Just how angry is Bold & Beautiful’s Carter Walton?

That’s the key question as we contemplate the extent

of the damage he could do to Forrester Creations as

he vows revenge on the fashion fam for firing his new lady love. The other question? What, exactly, can he do? Well, let us tell ya’…

Carter went from irritated to incensed once he realized that Steffy’s personally-driven firing of Hope wasn’t going to be overturned due to him asking a personal favor of his best friend, Ridge. In the space of a few weeks, Carter has gone from conceding that Hope For the Future was no longer an asset, to arguing that the very survival of Forrester Creations hinges on keeping it. It’s worth mentioning that the big turnaround in his way of thinking coincides with him embarking on a personal relationship with Hope.

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Carter’s stance is eyebrow-raisingly hypocritical, but of course it’s only the Bold & Beautiful viewers who realize this, as the Forresters have no idea that a romance with Hope is behind his sudden about-face and intensity. And despite the fact that everyone who has ever worked at the fashion house has carried on love affairs there, for some foggy reason, Carter cannot simply explain that Steffy’s assumption about Hope was wrong, and that she was actually wearing lingerie and lying in wait for him… not Finn. This, of course, would clear everything up, and there’s no drama in that.

That brings us to the present, where Ridge walked out on Carter’s demands to reinstate Hope and her line, and to this week’s spoilers, which tease a revenge plot devised by the COO to get back at the Forresters for ousting the lovely Logan.

So, how angry is Carter and why does that matter? Well, in a word he’s outraged. Bent. Incensed. Furious. Since he’s sure that this is the Forresters moving on the Logans in an unfair way, and considering the Forresters have also rejected his proposal to expand the company, he’s seeing absolute red. The fact that the Forresters have also fired Forresters numerous times, and that they have sound reasons for saying no to his plan are clearly not going to enter into this equation. The question is: Is Carter angry enough to leave the company or shoot himself in the foot? Because with the scenarios we’re imagining, he’d have to do one or the other in order to exact his revenge.

Forrester is a family-owned company and Carter has no power or leverage there. He can’t convince share-holders that the CEOs are in the wrong because there aren’t any. That means that in order to take his revenge, he has to harm the company in some way. Given that he works for Forrester Creations, this aim would be a cross-purposes to his own well-being. Unless he plans to walk out after he does whatever it is he’s going to do.

So, what can he do to the Forresters? Well, he can make trouble of the financial or legal variety for the family. Typically, nothing happens without a reason on soaps, and the writers went out of their way to have Ridge mention an LLC that Carter was supposed to be setting up for them as a means of lowering the amount of taxes they’re paying. Should Carter fail to register the LLC as he was instructed, the Forresters could find themselves hit with a crippling tax bill.

On the other hand, as a lawyer, he could advise Hope behind the scenes as to how to take the Forresters to the cleaners legally over the firing by finding some loophole. Of course, this plan of action would require him to keep his agenda secret, and that’s never going to happen on Bold & Beautiful.

As we mentioned, if Carter deliberately screws the company about, he’s going to have to have his bags packed, ready to say, “Gotcha” on his way out the door. This applies to anything he chooses to do to Forrester Creations that hurts the business in any way. Damaging the company or its reputation only seems feasible if Hope and Carter decide to cut ties with Forrester Creations, rather than push to continue working there. Why would you want to sabotage a business where you’re hoping to stay on?

The bottom line: Carter probably has the means and opportunity to bring Forrester Creations to its knees if he wants to, but he’ll have to be prepared to walk away… perhaps to start a new business with Hope. Maybe his plan involves starting a fabulous new fashion house while Forrester is hobbled and taking full advantage.

What do you think Carter will do to the Forresters? Let us know in the comments!

Take a look back over Hope and Steffy’s rivalry through the years in the photo gallery below.