Enigmatic Michael Cambias met Kendall Hart when she was on a business for her company, Fusion Cosmetics. Michael swept Kendall off her feet, and even followed her back to Pine Valley.
Michael first got to know Kendall while using an alias. When it was revealed to Kendall that Michael's last name was Cambias, Kendall wondered what kind of scam Michael was trying to pull, since he came from a family of corporate raiders!
Michael claimed he kept his true last name a secret so that Kendall wouldn't turn him away instantly. Kendall believed that Michael's feelings for her were genuine, and Kendall continued with him down the road to romance. Little did Kendall know that Michael and his henchwoman, Lena Kundera, were plotting to take over Enchantment through Kendall's connection to Erica.
It was soon apparent that Michael did have an agenda, however, when he began making mysterious phone calls. He also started trying to charm Erica Kane, Kendall's mother, and playing games to undermine Erica's engagement to Chris Stamp.
Michael was more nefarious than anyone thought when he started rolling around in bed with Lena, a shifty employee at Enchantment, Erica's company!
Erica's secret tryst with Jackson hung over her head as Michael started planting seeds in Chris's head that Erica and Michael had been having an affair. Erica swore she didn't cheat on Chris with Michael, but if only Chris knew the truth!
Adam Chandler's alliance with Michael Cambias in an effort to get his hands on Cambias Industries proved to backfire when Michael outmaneuvered Adam and managed to take over Chandler Enterprises.
Michael's true colors were eventually revealed after Erica, Kendall and Bianca found out what Michael and Lena were doing. Michael's takeover plot blew up in his face, and he found himself out of the wealthy family business. Not one to take public humiliation lightly, Michael retaliated. He had attacked Erica and Kendall before, and this time, Michael took aim at Bianca. On July 9th 2003, the night that Erica and Kendall finally came to terms with their rocky relationship, Michael raped Bianca. During a storm, Bianca burned her clothes and shut down as a result of the rape. She immediately closed Lena out of her life.
Bianca pressed charges against Michael, but after a pre-trial hearing, he was freed due to lack of physical evidence. Bianca learned that she was pregnant and struggled with whether she should terminate the pregnancy. After keeping it secret from Erica for fear of her reaction (Erica had gotten pregnant as a result of rape), she told her mother the truth.
Kendall vowed revenge on Michael. After Michael was cleared of all rape charges, he disappeared. Kendall announced the next day that she had married Michael, disgusting the entire town. However, it became clear that there was more to Kendall's story, especially when she fervently tried to prevent an abandoned warehouse in Pine Valley from being torn down. Erica was horrified to learn that Bianca had been raped by Michael. Shortly after she received shocking news that Michael had taken over Enchantment by buying up a majority of the stock. Disgusted that Michael had been acquitted of rape charges, Erica received yet another blow with the revelation that Kendall married Michael shortly after he was acquitted.
In August 2003, Ryan Lavery turned up in the Nevada desert. There, he came upon a stranded Alexander Cambias, father of the villainous Michael, and helped him out of the desert. Ryan brought Alexander to Las Vegas where Alexander gave Ryan a large check for his services. Alexander collapsed and Ryan called Michael to inform him. Kendall (who was snooping in Michael's apartment with Aidan) picked up the phone and Ryan hung up.
While in the hospital, Ryan bonded with Alexander. Before Alexander died, he gave Ryan his pocket watch, seeing Ryan as more of a son than Michael. Ryan then returned to Pine Valley, keeping his presence secret from his old friends, with the exception of Edmund Grey. He soon revealed to the entire town that Alexander Cambias had left him in control of the entire Cambias fortune!
Michael's dead body was discovered in the warehouse shortly after. Aidan stood by Kendall, determined to prove her innocence. Their bonding over culminated in a relationship between the two. Suspicious of David, Aidan broke into David's cabin and found a .38, the type of gun used to kill Michael Cambias. Combined with traces of a laboratory engineered drug found in Michael's decanter, David was called in for questioning by the police.
Ryan Lavery returned to town as the Cambias heir (Michael's father had left everything to Ryan). Kendall and Ryan went head to head, each claiming they were entitled to the entire Cambias fortune. Eventually, Michael's time of death was proven to have occurred before Alexander, thus giving Ryan full control over all the Cambias assets.
