Victor Kiriakis came to Salem in 1985, and unknown to most of Salem he was financing Savannah Wilder's drug and porno ring. Victor had a short romance with Kimberly Brady, but she cut it off and returned to Shane. Victor helped out the Brady family whenever he got the chance, but Caroline told Victor she was happy and wanted their relationship to stay in the past. Later we would learn that Caroline had an affair with Victor several years back, an affair which resulted in the birth of Bo Brady.

In 1985 Kimberly Brady came into the possession of a roll of film that contained some prints to the location of a treasure that Victor Kiriakis, and Stefano DiMera where after, which would again come into play years down the road. In Miami Bo, Hope, Kim, and Shane were all out to destroy Victor's plan. Shane had been imprisoned by Victor, but Kimberly slept with Victor in order to spare his life. Shane escaped, and managed free Bo and Hope who were trapped with an explosive that was meant to end their lives. Later Victor Kiriakis, Savannah Wilder, and Steve "Patch" Johnson were arrested for their parts in the crime syndicate in Salem. They were all freed when Victor blackmailed Larry Welch into taking the fall for everything. Victor knew Larry killed Megan, and used it against him.

Later with Alex Marshall's help Victor began buying up large portions of the businesses in Salem. In 1986 Victor had a meeting with Caroline Brady, who ended up holding him at gun point. She wanted to keep their affair quiet because Bo was in fact Victor's son. Eventually Bo arrived and had to take his mother into custody. At a hearing Caroline had to admit that Bo was Victor's son, and it was agreed that they wouldn't tell Shawn because it would hurt him too much. They decided to keep the truth from Shawn, but Bo moved in with Victor shortly after he learned the truth. Unknown to Victor Bo had an ulterior motive; he was trying to bring down Victor's crime syndicate.

Later in 1986 Victor learned that Kimberly was pregnant, and the child could be his. When blood tests seemed to indicate Andrew Donovan, IV, was his child he sued for custody, not knowing that Emma Donovan Marshall had duped everyone into thinking Victor was the father. In 1987 Caroline Brady pleaded for Victor to forget that Bo was his son, because it was causing stress on Bo and Hope's marriage, and the family. Victor, who still held a place for Caroline in his heart, agreed. Victor forged papers saying he was sterile, and wasn't Bo's father. Victor disowned Bo, and later Bo left Salem with Hope. Depressed about the loss of Bo as his son Victor tried to sue for custody of Andrew Donovan, but in 1987 it was discovered that he could not be Andrew's father. When Andrew was hit by a car and needed blood Victor's blood type made it impossible for him to be Andrew's father.

In 1987 Victor sought out a computer disk which gave the location to a rare and valuable mineral. The disk made its way to Salem and Victor hired a man named Kai to help him locate it, unaware that Kai was an undercover agent for the ISA. The disk fell into the hands of the Senator Harper Deveraux, who was shot by Steve Johnson. Steve believed he was helping to fake Harper's death, but Victor had Kai replace the blanks in Steve's rifle with real bullets. Steve and Kayla went on the run and learned that Victor's hired help Kai had ties with Simon Hopkins, the crooked head of the ISA. Simon Hopkins was eventually killed by Roman Brady II/John Black, and Kai was caught and confessed to his crimes, but the disk remained missing.

Later Victor began to see Diana Coleville, unknowing she was using him to recover a computer disk that was somehow connected to her mother Serena. The disk contained the location of a valuable mineral that Victor sought out, but he was beaten to it by Serena. Victor vowed revenge, and continued to plot to get the disk. After Philip Coleville was killed Serena and Victor Kiriakis began plotting to steal the Coleville fortune from Diana. Their first attempt at getting the fortune was to trick Diana into marrying Victor, but it was thwarted when Roman Brady II/John Black rescued Diana from Victor's clutches. There second attempt was to make it seem like Serena had been kidnapped and Diana was to turn over her fortune to set her mother free. This attempt was also thwarted when Diana's assets were frozen and Diana was kidnapped by a terrorist group. She was eventually rescued and learned from Roman II/John Black that her mother and Victor were behind her mother's kidnapping.

