Simone's arrival in Pine Valley wasn't typical - even by soap opera standards. The young woman showed up at the Sounds of Salsa nightclub toting an undercover photo that had been taking of Mateo and his wife, Hayley. Mateo feared that the woman was part of a secret drug ring that was harassing him and his loved ones, but it turned out that Simone had really been hired by Edmund to act as a secret go-between for him and Mateo. A relieved Mateo agreed to hire Simone as a waitress at SOS.

Simone played the part of Mateo's mistress in order to throw Proteus off of what was really going on -- Mateo was trying to crack the drug lord's inner-ring of advisors in order to take him down. Simone, however, developed real feelings for Mateo and at one point planted a legitimate kiss on her partner. Simone felt badly and apologized profusely to both Mateo and Hayley. Hayley was able to forgive Simone's transgression, saying that she understood that Mateo was quite handsome. Simone would not find forgiveness, however, when she leaked details of the Proteus investigation to what she believed was a publisher. As it turned out, the "publisher" was really someone working for Proteus - whose identity was revealed as Vanessa Cortlandt. Simone's leak resulted in a sniper gunning down Chris Stamp. Mateo was furious with Simone and ordered her to stay clear of him and his family. A guilt-ridden Simone tried to quit her job at Tempo, but Edmund and Brooke bother declined her resignation, saying that all reporters do something foolish at one point in their career.

In February 2002, it was revealed that Dr. Zeke McMillan was actually Simone's father - Zeke Torres. [No official explanation was ever given for the character's sudden change of surname]. Simone had been subletting a loft in the same building as Greenlee Smythe. After Leo and Greenlee had a falling out, Simone offered to let Leo stay with her. Greenlee learned of this and, fearing that the pair might get romantically involved, arranged to buy the loft and give Simone the boot.

After Greenlee found out Simone was not interested in Leo, Simone and Greenlee became friends - very good friends. Simone's life was starting to make a turn for the better, she had a good friend, and a nice place to live, and a job as Greenlee's secretary at Revlon.

Simone started to have an affair with Roger Smythe. At the time, Simone didn't know that Roger was Greenlee's dad. Leo decided to pull out of a book deal he and Simone had entered into, a book that would tell his side of the Proteus saga. Roger Smythe, who had just as much information about Proteus because he'd been a drug runner for him, decided to work with Simone on the project. He and Simone started to write the book, and had their fling behind Greenlee's back. Simone felt horrible about the whole thing and tried to break it off, but couldn't; she kept falling into Roger's arms every time she had a problem. Mary Smythe found out about Roger and Simone's affair and threatened to expose Simone to Greenlee. On Greenlee's wedding day, Roger was shot by a gunman aiming for Leo. Simone hovered over Roger's body unable to hold back her tears. Mary shushed her away and refused to allow her to mourn her lover. Greenlee learned of Simone and her dad's affair when a delirious Roger called out for Simone and made sexual comments about her. Roger died several days later and again, Simone was barred from attending the funeral. Greenlee was furious with Simone's antics and called off their friendship.

Simone took the loss of her father-daughter relationship badly and drank herself into a hospital stay for alcohol poisoning. She became friendly with Dr. Frank Hubbard, and repeatedly clashed with her controlling father over how she led her life and her choosing to be Frank. Simone and Frank were growing closer by the day, and she confided in him that she had a brother, Anthony, who had been comatose for years after OD'ing. To her horror, she discovered that Frank had been filming scenes of the homeless the day of Anthony's OD, and kept the camera rolling throughout the experience. In spite of Frank's pleas that he had no medical training at that time and another homeless man had run to get medical help, Simone immediately ended the relationship.

Her sorrows were uplifted when she was invited to found FUSION cosmetics with Liza Colby, Mia Saunders, Kendall Hart, and a very reluctant and bitter Greenlee. Simone tried to bury the hatchet with Greenlee yet again, and saw the whole experience as a new lease on life. Feeling more sexually adventurous, Simone repeatedly thrust herself at hunky handyman Carlos, only to be rebuffed at every turn. She also flirted with lawyer Kenny, counseled Greenlee, Mia, and Kendall on their romantic problems, and was tossed in jail twice (once because her dress for FUSION's grand opening party made a cop think she was a hooker, and weeks later for breaking into Pine Valley High with student Joni); the second time, Greenlee tried and failed to get Simone fired. Simone's romantic life continued to fizzle, as Carlos was more interested in Greenlee and Boyd in Kendall. Her criminal life was hotter than ever, for soon after she had finally cleared her record of previous charges, she was arrested yet again for broadcasting a live Fusion commercial on WRCW. Simone's romantic life continued to fizzle, as Carlos was more interested in Greenlee and Boyd in Kendall. Her criminal life was hotter than ever, for soon after she had finally cleared her record of previous charges, she was arrested yet again for broadcasting a live Fusion commercial on WRCW.