Erica was devastated when she learned that, like herself, Bianca had been impregnated by her rape. She urged Bianca to terminate the pregnancy, feeling that this would be the wisest move -- after all, Erica knew the pain of giving birth to a child conceived under such circumstances. Counseled by David Hayward, Erica believed that Bianca terminated the pregnancy.
David was scheduled to perform the procedure that terminated Bianca's pregnancy by Michael. At the last minute, Bianca decided to keep her child and swore David to secrecy, as she feared Erica's reaction upon finding out the truth. David agreed to keep Bianca's secret. Kendall, Bianca's sister, soon claimed she was pregnant in an effort to defend her sister's secret. David assisted Kendall and Bianca in medically proving that Kendall was pregnant with Michael's baby. All the while, David kept the truth from Erica.
After learning Michael Cambias had raped Bianca Montgomery, daughter of his dear friend Erica, Palmer Cortlandt sought revenge. Adam vowed revenge and along with Palmer, attempted to kill Michael Cambias (Michael had already been murdered and the body moved, however). Michael's body soon surfaced, and Erica was questioned by the police about the night Michael disappeared (the same night Kendall claimed to have married him). David Hayward was also questioned, and to protect them both, Erica claimed that she was David's alibi the night Michael disappeared -- as they were making love! Erica and David were forced to keep up the charade of romantic interest to make the alibi hold water, which angered Jack (who knew it was all a ruse).
Kendall learned that Bianca was pregnant as a result of the rape, and planned to terminate the pregnancy. Full of conflicted emotions over her own conception, Kendall told her sister to "do what she needed to." Soon Kendall was shocked to discover that Bianca never terminated and was planning on keeping the baby. Touched, Kendall and Bianca formed the tightest of bonds, as Kendall agreed to keep the pregnancy a secret from Erica (who Bianca feared would be traumatized on learning that Bianca had a child of rape, similar to Erica's situation with Kendall).
Ryan nearly discovered the truth about Bianca's pregnancy (which would mean that Bianca's baby was entitled to the Cambias fortune, as the money automatically went to a child of Michael's), Kendall covered for her sister by claiming that she was pregnant! Kendall then claimed that she was entitled to the Cambias fortune, as she was carrying Michael's child. This immediately caused her to clash with Ryan, who planned to disprove her claim (and thus inherit the Cambias estate himself).
Bianca and David Hayward helped Kendall medically cover her paternity claim, although Ryan was disbelieving. Their old feelings were present in every confrontation. Eventually, Ryan realized the truth about Kendall's paternity claim, and told Kendall that he was going to support her. Touched, Kendall and Ryan reunited and eventually became engaged again. Soon, Kendall was arrested for Michael's murder!
Kendall raised Erica's ire when she announced that she was pregnant with Michael's child! Ryan Lavery, who had been fighting with Kendall over who had true stake in the Cambias fortune, urged Erica to drop any legal vendetta against her daughter. Trusting Ryan, Erica agreed to not publicly fight Kendall's claim that she was pregnant.
Kendall went on trial for Michael's murder, with Livia Frye returning to Pine Valley to act as her attorney. Erica, despite her disgust over Kendall's pregnancy claim, did not want her daughter to go to jail and promised Ryan that she would not pursue a vendetta against Kendall. Soon, Greenlee (believing Kendall to be unworthy of Ryan) revealed that Kendall wasn't pregnant-by ripping off her dress in court! Devastated, Kendall's credibility was thrown out the window. Soon, both Erica and David gave testimonies that left reasonable doubt towards Kendall having the sole motive and means to kill Michael.
Erica was shocked when she discovered that Bianca was still pregnant and determined to raise the baby as her own. Erica was dealt another blow when she realized her whole family -- Jackson and Kendall -- knew about Bianca's pregnancy but had purposefully kept it from her. Still, Erica would not let Kendall go to jail. She began to believe that she had really killed Michael while in a fugue state. Tad Martin managed to find a witness that cleared Erica. Shockingly, Bianca realized that she had killed Michael and had blocked the memory out. Bianca confessed her crime and no charges were brought against her (she shot Michael in self-defense).
