1989 (#8) - The disability of the marriage with Leanna, the alliance of Ashley and Nikki

Increasingly concerned that her secret is in danger, and so is her marriage to Victor, Leanna realizes that the only way to make sure Victor doesn't leave her is to get pregnant with him. However, Leanna's hopes are dashed when Nikki returns to the city and announces to Victor that he has become a father. Victor is overjoyed to embrace his son, even though he criticizes Nikki for not telling her anything. Nikki, who appears strongly determined to get her ex-husband back, apologizes to him for keeping the secret, adding that she hopes there is a way to make it up to him. The reassurances of fidelity to an increasingly grim Leanna are then questioned at the baptism of little Nicholas, where Nikki takes care of every detail to ensure that she recreates the atmosphere of her marriage to Victor. Nikki's plan to win her back reaches a climax when, at the end of the ceremony, she announces to a distraught Victor that she has discovered that her marriage to Leanna is invalid and proposes to him to marry her at the same time. Victor, completely confused and stunned, rejects the marriage proposal and runs off to explain himself to a tearful and desperate Leanna. Victor consoles her, assuring her of all his love and promising that it will not be a piece of paper that will change her feelings. Leanna, reinvigorated by Victor's words and hoping that the two of them would really work, then makes Victor happy by announcing that he has completed his biography entitled: "Victor, the man and the myth"; a book that the man appreciates greatly and decides to start publication right away. Nikki does not hide her bitterness at Victor's decision to stay with Leanna despite their marriage being invalid, and promises to herself that she will not stop there. And, in her struggle against Leanna, she finds an unexpected ally in Ashley, touched by Victor's kindness after discovering that the pendant she had given him was actually not a thought ordered by Steven, but his own, to make her understand when the woman still mattered to him. Ashley and Nikki, sworn enemies, thus ally themselves in the common goal of getting Leanna out of Victor's life.