Beyond the Gates Recap for Friday, February 28, 2025: Bill and Hayley's wedding starts off with a bang

On their wedding morning, Hayley and Bill spoke on the phone. Hayley told Bill she wished she hadn’t cost him so much, but Bill assured her that he and Dani would have split regardless if he had met her, as they had grown apart.

Eva interviewed with Nicole to replace Laura. She explained how her surrogate mom, Leslie, knew Mona. “Leslie was best friends with my real mother. She died when I was little,” Eva explained. Nicole updated Eva on the wedding and other things she would hear about working as her assistant. Nicole offered Eva the temporary position until Laura could return.

Eva went home and said, “Mom! I mean, “Leslie,” you won’t believe how easy that was! Nicole honestly doesn’t believe her world will go off script. That’s how privileged she is. She has no idea who we are!” “So you got the job!” Leslie squealed. Leslie was excited and said this was the day she had dreamed of. “You’re finally going to be where you should have been all along: in your father’s house.”

Dani awoke to find Andre smiling at her. He thought she was just as beautiful asleep as she was awake. They agreed the night was amazing, but Dani said they had to pretend that it never happened. Andre suggested that they were able to do what they wanted as consenting, single adults, but Dani just got her freedom and wanted to keep it.

Andre agreed that Dani was in an emotionally complicated place but told her if she was lonely, she had options. Andre revealed that he might take more jobs in the States. Dani suggested that Andre head out before a nosy Fairmont Crest woman spotted his car in her driveway. Andre suggested that it would send the message that she had moved on. “But I haven’t,” Dani said simply. Andre reminded her that Bill was getting married that evening. “That’s what people keep telling me,” Dani said. “Because it’s true,” Andre told her. Dani said he was a good guy, but he needed to leave.

Dani went to Bill’s and asked him to stop the wedding and come back home where he belonged. She said she wasn’t expecting a miracle but thought they could come back even stronger if they were committed to making it work, but not if he was in some farce of a marriage to Hayley. “We loved each other. Deeply. I didn’t imagine that,” Dani added.

Bill told Dani she was once his everything. “And I could be again. We shared too much to throw it away,” Dani said. She didn’t want to lose that to Hayley or anyone. “Say yes, and I will take it from there. You don’t have to be the fixer this time. I’ll do the work. Just please stop this nonsense and come back home, Dani asked. Bill stroked her hair and said, “Dani…beautiful, exquisite Dani.”

Bill recalled the first time he saw Dani at a party, and she walked into the room with so much confidence and pride it knocked him out. Remembering it made Bill sad. “Desperation. It pains me to see it. What happened to all that pride?” Bill asked. Dani’s face instantly turned sour. “I can’t believe you would fix your mouth to say something so hurtful. But here’s the answer: Whatever I am in this moment that “pains” you, you made me,” Dani seethed.

Bill told Dani he wasn’t owning her behavior. She was a grown woman who was responsible for the choices she made and a Dupree, as her family reminded people at the drop of a hat. “A superior being who should be able to control herself with more dignity and restraint instead of physically assaulting people and refusing to let go of what is no longer yours. Here’s the reality, Dani: Hayley is going to be my wife, and it can’t happen soon enough,” Bill told her. He said if Dani really wanted to honor their history, show some grace, be the bigger person, and forgive Hayley. “Stop talking,” Dani interrupted. She said she had finally heard enough, grabbed her coat, and marched out.

At Ted and Nicole’s, Andre got his camera set up to do an interview of the Richardsons for the tribute bio of Nicole for her award. He tried to ask about Ashley casually and if she and Derek were serious. Kat told him that they hung out at Uptown with Naomi and Jacob. Ted didn’t think Ashley was his type; Nicole said Andre’s attention span with women was limited, and Ashley wasn’t a casual person.

Kat interviewed her parents on camera, starting with how they had met at a medical conference in Maui. Nicole described how they had been introduced but couldn’t remember by whom and then stayed up all night talking in a cabana at the hotel. Ted added that no other woman had his attention since that night, and Nicole called Ted the love of her life.

At the hospital, Ashley called Naomi and checked in on how she was feeling before the wedding. Naomi said that despite the dismal way Hayley grew up, she thought she was brave and a good person and invited her into her family. “Now that lying little bitch stole my father and broke my mother’s heart. I’ll carry guilt for that for the rest of my life,” Naomi shared. Ashley pointed out that Bill showed his true colors. “Would you really want your mother married to a man who thought so little of her?” Naomi asked.

Ashley’s supervisor tried to gossip about Bill and Hayley’s wedding since she was a friend of the family. Ashley assured her the wedding was toxic, and she wanted nothing to do with it. “So, is Hayley Lawson a homewrecker? Or is Bill Hamilton a cheater?” she asked. “Can’t both be true?” Ashley replied.

Ashley was getting ready to leave her shift when Andre was walking by. He offered to walk her to her car, so they got into the elevator together. A pregnant woman was in there and didn’t seem amused by Andre’s jokes. Andre asked Ashley if she wanted to go get something to eat. Just then, the elevator jerked to a stop, and the lights flashed. Ashley asked the woman if she was okay, but the jolt put her into labor.

