EastEnders' Lauren discovers Mark's huge secret - here's what happens next

EastEnders' Lauren Beale has become suspicious of Mark Fowler's involvement with new villain on the Square, Ned Hawkins.

Mark has been struggling with guilt after Ned forced him into staging an attack on his own son, Ryder. With his affair with Lauren on the line, Mark didn't have much choice but to execute Ned's orders though he has been keeping the extents of his dirty work a secret.

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In tonight's scenes, Lauren proposed Mark to meet up later but he refused as soon as he spotted Ned and Ryder in the market.

As Lauren remained unaware about Ned's line of work, she was relieved to run into him. She thanked him for helping out with Ian Beale and also confided in him about the affair with Mark, being grateful to Ned for keeping quiet.

"Me? I didn't see anything," Ned said with a smile as a worried Mark watched on.

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Determined to protect Lauren from Ned, Mark insisted she should stay away from him.

"I don't want to get into it. So you just need to trust me," Mark said, but it was clear that Lauren had had enough of his secrecy.

After pressing Mark for an answer, Lauren was shocked to learn that he was the one who attacked Ryder.

"I did it to protect you, and the kids!" Mark said in a bid to justify his heinous actions, with Lauren saying that the attack was "twisted". A guilt-ridden Mark stormed out.

Later on, Lauren called at Phil's to make amends with Mark. She offered support so that Mark shouldn't have to carry this burden on his own and suggested they could get Phil involved.

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Mark firmly refused, pleading with Lauren that they should keep their distance from Ned.

"If we rattle his cage, things will only get worse," he said to a worried Lauren.

In scenes for tomorrow's episode, Lauren isn't intentioned to let it go and does some digging of her own into Ned now that he has some influence in Ian's life.

As she desperately searches for some dirt on Ned, she gets a cryptic clue from Ryder about his dad's former career.

EastEnders airs on Mondays - Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.

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