EastEnders' Cindy to finally uncover major Max secret in tense new twist

EastEnders’ Cindy Beale and Max Branning’s feud escalates next week, when his bitter bride makes a shock discovery about her ex! As she tries to find a way to make Max pay for his betrayal, Cindy’s snooping unearths a startling secret…

"Max is about to realise how badly Cindy takes rejection," begins our EastEnders insider. "Not only does she want to prove she’s moved on after their split, she’s also determined to get revenge for being humiliated. But what she finds out is a game-changer and will make Max regret crossing Cindy!"

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Cindy decided to go on her and Max’s honeymoon with frenemy Elaine instead. But this week she arrives home with a handsome young man called Rafael on her arm, whom she struck up a holiday romance with.

Max is miffed Cindy is rubbing her new lover in his face, but deep down he still feels bad for hurting her. He calls a truce and offers to help her out financially, knowing she’s struggling for money.

But Cindy’s suspicions are aroused that Max has another woman on the go when she finds a lipstick in his flat, and she vows to find out who it is. Soon, Cindy and Max’s ceasefire comes to an end when a row erupts between the pair.

"Cindy is seething Max already has a mystery woman!" reveals our source. "When she learns he wants to buy No.31 from Suki, and overhears him make an incriminating phone call, she flips.

"Max robbed Cindy of the future he promised her, and she wants to make him suffer by scuppering his fresh start. She trawls through the laptop they shared, and sees something that stops her in her tracks…"

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Armed with this new info, and on a mission to block Max’s purchase of the Panesar property, spiteful Cindy puts Suki off selling to the love rat. Her underhand tactics work and Suki rejects Max’s offer, leaving him fuming at Cindy’s interference.

Not only that, Cindy also alerts the tax man to the fact Max secretly owns a property in New Zealand – and because he’s not paid the proper tax on it, he’s slapped with hefty fine from HMRC!

Max wants an annulment to get Cindy out of his life, but to do that he’ll have to prove their union was never consummated beyond the vows. He ropes Oscar into helping him, but can the cheeky teen get the better of his stepmother?

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"Oscar tries to ply Cindy with booze, but she’s no fool," says our insider. "Meanwhile, Cindy is intrigued to learn of Kat’s revenge plan against the man who left Zoe to her tragic fate.

"Both women have axes to grind with blokes who’ve ruined their lives, and neither have clocked it’s the same man – not yet, anyway…"

With the walls closing in, Max panics when Cindy collars him and demands answers about what he’s hiding. Has she figured out he failed to save Zoe to protect his secret romance with Linda?

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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