Lani Price
Lani Price is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, played by Sal Stowers. On September 25, 2015, Lani was introduced by co-head writers Josh Griffith and Dena Higley as a rookie police officer, who is revealed to be the daughter of long-running character, Mayor Abe Carver. While Lani is quickly promoted to detective, the character struggles to find a place on the canvas and is abruptly written out on June 9, 2016, after Stowers was released from her contract. Lani was reintroduced on December 19, 2016, and Stowers became a series regular again a year later.
Lani's first major romance with JJ Deveraux starts with controversy as it breaks up his relationship with Gabi Hernandez. Lani and JJ become partners at the police department where she clashes with Gabi's new boyfriend, FBI agent Eli Grant. When the fiercely independent Lani is forced to lean on Eli during an investigation they grow closer as Lani doubts her future with JJ. When JJ dumps Lani after he shoots her brother Theo Carver, Lani and Eli sleep together after she finds JJ with Gabi. While the affair results in the stillbirth of their son, and Eli and Lani ultimately fall in love, in spite of their grief. The romance is plagued by Gabi's vendetta against Lani after she accidentally kills Stefan DiMera, Gabi's husband, in the line of the duty. With their 2020 wedding, Eli and Lani are the first African-American couple to marry onscreen in the show's history.
In 2021, head writer Ron Carlivati revisited Lani's backstory with the introduction of her wealthy aunt Paulina Price played by sitcom legend Jackée Harry and Paulina's wayward daughter Chanel Dupree. Lani struggles to forgive Paulina when she takes advantage of Abe's trust. With the arrival of matriarch Olivia Price, played by Harry's 227 co-star Marla Gibbs, it is revealed that Paulina's is Lani's biological mother.
Lani left Salem after she was charged with killing her biological father to protect Paulina. Her last appearance was on July 1, 2022. She briefly returned on July 4, 2023 after Abe was supposedly dead and was granted furlough for his funeral.
Storylines
Lani comes to Salem in 2015 and takes a special interest in Mayor Abe Carver. The ambitious Lani also befriends fellow officer Rafe Hernandez when he has her consult on two high-profile homicide cases on her first day. Lani ask Rafe on a date but he insist they keep things strictly professional. However, Rafe and Lani attend Salem's bicentennial together so they don't have to go alone. At the party, Abe confronts Lani about the pictures of him he found on her laptop and Lani reveals she is Abe's daughter with Tamara Price. While Abe welcomes Lani with open arms, he hesitates to tell his autistic teenage son Theo for fear of his reaction. However, Lani helps Theo call for help when his friend Joey Johnson collapses. Lani bonds with Theo over baseball but when Abe tells him they are brother and sister, Theo doesn't take it well. With the help of JJ Deveraux, Lani arrest serial killer Ben Weston and she is then promoted to detective.In 2016, Theo confides in Lani that he is being cyber bullied and she encourages him to confide in Abe. Lani gives up on a potential romance with Rafe when she realizes he is in love with Hope Brady. Lani soon takes an interest in Hope's recently divorced son Shawn-Douglas Brady and they start dating. Lani tells Shawn that she is falling for him and confides in him about a bad breakup. Their plans to consummate the relationship are interrupted when they bust up a local drug ring operating out of the motel room next door. Not long after, Shawn and Lani split when he admits he still loves his ex-wife, Belle Black. While she appears jealous, Lani wishes him well. Lani goes back to Miami soon after. Lani returns in December 2016 to visit Abe who is recovering from a gunshot wound. Lani runs into JJ and it is revealed that they had a drunken fling in Florida. It ultimately breaks up his romance with Gabi Hernandez.
With the two working so closely together, Lani and JJ begin dating in 2017. Fearing JJ will let the budding romance interfere in their work, Lani cuts JJ out of her attempt to infiltrate a local drug ring. Lani is dosed with a designer drug called "halo" and left for dead. Fellow cop Eli Grant supports Lani through her withdrawals and covers for her with Abe and JJ. In May 2017, Lani and several officers including JJ and Eli go to Greece to arrest Deimos Kiriakis. On their way back, the group are stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. As Lani worries that JJ isn't as invested in the relationship as she is, Eli offers his support and they bond. JJ organizes a surprise birthday party for Lani in November 2017 and they profess their love for each other soon after. Their evening is interrupted when they get called to the scene of a break-in. JJ shoots the perp believing the person has a gun. Lani is devastated when she and JJ realize that Theo is the "perp" and he is unarmed. With Theo in emergency surgery, Lani is torn between JJ and Abe who vows never to forgive JJ. Lani is further upset when JJ suddenly breaks up with her as he can't forgive himself. Lani is distraught when she finds JJ in bed with Eli's girlfriend Gabi on Christmas Eve and she sleeps with Eli. Lani is horrified to learn that Gabi was comforting JJ after his attempted suicide. She and Eli then agree to keep quiet about their tryst.
