When Ryan began teaching at Marquette Cove High School, he had a relationship with Vanessa Watson. Both partners were unfaithful, prompted by Ryan's interest in new teacher Samantha Clark and Vanessa's subsequent affair with Michael Hanley. Ryan and Vanessa's relationship fell apart and Ryan began to date Samantha. But when he discovered she was pregnant, Ryan found himself unable to completely remove himself from Vanessa's life and continued to insist that her child was his.

During this time, Ryan was unaware that his kindness toward one of his students, Alexis Lopez, caused her to develop an unhealthy crush on him. Another student, Vincent Moore was being helped by a guardian angel, Antonio. In an effort to destroy their relationship and create chaos, Zaliphyr created a series of problems for Vince and his friends. One of those problems involved Alexis and Ryan — Ryan was drugged and led to have sex with Alexis.

Waking up after their intimacy, Ryan realized what had happened and threw Alexis out of his apartment. Unfortunately, sleeping with Alexis intensified her obsession for him. When Samantha ended up in a coma soon after, Ryan suspected that Alexis was responsible. He discovered Alexis trying to shut off Samantha's ventilator and confronted her, leading Alexis to admit that she was pregnant with Ryan's child. Samantha awoke from her coma during this admission, but quickly slipped back into unconsciousness from the stress of the news.

Horrified by Alexis' admission, Ryan forced her to get an abortion, driving her to the clinic. He had no idea that she was faking her pregnancy and the subsequent abortion, but after all of her duplicity, she actually did turn out to be pregnant and had to terminate the pregnancy to keep her secret.

From Episode #55, "Honorable Man"
"That bitch," Ryan snarled, moving toward the records lab on his left. "I knew she cheated on me, but she had the nerve to get pregnant by that bastard too?"

He stepped to the side and leaned against the wall as Kimberly exited the lab. While her back was turned, Ryan rushed over to the door and stuck his foot in the doorway to keep it open. Then he stepped inside the lab and shut the door.

Ryan sat down at the computer, pulling up the patient records. He found Vanessa's name, and then he used the code on her printed charts to gain access to her records. Ryan opened Vanessa's computer file, where he found the results that showed Ryan was not the father of her child. He quickly altered her records, and then he printed out a new copy. Ryan grabbed the sheets in Vanessa's original file, and placed them in the shredder next to the computer desk.

"Now let's see Vanessa lie her way out of this," Ryan said.

Meanwhile, Ryan continued to harass Vanessa about her pregnancy and coerced her into getting a paternity test. Vanessa agreed, believing that Michael was the father of her child. But Ryan got his hands on the test and changed the results to make himself the father of her child. Michael called Ryan to his mansion to tell him that he knew about his schemes, but Alexis was busy stalking him at the moment and discovered the truth about Vanessa's test results.

Before Alexis could tell anyone however, she was confronted by Allison Gellar, the school's guidance counselor, who figured out the truth about Alexis' abortion and assumed that the child was Ryan's. Alexis had a psychotic break and kidnapped Allison, torturing her and eventually shooting her, dropping her body into a sewer. After the ordeal, Alexis contracted amnesia but Ryan insisted that she was faking it in order to avoid murder charges.

Continuing to put the squeeze on Vanessa, Ryan asked her to marry him and she agreed. He even pushed up the wedding date at Michael's insistence, in order to keep Vanessa occupied and out of his life. As their wedding neared, Ryan was convinced Alexis was planning to ruin the event, but her memory never returned to her.

From Episode #82, "Silver Glitter"
Ryan Phillips approached Alexis Lopez's bed, where there were two pillows resting. Ryan picked up one of the pillows and held it in his hands tightly, hovering the pillow over Alexis' head.

"I should put you out of your misery," Ryan said. "And out of everyone else's."

Ryan brought the pillow down on her face for a few seconds, then raised it.

"How does it feel for someone else to hold your life in their hands?"

Ryan went on his honeymoon in San Francisco with Vanessa, where she went into labor early during an earthquake and gave birth to their son Eamon. Unfortunately for Ryan, Alexis did get most of her memory back after the wedding and followed them to San Francisco. She was convinced that she was pregnant with Ryan's child, but when he told her that he made her get an abortion, Vanessa overheard and finally discovered the truth about Ryan.

Ryan was fired from his job upon returning to Marquette Cove, and he was locked up for statutory rape. During his imprisonment, Eamon was kidnapped and Vanessa believed that Ryan was responsible when Alexis framed him. Eventually, Ryan was able to prove his innocence and they tracked down Alexis.

Eamon was rescued and Ryan was able to convince everyone that Alexis made up all of her allegations against him. As she was locked in a psych ward for the rest of her life, thanks to Michael, Ryan tried moving on with Vanessa. But she told him she was leaving town to get her life back together and didn't want him following her at first. Ryan wanted a place in his son's life, and she promised that he would have just that, but not now.

Ryan tried forcing Michael to make Vanessa stay in town, but he refused. With Vanessa gone, his career over, and Samantha still in a coma, Ryan too departed Marquette Cove.

From Episode #150, "As the World Burns"
Michael: "Your idle threats don't scare me, Ryan."
Ryan: "They should. And they're not idle!"
Michael: "If you inform Vanessa, she'll press charges against you. I wonder what the penalty is for tampering with hospital records."
Ryan: "You wouldn't —"
Michael: "Or, maybe I'll just kill them. Maybe I'll murder Vanessa and Eamon."
Ryan: "You wouldn't."
Michael: "Wouldn't I? I'm capable of many things, Ryan. Obviously, I don't care enough about my son to be a part of his life. What makes you think I wouldn't kill him?"
Ryan: "You're sick."
Michael: "You're finished. Leave."

Since he left, Ryan moved to New Orleans where he has become an investigate reporter for a local newspaper. One of his largest stories has been reporting on mob activity in the ravaged city, but a threat to his life has brought him back to Marquette Cove...is Alexis to blame? Or does someone else have it in for Ryan?

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