The Bold and the Beautiful recap for January 16, 2025: Ridge learns about Steffy's plan

Ridge learns about Steffy’s plan while Will presses his father about his behavior in The Bold and the Beautiful recap for January 16, 2025.

We begin today’s episode at the Forrester Mansion, where Eric (John McCook) and Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) ask Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) about her meeting. She informs them that she’s the new president and she’ll be answering to Hope (Annika Noelle), Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) and Brooke but she’ll be working to get the company back.

Hope isn’t sure about the decision, but Carter isn’t surprised that Steffy wouldn’t want to walk away. Hope points out that Steffy created the negative environment and they don’t know if they can trust her.

Bill (Don Diamont) thinks Will (Crew Morrow) might need to get back to work, but Will wants to know if his father can help him scrub the deepfake images from the internet. Bill says he has people who can help, but when he pushes Will to leave, Will can tell his father is trying to get rid of him. Luna (Lisa Yamada) smiles from her hiding place.

Li (Naomi Matsuda) calls Poppy (Romy Park) and tells her to get to her office right away. “Don’t make me wait,” she says.

Carter says Hope has the right to be wary of Steffy, but he promises that he’s not going to allow things to move backwards. Hope reminds him that things didn’t go well when the takeover happened and they need to be careful. Carter reminds her that they’re in charge now.

Ridge can’t believe Carter and Hope believed that Steffy wanted to return to work without seeing through her plan. Steffy knows she was very convincing.

Will can’t help but notice that his father is on edge. Bill says he’s dealing with a “sensitive” issue and Will says he can tell it’s not business related. Will thinks it’s about Luna.

Poppy arrives at Li’s office and asks what’s going on. Li says she has news about Tom Starr.

Hope thinks that Steffy’s return is “out of the blue” and didn’t think there was a chance of reconciliation with the Forresters. Carter says that they were all in shock when it happened and maybe Steffy had time to think about things. Hope doesn’t think Steffy has changed her mind at all. Carter says they’ll have to be vigilant, and if it doesn’t work then Steffy will be out. Having a Forrester on board will be helpful. He’s also thinking about the old saying to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Hope agrees with this idea, but she isn’t sure about having the Forresters back.

Steffy looks at a picture of her grandmother and says she’s working on getting the company back. Ridge wants to know what the plan is, and that’s when Daphne Rose (Murielle Hillaire) walks in.

Will knows that what happened with Luna really impacted Bill and he hasn’t been the same since. Bill insists that he’s fine, but Will knows how much his father wanted a daughter. Will says he knows something is up and vows to keep checking in on his father, hoping that whatever he has going on doesn’t “bite him in the ass.” He adds that after everything that happened, he’s glad Luna isn’t his sister. Once he’s gone, Luna appears and says she wonders what would happen if Will found out what Bill was doing for her.

Poppy sees the liver and wants to know what Li is doing with it. She’s not surprised his liver was rejected for organ transplant, so what is it doing in Li’s office?

Luna can see that Will really cares about Bill and he knows Bill is upset about something. Bill doesn’t want him involved in the situation, but she points out that Will knew how much Bill wanted Luna to be his daughter.

Poppy is about to gag at the sight of the liver. Li says she’d never last in the OR, and now she needs to know the answer to a question she’d had for years.

Carter insists that the company will be an inclusive place and if Steffy can’t fit in with that, she won’t be allowed to continue. He promises Hope that she has nothing to worry about with Steffy.

Ridge has never met Daphne, who sniffs Ridge and tries to nail down the scent he’s wearing. He says it was a gift from a special person; Daphne adds that whoever gave it to him knows him well. Steffy says Daphne is going to create a new signature fragrance for the company, which puzzles Ridge until Steffy says that Daphne is beautiful and no man can deny her, not even Carter. Ridge suddenly realizes what Steffy has planned.

Steffy says that Daphne has “quite a way” with men. Ridge doesn’t need the details, but Steffy adds that she wants to see what happens to Hope and Carter with Daphne in the mix.

Carter tells Hope that Steffy can’t hurt them because they love each other. Hope tells him she loves him, and he says their love will keep them strong.

Bill tells Luna it would be best not to talk about the past because she knows Bill isn’t her father. Tom Starr is her father.

Li tells Poppy that Luna killed Tom Starr because she wanted Bill to be her father. Li thinks Poppy knew Bill wasn’t her father but allowed Bill to believe the lie. Poppy doesn’t think it matters because Luna killed her father. She can’t believe Li called her into her office to rub her face in the harsh details. “You win!” she says, telling Li she was right and she’s a terrible mother. Li wants to know the truth. Poppy wants to know why Li hated her so much. Li reveals that she also has Luna’s blood so that she could run a paternity test. Li says Poppy wouldn’t tell anyone who got her pregnant all of those years ago. Li says Tom isn’t Luna’s father, and she thinks they both know who Luna’s real father is.

The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS and the following day on Paramount Plus. Check your local listings to see when it comes on where you are.