1990 (#3) - The plot against Cassandra, Paul's intervention and Adrian's arrest

Terrified by visions of Paul whom she believes to be dead, and wracked with guilt, Cassandra returns to Genoa City, despite Adrian's opposition and the irrepressible passion they are demonstrating on this trip. However, unlike what Carl and Victor had predicted, Cassandra makes no confession; and through tears, after discovering that Paul is actually alive, she reveals that she did not kill George. Cassandra, moved, assures that she is not a murderer and begs Paul to believe her. Although Carl and Victor are skeptical about it, Paul decides to believe the woman, assuming that it was Adrian himself who did it, although Cassandra is also certain of Adrian's innocence. Adrian, meanwhile, realizing that Cassandra has abandoned him, decides to leave Bermuda and return to the United States, this time to complete the work and kill Cassandra. Upon Adrian's arrival, Cassandra, unaware that Paul is following her to monitor Adrian's movements, asks the man's forgiveness for leaving him alone. This, of course, is no longer enough for the man, who is also convinced that the woman is now collaborating with the police; he decides to devise a plan to kill his wife and come out clean in order to inherit all the Rawlins' possessions. Showing concern and affection, Adrian promises to protect Cassandra and stay close to her even if she is convicted. Adrian's manipulations convince Cassandra to entrust him with her possessions in case she is arrested; having obtained her signature, Adrian can start his diabolical plan to kill her and make it look like a suicide. Drugged and tied to a chair, Cassandra is left unconscious with a gun in front of her that is connected to a mechanism programmed to trigger the gun when the ice that prevents the weapon from being activated has melted. When a terrified Cassandra wakes up and realizes the situation, Adrian has already fled in search of a solid alibi; however, fortunately for her, Paul had followed her and promptly intervenes along with Victor, who replaces Cassandra with a dummy staging the woman's death to make Adrian believe that his plan worked. All of this, of course, in order to make sure that a satisfied Adrian does not flee and brag about the success of his plan to an alleged thug, who is none other than Carl. Having thus recorded the man's confession, Paul immediately goes into action and arrests the man, stunned to see Cassandra alive in front of him, for George's murder. Not much time passes, finally, that a shaken Cassandra asks and obtains a divorce from Adrian.

1989 (#31) - The escape to Bermuda with Adrian and the ghosts of Cassandra

Immediately after her marriage to Cassandra, Adrian still does not feel safe in the city and, with the excuse of her honeymoon, immediately leaves the country to escape to Bermuda, from where she does not intend to return. Paul, seeing Carl and Mary desperate to believe him dead, decides to reveal the truth to them, very happy to be able to embrace their son again. Paul also explains to them Victor's role in helping him and the whole thing, including the news about Adrian's identity, including his marriage to Cassandra and his escape to Bermuda. Carl and Paul, then, convinced that the only way to get the truth out is a full confession from Cassandra herself, decide to follow the couple to Bermuda to convince them to turn themselves in. Here Paul, strengthened by the fact that Cassandra thinks he is dead, takes advantage of the situation to show himself to the woman under the guise of a ghost. Cassandra, in seeing what she believes Paul's spirit is raging against her, begins to think she is haunted, ending up being terrified and frightened by her visions to the point of seriously considering the idea of revealing the man's innocence, although Adrian of course does not agree and minimizes the whole thing by urging Cassandra to relax and enjoy their lives.

1989 (#26) - Paul's fake suicide and the civil marriage between Adrian and Cassandra

In a desperate attempt to exonerate himself, Paul devises a plan with Victor, suggesting that he fake his own death. The two then drop Paul's car off a cliff and set it on fire. When rescue arrived, the car was completely burned to ashes, and the authorities, unable to find the body, dismissed the case as suicide and found the man unaccounted for. The court, considering Paul's suicide as an admission of guilt, closed the case despite the protests of a desperate Carl. The latter in the meantime, kept in the dark by Paul and Victor's plan to prevent it from being discovered, tries in vain to convince the officials to reopen the case, citing as possible evidence of Cassandra's bad faith a series of photos where the woman is wearing earrings that she had previously reported missing for theft the night of the murder. Paul, finally free to investigate and collect evidence against Cassandra and Adrian undercover, searches with Victor for evidence that could connect Adrian with George's death; however, any attempt to connect the man with the crime scene seems useless. Adrian himself, meanwhile, convinces Cassandra to marry him; it turns out that the two have always agreed to take advantage of George's plan to blame Paul and eliminate any possible trace of the murder for hire entrusted to Adrian, thus free to go out and live with his mistress, Cassandra. At the end of a hasty ceremony held in civil form at the City of Genoa City in front of Mayor Donald James, Adrian and Cassandra celebrate their union, now convinced that they have got away with it to the detriment of an innocent Paul who, realizing that from the beginning he was nothing more than a pawn in the hands of the couple, promises to himself that he will get justice.

1989 (#18) - The clandestine flirt between Adrian and Cassandra, the arrest of Paul

Released on bail with Victor's help, Paul tries to understand and reason with his father Carl about what happened. Carl, to whom Paul guarantees his total innocence and extraneousness to the facts, firmly believes his son's version and, together, they realize that the man was framed. But what neither Carl nor Paul support, however, is that in all this time that Paul has been dating Cassandra, he has not been the only lover of the woman. Cassandra, in fact, also frequents a certain Adrian Hunter, a shady individual of Ukrainian origin that Victor, by chance, meets in the company of the woman, thus exposing their relationship. Convinced that somehow the two have plotted against Paul, Victor offers to help Paul and Carl, who in the meantime is forced to work unofficially on the case, having been taken away because of his personal involvement. Cassandra in the meantime informs a now suspicious Paul that it is better, for them, not to meet again to arouse suspicion; the meeting, in fact, was arranged by the woman to connect the man with the place where the murder weapon was found, left at the very spot where Paul waited for Cassandra. And so, when an anonymous call informs the police where to find the murder weapon, the fingerprints on it cause Paul to be entered in the register of suspects. Paul, thus, is arrested again, this time on charges of voluntary manslaughter. Paul proclaims his innocence once again, now realizing that he was framed by Cassandra herself who, during a visit to the prison, confides to the man his belief that the man would soon be found innocent. Convinced that he had to do something, Victor decides to seduce Cassandra to try to collect some evidence, but is unable to get any information from her, even though he realizes that the woman is still dating Adrian. The latter, meanwhile, incites Cassandra herself to leave the city with him, but the woman refuses, warning him that she wants to wait until the end of the trial and the conviction against Paul, so as not to arouse suspicion. Soon, Carl manages to track down Adrian and, looking at his phone records, to prove his connection with George, realizing that Adrian himself is probably the author of the murder, although there is no evidence to suggest Paul's innocence. Paul's position, meanwhile, becomes more complicated when during the trial, under oath before Judge Richard Hodges and the prosecution represented by Patrick Sullivan, Cassandra admits that there was a relationship between her and Paul: and it is at this moment that Carl, overcome with despair, begins to realize that nothing, at the moment, seems to be able to save Paul from a wrongful conviction.