General Hospital (GH) spoilers recap for Monday, January 22, reveals that Nina Corinthos (Cynthia Watros) did a slow-clap over Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) being Crimson’s new editor-in-chief and told her along with Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison) that it was well-played.

After Nina ran down the list of everything she’d lost for doing something perfectly legal, she wondered if they were even now.

Drew kept pushing Nina to get out, so she finally did – but not before reminding Carly that they would both do anything for the people they loved and both knew how to settle a score.

Nina also told Carly and Drew that they actually had to run a magazine now, so she sarcastically wished them luck as she stomped off in sunglasses.

Carly seemed nervous about tanking the magazine and told Drew that they just wanted to stick it to Nina.

The original plan was for Carly to take over short-term until someone more qualified was hired, but Drew acted like Carly would be great running the magazine and should just keep the spot.

Carly didn’t want to sacrifice her role running Bobbie’s, so Drew vowed to support her walking away if it became too much to juggle.

After Carly finally agreed they’d be partners personally and professionally, she celebrated with Drew and dumped Nina’s nameplate in the trash.

In the ladies’ room, Nina gave Olivia Quartermaine (Lisa LoCicero) updates on losing her job at Crimson and was surprised when Olivia seemed sympathetic.

Olivia pointed out that she kept quiet about Nina being the SEC rat because she wanted peace – and she still believed that peace was possible.

After Olivia pushed Nina to let this go, Nina acknowledged that she was probably right. However, Nina looked in the mirror and indicated that the war was on after Olivia exited.

At Deception, Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring) tried to micromanage Scott Baldwin’s (Kin Shriner) role in their Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) plans over the phone.

Lucy was just about to rush off and handle Scott in person when Martin Grey (Michael E. Knight) appeared with spa passes. After Lucy made up a work excuse, Martin still insisted on taking her to grab lunch at the Metro Court.

Unfortunately, Lucy couldn’t stop looking over at Scott and Tracy while they were there.

That left Martin fed up since Lucy couldn’t give him her undivided attention, so he demanded to know what was going on between Lucy and Scott.

Meanwhile, Scott acted like he was on Tracy’s side and ordered Champagne as he tried to butter her up into hanging out with him again.

Nearby, Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton) asked Gregory Chase (Gregory Harrison) to officiate their wedding, but he gently refused since he was worried about slurring his words due to his progressing ALS.

Brook Lynn and Chase convinced Gregory that he didn’t have to be perfect, so he finally caved in as long as they had a backup officiant to be on the safe side.

At GH, Laura Spencer (Genie Francis) pushed Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) to stay put and answer Dante Falconeri’s (Dominic Zampogna) questions.

Dante came along and found out that Spencer let Nikolas Cassadine (Adam Huss) take Ace Cassadine (Jay and Joey Clay), but Spencer argued that it wasn’t kidnapping.

After Dante agreed since both parents have custody in the state of New York, he pointed out there could be issues since Nikolas didn’t get Esme Prince’s (Avery Pohl) permission.

Spencer insisted that Ace was better off since Esme hadn’t even filed a police report. It was proof that Esme’s memory was back and that she couldn’t risk charges – at least in Spencer’s opinion.

Spencer insisted Esme should be arrested, but Dante couldn’t do that based on Spencer’s hunch and thought maybe Spencer should be arrested instead! After all, Nikolas was a fugitive.

Spencer took some jabs about Sonny Corinthos’ (Maurice Benard) line of work and acted like Dante should understand having a complicated father.

Although Dante decided not to arrest Spencer, he revealed that he was putting an APB out on Nikolas and needed to get Esme’s statement.

After Dante left, Laura acknowledged that Spencer’s concerns were valid since Esme couldn’t be underestimated if her memories had indeed returned.

At Pentonville, Esme told Heather Webber (Alley Mills) about Nikolas stealing Ace and how she got no real help from Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober).

When Esme asked for advice, Heather told her to run and keep running! If Esme didn’t, then she could be put on trial for her old crimes and sent to prison.

Esme refused to abandon Ace like Heather had abandoned her, but Heather argued that she made the best choice she could for her daughter at the time.

After Heather said Nikolas wouldn’t hurt Ace, she vowed to escape eventually and help Esme track down her son.

Esme didn’t want to just let Spencer and Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) ride off into the sunset, but she denied being jealous and said she just craved payback.

Although Heather assured Esme that she’d help her get it, she warned that Esme had to play the long game.

That slow strategy didn’t fly with Esme, who felt she was out of time and looked determined as she left. Heather called out to Esme in hopes of stopping her, but it was no use!

General Hospital spoilers say Esme is on the verge of making some bold moves, so don’t miss all the shocking news ahead.

CDL will have other exciting General Hospital spoilers, news and updates to read up on, so check back frequently for more GH details.