After suffering a devastating breakup with George Knight, surviving a heart attack, and letting go of her beloved Queen Vic, the former landlady was trying to find her footing in a world where she no longer ruled the bar. But just as she begins rediscovering herself, Elaine is violently pulled into a criminal underworld that’s been operating right under her nose—one that could leave her broken in more ways than one.

Next week on EastEnders, Elaine’s quest for answers turns into a nightmare she never saw coming.

It all begins with a seemingly harmless suspicion. George, increasingly worried about his son Kojo, grows uneasy after Kojo receives an expensive gift from their new “friend,” Okie. But not wanting to push too hard, George steps back when Elaine offers to do some digging herself. After all, if anyone can read people, it’s Elaine.

But what she finds at The Arches is beyond anything she could have imagined.

Kojo, once full of potential, is caught in a dangerous trap of manipulation and criminal exploitation. Thanks to a disastrous mistake—flushing drugs hidden in Ravi Gulati’s car—he and his friend Harry are now entangled in Ravi’s dark world. Ravi, not one to forgive or forget, has been forcing Harry to deal drugs and using Kojo’s flat for shady operations, all while Okie plays the role of a friendly protector—while secretly tightening his grip on the boys.

When Elaine arrives at The Arches hoping for a quiet word, she instead finds Kojo surrounded by a group of intimidating thugs. Before she can react, they turn on her. In a terrifying and violent assault, Elaine is thrown to the ground. Her past as a pub matriarch offers no protection in this cruel new battlefield—she’s just another victim in Ravi’s ever-expanding empire of fear.

Luckily—or so it seems—Okie arrives in the nick of time, chasing the attackers off and playing the role of hero. Both Elaine and Kojo hail him as their saviour. But their gratitude is tragically misplaced. They have no idea they’re praising the very man who helped orchestrate the entire scenario.

In a heartbreaking twist of trust gone wrong, Kojo is so thankful for Okie’s “help” that he gives him a key to the flat. It’s a decision that may come back to haunt the Knight family in the worst possible way.

As Ravi’s web tightens and Okie moves deeper into their lives, the question becomes chillingly clear: How many more innocent people will suffer before someone finally exposes the truth?

Elaine wanted to find out who she was without the Queen Vic. But in her search for identity, she may have walked straight into the jaws of something far more dangerous—and this time, there may be no one left to save her.