Victor and his nephew Justin continued to fight until Justin and Adrienne moved out of the Kiriakis Mansion. However when Victor was shot by a member of the Torres family Justin returned to the mansion to oversee the Kiriakis Empire. When Angelica Deveraux became pregnant Victor suspected Justin was the father, even though Angelica said he wasn't. Victor proposed to Angelica in hope to pass the child off as his own. Later Victor, with Jack's help, arranged a jail break so the Harper Deveraux could escape the country, and he would be free to marry Angelica, and claim her child as his, as well as get his hands on Harper's money. The jail break was a bust, and Harper was eventually returned to prison. Much to Victor's dismay, Angelica married Neil Curtis. Victor was furious and attempted to ruin her marriage to Neil by luring into gambling again. Neil was eventually ruined and Angelica left him, but decided to try to go after Justin instead.

Eventually Justin and Adrienne learned that Angelica's son Alexander was Justin's son, but they didn't split up. Justin and Adrienne moved out of the Kiriakis mansion when Justin learned that his uncle Victor was drugging him, causing his impotency. In an attempt to get back at his uncle Justin hired a hooker name Yvette DuPrés to seduce his uncle and con him into believing she was a wealthy baroness. Victor eventually learned the truth and was furious with him. Angelica then moved in with Victor and planned to marry him knowing that it would kill Justin to have his son under Victor's roof. Justin refused to allow that happen and stopped the wedding. Justin then set Angelica up in a lavish penthouse apartment. Fearing she was losing Justin Adrienne, under the advice of Victor, allowed Justin to believe she was pregnant. When Angelica learned the truth and exposed Adrienne, both Justin and Adrienne agreed to get a divorce.

In late 1989 Victor teamed up with Marina Toscano to uncover the Toscano family treasure. Marina knew where the key was, and Victor knew where the treasure was hidden, but they needed the other's help. Marina however double crossed Victor and let him believe the key he had taken from her was the real key. Marina however had hidden the real one in Steve and Kayla Johnson's home. When Marina ended up dead Victor had lost the hope of finding the key, so he kidnapped Kayla Brady and told Steve he would never see his wife again unless he handed over the key, which Steve had no clue to it's location. Kiriakis did get the key and released Kayla, but he was furious when he found out that the Toscano treasure was already gone.

When Marina Toscano was found dead, Victor did some fast covering. Victor knew that it was his daughter Isabella who had killed Marina because he had a tape that incriminated her. Victor spliced the tape and managed to frame Kayla for the murder. Kayla was convicted and sentenced to jail. However, Victor made the mistake of hiding the real tape in his attic. Eventually it was discovered by Roman II/John Black and Isabella. Isabella had blocked the incident out and was not charged because the death was accidental. Victor was also arrested and charged with withholding evidence.

When Angelic Deveraux Curtis fled Salem with Alexander, they both were believed to have been killed in a plane crash. The loss of Alexander and Justin's reunion with Adrienne was too much for Victor, who disowned his nephew. Victor then began to search for his true son, Bo Brady. Victor chased Bo and Hope around the world, but eventually Bo, Hope, and Shawn D. returned to Salem and Bo accepted the fact that Victor was his real father.

