While many The Young and the Restless viewers have long suspected that Diane (Susan Walters) has wanted to assert herself in a top job at Jabot, a point that Ashley (Eileen Davidson) has made numerous times, the new Mrs. Abbott has yet to prove she is trying to manipulate her way up the ranks. Diane was even willing to sign a prenup to prove that she was in love with Jack (Peter Bergman) and had no intentions of plotting to take a stake in the family company.
With that being said, Jack’s wife may not have any intentions of hatching a scheme to benefit herself, but we are now starting to think she may soon show vintage Diane in trying to manipulate her husband to fire Billy (Jason Thompson) and make Kyle (Michael Mealor) the new co-CEO of Jabot.
Ever since Audra (Zuleyka Silver) fired Kyle at Nikki’s request, he’s appeared rather uncertain about his next big career move. Both Jack and Diane have shared their desire with their son that he return to Jabot, but the Abbott heir has allowed his entitlement and stubbornness to prevent him from doing so. Kyle has expressed that the only way he would return to the business is if he’s awarded the co-CEO position, a job currently held by his uncle.
Understandably, Jack is resistant to firing his baby brother. Not only would that be a bad look for the company, but Jack doesn’t want to ruin his relationship with Billy. Let’s be honest, their relationship over the last few months has been particularly fragile. Plus, the arguments between the siblings don’t exactly provide a "just cause" for Billy’s termination (in our opinion at least).
Given how much Diane wants Kyle to work at Jabot again and knowing his stipulations for returning, would she be willing to stoop so low to frame Billy so Jack would feel forced to fire him? We tend to think so.
Diane has constantly been planting seeds in Jack’s mind that he should fire his brother to make room for Kyle. Conversation after conversation she makes her pitch, only for Jack to eventually tell her that he won’t make such a drastic decision.
It’s not hard to imagine that in the coming weeks, Diane resorts to a plan to frame Billy for a fireable offense. Now clearly, we don’t think she’ll attempt to set up her brother-in-law for embezzlement since Tucker (Trevor St. John) recently tried to do as much and failed. However, perhaps she uses the feud with Tucker to her advantage.
Not that long ago, Billy was pretending to be in cahoots with Ashley and Tucker when the latter two were at war with Jabot. Mr. and Mrs. Tucker McCall claimed that for Billy’s allegiance, they would make him the sole CEO of Jabot when they gained control of the company. Billy later admitted to Jack to being genuinely tempted by their offer but ultimately decided to be loyal to his brother.
Diane knows about Billy's temptation to be the sole CEO of Jabot, so perhaps she’ll work to make it appear that Billy is actually plotting with Tucker in the feud against the Abbotts. That despite all of the public bickering between Billy and Tucker, Billy is really in cahoots with him. Diane is no doubt capable of developing evidence to back such a claim, and Jack would likely believe whatever she presents before him.
Should our theory prove true, at least Billy could probably find a job working for Jill (Jess Walton) at Chancellor-Winters. Although, that may be awkward for him working with his ex Lily (Christel Khalil).
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