Salem is buzzing with news that’s enough to keep the whole town awake: EJ has vanished.

And EJ’s disappearance is never the kind where he just goes on vacation and turns off his phone.

It’s a dangerous disappearance: either he’s been captured, or framed, or imprisoned in a place no one would ever think of.

Just one person like EJ “disappearing” shakes the entire DiMera ecosystem.

Family panics, enemies rejoice, and allies begin to suspect each other, because everyone knows EJ knows too much and too many want him to be silenced.

The tension peaks when the story drags Theo into danger. Theo isn’t someone who likes getting involved in the DiMera family’s power struggles, but that’s life in Salem: sometimes you’re dragged in even if you don’t want to. A misspelled name, a clue falling into someone’s hands, a seemingly coincidental but not-so-coincidental encounter… Theo is thrust straight into the eye of the storm. And once Theo is targeted, the scariest thing isn’t verbal threats, but being turned into a pawn. A pawn used for exchange, to force others to do their bidding, or to drag someone else out of their safe haven.

Chad can’t sit still either. For Chad, EJ’s disappearance isn’t just a family matter, but a matter of survival, because every time the DiMera house explodes, someone is inevitably severely injured. Chad tries to find clues, tries to stay calm, but the more he digs, the more he senses “someone is staging this.” And staged dramas in Salem often come with one thing: a haunted location.

Thus, the confrontation shifts to a place everyone dreads: the DiMera house and the dark corners they always use to keep their secrets. This week’s feeling is that all the threads lead to one common point: someone is playing a huge game, and EJ is just a pawn or a key.

Then a face-off erupts. This is the kind of confrontation where two sides stand close together, whispering softly but sounding like roars. One accuses, the other counters. One keeps secrets, the other forces them to reveal. One pushes to the limit, the other switches to “nothing to lose” mode. And when the issues involving EJ, Theo, and Chad clash simultaneously, it’s no longer an “investigation” but a “power struggle.” Whoever holds the information wins. Whoever accidentally reveals a weakness loses.

What gives the audience goosebumps is the feeling that EJ’s disappearance wasn’t random. It’s more like a calculated move to expose someone else. When EJ disappears, the most panicked person will leave a trace. The overly calm person is also suspicious. And the person who “pretends to help” is sometimes the one leading the whole group astray. So this week, Salem isn’t just asking “where is EJ?”, but also “who’s controlling the narrative.” And when the narrative falls into the wrong hands, the price to pay is always a long and painful one.