1998: Secret agent Adrian Sword made his way to Pine Valley to uncover the secrets of Palmer Cortlandt’s past; instead, he was forced to face the mysteries of his own. Adrian’s primary mission was to replace Mike Roy in uncovering Palmer’s collection of Nazi artifacts.
Growing up, Adrian thought he was the son of middle-class Fred and Alice Dawson. In fact, he was an abandoned child. Fred had an affair with Opal Cortlandt, resulting in a son. Opal was afraid of what her abusive then husband, Ray Gardner, was going to do to him after learning about the affair. Opal left Fred and Adrian. When Adrian learned the truth, he actively pursued a relationship with his biological mother, now married to Palmer.
Adrian found his support system in Belinda Keefer. They began seeing each other.

1999: Palmer launched a public smear campaign of Opals reputation in hopes to negatively affect her chances at their upcoming divorce proceedings. He leaked to The Intruder the truth about Adrian’s conception. Now that Adrian’s identity was out in the open, he was forced to leave the secret service. Adrian threatened Palmer with legal action if he did not give Opal a favorable settlement. Opal retained all of Palmer’s assets, except for Cortlandt Electronics.
Adrian and Opal began to make plans for a hostile takeover of Cortlandt Electronics. Adrian was oblivious when it came to his relationship with Belinda. Belinda wanted to marry him and could not wait much longer for Adrian. When Adrian said he was not ready for the commitment, Belinda left him.
Adrian became partner at Mateo Santos’ Sounds of Salsa Club. There, he met Tina Harding. Adrian liked Tina, but she was enamored with Mateo. Adrian asked Tina to accompany him to the Crystal Ball.

2000: Adrian learned that Tina’s hesitancy to enter a relationship with him stemmed from her upbringing in the foster system. Tina was also weary of Adrian’s continued secrecy of his occupation. Adrian was using his spy contacts to uncover the truth behind Charlotte Devane and her role in the disappearance of Dimitri Marick. Adrian also teamed up with Ryan Lavery to save Jake Martin, who was lost in Chechnya.
Fred suffered a sudden stroke. Adrian wanted to return to Alabama to help him recover, and asked Tina to accompany him. Tina let Adrian down gently.
A year later, Tina got a job in Alabama helping the hearing impaired. It was fate that they would be together.