A subsequent flashback episode revealed what really happened during the holiday getaway, with Belle’s nightmare escalating as abuser Tom made her life a living hell.

From punishing Piper to criticising Belle’s every move, Tom made it quite clear that they wouldn’t be returning to Emmerdale after he accepted a job at the local vets.

A nervous Belle quizzed him but Tom resorted to violence. With Belle having had enough, she made a run for it, much to Tom’s shock, as she finally escaped the abuser.

The above video clip, take from Thursday’s offering of the ITV soap, reveals what happens next as Tom returns to the holiday cottage, having been unsuccessful in finding Belle.

Little does he know, however, that he’s set to face the wrath of Cain.

Cain grabs him and pushes him against a wall, demanding to know where Belle is and seemingly ready to carry out his murderous threat.

With Charity ready to check upstairs, Tom says she isn’t there. ‘She left me,’ he tells them.

Then we see Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick) hurrying downstairs at Wishing Well, where someone is knocking insistently on the door.

It’s Belle, clutching her dog Piper. She looks shaken and upset and like she hasn’t slept. ‘I had to get away,’ she says. ‘I just had to come home.’

With Belle finally safe and back among her fiercely protective family, we might hope that her ordeal is now over – but will the story have more twists and turns to take?

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