Still without the diary of his late wife Loretta, Ernesto planned a cruise in which he plotted to pay back all his enemies and recover the diary. Ernesto invited Roman II/John Black, Isabella, Victor Kiriakis, Julie Williams, Jack Deveraux, Jennifer Horton, and Bo and Hope Brady. Onboard the ship, Ernesto was reunited with his daughter Isabella. Their host was a mystery to all but Victor, who knew Ernesto well. Deciding that the truth had to be known, Jack returned the missing pages of Ernesto's diary to Isabella. Isabella learned that she was Victor's child. Isabella told this to her father and then confessed to killing Marina. Ernesto claimed he did not love her any less, but secretly he despised her and felt she truly was the daughter of Kiriakis. Ernesto escaped his ship with Isabella and fled to a nearby Island. There he held Isabella prisoner and slowly poisoned her as he had done to her mother. A bomb exploded aboard the cruise ship and miraculously the passengers found their way to the island. On the island, Jack and Jennifer made love. Roman II/John Black sought to find Isabella because he knew she would be in grave danger. John and Bo set out to search the island and Hope followed Bo against his wishes. John made it to Toscano's house and rescued Isabella. However, Ernesto had captured Hope and was holding her prison. Everyone was lured to a cave where Ernesto held Hope with him in a cage that suspended a vat of acid. Ernesto offered Bo the chance to save Hope if he could convince him that she should be spared. Bo made a moving speech to Hope, but it failed to move Ernesto. Suddenly and explosion occurred which sent the cage crashing down into the vat of acid. Both Ernesto and Hope vanished and were declared dead after hours of searching the island. Shane eventually arrived and everyone was escorted back to Salem.

Victor had an on again off again relationship with Julie Williams and in late 1990, Victor made up with his nephew Justin and his wife Adrienne. Victor also bonded with his newly discovered daughter, Isabella. However Victor's happiness would soon turn to tragedy. Johnny Corelli, who was working for Victor, became a thorn in his side and Victor ended up suffering a stroke which left him paralyzed from the waist down. When Lawrence Alamain came to Salem in late 1990, Victor bought a deadly virus from Lawrence, which he had developed. In 1991, Carly Manning became Victor's physical therapist. Victor love Carly, but he knew she loved his son Bo. Victor proposed to her anyways and she accepted.

Bo befriended a young girl named Emmy Borden, who was in love with him. The night before Carly was to marry Victor Kiriakis, Bo wrote a love letter to Carly begging her not to go through with it. Bo asked Emmy to deliver it to Carly, but unknown to Bo she gave it to Victor. Victor replaced Bo's letter with a forged one that urged Carly to marry Victor. He sent a forged letter from Carly to Bo telling Bo that she was in love with Victor and was going to marry him. Devastated, Bo showed up at their wedding and toasted to them with a glass of champagne. Unfortunately, the champagne he drank was poisoned by Emmy, who expected Carly to drink it. Bo was infected with the virus that Lawrence had created and was using to kill off ISA agents.

Carly married Victor on May 5th, 1991. Because Victor was still paralyzed, Carly and Victor could not consummate their marriage. Carly further held off Victor's advances by claiming it would jeopardize his recovery. When Emmy Borden threatened to tell Bo and Carly the truth about the forged letters, Victor had her kidnapped. When Victor learned that Bo was infected with Lawrence's virus, Victor offered to trade the "John Black" file to Lawrence for the cure. The deal fell through and during the trade the vial fell to the floor and broke. Luckily, Carly Manning was able to save some of it and reproduce the cure, saving Bo and many others. Carly Manning eventually uncovered Victor's love letter scheme and promptly left him for Bo. Victor was furious and attempted to have Bo killed in an elevator accident at the Salem Inn. The plan failed and Carly was seriously injured, but she live. As a result, both Bo and Isabella disowned their father. In a last ditch attempt to split up Bo and Carly, Victor staged his death and fled to Mexico in search of a set of codacies.

Roman, John, and Marlena all traced their medals to a Mayan temple in Mexico. Roman Brady, Marlena Evans Brady, Isabella Toscano, John Black, Bo Brady, and Carly Manning all went to Mexico in search of the truth. Once in Mexico they found Victor Kiriakis chained in one of the temples. Eventually they made their way to a room in which Stefano DiMera was waiting for them. Using the medals, Stefano gained access to a set of codacies which promised the holder power beyond imagination. Stefano also held a satchel which held the truth about John's past. Suddenly an earthquake occurred, setting of a volcano, and the temple began to crumble and fill with lava. Stefano threw the satchel into the fire and was then crushed and lost among the falling debris. John managed to recover the satchel, but the contents were badly burned. After Bo and Carly had a symbolic Mayan wedding, everyone headed home.

