Leanna Love, a former mental patient of Dr. Steven Lassiter, surfaced in Genoa City. Steven and Ashley Abbott had met and fallen in love. Leanne, however, believed that she was madly in love with and hated Ashley with a deadly passion. Her plans did not work, and eventually, Leanna abandoned her plans and her lunacy. She became involved with Jack Abbott, who arranged for Leanna to write a sensational tell-all biography, "Ruthless: The Victor Newman Story," which would destroy Victor. Ironically, the wealthy businessman, who didn't know about Leanna's project, also hired her to write an authorized biography of his life. Without Jack's consent, or knowledge, Leanna added an extra chapter to the unauthorized book that chronicled Ashley's ill-fated affair with Victor, and included details about the young woman's abortion.

Victor decided to postpone divorcing Nikki after he learned that Ashley had married Steven Lassiter. Nikki, who was also pregnant with Victor's baby, hoped that Victor would eventually drop his divorce plans and resume their marriage. But when "Ruthless" hit the bookstores, Victor assumed that Nikki was responsible for the dirt on Ashley. In order to take the media's attention off Ashley, Victor quickly divorced Nikki. In a surprise move, he married Leanna Love. Nikki, however, discovered that her divorce from Victor wasn't legal. Meanwhile, Steven was killed, leaving Ashley a widow.

Paul Williams fell for a mysterious and beautiful woman named Cassandra. When Paul learned that Cassandra was an interior designer, he hired her to decorate his office. Soon after, Paul became romantically involved with Cassandra, but she was unwilling to take things beyond being just lovers. One evening, while dining at the home of George Rawlings, a client of Paul's, the young private eye was surprised to discover that Cassandra was Rawlings' wife. While socializing with George, the older gentleman confided to Paul that he was impotent. Nevertheless, George wanted to raise a child with Cassandra. To Paul's surprise, George asked him to father the baby!