Fashion House

When Maria Gianni needs a new design for her big show, Michelle - a budding designer - happens to be in the right place at the right time; but Michelle's marriage is on the rocks as her husband Lance beds his secretary, Gloria.

Confused about her marriage, Michelle leaves Lance and moves in with her friend Nikki; after getting a job with House of Gianni, the last thing Michelle expects is to find is Gloria in her home… wearing her jewelry and lingerie.

After encountering Gloria in her own home, Michelle throws a fit, tossing her out the door; but Michelle didn’t expect Lance to forge her signature on a fake prenuptial agreement, leaving her with nothing but the clothes on her back.

When Maria finally gives in to her feelings for William, he makes love to her right in her office.

Maria fights to keep her emotions in check as the relationship between her son and Michelle heats up; and William has his own plans to manipulate Maria's emotions, and destroy her in the process.

Luke sketches Michelle the perfect rose; just as he’s getting closer to her, Tania crashes the party and ends all the fun; Maria, meanwhile, is wrapped up in finding dirt on Michelle as William plays Maria like a fool.

When William bribes Congressman Spangler so he can build on the conservation wetlands, the congressman makes him pay big $$$; the congressman was not expecting was a rather large tip from William.

Maria tries to stop her son Luke from dating her employee; but she has no idea that William’s devious plan to marry her has gone into full effect.

As Maria thinks about William and his marriage proposal, Luke goes after Michelle even though Maria has forbidden it.

Lance shows up at Joe McManus’ office to confront him about taking pictures of he and Gloria; but the last thing he expected was to murder him.

As Maria plans her wedding she decides to leak some of her guest list to the press; but for some reason she doesn’t have the courage to tell her son Luke.

Looking for the new face of Gianni, Maria plans a dinner introducing her son to her fiancé William; but Maria wasn’t counting on Luke bringing Michelle.

Maria commissions Luke to paint a portrait of her and William for their wedding; that makes Luke the boss, something she has to learn to live with.

When Michelle is feeling bad, she gets a job offer at another company, lifting her spirits; then Maria hears about it, and wants the opportunity squashed.

When Congressman Spangler plays political hardball with William Chandler, he has no idea that the bull is about to give him the horns.

When Maria tells Michelle she wants her to design all the dresses for the show, Michelle agrees; but she still wishes Maria would accept her relationship with Luke.

When Maria sends Michelle to New York City with John Cotter, she thinks John should have no problem taking advantage of the junior designer.

As Luke gets to know William over dinner, we learn the truth behind his machinations and his engagement to Maria.

Luke wakes up to Michelle yelling at him, oblivious to the implications of a naked Lexi in his bed.

As Maria’s wedding date nears , she becomes the bride from hell manipulating everybody that gets in her way.

As the rehearsal dinner approaches, Maria heads into the office to ensure that everything is on schedule for the happiest day of her life.

As the wedding approaches, Sophia arrives, pleased with her son's devious commitment to his plan.

Maria has no idea why William humiliated her at the altar, until Sophia Blakely takes credit for the big fiasco.

Sophia drops the bomb on Maria telling her William is Charles Blakely’s child, as William and Luke discuss taking a DNA test.

After her run-in with Sophia, Maria is confronted by Luke about the identity of his real father and, though defeated, does her best to lie.

Michelle confronts Maria about stealing her designs, only to find out that Maria also drugged Luke to get him into bed with Lexi.

As Maria tries her best to hide her money problems, William and Sophia seek out ways to bring the diva to her knees.

When Maria sees what a great job Michelle’s doing setting up the charity event she takes over, thinking that will break her confidence.

Sophia meets Tania and gains her trust for her own nefarious purposes.

When Maria takes credit for her designs, Michelle informs the press and the fashion world that Maria hasn’t designed a dress in months.

When Maria discovers that Lance was once William’s accountant she asks him to find her an investor to prevent the hostile takeover of Gianni.

As time runs out for Maria, Eddie agrees to pay back her multi-million dollar loan in exchange for a majority of Gianni's shares.

When Michelle needs help getting her company started, William tells her to call a friend of his, who turns out to be a friend of Maria’s as well.

Maria smashes Lance’s knee with a baseball bat and tells him to call Michelle for help, hoping to trigger the Florence Nightingale effect.

When Tania’s test shots come back for the face of Gianni, she looks strung out and Maria tells Michael she’ll deal with it.

Maria pays William the money she owes and thinks she’s won, until Lexi steals her contacts and partners up with Michelle.

As the night of Luke’s show finally arrives everyone who loves him is there and excited for him, until he reveals the show's centerpiece.

A piece of artwork causes friction between Michelle and Luke.

When Eddie explains that he can’t call off the hit on Michelle, Gloria takes her son Alek with her to warn Michelle.

When Alek is shot by the assassin and taken to the hospital, Michelle gives Gloria her love and support.

After Maria calls in her fake heart attack she tells Lance to run to Michelle’s side, knowing Luke will come to the hospital to be by hers.

When Lance’s dinner with Michelle doesn’t go as planned, Maria devises a new plan to ruin Michelle’s business, hoping that will get her away from Luke.

As Maria’s plot to ruin Michelle’s business thickens, William Chandler’s plan to have Maria put behind bars moves into play.

When Maria ends up behind bars, her lawyer explains that the only way out is if Luke lies to the judge for her.

Luke chooses to lie for his mother and get her out of jail, causing the DA to look like a fool in front of the mayor and his staff.

Maria convinces Congressman Spangler that she can get Lance to wear a wire and he tells her she’ll be exonerated if he can secure a conviction.

Maria convinces Lance to wear a wire for the police and gets to listen in on the detective’s plan to bring down Eddie and his credit card fraud ring.

Maria gains an advantage by exploiting Dr. Woods' unethical practices, as a big surprise awaits William and Sophia.

When Michelle’s big day arrives she doesn't suspect her ex-husband is working with the police to put Maria’s financial backer behind bars.

When Maria promised William he was going down he should have taken her more seriously because now the DA is after him.

Michael shows up for a his meeting with Maria after a couple of drinks and ends up having sex with his best friend’s mother.

When it looks as if William may spend the rest of his life behind bars, Sophia finds Congressman Spangler and shows him some incriminating pictures.

When Lance escapes Eddie’s thugs, Eddie calls Gloria to say that he needs her one more time and that if she doesn’t help him she’ll be sorry.

When Nikki takes a fall, Michael and all her friends rally to her side and Luke has to tell William that Nikki has lost their baby.

Michelle tells Nikki she's lost the baby and should call the police, but Nikki wants revenge instead.

When Maria offers Lexi control of MMD, with Maria being the majority shareholder, Lexi accepts and Michelle is fired on the spot.

While Maria deals with the insanity of pre-show fashion problems, she never suspects someone might try to assassinate her.

When the police finish questioning everybody connected to Maria Gianni's murder, the only thing they're sure of is that it’s going to be a tough case to crack.

At Maria’s memorial service, everybody gets a chance to say how they really felt about her as her son, Luke, hangs on every word.

After Maria is murdered everybody connected to her becomes a suspect and without the murder weapon, it looks like the killer may get away with it.

When Eddie kidnaps Michelle, Luke rescues her, never thinking his mother or Lance might still be alive.