Emmerdale’s Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) made a risky and quite unexpected move in order to obtain the control in the war against Tom (James Chase), moving back in to her home.
The former councillor, as viewers know, made the difficult decision to move out of Victoria Cottage – where she has lived with Jimmy (Nick Miles) for years – in order to protect her kids from abuser Tom.
Tom is under investigation over the way he treated wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) throughout the course of their marriage, with ardently Jimmy believing that his nephew is innocent.
Nicola, however, knows full well that Tom is guilty, having seen what he’s capable of first hand when he terrorised her son Carl Holliday (Charlie Joyce) over the whereabouts of his tablet, which harboured crucial evidence that confirmed his guilt.
With Angelica (Rebecca Bakes) out of the secure children’s home and struggling to settle back in, Nicola ultimately decided to put her family first as she told Jimmy she was moving out – and wouldn’t be moving back until Tom left.
Jimmy has found himself divided over the situation, desperately wanting to be there for Angel but also refusing to kick Tom out.
With Cain (Jeff Hordley) having attacked Tom earlier this week, Jimmy decided to defend his nephew, confronting hard-man Cain, who lashed out and attacked him.
Nicola was horrified when she set her sights on Jimmy’s bruises – and was equally upset that he didn’t tell her about what happened.
Feeling guilty for not being there, she decided that she would move back in to Victoria Cottage – though she made clear that nothing has change where Tom is concerned.
Tom was quick to make light of Nicola’s return, branding them all ‘one big happy family’, but Nicola reiterated her thoughts on him, telling the abuser that she feels ‘ill’ just looking at him.
But Tom was unfazed, trying to get inside her head as he told her with a sly grin that ‘blood is so much thicker than water’ where Jimmy is concerned.
Nicola was left with food for thought. Her return hasn’t done much in the way of making Tom feel unsettled – if anything, it seems to have had the opposite effect.
But if there’s one thing we know about Nicola it’s that she’s relentless and she will not stop until she gets what she wants – and that’s Tom out of their lives for good.