In 1992, Victor lost his daughter Isabella to cancer. Victor turned his life around because of her and made a respectable business man out of himself. Victor began seeing Vivian Alamain, but when he found out that Vivian had kept Carly's child from her, Victor broke it off with Vivian. In 1993, Kate Roberts came to Salem to head up Victor's new business, Titan Industries. Victor allowed Kate and her son, Lucas, to move into his mansion. The two fell in love and married, or so they thought. Later, Vivian reveled to everyone that Kate's first husband, Curtis Reed, was very much alive when Kate married Victor.

In 1994, Victor and Kate attempted to have a child together. Victor informed Kate that he would only marry her if she bore him a child. Kate could not get pregnant, so she went to a fertility clinic for in-vitro fertilization. Vivian learned of this and cooked up her own plan. Pretending to attempt to have a child with Ivan, Vivian went to the same fertility clinic and managed to switch her and Kate's embryos. Vivian was implanted with Victor and Kate's child. Victor and Kate believed that it was an accident. Vivian managed to force herself to be invited move into the Kiriakis mansion when she pretended to fall down the stairs at the Alamain mansion. As a thank you present for carrying their child, Victor and Kate had Vivian's mansion totally re-furnished. Vivian wasn't pleased and she burned it to the ground, forcing Victor and Kate to let her move into the Kiriakis mansion.

Vivian plotted to marry Victor and she prepared a surprise wedding for Kate and Victor. However, in a rehearsal Vivian pretended to be Kate in a phony ceremony with Victor. Victor had no idea that he and Vivian had actually married. When it came time for Victor to marry Kate, Vivian went in to labor and gave birth to Philip Kiriakis. As a thank you present for carrying their child, Victor and Kate had Vivian's mansion totally re-furnished. Vivian wasn't pleased and she burned it to the ground, forcing Victor and Kate to let her move into the Kiriakis mansion. Kate managed to find the marriage certificate of Vivian and Victor's "rehearsal" wedding as well as a copy of it on a VHS cassette. Kate planned to expose Vivian after she returned home from a business trip. Desperate to by time, Vivian drugged a jug of coffee that Kate was taking on her trip. Unbeknown to Vivian, Kate gave the coffee to her pilot and the plane crashed. Kate was believed to have been killed, leaving Victor to Vivian.

Vivian and Victor began to fall back in love, but Victor remained distant from her. In hope of making Victor jealous, Vivian began seeing a man named Gregor. Vivian's plan backfired. Victor eventually learned that he and Vivian were really married and he decided to grant her a divorce so she could be with Gregor. Eventually Vivian managed to convince Victor that what she wanted a husband and a family to settle down with. In 1996, Vivian threw a party in Kate's honor. That night, Vivian and Victor returned to the mansion and prepared to make love. However, Kate walked in on them just in time to stop them. Kate tells Victor that Vivian purposely became pregnant with their child and when Kate learned this, Vivian tried to kill her. Vivian is thrown out and Kate is given a welcome home party. However, Kate is upset to learn that Austin and Carrie have split up and that Austin shares a child with Sami. In a desperate attempt to win Victor back, Vivian filed for custody of baby Philip. Victor confronted Vivian about the law suit, but had a stroke when he got too worked up. Victor became catatonic and Kate had to hire Nurse Lynn Burke to care for him.

Sami soon found blackmail evidence about the life Kate lived before she came to Salem. Sami and Kate got into a fight at the Kiriakis mansion about the blackmail material. Kate threatened to tell Austin the truth, so Sami threatened to reveal that Kate was a call girl. As they fought over the envelope, a picture of a Kate as a hooker fell to the floor. Victor, who was in a wheel chair, attempted to help Kate and he collapsed. Sami told Kate that Victor saw the picture of her as a call girl and that was why he collapsed. When Victor didn't recover, Kate was forced to send him to a nursing home where he could have around the clock care. In early 1999 Victor seems to be making some recovery from his stroke and may yet return to the Victor of old.

