Scout and Rocco’s innocent first kiss could be seconds away from becoming a nightmare. Drew is already furious that Scout slipped away from him, and if his search leads him straight to the Quartermaine boathouse, he could arrive just in time to see his daughter kissing the one boy he never wanted near her. But Drew may not simply drag Scout home. He could unleash a devastating piece of Sam’s history that neither teenager is prepared to confront.
Rocco and Scout finally crossed the line from friendship into something more after admitting how comfortable and understood they feel around each other. For Scout, especially, Rocco has become a safe place while her relationship with Drew grows increasingly strained. That makes the timing dangerous. Drew has already tried to control who gets access to his daughter, and seeing Scout openly defy him for Rocco could push him toward a far more personal weapon.
Instead of ordering Scout to stay away from Rocco, Drew could ask one brutal question: Does she really know what her mother did for Rocco’s family before she died?
Sam donated part of her liver to save Lulu Spencer, Rocco’s mother. It was an extraordinary sacrifice that helped give Lulu another chance at life. But Sam never got the same second chance. Not long afterward, her death was revealed to be no medical accident at all. Cyrus Renault was responsible for taking Sam away from her children.
That truth becomes even more painful because Cyrus is not some random villain disconnected from Rocco. Cyrus is Laura Collins’ half-brother. Laura is Lulu’s mother, and Lulu is Rocco’s mother. That makes Cyrus Rocco’s great-uncle.
Drew could use that family connection to make Scout question everything she is feeling.
Her mother gave part of herself so Rocco could have his mother back. Then a member of Rocco’s own family took Scout’s mother away forever. Drew would not even need to blame Rocco directly. He could simply plant the guilt and let Scout make the emotional connection herself.
“How do you think your mother would feel seeing you with someone from Cyrus Renault’s family?”
That could be enough to destroy the happiness of Scout’s first kiss.
Rocco could be hurt just as badly. He already has reasons to carry complicated feelings about Sam’s death. Sam helped save Lulu, while Cyrus later murdered the woman who had done so much for his family. If Drew throws that history in Rocco’s face, Rocco may decide Scout deserves distance from anything connected to Cyrus — including him.
That could be exactly what Drew wants.
Rather than forcing Scout away from Rocco, Drew could manipulate Rocco into leaving on his own. Scout might insist Cyrus’s crimes have nothing to do with him, but Rocco could still walk away believing that staying with her only forces Scout to relive the worst loss of her life.
But Drew would be making one enormous mistake.
There is another chapter in Cyrus Renault’s history that could turn Drew’s entire argument against him.
Years before Cyrus murdered Sam, Drew helped save Cyrus’s life in Pentonville. When Cyrus suffered a medical emergency, Drew performed CPR and helped keep him alive. Drew could not possibly have known that the man he was saving would later become responsible for Sam’s death.
And that is exactly the point.
If a devastated Scout starts asking Alexis questions about Sam and Cyrus, she could eventually learn what Drew did. Suddenly, her father’s argument against Rocco collapses.
Scout could confront Drew and demand an explanation. Drew would have an entirely reasonable defense: Cyrus was dying. Drew saved another human being because it was the right thing to do. He had no way of knowing what Cyrus would eventually do to Sam.
But Scout could immediately turn those words back on him.
“You didn’t know what Cyrus would do to Mom. Rocco didn’t choose what Cyrus did either. So why are you blaming him?”
There is an even deeper contradiction Drew may not be able to escape. When he previously wanted Rocco kept away from Scout, Drew emphasized that Rocco was not related to her. Now, if he suddenly needs Rocco’s blood connection to Cyrus to justify separating them, Scout could finally see the pattern.
When blood does not help Drew’s argument, Rocco is not family. When blood helps Drew control Scout, suddenly Rocco’s family tree matters.
That realization could change Scout’s relationship with her father far more than the kiss itself.
She does not have to stop loving Drew. She does not even have to immediately run back to Rocco. The bigger turning point would be Scout realizing that Drew used the memory of her dead mother to manipulate her feelings.
And she could leave him with one warning he never expected to hear from his daughter:
“Don’t ever use Mom to control me again.”
Rocco and Scout’s first romance may survive Drew’s interference — or it may collapse under the weight of their families’ history. But if Drew uses Sam’s death to tear them apart, the person he ultimately pushes away may not be Rocco at all.
It could be Scout.