In January 2018, Lani learns she is pregnant. Though she initially doesn't know who the father is, once Kayla Brady tells her how far along she is, Lani knows the baby can only be Eli's. She plans to terminate the pregnancy but JJ overhears her making the appointment and assumes the baby is his. With JJ feeling hopeful about the future again, Lani starts to rethink her decision to terminate the pregnancy. Once JJ shares the news with their families, Lani abandons her abortion plans and decides to keep quiet for fear of disappointing JJ and everyone else who is excited about the baby. Eli's mother Valerie Grant confronts Lani about her lies and forces her to tell Eli the truth. While Eli isn't thrilled, he wants to step up. However, Lani convinces Eli to let her raise the baby with JJ as they are engaged to be married. When Gabi is framed for André DiMera's murder, Lani catches her trying to destroy evidence. Gabi ask her not to report it in exchange for Lani keeping quiet about Lani and Eli's affair. However at Gabi's trial, her lawyer Justin Kiriakis forces Lani to admit to the affair under oath. Lani is then forced to tell JJ that Eli is her baby's father and JJ dumps her. In addition to Abe's support, Eli offers to support Lani more as she prepares for the baby, but Lani is adamant that he not be involved. Despite her rejection, Eli gets Lani to the hospital when she experiences cramping caused by Placenta praevia. In June 2018, Lani experiences cramping again and JJ rushes her to the hospital where she goes into premature labor. She wants to stall her labor but Kayla and JJ inform her that it could be dangerous and Lani is rushed into emergency surgery. Lani is destroyed when she wakes up from her surgery and Eli tells her their son did not survive. Eli and Lani name their son David Abraham, after their fathers. When Lani delivers Eli a copy of their son's death certificate, Eli kisses her and Lani furiously rejects him. Lani finally admits her feelings for Eli when his friend Sheila deliberately makes her jealous and they start dating.
In 2019, Lani becomes attached to baby David Ridgeway when Rafe takes him in. When Rafe gets shot on the job, she goes so far as to spend the night with Rafe to assist with David. When Lani rejects the notion that she's using David to fill the void left by their son, Eli breaks up with her. She then kisses Rafe and he helps her realize she is in denial. Lani then reconciles with Eli and they become engaged on July 4, 2019. However, when Eli's grandmother Julie Williams suffers a heart attack, the couple want to postpone the wedding until she recovers though Julie encourages them to move forward. Lani tries to apprehend escaped fugitive Vivian Alamain and Vivian pulls a gun on her. Lani shoots at her but her son Stefan DiMera jumps in the way of the bullet and Vivian escapes. Though Lani gets him to the hospital, Stefan is braindead leaving Gabi, his wife, devastated. Meanwhile, Julie is in desperate need of a heart transplant and Gabi refuses to donate his heart to save her leaving her loved ones, including Eli, devastated. At the last minute, Gabi comes to Lani and agrees to save Julie on one condition. Lani makes it clear that she never intended to hurt Stefan, and even attends Stefan's funeral with Eli to show her support and gratitude to Gabi for saving Julie. But the history between them doesn't reassure Gabi and instead, she demands that Lani to dump Eli at the altar. Gabi reveals that she rigged Julie's pacemaker to explode and orders Lani to dump Eli or watch him grieve his grandmother. Lani ultimately caves, and leaves Eli at the altar. He tries to convince her to go through with the wedding but Lani claims she doesn't love him and leaves. A year later, Lani is set to take her final vows as a nun when she confides in Kristen DiMera about how Gabi forced her to leave Eli. Though Kristen urges her to fight for Eli, Lani isn't sure it's safe. Lani sees Eli again when he tracks Kristen to the convent in Europe and he reveals that he and Gabi are together.