One night in June 2003, Simone decided to go down to the beach to tell the high school kids about Fusion's new body glitter. Fusion's lawyer Kenny accompanied her, and they discussed their lives. Kenny managed to stop a cop from arresting them from being half-naked (their clothes had gotten wet and they took some of them off to dry). Simone felt close to Kenny and even kissed him, but when he barged into the office a few days later asking her to marry him (he was about to move to the country Georgia for a great job opportunity), Simone searched inside herself and had to turn him down, because she didn't love him. Although crestfallen, Simone knew she had made the right decision and continued with her efforts to find Fusion's Sexiest Man in America. Simone again turned her attention to Carlos, who rebuffed her. Next she tried to help solve Fusion's legal woes (they owed millions in back taxes) by accepting an anonymous loan...which turned out to be from Fusion archenemy Michael Cambias, who now owned the company lock stock and barrel thanks to her decision. Michael vanished soon after, and the company was taken over by his "wife", Kendall Hart. Meanwhile, Simone had finally ended her near-year long dry spell by starting up a sizzling affair with Tad "The Cad" Martin. Tad and Simone agreed to an open relationship, with no strings attached. But when the skin baring and sexy, Krystal Carrington arrived in Pine Valley, Simone's feelings changed. Krystal made it clear she wanted Tad, and Tad began romanticizing with Krystal to get the dirt on her daughter, Babe. Simone agreed to back off Krystal while he was "on assignment" but her feelings for Tad were getting stronger. When she was at Fusion one day, Tad came in to tell her some important news about their relationship, but stopped when she admitted she loved him. Tad was speechless and instead of returning those three little words back, he started questioning her about the night Michael disappeared.

Kendall was on trial for Michael's murder, although the whole town seemed to think she was innocent. Unlike her other Fusion mates, Simone did not want to see Kendall go to jail, so she admitted what happened with her and Carlos the night Michael disappeared. Simone told Tad that she fired Carlos' gun to protect herself the night Michael died. She was with Carlos and when she heard some noise outside, she got rattled, fired his gun, and shot a cop by accident! The bullet did not kill the cop, but it did injure him. Her and Carlos immediately fled town and did not return for several days. Tad suggested that they pin the murder on Carlos, since he was dead and had a motive for killing Michael, but Simone would not go for it. Before he left Fusion, Tad promised to protect Simone and keep her secret safe.

After he was gone, Liza walked in and announced that she Tad we're "back together." Of course, Simone wouldn't believe Liza until she heard it from Tad herself. Leaving Liza behind to smirk, Simone went off to question Tad. Tad eventually told Simone and the other women in his life that he was taking a break from romance, and Simone threw herself into her work. For a long time, she did nothing but focus on her work at Fusion until she began to casually see Kendall's ex-lover Ethan Cambias. After a few months Ethan proposed and Simone was happily looking forward to their lives together until the night of the Mardi Gras ball. Both she and Ethan made it through the explosion, but while trying to get the two of them out, Ethan was seriously injured and died shortly after the rescue crew had taken him to the hospital.

Simone was devastated by Ethan's death. When Ethan's will was read, Simone found that he had left her a substantial trust fund, as well as enough Fusion stock to make her an equal partner. Simone poured herself into her work, and with the help of her friends, she slowly began to recover. But she knew that she would never find another love like the one she had shared with Ethan.

One evening in the early part of December 2006, Simone stayed behind in the office to catch up on her work while her friends went downstairs to the ConFusion bar. Later that evening, Babe went to the Fusion office. The office was dark, so Babe thought she was alone. Then, Babe looked down and saw Simone lying on the floor motionless with a white ribbon in her hand. Babe called Simone's name, but there was no response!