis on Victor Newman's rise in the business world, and that he had read the books on Victor's life.

Vic was a stockbroker living in New York City, and his passion was business; he firmly believed in following one's passion. Vic and Victor were devastated when Hope passed away only days later. Her death wish was for Victor and Vic to stay together. Before they parted in Kansas, Victor offered his son a job at Newman, but Vic turned him down.

Vic suddenly showed up in Victor's office, accepted a job, and asked to be called Adam so there would be less confusion and so the wrong message wasn't sent. His first assignment was to work with Victoria on the Beauty of Nature project. He was flaunting his Harvard education and superior work ethic in Victoria, Nick, and Neil's faces, going over Victoria's head with decisions, and hitting on Nick's wife, Phyllis, leaving everyone guessing at Adam's agenda.

Victoria eventually quit Newman due to the friction with her father and with Adam usurping her position, and went to work for her mother at Jabot. The day after Sabrina accepted Victor's marriage proposal, Adam accepted Victor's offer to move to the ranch to get to know him better. Sabrina was not thrilled with the idea, as she and Adam did not get along because each thought the other was an opportunist, but they eventually bonded.

As the new Chief Operations Officer of Jabot, Brad felt David Chow was ill-suited for the co-CEO position, and began to hatch a plan to get David to gamble once again. Brad began setting David up with his bookie to lose bets, holding impromptu poker nights at his place, and lending David money. One of the card sharks who played in the games turned out to be Adam's college friend and sometimes-lover, first in their class to Adam's second, Skye Lockhart. Whenever Skye was in town, she would hook up with Adam, then take David Chow for a lot of money.

Adam faltered in his latest Newman acquisition of Natural Glow by not discovering it happened to be involved in a lawsuit with Jabot for patent infringement. Victor was livid with his new "golden child" for causing Newman and Jabot to go to battle once again. The night before their meeting with attorneys, hoping for a settlement, Adam met Heather Stevens working out at the Genoa City Athletic Club. They clicked and he ended up spending the night. They were surprised when they saw each other again at the Newman/Jabot meeting, where Heather represented Jabot. Heather and Adam became secret lovers due to this conflict of interest.

After many discarded ideas, Victor and Sabrina decided to get married in an old barn near the ranch, and Victor had it cleaned up and decorated beautifully for the occasion. Since Nick was still on the outs with them, Adam was asked to be best man without Victor even consulting Nick. The day before the wedding, much to her displeasure, Sabrina's estranged mother, Zara, showed up. Victoria caught Zara taking photos of the wedding to sell to the media, and she managed to get the memory card out of the camera to foil Zara's plans. Later, Adam caught Zara taking a video tour of the ranch, with plans to sell the video. Adam stopped her and kindly ushered her into a limo and onto a plane with a one-way ticket back home.

Assuming Nick was in on the scandalous article about Sabrina printed in Restless Style and for Victoria's turning against Sabrina for marrying her father, Victor cut them both out of his will, and he added Adam and Sabrina. Not long afterward, Sabrina was killed in a car crash. Victor left guests waiting at Sabrina's funeral only to have the minister tell them that a private funeral had been held earlier and her body was already interred. Victor disappeared, leaving his cell phone, wallet, and epilepsy medication buried on Sabrina's grave.

Adam was also upset because his friend, Skye, had been missing for quite some time. Then a body was found chopped up and buried in the stable where Nikki kept her horse. Alongside the body was Adam's class ring that she had worn around her neck. It was assumed that David Chow had murdered her in retaliation for her winning so much money from him while gambling. Meanwhile, in Victor's absence, the stockholders at Newman voted Victoria back in as Co-CEO, and, because the ranch was part of Newman Enterprises, she took it upon herself to kick Adam out.

News that Victor was dead reached Adam, who reacted by requesting the Mexican government fax him a death certificate. Michael took charge and read the will, which gave Newman Enterprises and the ranch to Adam. Victor had left a letter for Adam that said Adam was most like his father; the letter encouraged Adam to make Victor proud, but to be generous to his brother and sister. Adam threw away his letter, had Heather move in with him at the ranch, declared himself Victor Newman, Jr., and took charge at Newman by firing Neil and hiring Brad.

Then Victor returned to Genoa City alive, and Michael filled him in on what had happened in his absence. Victor summoned his children and Neil to the ranch. First he fired Adam and made Neil CEO of Newman, then told Adam to live elsewhere and said Adam's things would be sent to him. Neil later asked Victoria to return to Newman at her father's suggestion.

Nick and Victoria were thrilled to see their father alive, but although he forgave them for their treatment of Sabrina and thanked them for their actions when they thought he was dead, he was still cold to them and asked them to leave him in his seclusion to heal. Then Victor got Zapato from the kennel where Adam had banished him, fired all the help, made a nationwide statement to leave him alone, and hired security guards to keep everyone away. Even Nikki had to smash a window to try to talk to him. Adam was roughed up by the guards and taken off to jail for trying to see Victor. The family was about to have the surly Victor committed for his own safety, but he managed to disappear, and was last seen flying away on the Newman jet.

Adam approached Cane for a job at Jabot, but was turned down. Even his contacts back in New York City suddenly wanted nothing to do with him. When all else failed, he hooked up with Jack to take on Victor, who Jack felt screwed him over again by helping Nick buy them out. Together they went to Bucerias, Mexico, looking for information on what really happened to Victor there, and returned knowing that the dead man from the boat, who was originally assumed to be Victor, was named Tony Amato.

Adam showed Heather the photo of the dead man in Mexico, and she recognized him as Walter Palin, a.k.a. Tony Amato, the man responsible for Sabrina and David's deaths. After Adam filled her in on what they had found out in Mexico, Heather contacted the Mexican authorities and agreed to work with them to find Victor. Adam and Jack found a publisher for a tell-all book about Victor from the point of view of his long-lost son, Adam, but the publisher wanted Victor's diary that they had told him about. The diary they'd found in Mexico actually contained only a few comments written by Victor, so Jack hired Frank Ellis, a known counterfeiter from Chicago, to complete it, in Jack's own dictated words, admitting to Palin's murder in graphic detail.

Adam realized Jack had set him up to do all the dirty work with Ellis, so they were going to use the dictation to keep Jack involved in the forgery. But Jack outsmarted them; he found the tape and erased it. The police found out that Sophisticate Magazine had published excerpts from the upcoming book, and their handwriting analysis on the diary confirmed Victor had written it. Adam admitted to Heather that he was the one who had found the diary and was publishing the book to have money to ask her to marry him. He asked, and Heather accepted.

Victor returned to Genoa City on the arm of Ashley Abbott. Once Heather found out, Victor was arrested for the murder of Walter Palin, and was confronted with the diary he supposedly had written about the murder. The FBI questioned Jack about his involvement with the diary, but he only admitted that he had hooked Adam up with the publisher. The forger, Frank Ellis, was arrested for something else, and cut a deal to turn over Jack and Adam.

Once Heather started piecing together the story, and with Paul's corroboration that he had seen Adam at the same dive hotel where Jack had a rented room, she confronted Adam with lying to her about his involvement. Adam tried to talk her into marrying him and fleeing the country together, but with a broken heart, she had him arrested instead. Once the truth came out about the forged diary, Victor was released from jail after he gave Adam a stern diatribe that he would not help his son, and Adam needed to take his punishment like a man and learn not to ever turn on his father again. Victor returned to the ranch to find that Ashley had moved in. Victor had a memory of the storm on the ship, which gave the impression that he had told Walter who he was, then abandoned him on the ship and made it ashore on his own.

Adam was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and it was an entire month before Victor was guilted by his memories of Hope into visiting him. He started out telling Adam how proud he was of him, then ended up yelling at him once again before he left. Afterward Adam began plotting a way to get out of prison. His first step was to finally allow Heather to see him; he asked her get him a dermatologist for his skin problems. After Heather visited, she shared her concern with Victor that Adam was showing signs that he was losing his sight.

