The Young and the Restless spoilers: Damian’s big secret?

One of the moments we’ve been waiting for finally happens in The Young and the Restless episode airing on January 8.

In Los Angeles, Nate (Sean Dominic), Audra (Zuleyka Silver) and Amy (Valarie Pettiford) pensively grab a bite at a cafe, all nervous about what may happen should Damian (Nathan Owens) show up. Nate is anxious about meeting a brother he only recently learned existed, Audra is concerned her boyfriend may get hurt should his high expectations of the meeting not be met and Amy is worried her son won’t forgive her for lying to him his entire life.

As the trio tries leaning into calmness, Audra and Amy go shopping, leaving Nate by himself to carry out their “scheme.” The plan was initiated when Nate reached out to Damian under the guise of offering him a job at Winters and requested to see Damian at the cafe. Having done that, Nate just waits to see if his brother will show and he’s tasked with getting a read on Damian and determining whether or not he will bolt and run. Then eventually, Nate and Amy would like to get around to telling Damian the truth about everything.

Thankfully for Nate, he doesn’t have to wait alone at the cafe for too long, as Damian appears. However, right away, Damian grills Nate about the job offer, perplexed as to why a high-level executive would fly to LA to recruit him. Furthermore, Damian questions how Nate came across his name and credentials, and why Nate isn’t alarmed by the fact that he’s had “five jobs in the last year.” Before the episode wraps, Damian tells Nate, “Why don’t we cut to the chase, Mr. Hastings, what is this meeting really about?”

We suspect in the coming episodes, Damian will learn that he has a younger brother, his father was really Nathan Hastings Sr. and Amy is dying. However, we doubt we’ll get to the bottom of all the mystery surrounding Damian right away.

From the very moment Amy told Nate the story of Damian, we’ve been suspicious of Damian and his background. As Amy noted, her son goes for long periods of time without reaching out to her, and Nate had to use a private investigator to even track him down. It’s as if Damian purposefully goes into hiding, but why? Additionally, with Damian noting in the episode that he’s had five jobs in a year, we can’t help but raise an eyebrow. So what is Damian hiding, and/or who is he hiding from?

It would be a bit of soapy irony if Damian was more like the biological father he knew nothing about. Nathan Hastings Sr. was once tied up in organized crime. Could Damian have once been involved in organized crime as well, and is he constantly in hiding because he’s trying to stay away from the ghosts of that past life? For example, perhaps he wound up becoming a witness for the prosecution against a crime boss, and constantly is on the run from people who may want payback. Or maybe, Damian owes money to or did something so bad that a villain wants revenge for, leaving Damian to think he constantly has to be on the move.

It’s a bit too early to know just what Damian is keeping a secret, but we are almost certain he has one and it’s big.

New episodes of The Young and the Restless air on weekdays on CBS. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Paramount Plus.