Manipulative Stephen plants a seed in Coronation Street to con Elaine

Meanwhile, Stephen's niece Sarah Barlow (Tina O'Brien) sought him out to ask if he would listen to her business pitch with new collaborator Michael Bailey (Ryan Russell). He agreed, interrupting his friendly chat with Elaine.

Stephen offered Sarah and Michael plenty of encouragement, but was alarmed to learn that Gail had his phone and was looking for him, and she wasn't in a good mood. At the house, she confronted him, asking whether he had been making deliveries in Bolton.

Stephen laughed, lying that in fact, he had been run over by a delivery man on a moped who was now blaming him - which would explain the angry phone call Gail had encountered. Gail wasn't sure what to think, but when their mum Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) arrived, she found the concept of Stephen as a delivery boy hilarious.

Sarah returned, revealing that her pitch had been a disaster, and Gail and Audrey urged 'loaded' Stephen to invest in her business instead. He tried to avoid answering and was interrupted by Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine), who had heard about mum Elaine spending time with Stephen and warned him not to hurt her given all she had been through with his evil dad Geoff (Ian Bartholomew).

Intrigued, Stephen was updated by Sarah who explained that Geoff had used coercive control to abuse both Elaine and Yasmeen (Shelley King). When Audrey and Gail pushed him once more to help Sarah out, Stephen agreed.

But he had also been contacted again by ex-wife Gabrielle (Helene Maksoud), and at the Rovers, he told Elaine that he would love to invest in Sarah's business but his ex was refusing to sign assets over to him. Adding that Gabrielle had been very controlling, Stephen knew exactly what he was doing as he planted the seed that he was a victim like her.

Will Elaine fall for his lies and hand over her own money?

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