On the Friday, August 21, 2026, episode of “Beyond the Gates,” Madison (Kenjah) got caught in the middle between Naomi (Arielle Prepetit) and Tomás (Alex Alegria), Heather (Ashley Jones) observed Andre (Sean Freeman) and Dani (Karla Mosley), and Chelsea (RhonniRose Mantilla) relived being held hostage by Allison.
Heather Wanted First-Hand Information
Andre and Dani were out enjoying a meal at Orphey Gene’s when Heather suddenly strolled in. Dani was happy to see her new friend and invited her to join their table; Andre consented but remained wary, wanting to know how Dani and Heather met. Heather said it had been through Vanessa, who was dating her brother. Dani hadn’t known that Heather was Joey’s sister, and the two got into girl talk, with Heather commenting that Andre and Dani were a beautiful couple before she went on her way.
Seeing that Dani approved of Heather, Andre warned her to keep her distance, citing the fact that Heather was an Armstrong. Later, Andre arrived at Heather’s hotel room at her behest; Andre accused her of spying on him and Dani, but Heather insisted that running into them at the diner had simply been a coincidence.
Heather repeatedly pawed at Andre, who firmly stated that he was married and that whatever game Heather was playing should stop immediately. Dani didn’t know their history, Andre added, and he promised he would tell Dani himself first before allowing Heather to blow up his marriage. Heather agreed to stay away from Dani… if Andre gave her what she wanted – “and you know what it is,” Heather maintained. Andre got out of Heather’s suite as fast as he could.
Outside Your Door
Chelsea had a nightmare, awakening to find Madison, who had returned early from her research project in Copenhagen, knowing it was the anniversary of Allison’s abduction of Chelsea. Madison offered to take the day off to be by Chelsea’s side, but Chelsea said she would be okay, and then Madison received an urgent call from Tomás about the malpractice suit against her. Once alone, Chelsea couldn’t get the image of Allison threatening her with a knife while she was chained to the bed at the cabin out of her head.
Meeting Kat (Colby Nixon) at Uptown, Chelsea tried to go over ChelseaKat’s strategy for Tokyo Fashion Week. But when Kat suggested livestreaming as much as possible, the normally camera-ready Chelsea announced that she wanted to stay behind the scenes. Despite her attempts to hold herself together, Chelsea admitted to her cousin what day it was; Kat had been aware but hadn’t wanted to bring it up out of respect for Chelsea.
Kat gently stressed to Chelsea that even the body kept a memory of tragic events and that it was all right for Chelsea to feel whatever she needed to. Then, an unknown caller lit up Chelsea’s phone and hung up once Chelsea answered. When a second call came in, Kat took it; she heard breathing but also got disconnected. Chelsea couldn’t help wondering if Allison was trying to get in touch.
Poisonous Darts
At Garland Memorial, Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett) complained to Hayley (Marquita Goings) about the chief of staff, Monica, siding with Shanice and Ashley (Jen Jacob) about limiting Hayley’s visits because of the marrieds’ attempt to have sex in Bill’s hospital bed. When Bill started talking about lawsuits, Hayley didn’t think it was necessary, but she berated Ashley when she came to check on her patient. Ashley promised she’d have Dr. Wilkes come in to discuss Bill’s release.
Bill felt that Hayley had been too hard on Ashley and asked her to retrieve his laptop from the office so he could get some work done while he was laid up. Instead of going to the firm right away, Hayley called Randy (Maurice P. Kerry), who was busy surveilling Heather on Joey’s orders. Randy grudgingly found someone to cover for him when Hayley demanded to see him right away.
Randy and Hayley sparred over Bill being in the hospital instead of in St. Barts, where the plan had been to finish him off. Hayley said she couldn’t exactly dose Bill while surrounded by nurses and doctors, but she planned to give him his lethal dose of poison once he was discharged. Randy didn’t want Hayley to do it in D.C., where they could be caught – plus, Bill had already survived his heart stopping three times, and the installation of his pacemaker made things more complicated.
When Randy fretted that Bill could simply go into a coma, with his family keeping him alive indefinitely, Hayley joked about just poisoning the whole lot of them.
Typical Male
Naomi was surprised to see Madison walk into Bill’s office, but she was more than a little annoyed when Madison revealed that Tomás had called her in, since Tomás wasn’t handling her case. Tomás entered and disclosed that Mike Davis (Pierce Lackey), the former partner representing the woman suing Madison, had requested a meeting.
When Mike arrived, he continually deferred to Tomás, silently showing that he didn’t want to deal with Naomi, a woman attorney. Tomás felt that Madison and Naomi should at least consider Mike’s offer to settle the case, but Naomi refused. Mike snarked that Bill could start slurring his words in court, the way he had during the deposition. Tomás again felt that a settlement was an option, but when Mike left, Naomi laid into him, saying that she and Bill were representing Madison, not him.
My Evidence
Madison heard Tomás’ words about how a lengthy trial could add to her existing stress over the suit, and privately, Naomi could barely talk Madison out of taking the settlement. Naomi visited Bill and told him about Tomás’ interference, prompting Bill to summon Tomás to his room. Bill was furious and reminded Tomás that Naomi was his co-counsel, and he commanded him to stop antagonizing his daughter if he wanted to keep his job.
Dani went to the firm expecting to find Naomi, but when she saw Hayley, she sniffed that Hayley was once again not at Bill’s bedside. Hayley spat that she was there doing Bill a favor and called on Dani to put her own husband first, since Andre couldn’t be happy with Dani flitting around Bill.
Check out a clip from today’s “Beyond the Gates” below.
