1988 (#26) - Steven's murder and Ashley's despair

Victor returns to the city, fresh from his marriage in Las Vegas to Leanna, just as Steven and Ashley are having a furious discussion. Steven assures the woman that he will devote himself completely to her to protect her and make her safe, but at the same time he demands clarity, transparency and above all a strong willingness to put Victor behind him. Steven thus, despite Ashley's assurance that her future is with him, begins to doubt that the press is completely wrong in insinuating a possible flirtation between his wife and Victor. It is precisely this, however, that presents itself in front of Steven to reassure him and inform him that he has married Leanna. Steven is astonished at how Victor could have so suddenly decided to marry the woman and becomes suspicious; talking to Jack and asking him why they were no longer seeing each other, the man lets it slip that Leanna is really none other than Nora, the author of the defamatory book about Victor, who thus completely ignores his wife's identity. Steven decides to leave it all a secret, not feeling compelled to do Victor a favor, which he never liked; however, when he notices Ashley making friends with Leanna, he seriously begins to think he has to tell his wife who the woman is and explain the whole thing to her. Unfortunately for Steven, however, he will never have time to talk to his wife. Shortly before leaving work, in fact, a psychopathic and deranged former patient of Steven's, a certain Andrew Morton, stops the doctor and, after a brief interview, freezes him with a gunshot leaving him in a pool of blood. Andrew, who disappears and will never be caught by the police despite the arrest warrant issued by Prosecutor Glenn Richards, immediately leaves the office with a dying Steven inside. When Jack, recalled by Ashley worried that her husband has not returned from work, finds the body of the corpse, he is completely shocked. It was his turn, unfortunately, to inform an inconsolable Ashley of the death of her husband, an event that affects the entire city. Victor, in this difficult period for Ashley, spends a lot of time with the woman, trying in vain to console her; this fact, which obviously leads Leanna, to show the first signs of jealousy. When Victor in particular gives Ashley a pendant, leading her to believe that it was a gift from Steven who did not have time to give it to her, Ashley is struck by Victor's generosity and his significant gift, while Leanna, who is equally impressed by Victor's gesture of kindness, begins to realize that she has strong feelings for him.