Edward tried to keep a long lost family secret from being found out by Luke Spencer and Felicia Scorpio. Despite Edward and Reginald's efforts, Luke and Felicia discovered what they thought was the truth: Edward had killed Lila's fiancé, Elliot Thompson, and married her in his place. Edward initially denied it, and then told them they were right. But Lila refused to let her husband take the blame and revealed the truth: she had killed Elliot in self-defense. The crime was covered up by the family. Luke and Felicia agreed to keep the murder a secret. Edward tried to ruin Ned and Chloe Morgan's sham of a marriage. He needed Ned back as CEO of ELQ, so he paired with Chloe's aunt, Gertrude, who also wanted to ruin Chloe's marriage. Edward planned to destroy Ned's record company, and then Gertrude would get her design company. Edward couldn't seem to make his plan work. When Chloe was the victim of a hit and run, Edward dropped his vendetta against the marriage, but not his plans to get Ned back at ELQ. However, Ned had no intention of returning to ELQ and managed to thwart Edward's plans yet again. All of Edward's efforts to keep Carly and Michael failed when Jason produced evidence that A.J. was responsible for burning down Jason and Sonny Corinthos' warehouse earlier that year. Sonny used the evidence to blackmail A.J. out of his parental rights, and igiving Carly a divorce. Edward was furious with A.J., kicked him out of ELQ, vowing to make him pay.