The Young and the Restless spoilers: Mariah’s big secret tied to Ian?

Since The Young and the Restless’ Mariah (Camryn Grimes) has arrived back in Genoa City following her business trip, she’s been haunted by a deep, dark secret. One she’s been unwilling to share with Sharon (Sharon Case) and one that’s currently causing a problem in her marriage to Tessa (Cait Fairbanks).

The Young and the Restless viewers are also unsure of what Mariah did while away, but in the episode airing on June 9, Mariah has a flashback to her at a bar with a mysterious older man (Michael Swan). Influenced by alcohol, she appears to have quite the flirtatious good time with him, even grabbing his hand.

So, is it possible that Mariah had a one-night stand with the older gent? Sure, it’s possible, but as Mariah has already stated to Sharon, if it were just a one-night stand, she would be able to just confess everything to Tessa and beg for forgiveness. So we’re left to assume something bigger happened.

It should also be noted that Ian’s (Ray Wise) name has been brought up a few times lately. Most recently, Sharon and Mariah discussed the process of Mariah trying to put his latest round of torment behind them. Not for nothing, Mariah has blamed herself for Ian partnering with Jordan (Colleen Zenk), killing Heather (Vail Bloom) and devastating Daniel’s (Michael Graziadei) world.

With all that being said, we’re starting to wonder if Mariah’s secret is tied to Ian in some way. After all, Ian is alive and well, despite all of Genoa City thinking he died that fateful day in Victor’s (Eric Braeden) ranch.

In one scenario, we can imagine that Ian stalked Mariah on her business trip and saw her do something inappropriate with the older stranger. Thinking he could blackmail and manipulate Mariah into doing his latest round of bidding, Ian then confronted Mariah. But under the influence of alcohol, she makes the wrong decision and attacks Ian instead, killing him in the process. If this theory proves correct, then the weight of murder could be weighing heavily on Mariah.

In another scenario, we can picture her having a good time with this stranger while drunk, when memories of Ian suddenly flood her mind in the midst of all their fun. Becoming scared and terrified, Mariah then started attacking the stranger until she killed him, thinking she was beating up Ian. When she finally woke up from her blind rage and intoxication, she came to realize her horrible mistake and fled. This scenario also makes her a murderer, but this time, she would have claimed the life of someone who didn’t try to harm her.

For now, all we can do is guess as to what Mariah is hiding. But will she let the secret ruin her marriage? With the way she’s been treating Tessa lately, it’s entirely possible. And heck, with Tessa getting closer to Daniel these days, should we be preparing for a Daniel and Tessa pairing?

New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.