Knowing that Adam could still inherit his mother's retinitis pigmentosa, Victor arranged for a specialist to run tests on him. The next time he visited Adam, he found that other inmates had beaten Adam to a pulp. Ashley begged Victor to get Adam out of prison, as he would have no chance if he were going blind. Victor was unwilling to help because Adam still showed no remorse for framing Victor for murder. But once again, memories of Hope made him convince the D.A. to have Adam released into Victor's custody under monitored home arrest. Victor confiscated the two million dollars that Adam was paid for the bogus diary, and still expected Adam to somehow repay the $100,000 of it that he had spent.

Victor threw Adam a birthday party, but Adam angered Victor by inviting Heather. Victor gave Adam a Braille computer and Ashley gave him a Braille teacher, which spurred Adam to consider writing a book about his life. Victor threatened Heather and told her to go and never return, then left to find Ashley, so Heather went up to Adam's room. Heather told him she still loved him, was trying to forgive him, and was remembering the good person she once knew. Then they made love. Ashley convinced Victor to allow Heather to see Adam, because the poor young man had nothing else.

Adam was further angered overhearing Victor talk Nick into returning to Newman as full-time COO. Victor said he wanted to leave Newman to his kids -- Victoria and Nick. Adam was causing his own blindness by injecting his eyes with Botox, and hoping his attorney, Rafe, could get him a "get out of jail free card." He lost enough weight to remove his ankle monitor, escaped out his window, and sought revenge on Victor by tormenting Ashley and making her think she was losing her mind again. He bugged the ranch, left a recorder in the woods to make Ashley hear a baby cry, and, by editing things Sabrina had recorded for an art website, created a phone call to Ashley from Sabrina, telling her she was going to die, too.

Adam's most elaborate trick was laying out a replica of the dress and earrings Sabrina was wearing in her fatal accident for Ashley to find and wear. When Ashley went downstairs, ready to go out, Victor was livid and at first blamed Nikki, but Adam set up Victor's house manager, Estella, and Victor fired her. Ashley was rushed to the hospital spotting and in pain. There, in her purse, she found a scrapbook of Sabrina that Adam had sneaked in and planted. Meanwhile J.T. and Victoria nearly caught Adam missing from his room.

Victor found a delivery receipt charged to Ashley's credit card, and asked Olivia to recommend a psychiatrist for Ashley. But after Ashley took a walk in the garden and had a vision of Sabrina telling her she was fine with Ashley being pregnant and making Victor happy, she seemed fine again -- until Adam pulled another trick on her. He appeared as Sabrina and caused Ashley to fall down the stairs and miscarry. Adam cleaned up the mess, and reminded a Dr. Taylor, head of OB/GYN at Harvard, of a letter that Skye had written about him sexually assaulting his patients. Threatening that the letter would ruin the doctor's career, Adam coerced Dr. Taylor to convince Ashley that her baby was fine. Ashley began having a hysterical pregnancy and she still felt the baby move.

Suspicious of Adam again, Victor arranged for another specialist to see Adam. In preparation to inject himself prior to the appointment, Adam broke the vial of Botox, so was expecting the doctor to find him out. But to Adam's shock, the doctor declared that due to the puncture wounds in his eyes, he was actually going blind with retinitis pigmentosa. Adam told them he had been subjected to eye puncture torture in prison, and skated through another close call, but he was seriously distressed by the diagnosis, and of course blamed Victor.

Rafe was hot on Adam's trail, and, in trying to clear his Aunt Estella, confronted Adam. Knowing that Rafe was gay, Adam pretended to be interested in Rafe, and they had a sexual encounter. Afterward, Adam called Heather to come to him immediately. Adam showered, and when she arrived, they made love. Victor asked Rafe to find out who was responsible for the needle attack on Adam, but Rafe discovered the attack was never reported. Rafe accused Adam of lying about it, so Adam hit on him again, but Rafe said he was not a fool. Adam feigned offense, saying he was only scared they would kill him. They kissed and made up, but Nikki walked in and saw them.

Victor flew Mary Jane into town, but later became suspicious of her sanity and arranged for her to leave. Instead, she ended up on his ranch, and Adam stashed her in the garden shed. Ashley became concerned that she was not feeling her baby move anymore, so Adam arranged for Dr. Taylor to do an ultrasound and substitute a recorded sonogram, which reassured her. Victor surprised Ashley by suggesting they get married that very day. Adam was asked to be his best man and Abby was their maid of honor. Victoria happened by on business and was invited to stay. But Adam got Mary Jane to walk by the window dressed as Sabrina after the ceremony, which caused Ashley to faint.

Victor decided to send Adam to a halfway house for the blind to make it less stressful for Ashley, but that idea was dropped after Adam made himself look like a hero chasing Mary Jane off the property, his ankle monitor causing the police to arrive. After finding out from Nikki, Nick told Victor that Adam was gay, and Victor took it amazingly well. Later, Rafe arrived as Heather was leaving and noticed that Adam and Heather had obviously had sex, so Adam told Rafe it was over between them. Rafe later accused Adam of using him, and was suspicious that Adam was behind gaslighting Ashley and framing Rafe's Aunt Estella. But he was never able to prove it, and Estella ended up pleading guilty to a lesser charge. Heather found out about Rafe and Adam's encounter, and broke it off with Adam.

Months later, Jack convinced Ashley to check in to the same mental hospital where Sharon was a patient. Adam followed with Dr. Taylor in tow. It wasn't long afterward that Sharon went into labor, and with no obstetrician on staff, Dr. Taylor was enlisted to deliver her baby. Ashley went into "labor" for her hysterical pregnancy, and begged Adam to deliver her baby in her room. He gave her a drug that knocked her out. Meanwhile Dr. Taylor delivered Sharon's baby girl. Adam snatched her out of Dr. Taylor's arms, and when Ashley awoke, Adam handed her Sharon's baby as her own. Dr. Taylor was forced to deliver the news to Sharon that her baby had been born malformed and died. The baby was cremated, so by the time she told Nick, there was no way to prove differently. Adam's guilt began drawing him close to both Ashley and Sharon.

Victor survived near death and a heart transplant in time to arrive on Nikki's arm for his "daughter" Faith Colleen Newman's christening, where Traci and Adam were godparents. Ashley told Victor she was getting a divorce and was taking the ranch as settlement for their children to grow up there, and he agreed to it. Ashley asked Adam to stay on living at the ranch. Victor insisted Adam have a place at Newman under Nick's purview as a Junior Vice President. On Adam's first day on the job, he gave the SEC an anonymous tip that Victoria had not disclosed to the recently acquired Savaneur company stockholders the gravity of Victor's condition, and they began investigating. Then he continued to pull tricks on both Nick and Victoria to get his foot further in the door at Newman. Victor visited Colleen's grave, bought Nikki a ring, and left Faith a video of his version of his life, then he and Nikki said their goodbyes and left for a cardiac rehab center in Belgium.

Adam and Sharon became romantically involved and impulsively flew off to Lake Tahoe on the Newman jet, and got married. The jet crashed on the way back, and as they were going down, Adam showed Sharon a note that said that her baby was still alive. They survived the crash, but Sharon suffered a head injury, and didn't appear to recall the note. Nick punched Adam when he found out about their marriage, and accused his brother of taking advantage of Sharon to get back at Nick. Adam moved into the Carlton house with Sharon and got along rather well with Noah.

Because Eden was seeing through Daisy's con job, Daisy set the Carlton house on fire while Noah and Eden were upstairs making love. Adam arrived in time to save them and Noah's dog, Fisher, and at the same time make Nick indebted to him. Eden confronted Daisy with a Fenmore's card found at the scene, and was sure Daisy had set the fire. Sharon accepted Ashley's invitation to move into the Newman ranch with her, with Adam knowing he would be uncomfortable living with the two women, because he had taken Sharon's baby and been responsible for the death of Ashley's. That same day, Dr. Taylor showed up, telling Adam that he was going to tell the women the truth. Adam followed him, and they fought in front of Jimmy's Bar. Phyllis happened to walk by just as Adam shoved Dr. Taylor, which caused him to fall in front of a moving car and be killed.

