Longtime fans of The Young and the Restless know that Victor (Eric Braeden) is the most ruthless, brilliant and stubborn businessman in all of Genoa City. These attributes are on full display in his latest plot to fake his mental decline in an effort to expose which of his children and Nate (Sean Hastings) are willing to betray him.
Even as Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) warned Victor of the potential fallout from his plan, and Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) found out what their father has been up to and expressed their frustration with him, Victor has remained undeterred in stopping this health charade. The Mustache wants to continue to put Adam (Mark Grossman) and Nate’s loyalties to the test. To an extent, he’s also still testing Victoria.
During the week of October 23, Nate faced his biggest test from Victor when the Newman CEO invited Nate to the Ranch and pretended to be concerned about his own mental decline and needing help. Nate agreed to do what he could for Victor, but the Newman patriarch also wanted Nate to keep this all a secret from Victoria.
Despite the hiccup with the Audra (Zuleyka Silver) and Adam blackmail plot, Nate and Victoria have remained committed to being partners in business and romance and maintaining honesty between them. So will Nate betray Victoria and lie to her to keep his word to her father?
On the other hand, Victoria knows her dad is in picture-perfect health. Although she was and still is furious about his deception, she agreed with his rationale to continue pretending to be sick to at least prove that Adam is not to be trusted. However, Victor also requested that she hide the truth from her corporate boyfriend. Despite her insistence that Nate is trustworthy, Victor is determined to prove that for himself.
Where does that leave Victoria?
That leaves Victoria in the terrible position of having to lie to Nate or risk earning her father’s disapproval. So far, it appears that Victoria will go along with keeping Nate in the dark, which means she’s likely to have to pretend that she’s still very concerned about her dad. Nate is likely going to want to be there to comfort her, not knowing it isn’t necessary.
With all that being said, Nate and Victoria are actively deceiving one another, and when it comes to the soap world, deception usually means the end of a relationship. Once all the information comes to light, Nate will probably be very upset that Victoria let him worry about her and her father for nothing. Furthermore, Nate may feel his relationship with the Newman heiress lacks trust and never work.
Victoria may see Nate withholding information as a sign that Nick was right, and Nate is all about using people to climb the corporate ladder. She may feel that instead of him trusting her with information about her own dad, he decided to protect his image in Victor’s eyes so he doesn’t get fired from Newman Enterprises.
We’ll be watching to see just how much of a toll Victor’s interference in the #Vate relationship will have, as the couple is bound to face some rough times ahead. Should Nate and Victoria call it quits, and Nate wants to leave Newman Enterprises, we know his aunt Mamie (Veronica Redd) will be glad to see him return to Chancellor-Winters.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
