Scenes From a Soap Opera

Ashland Gets Revenge

Two weeks had passed since Ashland Locke snuck back into town. His revenge plans were slowly coming into formation. The ruthless businessman was unable to hide the smirk on his face as he watched his recently finalized ex-wife be escorted out of society in handcuffs. Only securing the business deal of a lifetime could have given as much joy as Victoria's perp walk had. The Newman Princess screamed when she read Locke's statement about her arrest.

Ashland snuck into his former house for the third time this week. "Well, well, Victoria, let's see what I can take from you today?" The businessman said as he wandered through the house. The older man had been taking some of Victoria's things, knocking stuff over; doing just enough damage that Victoria could dismiss it as misremembrance. Ashland didn't want to just destroy Victoria professionally, he wanted to inflict psychological warfare.

Sighing, it was time to up the ante. Locke's endgame was to make Victoria regret that she ever met him, just like he regretted meeting her. Flicking her television on and smashing a picture of the ice princess, Ashland left the house to get the next parts of his plan in motion. That selfish bitch wouldn't know what hit her.

A few hours later, Victoria Newman returned home exhausted from a day of strategizing with Michael. The tired mother turned off the television thinking that one of her kids must have left it on. She froze when she heard the crunching glass. Startled, the eldest Newman sibling looked down to see a shattered picture of her. Neither Johnny nor Katie would do this; someone had been in her house. Completely panicked, Victoria got her phone out of her bag with shaky fingers to call Paul; out of respect for Abby she refused to call her estranged brother-in-law.

Ashland watched as a shaken Victoria greeted Paul, then quickly ushered him into the house. The businessman smirked; his bitch of an ex-wife had gotten the message. Now he had to throw her off kilter some more. It was time to switch targets from her to one of her loved ones. He was scrambling his brains, trying to think of the perfect victim. As fun as it would be going after Victor, he knew he would never be able to get there. Not to mention that Victor would strike back with a vengeance, which also eliminated Nikki and Nicholas. Victoria didn't care enough about Abby to worry, and she would thank him for going after Adam.

At that exact moment, Johnny Abbot came home to see police swarming his house. Confused and scared, he called out for his mother. Victoria ran back out to give her son a bone crushing hug. Thankful that one of her kids was okay, she still didn't know where Katie and Reed were, the mother ushered her son into the house so Paul could question him. A light bulb went off as Locke watched the mother and son reunion, her son. Victoria loved her kids, but especially her son. She would be so focused on her son that she wouldn't be paying attention to anything else including all and any moves he could make against her.

Genoa City Memorial Hospital

Johnny was growing weaker by the moment. Doctors were constantly running in and out of the room with new tests. Victoria and Billy were getting more anxious with each inconclusive test result. The co-parents were starting to wonder if they should take him to another hospital. Everyone was running out of ideas on what could be wrong with the young Abbott. Thankfully, Sharon came to visit Johnny one day and made a casual remark that Johnny was reminding her of when Rey was sick.

A light bulb went off in Victoria's head and she ran out of the room to find a doctor. "Doctor Benson! You need to test my son for every type of poison you possibly can." The panicked mother screamed. "Do it now!" The doctor stared in confusion but upon seeing the crazed look on Victoria's face hurried to start running tests.

"Vic, sit down. You're going to wear a hole in the floor." Billy tiredly exclaimed from the chair on Johnny's right side. He had been watching the mother of his children pace for the past two hours.

"Don't tell me what to do Billy" The nervous mother snapped. Billy raised his eyebrows and Victoria sighed, "Sorry I didn't mean to snap. I'm just..." she trailed off, but the Jabot executive understood. Waiting for the results was one of the most painful and stressful experiences of their lives. Time had never moved so slowly.

A knock at the door got the anxious parents attention and Doctor Benson walked into the room. Billy got up from his chair as Victoria studied the esteemed doctor's face. It was hard to gage, the middle aged woman had completely perfected a poker face.

"Doctor Benson, do you have any updates?" Victoria anxiously asked. Billy put his hands on his ex-wife's shoulders.

"We did find what's affecting Johnny." Both stressed parents let out the biggest sigh of relief imaginable. The doctor gave them a few minutes to collect themselves before continuing with her update. "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm going to be direct. Your son was poisoned." Shock hit both parents like a freight train. It was one thing to guess, but to have it actually confirmed; it was devastating.

Victoria became unsteady on her feet and Doctor Benson urged her to sit down. Billy agreed and the eldest Newman sibling sighed as she sat in one of the chairs. Billy pulled his chair around to sit next to her. The doctor patiently answered all the questions Johnny's parents threw at her before ushering them out of the room so the staff could start administering the treatment. The former couple breathed a huge sigh of relief as they walked out of their son's room and straight into Paul.

"Hi guys." The chief greeted the exhausted parents. "The hospital informed me of what happened to your son. I'm so sorry."

"Thanks Paul. We real..." Billy started.

"Are you here to question us?" Victoria interrupted in disbelief. In what universe did Paul think that they could answer questions at this time? The former CEO could barely stand, she was so tired. Billy also looked at the police chief in shock.

Chief Williams simply nodded, feeling the hesitation and annoyance of both parents. He figured the sooner he talked to Billy and Victoria the sooner the GCPD could solve the mystery of the poisoning. The completely exhausted look on both parent's faces was making him reconsider his plan. "That was my original idea, but I can come back tomorrow if you'd prefer."

Billy was about to agree when Victoria spoke over him, again. "No, it's fine. Let's get this over with." She huffed and walked over to the waiting room to have a seat. Billy shot her an annoyed look as he sat down next to her. Paul started off with the basic questions; asking about Johnny's routine, when he started showing signs of illness, etc.

Finally, it was time for the big question, "Can you think of anyone who would do this?" That question haunted the parents. Ever since Sharon made that suggestion, they had been racking their brains trying to answer it.

Billy, of course, threw out his favorite suspect "Did you ask Adam what he was doing?"

Paul's eyes popped out of his head while Victoria rolled hers. "You think Adam poisoned his own nephew?" The chief sputtered out, "Why would he do that?"

"Why does Adam do anything?" Now that Billy had unleashed this theory, he ran with it. "I mean, it's not out of the realm of possibility. He did switch Victor's medication."

"I still don't see a motive here."

"Because there isn't one!" Victoria shouted out, shocking all three adults. "Look, I don't trust Adam at all, but he had no reason to do this. He's running Newman with his little sidekick on his arm. He has the power and the respect. There's no reason for him to target his nephew. Besides, if he had an issue with me, he'd talk to me directly not use a child."

A thought came to her quickly, she felt so stupid for not thinking of it sooner. "Ashland. Ashland did this." Both Victor and Adam had warned her that Ashland would keep coming for her, but she never thought that he would sink so low as to use her son against her. Paul nodded, this made much more sense to him than Adam. He ran off to convene with Chance at the station. Victoria sank into her chair, body racking with sobs. Billy tried to comfort her, but she shrugged him off. There was nothing anyone could do for her now.