In this latest episode of "Revenge" several key characters travel to L.A., a first time for the show and welcome surprise for fans based in Southern Cali. Represent! But we'll get to that. "Collusion" is a jam-packed episode with many important developments.

The episode begins with Emily having a sexual dream about Daniel. She wakes up to her empty bed and realizes how much she's missing Aiden. They are separated to keep up appearances that Emily is single and rekindling something with Daniel. She asks Aiden to meet her on the beach where they kiss and share a few words in secret. When she approaches him she says, "you look like the loneliest man in the world". That statement is a foreshadowing of the desperation and anger he reveals by the end of the episode.

Over at the Grayson's, Ashley is back as Conrad's PR assistant, much to the chagrin of Victoria. Seeing Ashley back in the house for the first time since she was busted having an affair with Conrad, Victoria says, "It seems that the cat dragged itself back in... So this is the new communications director? Don't you know that politicans tend to keep their concubines in the closet?" 

Having been instructed by Conrad that she's going to need to play his perfect wife as he strives for public office, Victoria is displeased by the reappearance of Ashley. Perhaps this helps to fuel the sexually-charged encounters she has with Jason Prosser later in the episode... 

Padma is helping Nolan look for a new house. Initially he does not suspect any foul play, even though we know from last week's episode that she is working with the Initiative in hopes of stealing a secret computer program he has built. On a phone call with Padma, Helen reminds her what she has at stake, which Padma acknowledges saying, she "thinks of it everyday". Is the Initiative holding one of Padma's loved ones captive too? As the episode clicks by, Padma refers to something she couldn't have known without spying, and Nolan finally suspects she is up to no good. He tricks her into going into his office and witnesses her take a zip drive and plug it into his computer to look for the illusive program called Carrion. He is devastated that she has been fooling him this whole time, but with Emily's advice decides to "play her" like she's been playing him.

Daniel asks Emily out to lunch under the guise of their new business partnership and surprises her by saying their lunch will be in Los Angeles. A private jet awaits to fly them west where Daniel will be meeting with the CEO of disaster relief firm, Stonehaven United, which Grayson Global hopes to acquire. He tells Emily he needs her by his side to secure the deal, and she obliges. 

Helen and the Initiative continue to manipulate Aiden by telling him they have his sister Colleen, who has been missing for years, in their custody. Helen meets Aiden in a dark garage and shows him a video of Colleen proving that she is alive. Helen suggests that the elevator gassing that took place in the last episode was his doing. In order to make sure she has his allegiance, she tells him that in order to see his sister he must kill Victoria Grayson within the next 24 hours!

Conrad Grayson, who has agreed to help Jack get the charges against him dropped and deal with the Ryan brothers, meets with Jack and Amanda at his home. He insists that in order to help them Jack needs to step forward and acknowledge that his father's friend Duncan is the person who killed the Ryan brothers' father. At first Jack is stubborn, not wanting to betray his loyalty to Duncan, but with Amanda's encouragement he concedes and gets a murder confession by Duncan on tape. Conrad takes the confession to the Ryan brothers, offering them $50,000 to leave the Hamptons and finally leave Jack and Declan alone. 

It's Charlotte's 18th birthday, and Amanda comes over with a thoughtful birthday gift - a ceramic imprint of baby Carl's small handprint. Charlotte is touched, particularly as Amanda seems to be the only person who cares enough to be there for Char on her birthday. Daniel forgot, her father is too busy chasing the Ryan brothers and pruning himself for political office, and Victoria is mysteriously on a trip out of town. She has flown to L.A. to try to circumvent Daniel from successfully acquiring Stonehaven and push his competitor Jason Pressor toward victory. At Grayson Manor, Amanda reminds Charlotte that she's not really a Grayson (since she is the daughter of David Clarke). Her comment plants a seed in Charlotte's head to assert her independence.

