Fight organiser Jade (Twinnie-Lee Moore) wants her money back in Emmerdale and she thinks Ross Barton (Michael Parr) has it.
After the fight in the barn, Mack Boyd (Lawrence Robb) was the one who nicked off with the bag of cash left by Jade’s goons, but he’s kept that little fact close to his chest, leaving Jade to believe Ross is the culprit.
She wants her money and resorts to her usual threats to try and wheedle it out of Ross, but it’s not him who’ll take the brunt of her wrath, it’s his family – which includes Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) and April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan).
Fearful for his son and aware of what she’s capable of, Ross desperately tries to convince Charity to take him away. But he’s forgotten about the threat to April.
April is also oblivious to the threat, and in typical teenage style is more rattled that her dad won’t take her into town after school. So, when a seemingly kind-hearted woman offers her a lift, she snaps it up. Said kind-hearted woman is in fact cold-blooded and evil-hearted Jade. She only has cruel intentions for April.
April is a hugely important person in Ross’ life, being the daughter of the first woman who ever truly loved him, and he her – Donna.
In 2014, a cancer-stricken Donna robbed a jewellery store in a bid to protect April’s future after her impending death. But the owner of the store came back to get her, blackmailing her and Ross over the act.
After learning she had mere weeks to live and desperate to protect her daughter, Donna agreed to meet Gary in a carpark, but on learning he had a sniper as a backup in case she tried anything – which she had planned to do – she handcuffed herself to him and threw them both off the edge.
Just before this happened, Donna had told Ross how much she loved him, meaning he was there to watch the love of his life plummet to her death.
The trauma of that night re-emerges when Ross receives a video call from Jade enlightening him that she has April in her clutches. He borrows Billy Fletcher’s (Jay Kontzle) car and heads alone to the meeting point despite not having the necessary cash.
Once there, he realises he’s back in the same carpark where Donna died, only this time it’s April near the ledge. Painful memories of that night resurface and take hold.
Actor Mike Parr describes the scenes as ‘stressful’ for Ross.
‘It’s hugely traumatic for him,’ he tells Metro of the man who is usually unshakeable. ‘It brings back the worst memories. Seeing somebody die, especially the first girl who’s ever loved you and your first experience with love – to fall off a roof chained to a paedophile!’
He added: ‘Obviously when there’s a kid on the line Ross has a great connection with her, due to her being Donna’s daughter. It’s very stressful. It’s panic stations for Ross. When there is a kid involved, everyone starts to panic, especially when you throw a character like Jade into the situation.
‘He knows that he doesn’t really have anybody to turn to as the blame would come back on him. When he knows where April has been taken to, he knows that it’s probably not going to end well!’.
One of Jade’s minions has April in his clutches and is ready to throw her if Ross doesn’t give Jade the money. He doesn’t have the money, so it doesn’t look like this will end well. Does Ross have a plan to save April?