Several months later, Victor returned from Belgium with Nikki on his arm, just in time to catch Adam and Nick in a fistfight and knocking his portrait from his office wall. Victor declared he was back in charge and everything either of them had done would be undone. He later showed up at the ranch to see Ashley and his baby "daughter" Faith, and let Ashley know that he wanted the ranch back.

Jill met wealthy industrialist Tucker McCall on a business trip, but he let her assume he was just a bartender, and they had an affair. Tucker soon showed up at Chancellor to advise Kay and Neil to buy out a company named "Cell Tron" with Chancellor stock. Jill was shocked to walk in on the meeting and discover who Tucker really was, but he managed to talk his way out of it later, and they continued their affair. When the DNA test proved Jo-Jo was not Kay's daughter, it was discovered that Tucker had set Jo-Jo up as part of his plot to get revenge on Kay because he was her missing child. Another DNA test proved it. Tucker turned out to be the only stockholder in Cell Tron, so he owned majority interest in Chancellor, which devastated Katherine. When Kay found out about Tucker and Jill's relationship, she accused Jill of being in on his plot, and fired her from Jabot and Chancellor.

As part of Nick's idea to get Chancellor back to Kay, Victor and Adam staged a public fight and Victor ran an article in Restless Style exposing Adam. So Tucker's first steps were to hire Adam Newman, J.T. Hellstrom, and Kevin Fisher, dump Jill as a lover, and sell Jabot. Because Victor had gotten Adam to disclose the sealed bids, Newman was able to outbid the Abbotts for Jabot. Victor announced Victoria would be CEO, and Gloria would be Jabot Ambassadress, just to stick it to Jack. Jack was livid when Victor fired him, and Jack accused Victor of dirty dealing; Ashley gave Victor back his ranch in disgust. After signing over Jabot to Victor, Tucker received word that Jack had gotten a judge to block the sale, pending investigation of Adam's part in it. When Adam did not show up at the hearing, the case and sale were delayed for thirty days and in the end, Tucker retained Jabot.

After witnessing Dr. Taylor's death, Phyllis did some investigating of Adam and Dr. Taylor's past in Boston, and found out about Dr. Taylor's sexual assaults of his patients. She and Ashley compared notes on Adam, and Ashley realized that he was the one who was gaslighting her to drive her insane, then threw Adam and Sharon off the ranch. Victor and Nick began having second thoughts about trusting Adam, after he came to them threatening to expose them if they screwed him over. Sharon, despite Ashley and Nick's warnings, stood by her man, Adam. Because Abby had inherited Brad's mansion at Colleen's death, Ashley was notified that the fire restoration was completed, and she and her daughters moved in. Adam, afraid that all his lies were about to catch up with him, tried to talk Sharon into moving away, and asked Tucker to make him Vice President of European Operations.

Sharon was finally convinced by Skye's diary that Adam was lying, left him, and took Ashley up on her offer to move back to Brad's mansion. Then Sharon began to realize that her baby had not really died at birth, and was determined to get her back. Meanwhile Jack joined forces with Victor to take Adam down if Jabot could be returned to Chancellor. They plotted to get Sharon to lure Adam to the Abbott cabin, and with all the people Adam had wronged in attendance, even Rafe and Heather, they confronted Adam with what they knew. Adam played innocent even after Phyllis arrived with a deathbed letter Dr. Taylor had dictated to the ambulance EMT, which was meant for Ashley. The letter told Ashley that she had suffered a miscarriage months before and a hysterical pregnancy afterward, so she never gave birth that night. Ashley remembered meeting "Sabrina" on the stairs and falling, and realized it had to have been Adam. Everyone realized that her baby, Faith, was really Sharon's.

A DNA test later proved it, and Ashley reluctantly gave Faith to Sharon. Everyone went home and left Adam with Victor, Nick, and Jack, but, fearing they would kill him, Adam escaped into the woods and fell down a ravine. He was hospitalized and arrested, however, he claimed insanity and that the Newmans and Abbotts had kidnapped him. "Emily" was assigned to give Adam a psychiatric evaluation. Since she was really Patty Williams, she knew all too well that Adam was a major manipulator, always managing to escape detection, so she declared him fit to stand trial. But Adam saw through her guise, let her know that he knew she was really Patty, and threatened to expose her if she didn't help him escape.

Patty arrived at the hospital to give him a sedative for transport, but he used it on the guard and then on her. While Patty lay on the floor unconscious, Adam showed up in Sharon's room at the Athletic Club in costume while the annual charity masquerade ball went on in the dining room below. Sharon got him to admit to accidentally causing Ashley's miscarriage and getting Dr. Taylor to switch their babies, then Nick arrived, and Adam escaped out the window.

"Emily" arrived late to the ball, spotted Adam among the crowd, and blasted him for using the same syringe on her and the guard. He threatened her again with exposing her as Patty. Sharon and Nick rushed in to the ball and told the police that Adam had just been there, as Sharon got a call from Adam demanding to meet her in the basement or "people will get hurt." Victor, Nick, Jack, Rafe, Heather, Paul, Ashley, and Patty went to the basement in search of Adam. Then an explosion rocked the building and sent everyone running for the street.

Victor and Jack rescued Jill and Kay, who were trapped in the restroom, and Nick rescued Phyllis, then Sharon and Faith, who had gone back upstairs. It was revealed that a gas line had been cut and a body burned beyond recognition found nearby. The body was later identified by DNA as Adam, and the lack of smoke in the lungs proved that he had been murdered before the fire. Suspects were Nick, Jack, Victor, Phyllis, Sharon, Victoria, "Emily," Ashley, Rafe, Heather, Billy, and Nikki. Heather was suspended from the D.A.'s office for her involvement in the incident at the cabin.

Evidence collected by Detective Chance Chancellor included Jack Abbott's monogrammed handkerchief found in the victim's mouth; blood on Nick's suit coat, which Phyllis and Sharon had connived to hide from the police; and Victor's broken watch stained with Adam's blood. Victor told District Attorney Pomerantz that he backslapped Adam in the basement after Adam taunted him about losing another child in Faith, which sent his watch flying, but he did not kill Adam. Nick cautioned Victor that they were "both involved in what happened" when he did not mention that Nick was there too. A homeless person found Nick's suit coat in a dumpster. Billy and Mac got him to give it up, and Mac turned it over to the police. Because a fancy European pen found at the crime scene was determined to be the murder weapon that had stabbed Adam in the heart and was traced to Victoria, she was arrested for Adam's murder.

Victor and Nikki were about to fly Adam's remains to be buried next to Hope in Kansas. But after Pomerantz revealed the contents of Adams's computer hard drive to contain video from the spy camera he had planted at the ranch and voice clips of Sabrina, Victor instead shoved the casket out the cargo door of the plane. At Victoria's arraignment, Billy interrupted, proclaiming her innocence because she was in his hotel room at the time of the murder, but Victoria refused to admit it was true. Meanwhile, Jill was reporting this latest Newman scandal on the Restless Style website, and was Twittering updates, for which Billy later fired her. Charges were later dropped against Victoria when Nick's coat was found, and he was arrested.

Nick explained the blood on his coat by admitting he was there when Victor had struck Adam. But Victor intervened and confessed to killing his son. All charges were dropped, and Nick and Victor were released from jail. However, Nick was arrested again after Adam's last cell phone message was retrieved. Adam had set them up saying the family had him trapped in the basement and he doubted he would get out alive, then said, "No, don't Nick!" While in jail, Nick was attacked with a hypodermic needle by Adam's former cohort, Frank Ellis, which led to Nick's being allowed out on bail for his own safety. Another call from Adam's phone was traced to a pay phone in a Minneapolis café.

Phyllis and Sharon went through the police evidence with Michael and found a Minneapolis parking stub. In Minneapolis, Phyllis and Sharon came upon a poster for missing person Richard Hightower, and Phyllis recognized him as the man who was costumed identically to Adam at the ball. The manager and waitress at the café identified Adam, and said Hightower was the man with a little boy who had met Adam there. Victor discovered that Adam had never gone back to Hope's grave in Kansas like he said he had when he disappeared for a week shortly before his death, and Paul uncovered the fact that Hightower had leukemia and had gotten a bone marrow transplant from Adam in Minneapolis instead. Nick put it all together -- the resemblance between the missing Richard Hightower and Adam, the bone marrow that was used for the identification would have the same DNA as Adam, and the body burned beyond recognition -- and realized that Adam had probably killed Hightower and faked his own death.

