Faith, scorned by Zander's pining for his ex, helped frame Zander for the shooting of a police officer. Zander was running for his life once again when he found nuEmily alone on the docks. He begged her to help him, but she turned him away. Nikolas showed up, making matters worse. With nothing left to lose, Zander pulled a gun. Passer-by, Jasper Jacks, was able to stop Zander. In the struggle, Zander shot himself in the leg, but managed to escape.

Zander went to his last friend in the world, Maxie Jones, a young volunteer at General Hospital. She hid him in the electrical room of the Port Charles Hotel and went to get pain pills for his gunshot wound. She returned with Zander's father, who removed the bullet and vowed to help Zander any way he could. Cameron later apologized for not having been a better father.

Nikolas spied Maxie leaving the basement. He went downstairs to investigate and encountered Zander, who attacked him with a lead pipe. The two men fought until Zander was knocked unconscious. When Zander came to, Elizabeth showed up. Zander had called her and threatened to tear up the stolen custody papers unless she got nuEmily to meet him. Elizabeth managed to knock Zander out with the lead pipe and take back the papers.

When Zander came to again, he hid but was soon discovered by an electrician. The man went off to call the police, but Zander hit him over the head with the pipe. The man died instantly and Zander freaked out. He set fire to the man's body and left the building. Tragically, that fire ignited a towering inferno. The PC Hotel was destroyed and two other people were killed. One of the victims was a suicidal Cameron, who blamed himself for Zander's "death".

Zander stalked nuEmily and Nikolas for days, until he finally cornered her alone at their old cottage. He ranted like a lunatic about how they could go away together and start over. nuEmily finally convinced him that he wasn't thinking clearly and needed to move on. He apologized for his behavior and she apologized for handling things the wrong way. They forgave each other and closure was made on their relationship.

The cops arrived with a S.W.A.T. team. nuEmily convinced Zander to give himself up. Looking out at the marksmen with their rifles trained on him, Zander knew what he had to do. He turned to nuEmily and said "I love you." Then he shoved her aside and pretended to go for a gun. Ric gave the order to open fire. As Zander lay dying in nuEmily's arms, he thanked her for teaching him to love. "For awhile," he whispered. "You made my life golden."