The following article contains spoilers from an episode of Emmerdale that hasn’t aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.
April Windsor’s (Amelia Flanagan) drug dealing put her little brother Leo in hospital during the latest episode of Emmerdale.
The youngster is continuing to work for a dealer called Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) due to being in his debt. Recently, April tried to complete a job, but was threatened by a young man who was holding a knife. With no other option, she handed him the bag and ran.
A nervous April and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) updated Ray, who panicked over the thought of the ‘big bosses’ not being happy with them. He made a phone call, and then told the teens that they had found a solution.
Before this though, the man who confronted April met up with Ray and received some money. It was this scene that confirmed Ray had set April up, as part of the plan to ensure she continues working for him.
In the woods, Ray told Dylan and April that in order to pay off their debt, they’d have to continue doing drops for him.
Neither of them wanted to, but they also felt as though they didn’t have any choice.
April is so desperate to pay the money off as quickly as possible, but it feels like she’s getting nowhere fast. While in The Hide, she asked Ray how much money she had left to pay off and when he announced that it was still well over £1000, she was horrified.
Because April has no idea of the money aspect behind the drugs ring and how much everything is worth, this simply served as confirmation that she’d be running around Leeds dealing for the foreseeable.
This week, Dylan found April handing drugs to people outside a university. To him, it was a sign that she had fallen in too deep. Dylan cares a lot about April, and believes that she will go far in her life. Because of this, he doesn’t want her jeopardising her future.
He tried to get April out of it by asking Ray, who then used his manipulation tactics on him once more.
Ray told Dylan that he can ask his boss, but he’d risk getting killed by going up against them.
After another phone call, Ray made out that his boss wasn’t happy, and Dylan feared it meant that his so-called ‘friend’ would end up in serious danger.
April and Dylan later concluded that they’d continue dealing because that way, they’d pay off the debt, and also keep Ray safe.
Lying to her family all of the time is now starting to really impact April. Yesterday in the cafe, she saw Mary and Rhona Goskirk (Louise Jameson and Zoe Henry) for about five minutes before lying to them and leaving to complete another job.
Afterwards, April sat in Ray’s car and admitted that she doesn’t know how long it’ll be until someone works out she isn’t at netball practice, or studying at home. Ray reassured her as best he could and then handed April some ecstasy pills. He said they would help take the edge off her nerves, but April was adamant she wouldn’t be taking them.
Unfortunately, because April never disposed of the drugs, they ended up in Leo’s hands in today’s instalment.
April was juggling looking after Leo and needing to head off for another drop.
She was torn, but then chose to leave Leo alone in the house and rushed away.
Unbeknownst to her, Leo had found the bag of pills. He took a couple and was then discovered by Rhona.
In the hospital, a nurse confirmed that Leo had taken ecstasy and Rhona’s eyes immediately turned to April.
Amid her panic, April knew that time was running out for her.
The fact her little brother’s life was on the line as a result of something she had done was the final straw for April – it was time to confess.
It was at this point a game-changing twist aired – but we’re not going to tell you what it is.
If you want to know, you’ll have to head over to ITVX to find out – or tune into the episode later this evening…