Nick and Phyllis shared their theory with Victor and Nikki, and Sharon produced a letter from a bank that confirmed that Adam had withdrawn all his cash on the day he supposedly died. A bearded Adam was shown lounging on a beach with a drink in his hand. Victor, Nick, and Jack dug up Adam's grave, and an expert took dental impressions of the body to be compared to Hightower's while the three were arrested. Meanwhile, Sharon and Phyllis found a mask in the cornfield where Adam's cab had dropped him the night of the ball. But a crop duster dumped pesticide on them, causing Sharon lung poisoning. Nick arrived and got her to the hospital in time to save her.

The dental records confirmed the body was Hightower, so Pomerantz decided to arrest Nick for Hightower's murder. Victor got the crop duster pilot to admit that Adam had paid him to fly him to Ottawa, and Victor demanded the pilot take him there too. Like Adam before him, Victor parachuted out of the plane, winding up at a bar, where he befriended bartender, Meggie McClain. Meggie flirted with Victor, but Victor let her know that he was taken, and spoke about his reclaimed love for his ex-wife Nikki back in Genoa City.

Adam rolled over in bed to his old girlfriend Skye Lockhart, who supposedly was murdered and dismembered two years prior. Skye assured him that they had covered his tracks well. Adam wanted to leave immediately, but Skye reminded him of the upcoming poker score of a lifetime, and that they had bribed Brazilian officials not to extradite them if they were caught. Victor found Shaw Roberts, the thug who had helped Adam get out of Ottawa on a Portuguese freighter, but Shaw would not tell Victor anything. Then Adam received a phone call in São Paulo, Brazil, apparently from Shaw telling him that Victor had been knocked over the head after tracking Adam to the bar.

Together, Jack and Victor hoped to set up Skye and Adam by posing as high rollers who were losing millions. Sharon called the phone number, and Adam, who was grieving losing her, answered. Sharon led him to believe that she still loved him, and later Victor asked her to join them to help set Adam up. Nick's trial began with Michael as his lawyer, hoping to prove that Adam had set Hightower up and faked his own death by killing Hightower and blaming Nick. Meanwhile back in São Paulo, Skye and Victor were the final players a high-stakes poker game - winner take all, including Adam. Victor won, and Skye led him to Adam.

Victor forced Adam to return to Genoa City with him and Sharon, leaving Skye behind with a briefcase full of cash. Victor interrupted Nick's trial, expecting Adam to confess like Victor had coerced him after finding Adam alive, but instead Adam faked a mental breakdown and was taken to the same mental facility as Patty. She was unaware that Adam was there or even still alive. He tormented Patty by entering her room through the air ducts and made her believe that she had killed Hightower. Patty confessed to the staff. In his room down the hall, Adam was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. Patty, realizing that Adam gotten her to confess, told Paul that she "killed the other Adam." In court, Paul got Patty to rave about how she did other things that were impossible, so she was declared unfit to stand trial and returned to the state facility.

Adam asked Billy to get Rafe to be his lawyer, but Rafe told him to "go to hell." As Adam's bail hearing began with him acting as his own lawyer, Skye waltzed in with famous lawyer, Vance Abrams, who got Adam released on bail. Skye paid his bail in exchange for becoming Adam's wife. Pomerantz refused to exonerate Nick, but proceeded with the case against Adam. As Phyllis had promised herself, once it was over, she left Nick due to his inability to let go of Sharon. She kicked Sharon out of her penthouse and moved back in.

When Adam found out that Patty was telling everyone she was sure that she did not murder Hightower, he helped her escape through the air ducts, and sent her in a nun’s habit to Canada. Paul was sure that Adam helped her escape, but Skye had arranged an air-tight alibi. Adam discovered that Sharon took Faith to get away to the Abbott cabin. He attempted to get in, scared her, and she shot him in the arm with a gun that Nick had left for her protection. Nick arrived, called an ambulance, and Adam was taken to the hospital where he recovered and exonerated Sharon as having been understandably scared, not knowing it was him. Paul later received a call from a red-headed, black cat-tattooed Patty in a bar in South America. She told him that she was fine but would never return, as she twisted the rosary beads in her hand and necked with a guy and asked him if she could call him Jack.

Skye invested her gambling winnings by creating a hedge fund she called “The Newman Fund”, with the intention to become rich and get Adam back his good name. Adam’s pre-trial conspiracy hearing was held with him making Vance promise not to question Sharon’s credibility. Vance did not, but he brought up Ashley’s past mental breakdowns, and the Newman’s vendetta against Adam to win, and the evidence against Adam declared insufficient to take to trial. Richard Hightower’s young son, Justin, attended, and Victor assured his guardian that he would take care of Justin for the rest of his life. Adam’s deceased mother, Hope, appeared to Adam in a dream to tell him that “I will never rest in peace knowing what you’ve done.” Victor gathered the Abbotts and Newmans together and very un-Victor-like, told them all to let it go, that karma would pay Adam back in the end. They each were served with a summons later for a civil suit for holding Adam against his will –- all except Sharon. Michael met with Vance, called it frivolous, but Vance said they would accept nothing less than twenty million dollars in damages.

Skye warned Adam that he was risking the success of their hedge fund by filing the lawsuit, and damaging their relationship by always favoring Sharon, reminding him that Sharon was never going to forgive him for stealing her baby Faith. Victor arranged a settlement meeting with Adam and his lawyer Vance. Victor persuaded them to drop the lawsuit against the Newmans when he presented Skye as his star witness saying that she was ready to testify that Adam planted the ring to fake Skye’s death and disclose that she knew all about Adam’s dirty dealings with Dr. Taylor, Sharon and Ashley. As they left, Skye warned Adam that she was in control, and not to screw her over again. Unfortunately, the Abbotts had legally separated their lawsuit from the Newman’s, so theirs was not settled.

Victor and Jack conspired to invest in the Newman Fund as the N.A. Partnership along with some other friends of Jack’s, intending to pool their money and destabilize the fund, then shorting the shares when Skye and Adam would be forced to sell. Jack cavorted with Skye and they were caught in bed together by Adam. Meanwhile D.A. Heather Stevens had Skye investigated. Heather confronted Skye and Adam with the discovery that San Paulo Judge Medeiros; the man whom Skye had bribed and who also headed the San Paulo mafia; had disappeared along with a lot of money. In fact the balance he took when he closed his bank account was nearly same amount that Skye opened her account with on her arrival in Genoa City.

To publicize the Newman Fund, Skye got Billy to do a Restless Style cover story on her. But it backfired when Phyllis added the fact that Skye’s marriage to Adam was not as it seemed because Skye was having an affair with Jack. Skye was furious, knowing the damage this could do to the hedge fund, so she denied the accusation, and she and Adam made a pact to appear to be the happy newlyweds in public.

In mid-October 2010, a storm was brewing, so Adam begged a ride home with Sharon and Faith from Crimson Lights. Hearing that a tornado was heading right for them, they got out of the car, got soaked, and took shelter in a barn. Adam made Faith a nest in the hay and covered her with his clothes to keep her warm. The tornado approached, shaking the barn, and causing the doors to fly open. Adam and Sharon struggled to hold the barn doors against the wind as Nick discovered Sharon’s car overturned. Once the doors were secured, the barn started breaking apart, and Adam dove to protect Faith as a beam fell from above. Sharon pulled off the debris and found Faith alive and well, thanks to Adam’s protection, but he was hurt. Nick showed up at the barn as Adam got to his feet, wincing from the pain in his leg.

