Irene, who always wished for a child of her own, would take care of her. Lara is upset with Nina and Elisabeth but eventually forgives both of them and continues to live with Elisabeth and Arno. Elisabeth marries Arno and has to say goodbye to her daughter Nina who decides to start a new life in Greece. Lara wants to stay with Elisabeth but soon after Nina moved, Lara decides to join her mother. Elisabeth and Arno's life becomes challenged when Arno's nieces Jana (Friederike Sipp) and Nico (Verena Zimmermann) show up. Arno's brother Achim is overwhelmed raising them after his wife Vera has died. Jana and Nico have to fear that they are taken by child protective services and separated when moved to foster care. Elisabeth and Arno decide to take the girls in, who are then joined by their older brother Robin. The life of Elisabeth changes dramatically with the three siblings in the Brandner household. While she becomes close with Jana and Robin, Nico rebels against Arno and Elisabeth and thinks that Achim will take back home very soon. Achim eventually shows up in Düsseldorf and reunites with his children. But he still does not feel ready to raise them and leaves the three in Arno and Elisabeth's care. Nico then grows to love Arno and Elisabeth and begins to have a special bond with the two of them. Elisabeth befriends Isabell Mohr, girlfriend of Arno's son Florian (Alex Huber). Isabell was raped and ends up pregnant. Elisabeth comforts her in this difficult time and agrees to Isabell's request to keep the rape a secret. Arno feels betrayed by Elisabeth when the truth comes out. He questions Elisabeth's loyalty and the two start to grow apart. Elisabeth decides to move out and finds comfort in the arms of a much younger Luke Esser. She becomes involved with him but Arno soon discovers that Luke is a con-artist. Luke tries to make Elisabeth and Arno's separation permanent and wants her to invest in a real estate project. Arno proves that Luke is a fraud and wins Elisabeth back. In the meanwhile Ryan Cosmetics has become a division of Beyenbach AllMedia. After Martin von Beyenbach dies in an explosion, Sylvia Jones (Heike Brentano) sells the company to the Lahnstein Holding. Elisabeth has to fear for her company's future as Ansgar von Lahnstein (Wolfram Grandezka) isn't too keen about keeping