In the New Year, Lani makes her way back to Salem and enlists JJ's help to bring down Gabi. Her plan is complicated by the news of Eli and Gabi's impending nuptials. Lani crashes the wedding and exposes Gabi. A spiteful Gabi goes through with her plan not knowing that Lani and JJ have already disabled Gabi's control over Julie's pacemaker. Though Lani explains everything to Eli, and they kiss, he isn't ready to reconcile. However, they reunite very soon after. In May 2020, Lani helps Kristen escape the police station when she is arrested for stabbing Victor Kiriakis. A furious Eli begrudgingly keeps quiet. Soon, they become engaged and while they look for a wedding, Lani realizes she is pregnant. Though Eli is happy, Lani is fearful of losing another baby. However, they agree to move forward with the pregnancy. On the morning of her wedding, Lani gets a visit from a fugitive Kristen. Kristen helps Lani dress for the wedding before she skips town again. The ceremony is first interrupted when Tamara collapses but she insist they go forward anyway. To make matters worse, Gabi interrupts the ceremony, for nothing more than to spite the couple. Once Gabi is gone, Vivian crashes the wedding threatening to shoot Lani to avenge Stefan. Rafe arrives in time to arrest Vivian and reveal that Stefan may be alive. Though Lani is afraid the day is ruined, with support from Eli and their loved ones, Lani happily marries Eli. A month later, the newlyweds learn they're having twins. Later, Lani is furious when Eli goes behind her back and arrests Kristen using information she shared in confidence. Lani, along with Kristen's boyfriend Brady Black are shocked when Kristen turns herself and confesses despite Lani's successful appeal to district attorney Melinda Trask. Later Lani is suspicious when Eli and Abe claim they are secretly planning her baby shower. She records them with her phone and realizes they are keeping a bigger secret from her that involves Brady. Lani confronts Brady who reluctantly admits that Eli forced Kristen to confess after he recorded her confession. An irate Lani confronts Eli and kicks him out of their home. On Christmas Eve, Lani reconciles with Eli thanks to Julie and her husband Doug's meddling. Lani goes into labor during the Horton Christmas party and she gives birth to twins Jules and Carver on Christmas Day.
As they are set to take the twins home, Lani and Eli discover the babies have been kidnapped. When Bonnie Lockhart reveals she saw a woman with newborn twins in the park, Eli and Lani enlist a sketch artist and discover the woman is fugitive Dr. Amanda Raynor. Lani and Eli track Raynor down and question her. Lani deduces that Raynor gave the twins to Ivan Marais, Vivian's longtime henchman. While they track Ivan and Vivian to a Chicago townhouse, the desperate parents end up imprisoned by Ivan. Vivian plans to kill them once she finds out, but Eli and Lani overpower her and arrest them. As they prepare for the twins' christening, Lani's aunt Paulina arrives unexpectedly and puts herself in contention to be Jules's godmother. In actuality, the parents have already chosen Julie and Theo as godparents. Fortunately, Val helps Lani clarify the mixup just before the christening Paulina even gifts the parents with a blank check for the twins' college tuition. After the christening, Paulina's daughter Chanel arrives and causes trouble when she tries to stick Eli's cousin Claire Brady with an expensive champagne bill. After Paulina cuts her off financially, Lani and Eli help a worried Paulina track Chanel down only to discover she has eloped with Xander Kiriakis. At Chanel's request, Lani facilitates a meeting between Paulina and the newly weds to discuss dissolving the marriage. Lani is furious to learn of Chanel and Xander's failed extortion attempt against Paulina but reluctantly agrees to let Chanel stay with her as she divorces Xander and tries to stand on her own feet. Later, Lani convinces a fugitive Kristen to turn herself in. As Lani and Eli gear up for their first wedding anniversary, she gives her blessing for Abe and Paulina to date, as they've grown close through their work on the Horton Town Square. Lani even encourages Chanel's plans to open a bakery in Paulina's indoor market place at the square. Eli surprises Lani with an anniversary party which is interrupted by Paulina's plans to demolish the square, leaving Lani, Chanel and Abe furious. Though Paulina calls off her plans to demolish the square, Lani struggles to forgive Paulina and confides in Abe about Paulina's history of letting her down. Eventually, Lani forgives Paulina in exchange for complete honesty going forward just in time to share a happy reunion with her grandmother Olivia. Despite Olivia's objections, Lani gives her blessing as Abe and Paulina rekindle their romance and soon become engaged. Lani does her best to support her family when Abe gets shot. After Abe makes it through surgery, Lani is surprised when Paulina ask her to be her matron of honor. She agrees on the condition that Chanel is ok with it and Theo agrees to talk Chanel about it. At the wedding, Lani is shocked when Chanel announces that Paulina is Lani's biological mother.