Ricardo Torres had just been promoted to a detective. He's leading a great life with Paula Stevens, his girlfriend, and it seems like everything is going fine. However, things are never fine in the world of soap operas. Eddie Connors, Paula and Ricardo's fellow officer, always wanted Paula for himself. When Paula accidentally saw him in a jewelry store, he though she was on to him, so he decided to teach her a lesson by paying Ralph Myers, a criminal, to kidnap and rape her. Ricardo went through hard time trying to find his fiance. She was barely saved from a van filled with gas. The next few weeks she spent trying to deal with the rape and putting Ralph behind bars. During her kidnapping, Ricardo met Gabi Martinez, an attractive woman who spent a night with Ricardo and then later it turned out that Gabi was Paula's sister. Gabi moved in with Paula and Ricardo and did her best to mess with Ricardo's mind. When Paula and Ricardo broke up, Ricardo slept with Gabi, and Gabi was confused after they had sex and eventually accused Ricardo of raping her. For Paula, it was something that she just couldn't get through. Although it was proven that Ricardo was innocent, Paula decided to leave town by the end of 1997. In 1998, Ricardo became closer with Gabi, as they realized that they loved each other. However, Gabi soon fellin love with Ricardo's brother Antonio, but they both rejected their attraction. Meanwhile, Ricardo's mother Carmen constantly tried to warn Ricardo to leave Gabi. During the Shockwave storyline, Ricardo found himself on the boat along with other Sunset Beach people. The boat suffered the same tragedy as Titanic, but the people rescued themselves just in time. Months later, Ricardo was involved in two other storylines---his sister Maria returned home after being presumed dead in 1993, and he often confronted Maria's husband Ben about it. He was also involved in a Rosario Jewels storyline. In 1999, Ricardo was convinced that everything was going fine. Gabi and him decided to get married, but he didn't know that Gabi slept with his brother when they found themselves trapped in an exploded building. Carmen blackmailed Gabi to stop the wedding, but Gabi and Ricardo eventually got married. Days later, Ricardo was shocked to find a tape of Gabi and Antonio together. The shock of this overwhelmed him. He suffered a stroke and was hospitalized, after which he did everything he could to make Gabi's life a disaster. He also tried to deport his brother Antonio. Eventually, Ricardo forgave them both, and Gabi left town at the very last episode.