Emily and Daniel are in the lobby of the hotel where they are staying in L.A. when they run into Victoria. Daniel is livid she is there trying to meddle with the business deal and gets into an argument which Emily cuts short. She turns to answer a cellphone call from Aiden when she realizes that he is in the hotel too! They meet in seclusion to discuss what they are each doing there and it becomes clear that their missions are becoming unfortunately intertwined. This is also where Aiden begins to lie to Emily. He tells her that Helen believes Victoria is trying to thwart the Stonehaven deal and that he is there to spy on her (in reality he is there to murder her) and tells Emily to go back to New York. She refuses and promises that she will make sure Daniel successfully acquires Stonehaven and foil Victoria's plans. Aiden leaves suggesting that he is going back to NY, but instead stays in LA and prepares to kill Victoria. Suspicious of Aiden's motivations and that he is not telling her something, Emily asks Nolan to hack his phone where they discover a video Helen has sent Aiden of his drugged sister Colleen. In the video she remarks that her "time is almost up". Emily is horrified by the video and questions why Aiden would hide this from her. Nolan suggests it's perhaps because of the title of the message which reads, "A Life for A Life". Emily quickly deduces that Aiden is in L.A. to murder Victoria and asks Nolan to track his every move until she can reach him. 

After a sexy scene in Jason Prosser's hotel suite in which Victoria tells Prosser she will be his as long as he successfully acquires Stonehaven, Prosser attempts to make one last bid for the company. He attends a dinner with Daniel, Emily and Stonehaven's CEO, when he is embarassed by information Daniel reveals and storms out of the dinner. Moments later, Victoria is arguing with Jason Prosser on a balcony. He accuses her of setting him up and ruining the Stonehaven deal for him. Victoria is extremely unhappy he's lost the deal and tries to explain that she did nothing but help support him in the bidding war- the last thing she wants is for Daniel to be involved with the disaster relief firm (for once she is telling the truth). He does not believe her though and storms off, leaving Victoria alone and in clear range of Aiden's assault rifle which is pointed straight at her from a balcony above. 

Just as he's about to pull the trigger, Emily bursts onto the balcony preventing him from shooting Victoria. He ducks onto the ground and disassembles the weapon. Emily pleads with him saying he cannot become the Initiative's assassin and convinces him not to kill Victoria and to come back to NY. She promises him they will find his sister. 

Back in the Hamptons, the Graysons are collected as a family unit to give Charlotte a small, belated birthday party. She shocks them by announcing she's made her first adult decision as an 18-year-old…she's changing her name to Charlotte Clarke!

Daniel and Emily retreat to his princely wing of Grayson Manor when she decides to come clean to him. She admits that Victoria asked her to get close to Daniel again. Daniel surprises her by saying he already figured that Victoria had meddled. He admits he was curious how far things might go and asks if she thinks they'll ever get back to being the people they once were. Emily says maybe, but not tonight.

Nate Ryan shows up at Grayson Manor to give Conrad a proposition to think about. Instead of driving away the Ryan brothers and giving the pier to the Porter brothers, Nate tells Conrad he should give him a chance to develop the piers into a thriving location. By building up tourism and creating jobs, the move could be great for Conrad's move for political office, Nate suggests. Though Ashley tries to caution Conrad, he is intrigued and tells Ashley to leave the room. Is Conrad going to back out on his promise to Jack and the Stowaway? Knowing Conrad, he won't think twice about putting his own selfish goals first…

The episode ends in a troubling scene on the porch of Emily's beach house. Aiden shows up depressed and brooding. Emily asks him what happens and he pulls out his phone to reveal a truly upsetting video of his sister Colleen laying in bed seemingly dying from an overdose. A male voice on the video says, "it's done". Emily is horrified and attempts to embrace and comfort Aiden. It is then he reveals a side of himself never before seen in the show- he becomes aggressive with Emily, grabbing her by the neck and blaming her for making him feel manipulated by the Initiative. "Listen to you? I did listen to you. And that's exactly how this happened… It's you that I shouldn't have trusted. If there's a chance that my sister's alive, then I'm going to find her. And if she's dead, then this is on you," he snarls while backing away into the night. Emily is left overwhelmed and alone, now aware that the man she's been in love with may have another side to him, and that he will stop at nothing to complete his mission.

Check out a promo for the next episode of "Revenge" entitled "Union". The episode will air on ABC Sunday, February 13.

Reach Staff Reporter Ashley Riegle here. Follow her on Twitter here.