Adam recovered, and with new determination to no longer be under Skye’s thumb, he packed a bag and withdrew $100,000 from the hedge fund, intending to take a bus and leave town. After Skye discovered Adam had taken the money she contacted Sharon and told her she’d better convince Adam not to leave town or Skye would report the theft to the police and send Adam back to jail. So Sharon convinced Adam not to leave, which made him determined to get Skye out of his life and become a better man. Adam sent the $100,000 to Richard Hightower’s young son, Justin, and took a job as a bartender at Gloworm. Although they later returned the money, and Adam quit the job at Gloworm. After taking office, the new D.A. delivered the news to Adam that he would not be pursuing any of former D.A. Pomerantz’s cases.

Adam served Skye with divorce papers and gave her a contract which removed him from the Newman Fund and gave her all the money. Although Victor and Jack’s plan to ruin Adam was to sell all their shares from the hedge fund after the end of the year, Victor suddenly pulled his share of their investment in November, causing the fund to collapse and costing millions of dollars in losses to Jack and the friends he had brought in as investors. Jack was livid that Victor had blindsided him once again, and warned him that he was in trouble with the FCC over what he had done. But having faith in Skye’s ability, Jack ordered his broker to buy up all the remaining shares of the Newman Fund while it was at rock bottom in an attempt to recoup.

The police were called to Skye’s room at the Athletic Club which had been trashed and Skye’s blood was found, but she was missing. Victor told everyone he was leaving town to visit all his subsidiaries around the world. He stopped at the ranch to pack and ran into Nikki, who had just gotten out of rehab. Nikki tried to reason with him but he refused to listen, telling her that they were through, and to pack her things and be gone from the ranch before he returned. Victor boarded his jet, and Skye was there waiting to leave with him. Skye recalled how she had gone to Victor in desperation when the hedge fund had failed, and Adam had left her holding the bag and facing prison. So Victor had made it appear that Skye was dead to set up Adam for her murder. Victor gave Skye a new identity and promised to take care of her financially for the rest of her life so long as she did not play high stakes poker or divulge who she was. With a veiled threat that he had bested her two times, and if she screwed him over the third time, she would be “out”, Victor delivered Sky to the middle of a Hawaiian jungle where a car awaited her.

Sharon ended up in New Orleans with Adam following her, Nick and Michael following him, and Phyllis following them. Sharon strolled the French Quarter, had her fortune told at Marie Laveau’s, and ran into Adam as she toured a cemetery. Sharon was swept away by Adam again as he romanced her with dinner at Oak Alley Plantation, where they ended up spending the night making love. Sharon was convinced that she was meant to be with Adam, until the next morning when they came upon a carousel that reminded her of Cassie. She told Adam that the night the spent together was just a fantasy, and that she belonged with Nick and their children. Then Nick and Michael arrived with a Marshall who took Adam into custody for questioning in the murder of Skye. When Nick discovered that Sharon was with Adam by choice, and was still defending Adam, he broke things off with her. After Nick heard that Adam and Sharon had spent the night together it only confirmed his decision.

Back in Genoa City the next day, Adam was questioned by Ronan Malloy, and Sharon as well, for a possible conspiracy to get rid of Skye so that she and Adam could be together. Sharon believed in Adam’s innocence, so she hired Vance’s associate, Leslie Michaelson, to represent Adam. Noah, Michael, and Ashley couldn’t believe Sharon would do such a thing after what Adam had done to Sharon in the past, and Nick decided to sue for custody of Faith rather than his daughter being anywhere near Adam. And Nikki suggested Sharon protect her children by leaving town with Adam and never coming back. When they returned to the athletic club, Adam and Sharon were thrown out, so they rented a sleazy hotel room.

Phyllis published a cover story titled ‘Sharon Newman the Heroine Addict’, which exposed her penchant for always doing crazy things to mess up her life then needing to be rescued, the latest being her love for Adam who had deceived her, kidnapped her baby Faith, and told her that Faith was dead. Even Sharon’s son Noah had to agree that the story was pretty spot-on. Adam and Sharon uncovered a freight elevator security camera photo from the night Skye supposedly was killed which showed two people under an umbrella, and Adam recognized Skye’s purse and shoes. They dared Phyllis to help them prove Adam’s innocence for an exclusive story. Phyllis and Jack instead discovered a sack behind a dumpster that contained Skye’s same purse and shoes, which only further incriminated Adam and led to his arrest for suspicion of murder.

In their quest to prove that Skye was still alive, Adam and Sharon located the only supplier of Skye’s favorite Galibier perfume in Monaco, who had just shipped an order to a post office box in Hawaii. Sharon flew to Hawaii, but the proprietor of the general store where the box was located claimed no knowledge of Skye, even though he had just spoken to her. Knowing Skye’s craving for adventure, Sharon took a guided moonlight hike on an active volcano. Skye was there alone looking very plain with no makeup and braids, and they met when Sharon was separated from her group. After Skye refused to return home with Sharon, Sharon took a photo as proof that Skye was alive. But Skye reached for Sharon’s camera, lost her footing and fell into the volcano. Sharon held on to Skye and promised she would not let her go, but Skye lost her footing and fell to her death with her final words, “I would not bet on that.” Victor watched unseen in the dark, doing nothing to help. Sharon was unable to convince the authorities that Skye had ever been there, and Victor made sure when he found her glove and tossed it into the volcano. Then Victor set Skye’s shack on fire. Later, back in Genoa City, Adam and his attorney, Leslie, believed Sharon, but the police assumed she had made up the story as an attempt to free Adam.

Posing as a surfer, Jack went to Hawaii hoping to find evidence to prove that Victor was involved in Skye’s death. No one would admit to seeing Skye, but Jack found Skye’s burned shack, and in it the remains of a bottle of Galibier perfume. Later Jack saw someone turn in a set of keys found on the volcano which included the mailbox key the perfume was delivered to, and the same key ring Skye had had been photographed holding in the Newman elevator security tape. The evidence got Adam released from jail and cleared of all charges in Skye’s death. But after Adam moved in with Sharon at her house on the Newman ranch, and Sharon was still awarded shared custody of Faith, Victor made sure that Sharon was arrested for Skye’s murder in Hawaii. Then Victor later inexplicably posted her half-million dollar bail anonymously. Sharon realized she was in serious trouble after being confronted with a video taken by tourist at the volcano that night which included only the part of their conversation, when she had yelled at Sky and told her she would pay for setting up Adam for Skye’s supposed murder. Phyllis had second thoughts after she posted the video on the website, knowing that Sharon wouldn’t have killed Skye, and she and Jack offered to help her prove that she was innocent.

Ashley confronted Sharon about living with and forgiving Adam after all he had put them through, saying she would never have handed over Faith if she had known that she would allow Adam near Faith. When Adam arrived Ashley left, saying maybe it was karma that people wouldn’t believe her now, just as they hadn’t believed Ashley when she was under Adam’s influence.

Because Adam knew Skye’s habits and the passwords she always used, he was able to locate her offshore bank accounts, and being her next of kin by marriage he had acquired all the money Victor had paid Skye to play dead. Adam approached Jack with a deal to resurrect the Newman Fund again. Jack had bought up most of the shares when they became worthless, so he knew that he stood to make a lot of money. Jack called Adam a lowlife bastard, and Adam called Jack a sanctimonious jackass, then they agreed to become partners. They agreed that Sharon and Phyllis were not to know. Jack discovered that a man named David Pelson had been getting monthly checks from the Newman Fund. Adam filled in the blank that Pelson went to Harvard with Skye and Adam, and must have been giving her inside information. Jack felt that he was savvy enough to work the fund himself, but Adam disagreed, so they decided that each would manage their own money they put into fund. After Jack left, he ran into Victor, and goaded him that he had discovered that the fund with his name on it had done some illegal insider trading which the S.E.C. might be interested in. Meanwhile Adam contacted Pelson.

Adam chose the Valentines puppy love benefit to ask Sharon to marry him again, and she accepted, while Nick looked disgustedly at them from across the room.