Victor and Kate never did get married. At Princess Greta's coronation, Victor was one of the victims of the gun battle that had ensued in part due to Kate's interference. Although all of Salem believed Victor was dead, he had in fact just been badly wounded. When Kate saw his 'ghost' in the mansion she panicked, although she soon realized he wasn't dead after all. She hit him over the head and left him for dead in his burning mansion, but only Lucas was truly a victim that night as Victor was able to escape and soon revealed himself to his friends and family. He kicked Kate out of his life completely, which left her destitute, although she continually manipulated Philip in an effort to extort money from Victor.

Victor wed Nicole Walker, but it wasn't long before the two, formerly friends, were at each other's throat. Victor offered her $100,000 to leave Salem, and his grandson Brady, forever, but she turned him down. Determined to get Nicole out of Brady's life, he told her that he had proof not only that she murdered Colin Murphy, but also that she was the Salem Stalker. Before he could share this proof with anyone, Nicole's partner-in-crime, Jan Spears, electrocuted him in the bathtub. He died while waiting for paramedics to come.

Victor soon turned up alive and well on the island of Melaswen, but when the captives made it back to Salem, he was one of the few who was initially believed to have perished. He made it home alive and well later on, but was saddened that Caroline chose to return to her husband, Shawn, instead of staying with him.

Victor's son, Phillip, married Belle Black and the two learned that they were expecting a baby. Claire Kiriakis was born and Victor was thrilled to have a granddaughter. However, Victor soon learned that Claire was Shawn's biological child, not Phillip's. But, Victor kept the paternity secret to himself to protect his son, much to the detriment of his grandson, Shawn. When Phillip found out that Claire was not his biological child, he left the country for a tour of duty with the Marines.

Victor appeared on screen a few years later when he tried to help his son Phillip. Phillip had been injured in the war, and Victor paid for a complete facial transplant. Once Phillip was healthy enough, Victor paid off judges and witnesses in the custody case and Phillip won custody of Claire. Eventually, Claire was returned to Belle and Shawn Douglas and, whereas Victor's crimes went unpunished by the law, they put a strain on his friendship with Caroline.

In early 2008, because of a health scare concerning Bo, Victor and the recently widowed Caroline became close again. Victor also bonded with Bo and stayed by his side during his pancreas transplant as well as brought his godson, Dr. Daniel Jonas, to Salem to perform the experimental surgery that would end up saving Bo's life. He also gave Chelsea a place to recover after her surgery (she was Bo's donor).

Around this same time, Victor also began giving Philip more responsibility at Titan. Eventually, he made his son the Vice CEO. In the winter of 2007, Victor's granddaughter-in-law, Chloe, returned to Salem without Victor's grandson, Brady. Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, Brady had become addicted to drugs after he met some of Chloe's friends who were drug dealers. Furious with Chloe for not trying harder to help Brady, Victor had Brady kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken to rehab. He let Chloe take the blame for Brady's disappearance and refused to help her even when she was questioned by the authorities. Even though Brady eventually returned to Salem in late 2008 drug free and divorced from Chloe, Victor remained deeply resentful of Chloe and continued to blame her for Brady's problems.

In the spring of 2008, Nicole Walker came back to Salem and announced that their divorce was not actually finalized, thus she was still Mrs. Kiriakis. After a bitter battle over the divorce settlement, Victor and Nicole signed their official divorce papers on July 10, 2008. Fortunately for Victor, it ironically turned out that Nicole had never been legally divorced from her first husband, Trent Robbins, thus their marriage was never legal. He promptly sued her for the money Nicole obtained during their settlement which left her financially ruined. Unfortunately, Victor didn't have long to celebrate. John Black had waged a waterfront turf war between DiMera Enterprises and Kiriakis Shipping. While trying to deal with John's assaults, Philip's inexperience at running Titan, and keeping Philip out of trouble as he was suspected of murdering Paul Hollingsworth, Victor had another stroke.

