Victor pushed Viki and Steve to be together.

A new man, Steven Burke, entered Viki�s life. Victor Lord had brought the veteran newspaperman in to replace Joe as the new executive editor of the Banner. Steve was the kind of stuffed suited conservative man that Victor had always envisioned for Viki. Subsequently, the manipulative Mr. Lord schemed to throw Steve and his daughter together. Viki, still mourning Joe, wanted nothing to do with Steve and rejected his every attempt to reach out to her. After many months, however, Viki finally returned Steve�s feelings.

Marcy Wade, Steve�s brilliant young secretary, secretly carried a torch for her boss. Intensely jealous of his and Viki�s relationship, Marcy grew to despise Viki with every fiber of her being. Upon learning of Viki�s past bout with a split personality, Marcy developed a scheme to drive Viki over the edge, by making her believe that Niki Smith had returned. Donning a wig and Niki-esque fashion, Marcy started making appearances Ernie�s bar to make it appear to seem that Niki herself had been out and about. The scheme worked. As rumors of Niki�s presence began to circulate around Llanview, Viki nearly drove herself crazy with paranoia of Niki�s return.

Marcy�s plan to convince everyone that Niki Smith had returned, however, eventually backfired when Viki�s deep troubles over the Niki matter only served to bring she and Steve closer together. Slipping deeper into psychosis, Marcy then planned to kill Vince, and frame Niki for the crime. Steve, however, caught wind of Marcy�s evil plans and confronted her in the street. Marcy pulled a gun on Steve, announcing menacingly that instead of Vincent dying, it was now going to be him. Steve lunged for the gun. During their struggle, Marcy dropped her purse, while a street vagrant suddenly appeared, grabbed it and ran. Just then, the gun went off, and Marcy fell to the ground, dead.