Tom King (James Chase) may have finally met his match in Emmerdale as Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) dropped a great big bombshell that has the potential to seal his fate.
The abuser, as viewers know, made wife Belle Dingle’s (Eden Taylor-Draper) life a living hell for months on end, controlling and gaslighting her at every opportunity.
Unable to take it any longer, Belle made a run for it while staying at a holiday cottage with Tom, who at this stage had got violent. Afterwards, she confided in Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) about what she’d been through.
The Dingles were incredibly supportive, determined to protect her from Tom, who was claiming that she was lying about the abuse. Things escalated dramatically last month, with Belle attacking Tom with an axe after the vile abuser cornered her at Wishing Well.
Tom used the attack to try and bargain with Belle to drop the abuse allegations but, unwilling to lie about such a thing, Belle subsequently reported him to the police, with an investigation subsequently commencing.
In a bid to cover his tracks, Tom attempted to get rid of every shred of evidence that would prove he abused Belle, destroying his tablet after terrifying his own cousin Carl Holliday (Charlie Joyce) into handing over the device.
Little did he know, however, that Carl had witnessed such a thing.
With the investigation ongoing and the village against him, Tom has moved in with his uncle Jimmy (Nick Miles) at Victoria Cottage. Nicola, however, has grown suspicious of Tom, especially after she came to realise that son Carl is incredibly tense and unsettled when in the abuser’s company.
Monday’s (October 28) edition of the ITV soap saw cafe owner Nicola resolve to get to the bottom of what’s bothering her son, who was apprehensive about opening up.
But after a number of attempts, Carl told Nicola the truth.
Nicola wasted little time in confronting Tom, telling Jimmy that his beloved nephew threatened their son with the prospect of jail time in order to get his hands on the tablet.
Tom attempted to lie his way out of the situation at first, before ultimately admitting that there was some truth to what Carl claims, though he pretended that he doesn’t know what became of the tablet.
Nicola, however, took great delight in telling Tom that Carl witnessed him smashing up the tablet – shortly after he was staring at pictures of Belle on the device.
Tom was speechless.
Jimmy was confused by such a thing, wanting answers. Will Tom be able to explain his way out of this one? Nicola has well and truly seen Tom for who he is so will she prove instrumental in exposing him?
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 or stream from 7am on ITVX.
