"I thought I made it clear that I did not want to be- " Victor stopped as he looked up at the unwelcome visitor. "Who the hell let you in here?"

"Your assistant told me that you weren't available, but I didn't exactly give her any choice." Jack closed the door behind him and moved to stand directly in front of the stately desk.

"Apparently I need to give more detailed instructions. She can simply call the police next time an intruder refuses to …"

"An intruder? You know all about those don't you? You know all about sending people into places where they don't belong, letting them live there, letting them lie to people, letting them manipulate people, letting them …" He could hear the sound of his blood pumping through his veins as the loud whoosh echoed through his ears. His fists clenched hard against his sides as he stared at the smug face of the man in front of him.

"Jack, I thought we'd settled this. For a man that professes to be so grateful to be home, you're certainly wasting a lot of time here talking to me."

"Damn you. Damn you and your self serving, egotistical, sick, twisted …"

"You should calm down, Jack." He stood from the leather chair and slowly walked around the desk. "Remember you've barely recovered from a heart attack. I'd hate to see something happen to you."

"How long would it take you to find another soulless jackass to come prey on my family's love? Or have you already got one lined up … just waiting?"

"I handled the situation. Marco is gone. He will rot for the rest of his life in a Peruvian jail cell. Your life is yours to live. Why don't you get out of my office and go live it?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd like it if I just forgot the hell you put me through, if I just went back to the way things were, if I just pretended the last few months didn't happen." The anger only seemed to multiply as he watched the look of condescension grow on the elder Newman's face. "You have no idea how much I wish it was that simple."

"If you're making it more complicated than it needs to be, that's on you – not on me."

"The hell it is!" The absurdity of the statement made the smoldering rage ignite like fire. "I can't move past this. I can't just pretend things are fine when …"

"When what, Jack? You finding home to be a little less appealing than you thought? Absence make things look a little too perfect? Or is Phyllis finding the old you a little … old?"

He slammed his hand down hard on the desk and felt the sting of impact long after the sound had silenced. "You shut the hell up! You don't have any idea what you've done and you don't even give a damn. Phyllis can't get this out of her head. She can't forget what happened. She can barely even talk about it. I just had to take my wife to get a room at the Club so that she could try and find some way to even exist now and you're going to sit there and make snide comments like this is some kind of joke? What the hell is the matter with you?"

"This isn't a joke. I would never presume to say that it was. But Jack, perhaps your anger is a bit misdirected. Maybe what you're really angry about is the fact that your family didn't even notice that you'd been replaced or …"

He snarled as he fought to keep from lunging at him. "Or what?"

"Or maybe they did notice and just thought they'd gotten a hell of an upgrade."

"Jack! Jack, stop it!" It barely even registered that there were fragile hands pulling at his jacket, that a shaky, frantic voice was screaming his name. It wasn't until his eyes finally focused on Victoria's terrified face that he stopped and took a breath. His hands unclenched and the collar fell from his hands.

Victoria let out a sigh of relief and glanced between the two men. "What on earth is going on here?"

Victor cleared his throat and straightened his jacket in front before walking back behind his desk. "I think Jack should be the one to fill you. Jack, you care to share what has you so upset?"

God did he hate this. It was bad enough to lose to Victor in business, but in this, to have to live this hell and know that nothing could be done without implicating himself, without humiliating his wife, without damaging the fragile sense of normalcy he'd managed to piece back together. "I need to go," he managed.

"Jack?" Victoria's face betrayed her confusion. "What?"

"You don't need to know." He hurried from the room before the need for blood won out again.

Victoria turned to face her father. She shook her head as she saw him already at work on the papers in front of him. "What was all that about?"

"Sweetheart, you know Jack and I have always had our issues."

She scoffed. "Issues, yes, but they don't normally lead to one of you trying to strangle the other. That just seemed to be a little over the top … even for the two of you. And Jack, he's not prone to that kind of violence. I mean …"

"I think there are some things in Jack's life right now that are upsetting him and he's just looking for a scape goat." He pointed to himself and shrugged. "I guess I'm the perfect candidate."

"What does Jack have to be upset about? He just survived a building collapse, he's running his family company, he's happily married …"

Victor cleared his throat as he stood and walked slowly over to the bar cart.

"What?" Victoria turned to follow him. "Is something going on with Jack and Phyllis?"

"Apparently, Phyllis has asked for a little space and she's taken a room at the GCAC. I'm sure it's nothing serious, but Jack is …"

"Damn it!" Victoria hissed as she reached for her phone and rushed for the door. "I was supposed to meet Billy at the Club over an hour ago. He's going to kill me." She paused for only a second to kiss her father on the cheek. "I have to go. We'll talk about this later."

Victor nodded as she hurried from the room. He didn't need to waste time trying to ruin Jack's life. His life was imploding on its own.