1990–92 Upstate Pennsylvania mob boss Carlo arrives in
Llanview, Pennsylvania in 1990 and sets up a drug-trafficking operation, but soon mayor and wealthy newspaper publisher
Victoria Lord Buchanan steps in and shuts him down. Carlo's son and heir,
Johnny Dee Hesser, seeks to aid his father and hires thugs to scare Viki off, but instead Viki ends up incapacitated by a stroke. Meanwhile, Johnny has been romantically involved with Viki's half-sister
Tina Lord, and soon a pregnant Tina is unsure whether the father of her baby is Johnny or her ex-husband
Cord Roberts. Finding out about the baby and Tina's plans to reconcile with Cord, a distraught Johnny bursts into Llanfair, knocking Tina unconscious and attempting to kidnap her. Viki, unable to walk or speak, realizes that Tina's life is in danger; her long-dormant
alternate personality Niki Smith emerges. As Niki, Viki is able to stand – and shoots Johnny to death. Initially, both Viki and Tina have no memory of what happened, and Tina becomes the prime suspect in the murder. However, an audio tape recorded in the room later exonerates her, and proves that Viki had acted in self-defense. The baby is proven to be Cord's; Carlo, however, vows revenge against the entire Buchanan family. He kidnaps Viki's daughter
Megan Gordon and Megan's half-sister
Sarah; eventually the sisters manage to escape, but Carlo kidnaps Sarah again. Sarah's husband
Bo Buchanan (also Viki's brother-in-law) hires former federal agent
Alex Olanov to help him track down Sarah. Megan's boyfriend
Jake Harrison feigns a romantic interest in Carlo's daughter
Charlotte Hesser in order to discover Sarah's whereabouts; Charlotte soon claims that Carlo has put out a contract on Megan's life, but will be saved if Jake marries Charlotte. He does, but Charlotte eventually grants him a divorce so he can be with Megan. Alex eventually finds Sarah; Carlo agrees to let her go in exchange for his freedom, but Sarah's plane crashes and she is presumed dead. Sarah later returns and reveals that she has been Carlo's prisoner the entire time. The Buchanans turn to Alex – now in jail for trying to kill Bo's new love
Cassie Callison – for help. With the promise that she will be released, Alex uses her government connections to uncover evidence of Hesser killing an undercover federal informant. Alex secretly makes a deal with Carlo; she will destroy the evidence if he marries her. He does, and Alex keeps her word. Patriarch
Asa Buchanan discovers old love letters to his wife
Renee from Carlo; she and Carlo had been together years before, when they both had lived in
Las Vegas. A furious Asa files for divorce and threatens Carlo publicly. Carlo is soon found dead, with Asa and Sarah among the many suspects. It is ultimately revealed that Carlo's own niece
Stephanie Hobart had killed him after discovering that he had murdered her father, Carlo's adopted brother
Joseph Hobart. Out of loyalty to Carlo, Alex sneaks Stephanie out of town to avoid prosecution. Soon Antonio and Cristian discover that Jonas has both women; they and Sarah's mother
Tina Lord – who had been posing as the Crown Princess of Mendorra – agree to accompany Jonas back to Mendorra in order to make an exchange: Sarah and Talia for the Crown Jewels which Tina has in her possession. In Mendorra, Carlo is revealed to be Talia's estranged father, and the real mastermind behind the kidnappings (corrupt Llanview Police Commissioner
Lee Ramsey had effected Carlo's disappearance from prison). Talia is Carlo's youngest child; during her early childhood, she had lived under Carlo's tyrannical rule, tormented by her demented siblings, Johnny Dee and Charlotte. Eventually, Talia had escaped from Carlo with her mother. Taking her
Syrian stepfather's last name "Sahid," Talia had eventually gone into law enforcement for the express purpose of repudiating all the evil done by Carlo, and in the hopes of eventually bringing the father she despises to justice. Carlo intends to force Talia to marry Jonas, the true heir to the throne and Carlo's puppet. Talia protests and stalls, but goes through with the royal wedding on July 31, 2008 to save Antonio and her friends from harm. Talia brokers a deal with Carlo: she will stay if the others are allowed to leave. With several people's lives at stake, a furious Antonio is forced to leave Talia behind. Antonio, Sarah and Cristian later return; they drug Carlo and Jonas and stage them in bed together, and Talia leads a team of reporters to "discover" the scene. With a protesting Carlo and Jonas arrested for fraud, Talia and the others leave Mendorra. Cristian is kidnapped from an airport the group is connecting through; he awakens to find himself a prisoner on a cargo ship, with Carlo there gloating. Posing as "Mortimer Bern," Carlo delivers Cristian to Plato prison in
Colombia, passing him off to the authorities as "the worst criminal in all of Colombia." Carlo then disappears. ==References==