Adam decided to make it appear that Skye was still alive. Using her old alias, Grace Harwood, Adam found more of her bank accounts online. He ordered some of her favorite Galibier perfume and an expensive pair of stiletto shoes to be delivered to a post office box she always kept in France. Meanwhile, Phyllis and Jack in Hawaii, discovered that the general store owner, Koa Aneko, had suddenly come into a lot of money and left the island. Then they found a guy who sold them a video showing Victor lurking in the shadows as Skye fell to her death. Once back home, Phyllis showed Nick the video, and Nick confronted Victor, calling him a damn liar. Even after he was confronted with the existence of the video, Victor still claimed that he was not involved.

Victor was desperate to make sure he did not lose the breach of trust lawsuit brought by Victoria, Abby and Nick, so Victor made a deal with Adam. Adam was to claim that he had forged their new trust agreements during the time when Victor was supposedly dead and Adam had control of Newman. In exchange, Victor drew up a new trust agreement for Adam, and Victor guaranteed Adam that he would not be prosecuted for the forgery, and that Sharon would be freed from the murder charges.

Adam testified at the arbitration hearing, but Sharon later talked him into backing out of the deal. When Victor found out, he threatened to expose that Adam had been making it look like Skye was still alive in an attempt to clear Sharon. Then Nick talked Adam into leaving town instead to both avoid Victor, and to reunite Sharon with her daughter Faith.

The next day, Neil testified that when Adam was in charge at Newman, Neil had kept Adam from accessing anything that would have made the forgery possible. The judge awarded Abby, Victoria, and Nick five hundred million dollars each, and ordered Adam arrested for perjury. Adam went to Tucker to offer his stock options, and Tucker paid Adam double the projected stock price. Victor found out and warned Tucker that he was not going to allow him to swallow up Newman.

Meanwhile had Adam tracked down Koa and left on a plane for Bangkok, Thailand where he found Koa in a beach bar. Adam couldn't trick Koa into telling him about the night that Skye died in Hawaii, nor could he after telling him who he really was and what he knew. So Adam paid the bartender to get Koa drunk, then Adam followed him to his hotel. After Koa passed out, Adam searched his room, and found a video of Skye's death. As he turned to leave Koa hit him over the head and knocked him out.

Back in Genoa City, Paul had located Adam for Sharon. Because she was still out on bail and could not leave the country, Sharon got a fake passport in her daughter's name and boarded a plane for Bangkok with Phyllis following her. Phyllis watched unseen as Sharon was arrested and removed from the plane, and she continued on to Bangkok convinced that Sharon was going there to meet Adam.

Adam awoke but the camera was missing, so he returned to the bar looking for Koa, and ran into Phyllis who informed him that Sharon was back in jail and a warrant had been issued for his arrest for perjury. Adam explained what had happened with Koa, and they went back to Koa's room to look for clues and to wait for him to return. Finding a pair of weighted dice, Phyllis and Adam paid a bellman to find a crap game where Koa might show up, and he did. Koa told them that Skye had given him the dice as present, and he had sold Sharon's camera at a flea market. Adam and Phyllis tied Koa to the hotel room bed, and searched the flea market for the camera, which they found missing its memory chip. So they gave up, went back to the hotel to get Koa to testify at Sharon's trial, but he was gone.

Meanwhile Sharon's mother, Doris, visited Sharon in jail to tell her that she was through standing by her daughter, that she had hit rock bottom since falling for Adam. Sharon's murder trial began with the famous Vance Abrams as her attorney.

Adam returned to Genoa City where he testified about the video at Sharon's trial, but no one believed him, and Sharon refused a plea bargain. Phyllis stayed in Thailand and bought every memory chip she could find that would fit the camera. She returned with them to Genoa City where she enlisted Malcolm's help to try to find and retrieve the video from one of the erased memory chips.

Sharon was found guilty, but Adam arranged an elaborate escape for her from the courthouse. After subduing her guard in the restroom, Sharon escaped out the barred window which Adam had left cut for her. Using the fake ID, a car, clothes, and hair dye Adam supplied, Sharon stopped to see Doris, who tried to talk her into giving herself up. Then Sharon headed for Sedona, Arizona where she would eventually meet Adam. Meanwhile, Adam led Phyllis and Nick on a wild goose-chase in St. Maarten.

Sharon called Adam to let him know that she had arrived and was waiting for him at a hotel. But the more Sharon thought about her situation, she decided that everyone would be better off without her, and wrote apologetic goodbye notes to Adam, Noah and Faith, leaving them behind as she drove away. Later Sharon was carjacked by a man and a woman and left alone on the road. Later, the car wrecked out, the female occupant was killed and badly burned, and Sharon's ID was found nearby.

Adam arrived at the motel in Sedona, found the notes that Sharon had left, and was disheartened to realize that she had run away. Meanwhile Sharon made it to a diner and bought a sandwich with her remaining money. Adam heard a radio broadcast announcing the accident and that fugitive Sharon Newman had been killed. Adam went to accident site, watched and cried to think that the love of his life was gone. Relatives and friends in Genoa City were horrified. Adam identified the burned body by his engagement ring, her body type, dyed hair color, and clothes.

Adam broke the news to Doris, who gave him hell until he showed her the goodbye letters Sharon had left, which convinced Doris that Sharon had really loved Adam. Doris told Adam that she would take care of the funeral and that he was not welcome. Victor flew to New York City to retrieve Noah. Jack and Billy gave the Newmans hell, accusing them of sitting back and letting Sharon become yet another victim of Victor as he tried to get even with Adam.

Meanwhile Sharon heard the news, and made it to a ranch in the New Mexico desert, where she spent the night in a barn. The owner, Veterinarian, Sam Gibson woke her up, and she told him her name was Sheri Coleman. Sam told her that she could stay and asked her to assist in birthing a lamb which Sharon named Fanny.

Back in Genoa City, Adam was threatened with arrest for aiding a fugitive. Adam felt guilty for causing Sharon's death by talking her into escaping, and pled with his dead mother Hope to look after Sharon and tell him how to go on without her.

Noah and Doris planned a lovely funeral for Sharon, Nick gave a touching eulogy about her being the first love of his life and Sharon being together with her daughter Cassie now. Adam, who had been barred from the funeral, climbed up the church's arbors into the bell tower, and interrupted the service. He told everyone there how they contributed to the death of Sharon by how they treated her, and Victor that he didn't help her when she needed him.

Adam made a deal with Victor to give him the goodbye letters that Sharon had left for her children if he would get all charges against him dropped. But once Detective Spencer Walsh saw the letters, he declared Sharon's death a suicide. Adam inherited Sharon's house on the Newman Ranch house in Sharon's will and continued to live there to further plague the Newmans. After Victor filed and annulment from Diane, she got Jack to take Kyle, and jobless again with nowhere else to go, Diane took Adam up on his offer to be his roommate, knowing it would further infuriate Victor. Before Adam was even aware, Victor had Michael get a court order to keep Adam and Diane from crossing Victor's property to get to Adam's, so they moved to the Athletic Club.

Meanwhile, Sharon as "Sheri," was disturbed when she saw the suicide posts on her Faceplace memorial page. But she agreed to stay on at Sam's ranch to assist in his veterinary practice. Doris asked Nick and Adam to help when Sharon's life insurance would not pay due to her suspected suicide, so they went to San Pueblo, New Mexico, to try to convince the authorities that Sharon's death was an accident. Afterward, Nick and Diane flew back home, while Adam waited for the forensic expert at the county fair where Sharon, Sam, and the young neighbor girl Piper Sheffield just happened to be. Sharon spotted Adam as he told the forensic expert how hard it was to get over her death, and the expert confirm that evidence showed that Sharon's "death" had been accidental. After Sharon left with Sam, Adam was approached by the man who had carjacked Sharon. He asked Adam if he was sure that the dead woman had been Sharon and not his missing wife. The man later showed up at the ranch looking for his wife, but did not get to see Sharon to recognize her.

