Darla dies

At this stage viewers would already have seen Darla (played by Schae Harrison) slip out of Alexandria's birthday party to help Phoebe Forrester, Taylor's daughter, when she gets a flat tyre and is stranded along the side of the road. But Darla wasn't the only one who wanted to help – a drunken Taylor also rushed to the site.

Hit and run!
On Monday 15 October we see how Darla struggles in the misty night to change Phoebe's flat tyre. She stumbles and falls backwards... right in front of Taylor's oncoming car! She is seriously injured when the car hits her, but don't think Taylor's going to stop to help. Shocked, scared and drunk she races away while Phoebe calls for the emergency serivces...

On Wednesday 17 October Darla is fighting for her life, while family and friends hold vigil. On Thursday 18 October she opens her eyes and sees Thorne sitting next to her bed. She smiles weakly and says: "Angel, don't buy me presents anymore. Rather buy me a box of chocolates. I promise I won't sit and eat them in a bubble bath." Then a tear rolls down her cheek and she whispers to him: "I love you." And she breathes her last. Viewers won't be able to stop themselves from crying!

But why?
Darla's death is going to hang over Taylor's head for a long time. Viewers know that it was really her who knocked Darla over and ran away – but the other characters don't know it. "It's never easy to write out a permanent character," Bradley Bell, Bold's head writer and chief executive producer, told tvguide, "but for the sake of a strong storyline, it had to happen. "There are lots of stories that can stem from the tragic death of a beloved character, especially if it's one like Schae's. There is one golden rule in this industry: the more popular a character, the more dramatic the storyline that sees them exit the show has to be."

What about Taylor?
Lots of drama awaits the Bold characters. Taylor's conscience eats her up and, over the next few weeks, viewers will see how she experiences terrible nightmares after the incident. She wants to confess to Thorne that she's the one who hit Darla, but she's scared of his reaction and the fact that she'll have to go to jail – because she knows she was drunk that night. Taylor's drinking has gotten out of control and her driver's license had already been revoked because of a previous drunk-driving offence. She knows she should never have been driving that fatal night, but she was.

To ease her conscience she regularly goes to see Thorne and Alexandria and every time she swears she's going to reveal everything, but her emotions get the better of her. This leads Thorne to think that she's simply deeply upset about her friend Darla's death. He knows she has a drinking problem and he even supports her when she attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Taylor is so overcome with feelings of guilt that she decides to do something nice for little Alexandria. She wants to give the child something of Darla's and makes her a whole set of clothes out of Darla's old clothes. This is something which touches Thorne deeply and he starts looking at Taylor with new eyes....

The Hector factor
But Taylor's secret isn't safe. The paramedic Hector Ramirez was one of the people tending to Darla on the night of the accident and he's the only one who knows that Taylor's the guilty one – but wants to do all he can to keep it like that. Every time Taylor decides she's going to tell Thorne the truth, Hector stops her. He is in love with the psychologist and doesn't want her to go to jail.

Danger – Spoiler alert!
Hector's jealousy and his attempts to stop Taylor from confessing, will turn into obsession. It will put Taylor's life in danger and lead to Hector ending up in hospital – blind! And behind the scenes lieutenant Baker is working furiously to solve the mystery of Darla's death... and he suspects that Taylor and Phoebe know more than they're letting on. He confronts Taylor and says: "I smelt alcohol on your breath at the hospital that night." But she denies it.

Were you crying your heart out like us? Tell us what you think below.