From the moment The Young and the Restless' Tucker (Trevor St. John) arrived back in Genoa City after his disastrous honeymoon with Ashley (Eileen Davidson), there has been much speculation about his future plans.
The Abbotts have wisely predicted that a hurt Tucker is primed to lash out, and he certainly is ready to do that, with acquiring Jabot at the top of his to-do list. During the week of September 11, he even said as much to Audra (Zuleyka Silver), and of course, she is all too willing to join him at Jabot if he manages to pull off the bold move.
Trying to get things kicked off, in the episode that aired on September 19, Tucker approached Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) with a proposition. He offered to pay her $2 million debt with an insurance company (the money the company paid to Jeremy Stark when she faked her death). In exchange, he wanted Phyllis to put her IT skills to use and help him hack a company. Although he meant Jabot, he decided to keep that information from Phyllis until she agreed to his terms. Initially, it doesn't look like she will.
However, in the episode airing on September 20, Phyllis meets with Tucker again to discuss his offer. She correctly assumes he is going after Jabot. Then he stuns Phyllis by saying he specifically wants her to hack her way into Billy's (Jason Thompson) personal finances.
Such a request rings odd to her as she isn't sure why he wants to target Billy. However, we think we know what Tucker is up to. We believe he plans to set up Billy for embezzlement, with the idea being that Jack (Peter Bergman) will rush to believe his younger brother is guilty, causing a rift in the Abbott family unity.
If you're asking yourself why we'd propose such a theory, allow us to explain.
For starters, right before Tucker went on his honeymoon with Ashley, he and Jack had a heated exchange in which Tucker planted the seed that Jack's real threat is Billy, even cautioning Jack about trusting his brother. Billy himself later noted that Jack deep down doesn't fully trust him.
Also in the episode airing on September 20, Billy goes behind Jack's back to talk to Devon (Bryton James) about Tucker. The foundation is pretty much laid for Jack to believe that Billy is untrustworthy.
We should also mention that longtime Young and the Restless fans know that Billy has stolen from the family company before. Years ago, he actually took money from Jabot to pay gambling debts.
With all that said, the idea of Billy once again embezzling money may be very believable, at least to the Abbott clan.
Should Jack rush to judgment and buy the story that Billy stole money and Billy become upset that his brother refuses to believe his innocence, that would lay the groundwork for causing a big rift in the family unity. With the siblings on the outs, perhaps Tucker then launches phase two of his plot to take Jabot. Is there a scenario which he even gets a disgruntled Billy to help him? Just maybe.
We'll just have to keep watching to see what happens next.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