Daniel attended to his godfather's illness and vowed to do everything he could to help him. Yet, Victor was still under a large amount of stress due to Philip's predicament and asked Bo to destroy an audiotape in which Philip threatened to kill Paul. Very reluctantly, Bo agreed. That lessened Victor's stress, despite his guilt that he had over asking Bo to compromise his morals and break the law. Even though she stood by his side throughout his recovery, Caroline was furious when she found out what Victor asked Bo to do. Luckily, they again managed to work out their differences.

With Nicole out of his hair and his health improved, Victor was single again and started keeping company with Caroline again. He was also the first person to jump to her defense when she was wrongly accused of murdering Trent Robbins. He stayed by her side and promised to help her any way he could. Although it seems both of them still have romantic feelings for each other, they remain only good friends.

However, Victor and Philip's relationship grew strained. Philip accused Victor of being too hard on him and too often second guessing his business decisions. Eventually, in December 2008, Melanie Layton approached Victor about a potential multi-billion dollar project that Philip rejected. Furious, Victor and Philip argued and, in the end, Philip quit Titan. Shortly afterwards, father and son patched things up and Philip returned to the company. But, Victor had a surprise for his son upon his return, Philip was now a Co-Vice CEO and would have to share the title and responsibility with Brady.

Determined to prove that he was more worthy than Brady, Philip set out to win Victor's attention. Philip obtained the rights to Melanie Layton's alternative fuels project for Titan to develop. But, when Philip refused a romantic relationship with Melanie, she took the project to the DiMeras. Philip tried to talk Tony DiMera out of the project. They fought. When Tony was leaving, he fell over a railing. Tony died from complications from the fall. E.J. and Stefano blamed Philip for Tony's death.

In retaliation, E.J. and Stefano ordered a hit on Philip. Victor retaliated by kidnapping Stefano and holding him hostage until E.J. signed over rights to DiMera Enterprises to Victor. But before the deal could go through, E.J. had Philip's fiancée, Stephanie kidnapped. Philip agreed to return Stefano in exchange for Stephanie. When both returned home safe, E.J. and Stefano met with Philip and Victor to call a truce.

The situation with the DiMeras took a toll on Philip and Stephanie's relationship. When they broke up, Philip turned his sights towards Melanie Layton. Little did Philip or Victor know that Melanie would turn out to be the long-lost daughter of Carly Manning and Daniel Jonas. This meant that Melanie was a target for Carly's enemy, Vivian Alamain. On Philip and Melanie's wedding day, Vivian tried to kill Melanie.

In order to protect Philip's new wife, Victor agreed to marry Vivian if she would leave Melanie alone. Victor also wanted to keep Bo safe, as Victor worried that Bo would retaliate against Vivian if she went after Carly again. Vivian agreed. The two were married on May 28, 2010. But, their marriage was not a happy one. Victor soon developed feelings for Maggie Horton- a revelation that did not sit well with Victor's wife. Vivian drafted a master plan to imprison Maggie in a sarcophagus to get Maggie away from Victor. However, Brady discovered Vivian's plan and put Vivian in the sarcophagus instead.

Victor found out what Brady had done and helped Brady cover up the crime. Victor believed that he and Salem were better off without Vivian. When Vivian's assistant, Gus, finally rescued her from the sarcophagus, Vivian set her sights back on Maggie.

Vivian buried Maggie alive, leaving Brady, Victor, and the rest of Salem wondering what happened to Maggie. Victor finally figured out where Maggie was and rescued her. But as the story came out that Victor had had a hand in keeping Vivian prisoner, Maggie kept her distance from Victor.

She could not keep her distance for long. Despite her firm stance that Victor was not behaving like a "good" man, Maggie found herself drawn to Victor. The two started dating. After Maggie was accidentally shot as a casualty of the DiMera/Kiriakis feud, Victor called a truce and took Maggie back home to the mansion to nurse her to health. Their relationship grew from there and Victor proposed to Maggie on the night of the Horton Town Square dedication. Maggie accepted and the two were married on November 8, 2011.

In order to spend more time with Maggie, Victor hired a new CEO of Titan. Unfortunately, that new CEO was Ian McCalister - a man who had his own agenda.