Hayley happily prepared for her wedding day but kept saying how she wished that their happiness hadn’t caused others so much pain. Hayley asked her friend and coworker, Caroline, if the people at their office genuinely liked her. She talked about how her father had left her mom when she got pregnant, which made her mom resent her, and she didn’t have any siblings. “To answer your question, you’ve found family at the law offices of Bill Hamilton. No one’s faking anything. You’re part of us now,” Caroline told her.

Caroline said Bill’s bracelet was something new, so she gave Hayley something old and borrowed — her mom’s handkerchief, and she lent her a hair clip. Hayley had happy tears.

Hayley worried that when she walked into the room, it would only be the people from payroll in attendance. She felt bad that Bill was a respected attorney, and it would look bad. Caroline offered to see who was there, but Hayley changed her mind. “Let the haters hate,” she decided.

The Duprees and others in the community gathered at the country club for Bill and Hayley’s wedding. Dani insisted she was there to support her children but thanked everyone for being there for her during this ghastly time. Anita hoped the ceremony would be brief and noted they didn’t have to go to the reception.

Across the room, Bill told Vernon he was surprised he came through, though it was backhanded that all the women were wearing black. Bill noted it looked like they were attending a funeral. “We are because tonight we bury your influence over my family. It’s done, Bill. This is the last favor you will ever get from a Dupree,” Vernon told him.

Vernon and Anita told Dani they appreciated her sacrifice and assured her it wasn’t asked of her lightly. Dani ominously said she was fine, and if she wound up there that night of all nights, it was for a reason. As Dani walked off, Anita and Vernon worried what that meant.

Dani walked across the room and ran into her best friend, Pamela Curtis. She had just flown in and was going to get Dani across the home stretch, and then she would help her move on. Pamela suggested they go get a drink, and Dani happily obliged.

Around the room, people were having conversations. Vanessa saw her husband, Doug, for the first time in a while. He said work was busy but suggested he take her on a vacation to the Bahamas to make up for it. Tomas Navarro, an attorney at Bill’s office, introduced himself to Kat and asked her out. Naomi told Jacob she was sad that her family had become so estranged, all because two narcissists saw each other in their own reflections and fell in love with one another while the rest of them sorted through the wreckage.

At the bar, Vanessa suggested to Dani that she could still go to Paris after the ceremony, but Dani said the opportunity had come and gone. Martin walked up behind Smitty and overheard him telling someone on the phone, “I can’t talk right now, but I appreciate the check-in. It’s nice to be wanted again.” When Smitty saw Martin, he hung up without saying goodbye and claimed he was speaking to an old acquaintance. “Should I be jealous?” Martin wondered. “No. Nothing’s changed. I’m all yours,” Smitty replied.

Bill approached Dani at the bar and apologized for being ungracious earlier. He said he was tired of their confrontations and wanted to coexist. “My parents insisted we come to this clown show because you got to them somehow. That’s why I’m here. I don’t wish you or your whore well. In fact, I hope my forced presence is a dark cloud on the rest of your miserable lives,” Dani sneered before throwing her drink in Bill’s face.

Bill went to his daughters and thanked them for being there. He told them he loved them and that Dani had told him their presence had been mandated, but he appreciated it nonetheless. Naomi shot him a dirty look and walked away. “I suppose you hate me too,” Bill said to Chelsea. “No, but I don’t like you very much,’ she replied, then walked off.

Nicole checked in with Dani, who told her she had done something so monumentally stupid earlier that she probably deserved all the humiliation she got. Dani shared her meeting with Bill. Nicole took Dani’s hand and told her that Bill didn’t love her anymore and wondered how many more ways he needed to show her. Nicole asked if Dani’s obsessive behavior towards Bill was because she loved him or was afraid of starting over alone.

Dani turned sour again and defiantly said, “I don’t have to stand here and let you psychoanalyze me.” Dani said it was much more simple: she was angry and wanted revenge. “Bill doesn’t get to put a blow torch to my life and then sail off on a honeymoon with his new child bride. Not after everything I’ve done; after everything I’ve given up,” she added. Dani said she refused to let go until Bill suffered.

Bill approached Martin and told him that despite what had happened with Dani, he still wanted their relationship to continue. He once again implied threats by noting that he did favors and had value. Martin wondered why he was being singled out. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I coming on too strong? I don’t want to be accused of…overkill,” Bill said. Martin’s eyes widened as Bill warned him to ask his family if freezing him out was the smartest thing to do.

Back at the bar, Dani was looking in her purse but closed it when her daughters came up. She said the situation was surreal, waiting to watch her husband marry someone else. Dani grabbed Chelsea and Naomi’s arms and told them to listen. “No matter what happens, never doubt or forget that I love you something fierce,” she said. They hugged, and then the harp music began, and people went to take their seats. Dani promised to join them after she freshened up.

Bill took his place at the altar. Dani sat between her girls in the front row, staring stoically ahead. As the doors opened and the music switched to “Here Comes The Bride,” the men stood, but Anita nodded at them to sit back down, so they did. Hayley looked around and saw the full room of guests.

The ceremony started. The minister began talking about what marriage was, about respect and love, a commitment and a covenant not to be taken lightly. Dani’s eyes bulged as she spoke. When the minister asked if anyone objected, Dani said, “Me. I object.” As everyone looked, she opened her purse, pulled out a gun, ran up to the altar, and pulled the trigger.

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