Oh, gee. This is gonna be ugly. We’ve known almost from the start that The Young and the Restless’ Claire wasn’t at all the heaven-sent assistant that Nikki believed her to be. But the week of November 13, we’ll find out just how vicious are the newcomer’s intentions toward her boss. Perhaps we’ll also find out why she so despises Victor’s darling.

We already have a hunch that we know. You’ll recall that after Nikki’s mother died, her father Nick came to Genoa City. At that point, sister Casey recalled that he had raped her — just as he was trying to perpetrate the same act of violence against his younger daughter. Nikki fought back and killed the bastard, and that was the end of that… or so she thought.

Suppose Nick had other children. Suppose Claire is one of them — or one of their children — and she was raised thinking that her late father wasn’t the scumbag that he was but a virtual saint. A mind poisoned from such a young age might have become twisted enough to want revenge. To dream of it, hatch a plan and then be mad enough to execute it.

We doubt that Claire will succeed. Having lived through all that she has, Nikki is stronger than titanium. But watching her wriggle out of the fine mess into which she’s fallen oughta be pretty exciting nonetheless.