The Young and the Restless Recap for Thursday, January 30, 2025: Ambulances arrive at the ranch

It was snowing outside the ranch house as Adam opened the door to look for the ambulance. Inside, Nikki encouraged Victor to stay awake as they waited and tried to stop the bleeding. Ian asked Nick to finish him off, but he didn’t believe in killing people in cold blood. Nick was fine with watching him die painfully, though, considering what Ian had done to people he cared about.

Adam asked Michael what they should tell the police. Michael suggested they say that Ian somehow got a hold of a security guard’s gun and threatened to kill the whole family, tried to take a shot at Nikki, and Victor stepped in to take the bullet. “And after that, even though he was badly wounded, Dad wrestles Ward, gets the gun, it goes off in the struggle, and Ian goes down,” Adam added. They both agreed that it was self-defense. “And Dad saves the day. That’s our story,” Adam concluded. “It’s not a story, it’s the truth,” Michael said. He told Adam that Victor never ceased to amaze him. “With everything at risk, Victor put it all on the line for the family,” Michael added.

Near the atrium, Victoria and Claire were worried about Victor but knew he was extremely tough. Claire wondered how people like Jordan and Ian had no qualms about hurting people.

Victor asked Ian how he was doing “Not so good. Thanks for asking,” Ian moaned. “You thought you were going to kill me. You son of a bitch will rot in hell,” Victor told him. “Of that, I have no doubt,” Ian retorted.

At Sharon’s, Mariah flashed back to her fight with Tessa and how it was their last conversation. She told Sharon the sun was coming up, and Tessa and Aria were gone for hours. Knowing Tessa as well as she did, Mariah didn’t think she would leave with the baby and let her worry. Mariah was sure Ian had them, but Sharon thought maybe Tessa was just blowing off some steam. Sharon tried to settle Mariah down, but she stopped her and said it was time to face the reality that “that lunatic” had taken her family.

Sharon told her that the worst-case scenario was that Ian took them and was holding them somewhere. Sharon reminded her that it wouldn’t serve Ian’s purpose to gain her sympathy if he hurt them. Mariah admitted she told Ian she wanted him to die and probably gave up hope for forgiveness with her, so he probably hurt them. Mariah said she was living proof that Ian was capable of hurting a child. Mariah thought if anything happened to them, she couldn’t bear it.

Someone knocked on Sharon’s door, and they wondered who could be there that early. They thought it could be the police, but Mariah knew that meant bad news. Sharon opened the door and was shocked to see Tessa and Aria. Mariah rushed to hug her and tell her she was sorry.

Sharon said she would call the police and tell them Tessa and Aria were fine. Tessa was shocked she had reported them missing but understood. She asked Sharon when she came back. Sharon said she was fine and would explain later, but they asked if Ian was involved. Tessa told her that Ian had nothing to do with it. Tessa apologized for asking Mariah to forgive Ian and for stressing her out even more.

Tessa said it was hard to put into words, but things went wrong repeatedly all night. Tessa explained that when she got home after their argument, Aria woke up and was upset, so she took her for a drive to calm her down. Since Tessa’s mind was elsewhere when she left, she didn’t check to ensure it was charged so it slowed down and ran out of juice. Tessa pulled over to the side of the road and her phone was dead. By then, she didn’t know where she was and had no way to call her. “It gave me time to figure out what an idiot I had been, and that’s what I was going to say when I got home. I’m so sorry,” Tessa said and hugged Mariah.

Tessa explained that she had no choice but to wait in the car and was just about to fall asleep when there was a knock on the window, and it was Abby. She had driven by and recognized her car, so she drove her home. “And you know what makes this night even crazier? She had left her phone at Society, so I still had no way to contact you and tell you I was okay,” Tessa said. Mariah told her wife that she hoped they never had another night like that one.

They heard police sirens approaching and wondered what was going on. Mariah told Tessa that a lot had happened overnight, and she needed to catch her up on it.

