Diane arrived at Sonny's office. Sonny told her that Avery was not safe with Ava and that Sonny wanted Avery with him. Sonny told Diane that he wanted sole custody of Avery with no visitation for Ava. Diane advised Sonny that in order for him to get sole custody of Avery, Sonny would have to prove that Ava was more unfit than Sonny to raise a child.

Diane pointed out that Avery was no longer a baby, and if Avery saw her father try to take her away from her mother, it could damage Avery's relationship with Sonny. "I'd rather her hate her father than become her mother," Sonny said. Diane started to dictate some notes for herself into her phone, but it sounded an alert. She told Sonny the alert signaled a big problem. Diane quickly excused herself to make a phone call.

Ava sat in her room at the Metro Court. Her laptop was open to the front page of the Invader. The headline read, "FACE OF HER DAUGHTER'S DECEPTION." The article revealed all the details of Allie's relationships with both her mother and Kristina. The article also included a link to the audio file of Natalia's remarks to Ava. The comments on the article were bigoted and brutal. Ava was upset at having read them. She called the Invader office and demanded that Adrian DeWitt sneak his way over to her room immediately.

Soon after, Adrian arrived, gasping for breath. He informed Ava that the story had been picked up, and Adrian was in demand by interviewers, including TMZ and Andy Cohen. Ava reminded him that she had taken great care to edit herself out of the recorded conversation with Natalia. Ava demanded that Adrian keep her name out of it.

Ava warned Adrian not to even let her name cross his lips. She threatened that she could arrange for Adrian to be forced to type with his toes. "Men have killed on my behalf for a lot less," Ava scowled. Ava ordered Adrian to take down the story, since it had served its purpose. Adrian informed Ava that the wire services had picked up the story. It was too late to turn back. Ava had a look of anxious regret on her face.

Ava told Adrian that she hadn't wanted to hurt Allie, Kristina, or herself. She told Adrian that if he kept his mouth shut, Ava would have plausible deniability. Adrian was prepared to tell anyone who asked that the recording had come in through the Invader's anonymous tip line. Ava sent Adrian on his way.

Alexis and Kristina sat on the sofa at Kristina's apartment. Kristina showed her mother the résumés of the top five candidates to fill in for Kristina at the LGBTQ center. Alexis told Kristina, "I'm not concerned about the center right now. I'm concerned about you." Alexis reminded Kristina that the last part of a pregnancy could be challenging, daunting, and scary, but she would always be there for Kristina.

Diane called Alexis and asked her about the news article. Alexis revealed that she had quit the tabloid that morning. At that point, Sonny also had the article on his computer screen. Diane assured Sonny that Alexis was with Kristina.

Diane told Alexis to go to the Invader's website immediately. Diane added, "Make sure you turn the audio up. And tell Kristina I'm sorry." Alexis sat back down on the sofa and played the audio file. Kristina couldn't bear to listen to the entire clip. Alexis offered to help, but Kristina, though angry, remained level-headed. Kristina assumed that Allie was dealing with the Deception PR people.

Kristina realized that the scandal might jeopardize her position at her own foundation. Alexis advised Kristina not to jump to conclusions. Alexis expressed concern that Allie had been robbed of the chance to come out of the closet on her own terms. Alexis grabbed her bag and dashed off to confront Adrian.

Maxie was still in her office at Deception with Allie, Natalia, Lois, Lucy, and Scott, as Maxie read the Invader article about Natalia. Lucy also got an alert about Deception being in the news. Natalia declared that if the Deception staff had created a "media disaster," Natalia wanted to know what was going on. Maxie replied, "Oh, there's a disaster, all right, but we're not the ones who caused it."

Maxie played the recording. As the clip ended, Allie was furious. "Well, don't hold back, Mom! Tell us how you really feel!" Allie exclaimed. Natalia admitted that it was her voice on the recording. Scott asked if the PR department had a crisis-management team. Lucy revealed that the team had been fired in order to cut costs.

Maxie silenced the people in the room at her Deception office. She took charge and told everyone what was going to happen: Lucy was to call the PR team to coordinate a response. Lois was to have Brook Lynne lock down all of Deception's social media accounts, "no comments allowed." Maxie told Scott to guard the door. "From who?" Scott asked. Maxie replied, "From Tracy. We're all gonna need protection if our stock takes a nosedive!"

Maxie turned to Natalia. Maxie demanded that Natalia tell her everything that Natalia knew about the recording. Natalia swore she didn't remember having said those things, nor to whom she had said them. "Because you say such vile, disgusting things so often... to so many people?" Allie snapped.

Natalia couldn't recall having ever said those words to anyone. Allie realized that the article would have an impact on her musical career. Natalia offered to draft a joint statement with Allie. Allie refused to be publicly associated with Natalia after learning how Natalia really felt about her.

Allie called her mother out on all the homophobic things Natalia had ever said. Lucy found it ironic that the person who had "locked poor Blaze in a closet is the same person who just outed her." Natalia claimed to have also been a victim of whoever had made the recording. That made Allie even angrier. Allie accused her mother of having destroyed Allie's future in music. Allie stormed off.

