Jencon Oil came to Salem in 1990 to build a refinery on the outskirts of town. Lawrence Alamain was the man behind the scenes at the helm of Jencon.
Jennifer Horton's best friend from boarding school, Carly Manning, confided to her that she was fleeing from an arranged marriage to Lawrence. Back in boarding school, a clerical error had resulted in some confusion between Carly and Jennifer's identities. Jenn soon realized that Lawrence believed that she was in fact Carly. Believing herself capable of handling any situation, Jenn maintained the charade to spare her friend the ordeal of an arranged marriage to a man she didn't even know. After a hurried wedding in his homeland, Lawrence discovered the deception and raped Jennifer. Then he managed to trigger an earthquake, which killed his father Leopold and trapped Jennifer, Jack, and Frankie.
It wasn't long before Lawrence surfaced in Salem. After coming to terms with the crime he had committed against her, Jennifer pressed rape charges against Lawrence. Lawrence then enlisted Kimberly Brady to help prove that he suffered from blackouts as the result of childhood traumatic stress. He denied having any memory of the rape. Kimberly began to have doubts about Lawrence and was devastated when she learned that he had only been using her. Lawrence confessed to Kim that he had indeed raped Jennifer. Kimberly managed to secretly tape his confession, and Jack obtained the tape. Realizing the gravity of his situation, Lawrence agreed to a plea bargain, but continued to scheme from his small prison cell.
Lawrence eventually got out of prison and his aunt Vivian arrived in Salem. Through a convoluted series of events involving a jewel thief, a locket, and an empty coffin, DNA tests were conducted, proving that John Black was in reality Forrest Alamain, Lawrence's long-lost brother. Vivian had swindled John out of his inheritance, but he and Lawrence joined forces and were able to force Vivian to return it all. Enraged, Vivian vowed that one day she would have her revenge.
Carly and Bo had travelled to France where they had learned that the baby Carly had borne years ago had not been stillborn as Vivian had led her to believe. She and Bo conducted a fruitless search for her child. Back in Salem, Lisanne Gardner, Lawrence's attorney, undertook her own investigation and stunned Lawrence with the news that he had fathered Carly's baby. He confronted Carly, who initally denied the story, but later admitted to Lawrence that it was true. Further searches failed to locate their child. Meanwhile, Vivian's foster son, Nicky arrived in Salem and became good friends with Bo's son Shawn-D.
Carly and Bo planned to be married in spite of the growing feelings she was having toward Lawrence.
Resourceful Lisanne discovered that Nicky was really Lawrence and Carly's missing son. She planned to blackmail Vivian with this information. The two women had a heated confrontation. Nicky came in on them and, in an effort to protect his Auntie Viv from Lisanne, he shoved the attorney, causing her to stumble and fall, hitting her head on a stone cat. Tragically, Lisanne was killed by the fall. Lawrence and Vivian hid the body and Vivian's loyal servant, Ivan Marais, faked a car crash, burning Lisanne's body beyond recognition. Lawrence was infuriated with his aunt and turned angrily on her. Vivian suffered a heart attack.
DNA tests were once again conducted, and they confirmed that Nicky was indeed the child of Lawrence and Carly. Lawrence told Carly, but they agreed not to tell Bo the truth because of his investigation into Lisanne's death.
Desparate not to lose Nicky, Vivian kidnapped him on the very day that Bo and Carly were to be married. Lawrence discovered what Vivian had done and barged into the church, halting Bo and Carly's wedding with news of the abduction and with the news that Nicky was his and Carly's son. Before Bo or anyone else had time to react to this bombshell, Lawrence and Carly raced out of the church in a rush to locate their son.
Bo was confused and hurt. He took Shawn-D. out of town on a trip, and inadvertently uncovered information that led him to Vivian and Nicky. Bo, Shawn-D., Carly, Lawrence, Vivian, and Nicky all returned to Salem, but no one had yet told Nicky that Carly was his mother.
Carly and Lawrence continued to conceal the facts of Nicky's involvement in Lisanne's death. Her evasiveness drove a wedge between Bo and Carly. Lawrence ended up being arrested for Lisanne's murder, but the charges were dropped when Nicky confessed to pushing Lisanne to protect his Auntie Viv.
Nicky was finally told the truth about the identities of both his parents. Vivian, who had never fully recovered from her heart attack, learned she was terminally ill with coronary disease. Deciding that she had nothing left to lose, Vivian determined to kill Carly so that she could keep Nicky for what was left of her life. Lawrence meanwhile orchestrated a police brutality investigation to be centered on Bo, to tarnish his reputation and to cause Carly to look at him in a negative light. Bo was cleared of all the trumped up charges with the help of Carrie's friend Billie Reed. His relationship with Carly, however, was more strained than ever. 
Vivian's health continued to deteriorate. She began taking mysterious Chinese herbs in an effort to cure herself, and continued plotting her revenge against Carly. Vivian had shifted her focus somewhat, though. Instead of killing Carly, she concocted a plot to frame Carly for her murder. She goaded Carly out onto a terrace at a party, where Vivian accidentally fell. Carly saved her arch-rival's life in surgery. Ungrateful, Vivan began to kill Carly's other patients by injecting them with cleaning fluid. Carly caught Vivian in the act as she was about to administer a lethal dose of morphine to Caroline Brady. Carly and Vivian struggled, and Vivian managed to inject Carly with most of the drug. She then administered some of the herbs to Carly to induce a death-like paralysis; it worked. Carly was pronounced dead. Vivian then orchestrated to have Carly buried alive, and she communicated with her via a walkie-talkie from above ground. Gradually, the paralyzing effects of the herbs wore off and Carly pleaded with Vivian to release her. In a lucid moment, Vivian confessed to Lawrence what she had done.
Frantically, Lawrence rushed to the grave and dug up Carly's coffin. He reached her just as her oxygen supply had given out. Carly regained conciousness but lost her short-term memory. She believed that she and Lawrence were still lovers. She had no recollection of Salem, of Nikki, or of Bo. Lawrence seized the opportunity and took advantage of Carly's vulnerable state. He kept her concealed at the Alamain mansion while she regained her strength.
After she began to feel stronger, Carly ventured out for a walk. Bo and Billie saw her, but she didn't recognize them. Lawrence told Bo and Roman what Vivian had done to Carly. Vivian was detained and committed to a mental hospital. To keep Carly from leaving the country with Lawrence, Bo arrested her for murdering her patients. When Vivian confessed to the murders, Bo had to release Carly. She regained her memory and chose to leave Salem for good with Lawrence and their son.
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