At the main house, Chance came into the living room, and Ian was on the stretcher. “He didn’t make it?” Chance confirmed. “Thank God,” Nikki sighed. Chance hoped there was a really good explanation for what happened. Adam was more concerned about Victor getting to the hospital. The EMT said he was lucky that the bullet went right through him, but a few inches up would have been a different story. She asked for another gurney, but Victor insisted on walking. He paused by Michael on the way out and asked him to stay and answer Chance’s questions. Victor thanked Michael for staying when he had the opportunity to leave earlier and said he’d never forget it.

The room cleared as everyone walked with Victor outside to the ambulance, Nikki walked to Ian’s body, lying on a stretcher. She told him that his reign of terror was finally over. She recalled in flashbacks moments with him. She told him he took his last breath, knowing his vendetta was a failure and his life was a waste. “Good riddance,” Nikki snapped before walking away.

Sharon, Mariah, and Tessa came to the main house. Claire and Nick told them that Victor was shot, but he would be okay. He showed them Ian lying on a stretcher. Chance was glad to see Tesa was okay. Mariah stared at Ian’s body as Sharon told her that they could never hurt them again. She stopped the paramedics from taking Ian and told him off for killing Heather. “I will do whatever I can to atone for what I did, but you will get nothing because you are nothing,” Sharon told Ian.

Mariah came over and told Ian that when she was a little girl, he was her hero, and she was always trying to do stuff so he would be nice to her. Mariah had a flashback to a conversation with Ian years ago when he was complimenting her and talking about when she was a baby. Back then, she thought he was the only one she could trust, but when she tried to get away, he turned on her and tortured her. She told him it caused her to have nightmares and worry he would come back and try to ruin her life. She recalled how she found out that he stole her at birth and how devastated she was. She told him the tie between them was gone and she had a life now. “So, I guess you didn’t beat me after all,” Mariah concluded before they took him away. Sharon took Mariah, Tessa, and Claire back to her place.

Chance asked who wanted to go first to tell him what happened. Michael, Adam, and Nick pieced together their version of what happened, leaving out that they brought Ian to the ranch. They blamed Ian’s behavior on grief and shock of losing the woman he loved. Chance asked if they knew what it looked like for two sworn enemies of the Newman family, both winding up dead on the property on the same night. He said it strained credibility to imagine it all went down exactly how they said it did. “Ian and Jordan were working together, their targets were all here,” Michael said. Adam firmly told Chance that none of them would be standing there if not for Victor, and Michael backed him up. Nick said when he ran the prints on the gun, he would find four sets: Mortonson, Nick, Victor, and Ian. Chance said he would have more questions for all of them, including Mortonson. Michael asked if Chance had any reason to doubt what they told him.

Chance said he didn’t and had a sneaking suspicion everyone else who was there would corroborate their story. “It’s because it’s the truth,” Nick told him. Chance couldn’t help but marvel at how everything always seemed to work out exactly the way the Newmans wanted them to.

After Chance left, Adam wondered if he would turn it into an issue. Michael said there was no evidence to dispute what they just told him about Ian. Nick said their story about Jordan was close enough to the truth and that it would have to do.

Nikki was with Victor in the ambulance. She was very upset, but Victor told her everything would be okay and tried to make light of it to make her feel better. Nikki admonished Victor for being unarmed and attacking a man with a gun. “What the hell were you thinking?” she asked.

At Sharon’s, Claire told Sharon, Tessa, and Mariah what happened. She assured them that Victor would be okay. “I owe him big time for this,” Mariah said. They updated Tessa about Jordan and their plan against Mariah and Claire. Sharon said Heather was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tessa realized that she encouraged Mariah to forgive Ian and had fallen for his changed man act. Mariah said that she believed Ian for a very long time, and understood.

“The irony of those two psychopaths finding each other,” Mariah noted. Sharon told Claire and Mariah they would both be stronger for surviving Jordan and Ian. Tessa promised she’d never make the same mistakes again. Mariah said Tessa had a good heart and needed to believe in those people. Sharon said they needed to focus on the healing of the damage they did. “For me, that’s with Daniel and Lucy,” Sharon told them, insisting she had to make something good happen out of all of it.

Victor said he would die before letting Ian hurt her. He told Nikki that now that Ian and Jordan were dead, they had no more problems. But in Ian’s ambulance, he suddenly gasped and opened his eyes.

Watch new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS or stream on Paramount Plus.