First Meeting
Sparks flew from Victoria and Ashland’s first meeting, even though it was all business. She didn’t seal the deal, but the “prettiest” Newman certainly got the Locke Ness Monster’s attention.
Risky Business: The Romantic Merger of Young & Restless’ Victoria Newman and Ashland Locke [PHOTOS]
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Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI -
Cocktails
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI That same electricity was in the air when Ashland ran into Victoria at Society. Everything was about to change as Locke’s marriage would hit the rocks and he struck a deal with Adam and Victor.
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Toast of the Town
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Ashland and Victoria got to know each other better when she agreed to go to New York with him. The pair connected over fine wine and the anticipation of what was to come between them.
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Taking It to the Next Level
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Victoria didn’t sleep with Ashland right away, but when she did there were fireworks. It only added another layer to their deepening connection.
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Sobering News
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI The new relationship took a sobering turn after Ashland broke the news that he’d received a terminal cancer diagnosis. Not long after, Victoria suggested they merge their companies so as to preserve his legacy. Ashland agreed to the proposition. Victoria repeatedly urged her new love to seek treatments to prolong his life but he initially resisted, wanting to ‘go out’ as he’d lived… on his own terms.
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Meet the Kids
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Another relationship milestone was marked when Ashland met Victoria’s children, Johnny and Katie. The tough mogul endeared himself to all by playing dolls, but when Ashland moved in, Victoria decided to have the kids go stay with Billy and Lily.
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A Proposal
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Overcome with emotion about his life-changing condition and his newfound love for such a beautiful and intelligent woman, Ashland spontaneously proposed. He later proposed again when he had a giant sparkler for her finger. She accepted and it was time to tell the parents!
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Domestic Bliss
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Happily engaged and living together, Ashland decided to begin undergoing chemo treatments that would extend his life, even if they weren’t a miracle cure. Victoria was both relieved and hopeful at this development.
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Butting Heads with Billy
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Although Victoria’s ex-husband had moved on and insisted he wasn’t jealous of her new relationship, he was taken aback by the news of her fast engagement. Billy, who had already unearthed Ashland’s medical condition, continued to keep digging into his past.
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Wedding Date!
Image Credit: CBS screenshot Victoria and Ashland set a wedding date and it was no time at all before she was meeting with her mother to plan a fabulous ceremony in Italy. Though her family was nervous about what she would face when Ashland died, Victoria was determined they would wed in the ‘wedding of the century’.
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Questions
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI As Billy, Victor, and Nick continued to question Ashland’s past, he eventually came clean about the abusive history he had run from as a young man. Victoria was broken hearted to hear of his terrible childhood, but wished he’d been up front with her from the beginning.
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Double-Dating
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI When Nate helped an ailing Ashland in Crimson Lights one day, an unlikely friendship was struck. After their spouses bonded over cooking podcasts, Ashland asked a stunned Nate to be his best man. He accepted, but noticed tension between his new friend and Victoria when they ran into each other at Society ahead of the wedding.
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Secrets and Betrayal
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI With Phyllis’ help, Nick kept digging into the past of the man his sister was about to marry. It all led him to New Jersey where he learned of the death of a man named Bobby DeFranco. Ashland later confessed that he was DeFranco, and that he took his friend Ashland’s identity on after he perished in a fiery car crash. Victoria was disappointed that Ashland hadn’t volunteered the information but it was Nick she accuses of betraying her by not respecting her wishes and leaving the past alone.
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Married!
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Ashland and Victoria were married at the Tuscan palazzo gifted to them by her parents. Tension swirled between Victoria and her brother, Nick, who disapproved of the match, and her ex, Billy, brought a man from Ashland’s past to Italy to try and put the kibosh on the wedding. Despite the obstacles put in their path, Victor Newman delivered on his promise that nothing would interfere with the merger, er, nuptials. Victoria, wearing a gown by Sally Spectra, married the man she loved, Ashland Locke.
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The Big Lie
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Ashland had Victoria convinced to make him co-CEO of Newman-Locke when Victor and Michael exposed his heinous lie — he had faked his cancer to dupe Victoria and take control of Newman Enterprises. Despite his protests that he’d truly fallen in love with her, a devastated Victoria told him it was over.
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Walk Through Fire For You
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Ashland followed Victoria to make sure she was okay after their split and it turned out to be a good thing he did. It was a foggy night and Victoria was run off the road by Rey Rosales car when he took a heart attack and died at the wheel. Ashland also ended up in the bushes, but was able to fight his way out of his crashed car to save Victoria from hers just as it went up in flames. This let her see that he truly cared about her, but did not get him the reconcilation he was hoping for. Soon after, he signed Adam and Victor’s contract agreeing to an annulment and to walk away from the company in return for $500 million dollars.
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Can’t Quit You
Image Credit: CBS screenshot Ashland spent his post-breakup time mooning around Genoa City telling anyone he crossed paths with that he genuinely loved Victoria, who had changed him and made him a better man. To prove it, he donated half of the money he got from Victor to Nick’s New Hope charity in memory of Rey Rosales. Victoria was moved by this and admitted she still had feelings, but stopped short of a reunion. But when even a trip to an exclusive Swiss spa couldn’t wash that man out of her hair, Victoria showed up on the day he was planning to leave town and the two shared a teary reunion, agreeing to take it slow.
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Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI It turns out, the reunion was just a ploy on Victoria’s end. The Newman, who learned everything she knows at the knee of TGVN, convinced Ashland to invest his money in a new venture and stole is fortune right out from under him. She then dumped him. Ashland had lost everything and Victoria had her revenge. But that wasn’t the end of their story…
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Dead as a Doornail
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Ashland confronted Victoria in her home on — what else — but a dark and stormy night. Things took a sinister turn before Nick showed up. The men got into it and Ashland fell and hit his head on the hearth. Nick and Victoria couldn’t find a pulse, stepped outside, and returned to the living room to find Locke gone. It turned out Victor’s men had removed the body and propped it up behind the wheel of his car at the bottom of a ravine. Nick was reluctant to let his pop cover for him this way, but eventually accepted it. Victoria broke the news of Ashland’s death to her kids and put her head down and focused on work.