Adam plotted with Diane to keep Victor busy on the day that Newman stock went public while Adam told the world that Victor was dead, so that he could buy shares when the prices fell. Then when Victor let them know he was alive, the stock would rise and Adam would sell and be rich. At the last minute, Diane let Jack in on the plan, so he was poised to do the same. Diane went to the ranch, told Victor that she was pregnant by him, and he demanded a paternity test. As she was about to leave, she faked severe pains, and begged him to accompany her to the hospital in the ambulance. They left after Diane disabled Victor's cell phone. As Victor held Diane's hand in the ambulance, Adam began to execute the plan. Michael heard the newsflash that Victor had had a stroke and died. He tried to phone Victor, but got no answer. Adam in his hotel room and Jack at Gloworm with his laptop each gave the order to buy as soon as the stock price began to fall. Genevieve Atkinson joined Jack and marveling at his stock market skills, slyly accused him of having insider information. After the market closed, Adam, Jack, and Diane met for a champagne celebration of their profits. Victor showed up and told them they would never get away with it.

Later after reviewing the facts with Victor, Gus, who was a former Newman legal advisor before working with the F.C.C., determined that stock manipulation could not be proven against Adam, but possibly could be against Diane. After Adam paid Diane off in cash and revealed the trouble that she was in, Diane prepared to leave town, but was caught by Gus who told her that she would be arrested if she tried. Victor filed a lawsuit charging Jack, Adam, and Diane with stock fraud and personally handed each their grand jury summons. But Victor later made a deal with Diane to change her testimony to say that Ashley did not deliberately running down Tucker in exchange for the S.E.C. focusing on Jack and Adam. Diane carried out her part of the bargain, but Victor was unable to keep his. Furious with Adam and Victor for taking advantage of her again, Diane made deal with the D.A. to tell all she knew on Adam and Jack in exchange for immunity, then teamed up with Deacon to bring Adam down. Jack responded to the summons by informing Adam that he was shutting down the Newman Fund, so Adam just convinced their clients to move their investments to his new company, Oak Alley Partners.

Meanwhile Adam, still trying to clear Sharon's name, found the correct erased memory chip that once contained the video of Sharon attempting to save Skye. That same day, Sharon was recognized and arrested while attending a barn dance with Sam while hiding out in New Mexico. Sharon was extradited back to Genoa City, and her family was shocked to hear that she was still alive. One by one they visited her in jail, Nick told her she was selfish and washed his hands of her. Noah was at first resentful that she could abandon him and Faith, but Eden talked him into going to see his mother where they hugged and reconciled. Adam arrived, elated to see that his Sharon was alive, and let her know that he understood why she let them all think she was dead. But later when Adam returned he caught her and Sam in an embrace and realized that Sharon had not been faithful to him. Feeling betrayed, Adam threw the memory chip that would have vindicated Sharon into the creek with her ashes. Victor came to Sharon to help and verbally attacked Sam for trying to get something from them, but Sam was able to convince Victor that he had been the one to take Sharon in, and had fallen in love with her. Later after Sharon begged Adam for forgiveness, she sent Sam back home, but Victor asked him to stay. Noah was devastated when Adam later told him there was nothing found on the memory chip, and that there was nothing Adam could do to help Sharon.

Sharon was convicted to serve thirty years in prison without parole. Both Leslie and Phyllis figured out that Adam was withholding the evidence that would clear Sharon, and Phyllis wrote an article exposing him. Sam confronted Adam, telling him that he had better hand over anything he had. D.A. Spencer offered Sharon a deal to stay in the local jail until her appeal if she would sign an affidavit saying that Adam helped her escape from jail. Adam told Sharon he still loved her, and asked her to remarry him, but instead Adam backed out in the middle of the jail house ceremony held just to humiliate Sharon. Victor hired famous New York lawyer, Avery Bailey Clark, to handle Sharon's appeal.

Adam discovered that Diane had met with the D.A., and he confronted her, but she denied that she had made a deal. Adam disclosed his plan to frame Victor for Diane's murder which he promised would land Victor in jail, leave them both very rich, and Diane in another country with a new identity. Although Diane proclaimed it risky, she agreed to the plan. After Adam left, Diane called the D.A. and confirmed their agreement to convict Adam. Adam was later served with a grand jury indictment for stock manipulation and fraud, and his computer and files were seized. Victor removed Adam from the Newman board due to the disgrace he had brought to the company.

As part of Adam's plot, Diane told Victor that she was turning state's evidence against Adam, so had to disappear and could not take Kyle. Then she convinced Victor to sign papers to become Kyle's legal guardian. Adam gave Diane cash and forged identity papers in the names of Jennifer and Timothy Bilton. Diane sent Kyle to boarding school in Switzerland as Timothy, telling him not to contact anyone, and that she would be joining him soon.

Adam met with his attorney Leslie and realizing that Diane had not only ratted him out, but cost him his hedge fund and his board seat, said that Diane was bound to get herself killed. But Adam offered to continue with the frame up of Victor if Diane would recant everything she had told the D.A. Diane agreed and wrote it up. After Diane received a message that the funds from Adam had been deposited in her Swiss bank account, she sent a text message to everyone who had threatened her to meet her at the footbridge in the park. The next morning, viewers saw those same people looking suspiciously like they had just killed someone. Meanwhile Diane's body floated face down in the stream in the park. Murphy went there to fish, discovered the dead body, and called the police. The autopsy results were that Diane had been hit over the head ten times with a blunt object, an impression of a Harvard ring was found on Diane's arm, and a small key was found in Diane's mouth.

One by one, the suspects who had received Diane's text were questioned by newly rehired detective Ronan Malloy. Adam said nothing but recalled to himself meeting Diane at the stream, and how they had set up the scene to frame Victor, emptying the contents of Diane's purse, creating drag marks, putting her blood on a rock, and placing Victor's stolen watch under it. Diane told Adam she didn’t trust him and had taken precautions; that Gingerman, the man who photographed the ambulance leaving the ranch, would be naming Adam as his source for the "Victor stroke story" if she did not make it safely to Switzerland. Ronan showed Adam Diane's exoneration letter that they had found with Diane's purse. Adam gave an alibi as being at the Athletic Club bar, and tipped them to suspect Jack as he left.

When Adam's alibi times did not check out with his credit card receipts from the bar, Ronan returned with a warrant to search Adam's hotel room and confiscated his Harvard ring. When Adam's Harvard ring did not match the imprint on Diane's arm, Ronan got a search warrant to check out Jack's. But after Kyle overheard Ronan, Kyle stole Jack's ring so that Jack would not be implicated by it.

Victor told Ronan he did not respond to Diane's text, but recalled to himself how they had met at the stream, and Diane had convince him that Adam was setting him up for her murder by showing him that Adam had planted Victor's watch under the rock. Then Diane had asked Victor to help her, and when he refused, she attacked him. Later Victor ran into Adam at the Athletic Club bar and presented Adam with the watch. Victor told Adam that he was going to use it to prove that Adam murdered Diane, and that try as he might, Adam would never outsmart him. Later Victor recalled seeing Diane floating in the stream.

Ronan questioned Victor about the guardianship papers which could have been a motive if he felt that Diane had double-crossed him by sending Kyle to Switzerland. Victor responded by giving Ronan his watch asserting that Adam had stolen it to frame him. Since Adam was the prime suspect, Ronan said he would be happy to check it for Adam's prints.

Adam wouldn't admit it, but Avery realized that he had destroyed the memory card. Avery got Sharon a new trial by coercing the DA with proof that he had knowledge of two jurors posting online about the trial.

Ronan let Adam know that they had evidence that the gouge in Adam's ring which had disqualified it from matching the mark on Diane's arm had been made since the murder. Adam was their number one suspect and he was not to leave town. But Adam was later caught at the airport, and convinced the police that he was going for a trial experimental sub-retinal implant. His story checked out, and he left town. Adam's surgery was successful, and he went to the prison to tell Sharon, but she rejected him. Avery overheard and tried to convince Adam to do the right thing and help Sharon go free.

After excellent opening arguments from both sides, Sharon's retrial began with Adam as the first prosecution witness. Adam testified to Sharon's infidelity with Sam, and how she had abandoned her children. After Adam said he didn't know if Sharon may have killed Skye, Avery read him the transcript from the first trial where he had defended Sharon saying that she went there to prove Skye was alive to save him, not to kill Skye. Avery made Heather look so bad, that Walsh the D.A. offered Sharon a deal. Although Sharon could have been assured of serving only 18 months more, she refused to admit to killing Skye and turned down the plea bargain.

