Danielle Ashley came to Port Charles as a struggling actress, but she fell for Jake Marshak and ended her search for acting jobs. Danielle was Rex's unwilling pawn in his quest to get his hands on Serena's trust fund. Danielle forced herself to go along with the plan because she feared what Rex would do to her and her boyfriend, Jake Marshak. Rex had told Lucy that Danielle was Dominique's half-sister. Scotty wasn't very eager to welcome Danielle OR Rex as family. Rex used fabricated evidence to make it look like Scott had kidnapped Serena.

Rex then drugged Scotty to make him appear unfit to be a father. Scott was arrested and a reluctant Danielle and Rex plotted to gain custody of Serena. A guilty Danielle wanted to come clean but feared retaliation from Rex on both her and Jake. Danielle eventually gathered the courage and confessed all to Scotty. Scotty rushed to the authorities with her story but Danielle was mysteriously in a car accident. Before surgery, she and Jake made peace with each other (they had fought before the accident) but sadly, Danielle died in surgery.