Ava Jerome came into possession of a valuable portrait of Helena Cassadine, and it was revealed that the painting contained a codicil to Mikkos Cassadine's will that disinherited Valentin Cassadine from the family fortune (via Soaps in Depth). He and Nikolas Cassadine, along with various accomplices, were both determined to get their hands on it. When Nina Reeves realized that Ava held all the leverage, she suggested that the two women pair up and use the codicil to take revenge against the men.
It turned out that the codicil not only disinherited Valentin but also proved that he wasn't even a biological Cassadine after all. Nina planned to reveal this fact at her New Year's Eve wedding to Valentin at the Wyndemere castle, but she didn't get the chance. Valentin cornered Ava for information on the codicil and when she wouldn't comply, he pushed her off the parapet to her presumed death. Luckily Nikolas was there to rescue her and the two crashed the ceremony (via Soaps).
While Nikolas' family was busy rejoicing that he was alive, Valentin came to realize that Nina had been playing him all along, and she was finally able to gloat about her revenge. For Ava's part, she agreed to give Nikolas the codicil that would reinstate him as the rightful heir to the Cassadine heir and ensure that his son Spencer would receive his inheritance. However, her one condition was that he had to marry her, thus winning herself half of the estate that he had been so desperate to reclaim (via Daytime Confidential).
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