A Monday morning at Forrester Creations turns into a public execution of confidence. Katie arrives with her first true passion project—Logan Designs—hoping for feedback from a house that defines fashion royalty. Instead, Ridge eviscerates her in front of the entire studio, calling her work unprofessional and implying she’s “playing dress-up.” What Ridge doesn’t realize is that his own father witnesses the takedown… and quietly decides to strike back in the most devastating way possible.

Katie Logan is not chasing a hobby. She’s chasing identity. Logan Designs represents the first time Katie has tried to step out of the familiar shadow—“Logan sister,” “supporting player,” “the one caught in the family crossfire”—and be seen as a creator with her own voice. She’s poured months into this collection: elegant but accessible, polished but wearable, built for women who want to feel powerful without pretending their lives are perfect.

That’s why the setting matters. Forrester Creations is not neutral ground. It’s the temple. And Katie walking in with her garments is a declaration: this dream deserves to be taken seriously.

Then Ridge walks in.

Ridge arrives early, commanding the room like a man who believes the building breathes because he allows it to. The studio falls quiet at the sound of his voice. Standards. Innovation. Reputation. The speech lands as routine corporate theatre—until Katie steps forward with garment bags in hand.

She greets Ridge professionally. She asks for perspective. She shows her pieces.

For a beat, there’s silence.

And Katie dares to hope.

Then Ridge picks up one of her designs as if it’s contaminated.

The critique isn’t just harsh—it’s humiliating. It’s delivered loudly, publicly, with the precision of a man who wants witnesses. Ridge calls the work “mid” and “not even close” to professional level. He attacks construction, color, proportions. He doesn’t stop at the garments—he attacks Katie herself. Her “sensibility.” Her “soul.” Her right to even use her own name.

And the studio does what it always does when power turns cruel: it looks away.

Designers avoid eye contact. Assistants freeze. Even seasoned staff visibly flinch. The silence becomes part of the punishment. Ridge doesn’t simply critique; he positions Katie as an embarrassment that should know her place.

Then he delivers the cleanest cut of all: Katie isn’t a designer. Katie is PR. Katie is logistics. Katie is support.

Not creation.

Katie leaves with her head high and her insides shattered—unaware that she wasn’t the only one watching.

Eric Forrester, hand raised to knock, stands outside the glass partition and hears everything.

Every cruel word. Every dismissive laugh. Every quiet humiliation Ridge believes he is entitled to deliver because his name is on the door.

And something shifts inside Eric.

The man who has been drifting in semi-retirement, telling himself it’s time to pass the torch, suddenly remembers a truth Ridge has started to forget: power is a responsibility, not a weapon. Eric doesn’t just witness Ridge tearing down Katie—Eric witnesses Ridge becoming the kind of man Eric never wanted to create.

That moment doesn’t make Eric sad.

It makes Eric dangerous.

Because Ridge’s cruelty doesn’t just insult Katie. It challenges Eric’s legacy as a mentor, a builder, a creator of people—not just clothes.

And Eric has been working on something for six months.

Quietly.

Secretly.

With only Donna fully aware.

In his private studio, Eric has been designing for Katie—pieces crafted to elevate her vision without swallowing it whole. Seamwork that glides. Proportions that flatter. Fabrics that move like they were born to. Colors that don’t just “look expensive,” but tell a story about the woman wearing them. It is, in Eric’s own mind, his best work in a decade.

This was meant to be a gift.

Now it becomes a vow.

Once this secret leaks—once it becomes clear that Eric has been quietly building Logan Designs while Ridge plays gatekeeper at Forrester Creations—fans won’t debate fashion. Fans will debate loyalty.

Because this isn’t just business. It’s betrayal-by-bloodline.

Online, the reaction would split fast: one camp cheering Eric for backing Katie and punishing Ridge’s arrogance, the other furious at Eric for undermining Forrester Creations and lighting a match beneath his own family’s stability. Comment sections would explode with the same question asked in a hundred different ways: is Eric saving talent—or settling a score?

And Katie? Katie becomes the emotional centerpiece. Sympathy floods in because viewers recognize the cruelty: a woman trying to build something real, publicly shredded by a man who didn’t just want to critique—he wanted to erase.

Eric calls Katie into his office privately after the humiliation. Katie arrives exhausted, eyes red, still trying to keep her dignity intact. And Eric doesn’t offer a generic pep talk.

Eric shows her the work.

Garment bags open. Piece after piece appears like proof that the world Ridge described is not the only world that exists.

Katie’s reaction isn’t polite admiration. It’s visceral. Tears. Awe. Shock. The kind of reaction that happens when someone realizes they weren’t crazy to believe in themselves.

Then Eric delivers the line that changes the entire power dynamic: Ridge wasn’t just cruel—Ridge was afraid.

Afraid of talent outside his bloodline. Afraid of success that doesn’t require his approval. Afraid the spotlight can land somewhere else and still burn bright.

Eric’s promise is simple and ruthless: Katie’s pieces and Eric’s pieces will debut together as a collection so undeniable it silences every dismissive voice. And when the industry applauds Logan Designs, Ridge will be forced to confront what he did—and who helped undo him.

The fashion show date is circled. Invitations are out. Critics and insiders are already sniffing for a headline.

Ridge thinks Katie is licking her wounds.

Ridge thinks the story ended the moment he walked away.

He has no idea his father has turned into Katie’s most committed ally. He has no idea the collection being built in the shadows is engineered not just to succeed—but to make Ridge’s public humiliation look like the single most catastrophic miscalculation of his career.

And when Ridge finally learns the truth—when he realizes Eric didn’t just mentor Katie, but weaponized brilliance against him—the fallout won’t stay on the runway.

It will hit the boardroom.

It will hit the family.

And it will hit like thunder.

When a father secretly builds a rival empire to punish his son’s arrogance, is that justice for Katie—or the betrayal that finally destroys the Forrester legacy from the inside?