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Things pick up where we left off last week: Ridge insists to Carter that there’s a place for him at Forrester Creations… if he rips up the paperwork and, essentially, dumps Hope. Ridge says he’s giving Carter an incredible opportunity… one he’s not certain the COO deserves. “I want you here,” says Ridge, adding that everyone at the company sees that Carter has lost his way. He needs to stop defending Hope and her line. “What do you say?” asks Ridge. “Understood,” responds Carter, “but not accepted.”

Carter says Ridge is turning Hope into a scapegoat, but he’s wrong. “This was me, willingly. It was me, your best friend.” Even as Ridge continues trying to pin the blame on Hope, Carter takes full responsibility for the coup. Taking another approach, Ridge suggests that Carter is foolish to think Hope loves him. “All of a sudden, she’s in love with you. She’s known you a long time, but now you’re the only man for her?” Ridge suggests Hope is using him, which Carter obviously balks at. Ridge asks if Carter is going to throw away everything, including his career and their friendship, because of Hope. “You’re throwing it all away, your whole life, for her? You’ve lost your mind!”

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“So I’ve lost my mind because I stood up for what’s right?” muses Carter. But Ridge counters that there’s nothing “right” about betraying one’s best friend. Ridge makes Hope out to be a scheming seductress who wormed her way into Carter’s head and got him to stage a coup. “You know right from wrong. Hope does not,” says the co-CEO. Carter isn’t terribly surprised, saying that whenever something goes wrong, Ridge and Steffy find a way to blame a Logan. “Not surprising, though… that’s learned behavior, from your mother.” (Oh, snap!) Carter says the Logans deserve better, only to have his former BFF run down how many of the Logans play major roles in the company, including Brooke.

“Bravo,” applauds Carter. “You gave her some phony executive team position. That’s very generous of you. She should be CEO, not Steffy!” He points out that when Brooke was in charge, she made evidence-based decisions, calling Steffy and Ridge’s cancellation of Hope’s line petty. Ridge smirks. “You just clapped your hands at me,” he says, grinning wickedly. “You think you can run this company better than me, don’t you? Honestly, I’d like to see you try. But that’s not going to happen. Because this little takeover attempt has failed, miserably. And now, brother? It’s time to pay the price!”

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At the cabin, Hope is understandably furious that her mom, upon eavesdropping on her and Carter, went running to Ridge. “You had no problem taking power back all those years ago,” says Hope, “because you knew what you were doing was right for the company!” Hope adds that for years, she heard all about how cruel Stephanie was to Brooke. “Now, Steffy is doing the same thing to me,” the younger woman says, suggesting that Carter put them in the position to take the company in a new direction. “Now, he risks losing it all!”

Brooke points out that Hope and Carter knew the risks. “But we hadn’t done anything yet,” reminds Hope, adding that unlike Carter, she had nothing to lose, what with already having been fired. “Carter just wanted a chance to show Steffy and Ridge what he could do,” says Hope. “What you and Carter did wasn’t just a misunderstanding,” says Brooke. “It was purposeful. It was calculated. It was malicious!” Hope insists that’s not true. “This was not an easy decision for us to make,” she continues, saying they usually play by the rules, but felt wronged so many times by Forrester. Sure, Carter is COO, but Ridge and Steffy insist upon blind loyalty. “No,” says Brooke, “they expect him to do his job!” Sure, he can pitch ideas, but at the end of the day, he’s not the one who makes final decisions.

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Hope tries making her mom see that Carter isn’t just acting on her behalf but on behalf of all the underdogs at Forrester Creations. No matter what Ridge says, Carter won’t stop fighting. Brooke admits that what Hope has done really bothers her. “That you would even do something like this, especially now, honey, now that the truth is out!” Translation: With everyone now aware of Hope’s involvement with Carter, Steffy might realize that she really did fall on top of Finn as opposed to an attempted seduction. “But now, Ridge and Steffy are never going to trust you!” Hope says, essentially, “Big whoop,” pointing out that the LLC paperwork could make Ridge and Steffy irrelevant. Brooke shoots that down, saying that Justin will no doubt be able to shoot down the bogus paperwork.

As the episode draws to a close, Hope says that Carter is a vitally important part of Forrester Creations. “I’m going to go out on a limb,” counters Brooke, “and say after today, he was a vitally important part.” And at that very moment, Ridge is asking if, when Carter came to work that morning, he saw the sign on the building. “It’s been there a long time. It says ‘Forrester Creations’ on it. As in Eric Forrester. Ridge Forrester. Steffy Forrester. This is our legacy. We’re going to leave this for our kids, for our grandkids. Did you, anywhere on that sign, see your name or Hope’s name? No, you know why? Because this little thing that you’re trying to do right here? The only thing it did was make me angry and think I never should have trusted you in the first place. Who do you think you are?” He goes on about Hope sitting at her kitchen table plotting a coup, and there’s Carter, big, strong, full of integrity. “Perect employee, right? Only you’re not. You’re just a lovesick puppy who’s scared of waking up alone. You’re just some guy, and I allowed you to betray me on so many different levels.” Carter doesn’t back down, saying he did what he had to do to protect the woman he loves, asking Ridge, “What are you going to do about it?”

Ridge suggests Carter hang on a second, then says, “There it is. I just did it. I moved on from my COO, my attorney and my best friend. You’re fired, Carter. You’re not welcome here anymore. Get out of my office. Get out of my building. Get out of my life.”

Next on The Bold and the Beautiful:Get ready, because what Ridge does next will be a total game-changer!