The key found in Diane's mouth unlocked an abandoned lockbox in the athletic club safe which had been Diane's. It contained her diary, and on July twenty-fifth, there was an entry saying that if anything happened to her it would be done by Victor or Adam, and five pages were missing from the days just before her death.

Victor's shoes were found at a Goodwill store outside of Racine, and a donation receipt was found in his closet. Ronan brought Victor in for questioning, but Victor claimed he had been set up by Adam. Leaving Adam and Victor alone in his bugged office, after each accused the other of the murder, Ronan overheard Adam admit that when he had talked to Diane at the footbridge she had not yet spoken to Victor, so Victor had to have talked to Diane about Adam setting Victor up later on the night she died. Adam left the police station and spoke to an unseen person at a warehouse, accusing them of writing Diane's "bogus" diary.

One evening, a text message was sent from Ronan's missing cell phone to all the Diane Jenkins murder suspects except Adam, telling them to meet him at a warehouse. The suspects gathered and the surveillance tape of everyone's encounter with Diane in the park began to play, revealing everyone's secrets from that fateful night. They hid the tape before Ronan arrived. Adam arrived at a pumpkin patch and surmised that Patty Williams had summoned him. Meanwhile, Genevieve's housekeeper, Myrna Murdock, who had been badly burned when Genevieve's house exploded, lay in the hospital covered in bandages except for a cat tattoo; the same tattoo as Patty Williams. Patty had apparently been posing as Myrna, had been tormenting the suspects with information she had gleaned from the stolen park surveillance tapes, and the explosion at the mansion had kept her from joining them at the warehouse.

Although Heather had hoped to get back together with Chance and told him that she still loved him, Chance said that it wasn't a good idea and that it was over. Heather was at the Athletic Club bar when Adam sat down beside her, proceeded to get her drunk, and took her up to his room. Heather's half-brother Ricky, hoping to get a sensational story to work for Restless Style, took photos of Adam kissing his drunken sister. But when Heather turned Adam down, he took another room and left her in his to sleep it off. Avery and Sharon had finally gotten through to Adam that he was being unreasonable by not helping Sharon when he knew that she was innocent. Without the memory chip, Adam thought it would help to setup Heather so that Avery could use the photos to get a mistrial.

Meanwhile, Phyllis spotted a memory chip in the evidence dredged from the creek for the Diane Jenkins case on Ronan's desk, and they played it. Just as Avery was about to expose Heather to get the mistrial, Ronan and Phyllis burst into the courtroom, and were allowed to present their evidence. After hearing the audio of Sharon trying to save Skye, the judge left it up to the D.A.'s office. Heather dropped the charges against Sharon, and Sharon was given time served for the escape and set free. Sharon thanked Ronan, but Phyllis made sure that Sharon knew it was Phyllis who had found the chip, twice, and had saved her. Victor warned Adam to stay away from Sharon. Noah took Sharon home, Nick brought over Faith and left, and Victor had dinner with them. Sharon told Adam she would never forgive him for withholding evidence that kept her in jail for months, and despite Adams plea that they would never be over each other, Sharon told Adam that she never wanted to see him again. Victor let Sharon take his jet to take Faith and surprise Sam in New Mexico. Victor shocked Adam by asking him to come back to work for Newman. Adam was suspicious, but accepted so long as he could get an equal role to Victoria, then taunted Victoria that he was back working at Newman. Victoria complained to Victor, then returned to tell Adam that she would be watching every move, and would get him fired. Afterward, Victor smiled and said that Adam "fell for it."

Patty continued to stalk Jack, now wearing winter hoods and scarves to cover her face, even letting herself into Abbott manor with her key. Adam caught Patty in the park one day and warned her to get out of town or end up back in the asylum. Patty countered telling Adam to leave her alone or everyone would find out "what he did". Adam accused her of being Diane's murderer. Patty disclosed only that she had been there and had evidence that the police didn't have. After Adam discovered that Patty, as Myrna, had drugged Jack and Genevieve, Adam again told Patty to leave town or he was calling the police. With fingers crossed behind her back, Patty promised that she would on the grave of Mr. Kitty. Patty then went to Newman and planted a zippered case containing a syringe and a drug in Adam's desk, and tipped Ronan with an anonymous phone call that the murder weapon could be found at Newman. Not trusting Patty, Adam had followed her to Newman, found the case, and had put it in Victor's office safe. Ronan found it, and as Victor was being taken to the police station, Nikki arrived home after her six months in rehab.

After Nikki admitted to Victor that she had killed Diane, Victor confessed to protect her, and got Adam to say that he saw Victor do it. Adam apologized to Sharon and tried to give her back her engagement ring. Trying to help Victor, Sharon played up to Adam to get him to trust her and confess that he did not witness Victor murder Diane. With Victor in jail and Victoria's recent resignation, Nick agreed to head up Newman to keep Adam in line. Victor had given Adam his blessing to head Newman in exchange for his testimony, so Adam began trying to bribe board members to elect him CEO. And when Nick physically attacked Deacon in front of a board member for marrying his mother, it guaranteed Adam's election. After Victor pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years to life, Adam convened a board meeting to decide the new Newman CEO. Tucker McCall held the deciding vote, and although both men tried to persuade him to vote for them, Tucker went with the Harvard graduate, and Adam was elected. Adam's first act was to fire Michael Baldwin as lead counsel, promising to hire Vance Abrams in his place. But Victor assured Michael that it was all part of Victor's plan. Jack brought Adam champagne to celebrate his becoming CEO of Newman, and broached the subject of selling Beauty of Nature to him, to which Adam just chuckled.

Nick told Sharon that the only way she would get time alone with Faith again would be to get a restraining order against Adam. Sharon had a heart to heart talk with Adam, where he admitted that he still loved her, but agreed that Faith had to come first. Adam recalled that his mother, Hope, had given up Victor for Adam's sake. Sharon got the restraining order, only to have Adam show up at her home that evening, and she welcomed him into her bed. The next morning, with the restraining order in affect, they parted with no regrets, just before Nick arrived with Faith.

Adam spent New Year's Eve alone getting drunk at Jimmy's Bar, then showed up at Sharon's despite the restraining order. He told Sharon that he was broken inside without her, that there must be some way to be together where she could still keep Faith. As Adam hugged Sharon, he saw the engagement ring Victor had just given her.

Victor called in a favor from a judge for an emergency hearing for Faith's custody, and even though her instability was demonstrated by her engagement to her children's grandfather, she was awarded joint custody. Nick assured Sharon of selling herself to Victor to get control of Faith. Afterward Adam approached her, expecting that now they could reunite, but instead Sharon had Adam arrested. Sharon agreed to marry Victor, and they were married the next day.

Adam decided to sell Beauty of Nature and proposed a deal to Tucker to help him outbid Jack in exchange for a job at McCall. Then Jack offered to top any offer, with the bonus of giving Adam the satisfaction of allowing both of them to get back at Victor. As Victor's new wife and under his instruction, Sharon cast the deciding board vote to allow Beauty of Nature to be sold. It turned out that Tucker had made a deal with the SEC, to avenge the things that Adam had done to Ashley in the past. Tucker was helping Victor set up Adam to be caught guilty of insider trading by the SEC as Adam was to call Tucker with the amount of the high bid, for Tucker to outbid and win. But Sharon discovered what was going on, and that Victor was only using her. Torn between her loyalty to both, she finally decided that she was sick of all the manipulation, and Sharon warned Adam that he was being set up. They made love under the glare of Victor's portrait in his office, while Adam told Sharon how much he loved her and thanked her for saving him once again. Meanwhile Victor, after being released from prison, was making love with Nikki at the ranch. The next morning, Michael told Victor that Adam had escaped the setup, and that Victor had lost Beauty of Nature. When the bids were opened, Jack's fiancée, Genevieve, emerged as the new owner of Beauty of Nature.