Injured Belle King toasts to uneasy future with abusive Tom in Emmerdale

In a chilling end to the couple's dinner party in Tuesday's (7th May) episode, Tom held Belle's hand under boiling hot kitchen tap water, deliberately injuring her.

As a new day dawned, controlling Tom behaved as though nothing had happened, presenting Belle with the 'stolen' engagement ring that had gone missing as a result of his staged burglary, which Tom orchestrated in order to keep Belle living in fear.

Belle confronted Tom over what he did the night before, but he played it down, making out it was an accident and pointing out her lie over continuing to take her contraceptive medication. Belle was unable to accept Tom's glossing over of the incident, and she walked away from him.

In the Woolpack, Belle was subdued as she sat with hungover colleague Suzy Merton (Martelle Edinborough), who was focused solely on the dramatic break-up of other party guests Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) and Rhona Goskirk (Zoë Henry).

Belle revealed the pain she was in due to her burned hand, failing to explain exactly how it had happened, but she was distracted when Marlon apologised for his part in the previous night's disastrous occasion.

When Marlon went on to discuss Rhona's decision-making without him, Belle became thoughtful over her own choice to pretend she would try for a baby with Tom. This led Belle to pay Tom a visit at the Vets' surgery, apologising to him for fibbing and asking that they communicate better, starting with a proper chat that evening.

Tom, however, made out that all was now well in their marriage, insisting that they didn't need to do any more talking about their situation. He popped open a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne, belittling Belle into keeping quiet as he toasted their future.

But with Tom's coercive control and violent abuse set to escalate in more disturbing scenes next week, will Belle's Dingle relatives spot what she's going through?

Emmerdale has been working with Refuge for the Tom and Belle storyline. You can access free and confidential support from Refuge's 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 and digital support via live chat Monday-Friday 3-10pm via nationaldahelpline.org.uk.

Read more:

• 5 Emmerdale spoilers next week: Tom's sinister abuse of Belle and Ethan is arrested
• Emmerdale airs distressing violence in Belle and Tom storyline
• 5 Emmerdale spoilers: Dawn and Billy devastated as baby Evan diagnosed with leukaemia
• Emmerdale cast: who is leaving, returning to and joining the cast?

Emmerdale airs on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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