Scott tried to leave, but Lucy stopped him. She figured they might need a lawyer around. Lucy tore up Allie's contract, right in front of Natalia. Natalia threatened to involve the press and the courts if Deception tried to get rid of Allie. Maxie explained to Natalia that Deception, with its diverse clientele, could not afford to have a spokesperson who was afraid to be gay. Maxie gave Natalia an ultimatum: "Deception is a gay-friendly company. So, you and Blaze need to get with the program... or kick rocks."

Lois tried to defuse the situation. She suggested that the contract negotiations should wait, the rest of them should work on the PR response, and Natalia should go after Allie to try to make peace with her daughter. Natalia told Lois that Natalia's relationship with her daughter was none of Lois' business, nor that of any of the others. Natalia picked up her things and left.

Maxie, Lucy, Lois, and Scott sat down to brainstorm their next move. Lois suggested that she cut back on appearances, so as not to be projecting "business as usual." Lucy and Scott disagreed. They wanted to confront the issue head-on. Lucy insisted that Deception had to issue a statement immediately, before the backlash got any worse. Scott asked Maxie, "Is Blaze in? Or is she out?"

Sonny couldn't believe that Natalia had said such things. Sonny wondered if the clip could have been a fake. Diane reckoned that the Invader would open themselves up to a huge lawsuit if they had run such an inflammatory story without having authenticated it. Diane told Sonny that Alexis had quit the Invader that morning and that Alexis had known nothing of the story until Diane had told her. Sonny concluded, "Whoever did this, they hurt my daughter, and that means there's a target on their back."

Diane cautioned Sonny about saying things that might be recorded and used against him in a custody battle. Sonny received a news notification and got upset when he read it. He handed his phone to Diane, who said, "Activists on social media are calling on Kristina to resign from the LGBTQ center that she founded." The complaint was that Kristina was dating someone who was in the closet. Kristina was also being accused of having "internalized homophobia."

Sonny was furious. When Diane handed him back his phone, Sonny threw it across the room. It whizzed past Diane's head, hit the door, and fell to the floor.

Allie returned to the apartment. She had hoped that Kristina hadn't seen the article. Kristina had been reading comments on Instagram. "Looks like I'm canceled," Kristina said. Allie replied, "I think we both are."

Allie blamed herself for Kristina's troubles. Kristina blamed Natalia. Allie offered Kristina "no hard feelings" if Kristina wanted them to go their separate ways. Allie stood to leave. Kristina said, "Don't you dare. You're not going anywhere." Kristina told Allie that everything would be okay and that the two of them would get through it. "I have faith in us," Kristina said. She asked if Allie felt the same way. Allie, tears in her eyes, replied, "I'm sorry, Kristina. I don't."

Allie said she could not see a path forward for herself and Kristina. Kristina offered to guide them through it. Kristina insisted that Allie's big heart and Kristina's love for her would get Allie past anything anyone would ever say about them. Kristina was determined to fight for their love.

Adrian stretched out on a chaise at the Metro Court pool. He ordered a pitcher of margaritas and some food -- and put it all on Nina's tab. Alexis found him there after having harassed Adrian's assistant. Adrian tried to dismiss Alexis. Alexis told Adrian that she was going to sue both him and the Invader "into oblivion."

Adrian dared Alexis to do her worst. He reminded Alexis that, as far as recordings were concerned, New York was a one-party-consent state. Alexis suggested that Adrian seek counsel for when Nina realized how open to lawsuits Adrian had left the paper -- and Nina herself.

Adrian claimed that Blaze, as the "Face of Deception" and a famous singer, was not entitled to privacy. Alexis reminded Adrian that Natalia was not a public figure. The fact that the Invader had "monetized and commercialized the name of a private citizen without her consent" led Alexis to describe Adrian's predicament as "a career-killer."

Adrian grabbed his phone. He wanted to call his lawyer. Alexis stopped him. She offered to waive her retainer and make the whole thing go away -- in exchange for the name of the person who had provided the recording.

Natalia sat in her car. She replayed the audio clip and tried to remember to whom she had been talking. Natalia's jaw dropped a bit as a look of realization came over her face.

Later, as Sonny was showing Diane to the door, Natalia walked into Pozzulo's. Diane left. Natalia could see that Sonny had already heard the recording. Natalia knew that Sonny was upset, but she wanted to tell him about the source of the recording before she left. Natalia told Sonny that the person who had edited themself out of the recording and had supplied it to the Invader was Ava Jerome.

Ava called down to the front desk of the hotel to complain about the lateness of her room service order. While she was on the phone, there was knock at the door. Ava thought that her food had arrived, but it was Alexis who was standing at the door. Alexis said, "We need to have a conversation. One that won't be recorded."

• Kristina confronts Natalia

• "This could be a unique opportunity for the both of you," Jordan tells Drew

• "I'm going to do everything in my power to make it happen," Curtis says

• "You go after Ava, you'll lose Avery," Dante warns his father