A/N Second chapter is finally here; sorry it took so long! So the ending just kind of...happened. I wasn't planning on doing this, but it just ended up like that and I couldn't rewrite it no matter how hard I tried. I hope you don't hate it as much as I do! Anyway, I know for certain that chapter 3 will take even longer than this one did as I haven't written any of it and the next couple of months are set to be really busy for me. I'm really sorry! Anyway, as always reviews welcome and greatly received and all that jazz. Hope you enjoy!

'Get out' she sneered. All this hard work to rid him from her mind, and here he was. She was sure he'd come to simply remind her that she couldn't escape him.

'Oh, fighting talk. I like it.' There was a hint of seduction in his voice which made her want to gag, but she forced herself not to react.

'What do you want Frank?' she asked, getting up from her desk so she could distance herself from him, and she headed towards the sliding door which was behind her in case she needed to make a quick getaway.

'Oh, I just remembered I had some paperwork to catch up on. Don't mind me.' He sat down at the desk opposite Carla's and opened the folder which Carla had previously hurled across the room. He thought of how Carla had initially insisted on separate offices and how easy it had been to slowly work his way back into the factory. He glanced at the top order before returning to looking at Carla. She was still standing at the door, her body tensed. She was sure he would notice something; a tear at one of the corners, anything. 'Are you going to sit down, or what?'

'I'm...er...just going to get a drink.' She needed to sober herself up if he was going to be staying.

'Oh, I'll have a tea if you're putting the kettle on.' She looked at him is disgust; how was it possible for someone to be so delusional? She practically ran out the room before letting a solitary tear roll down her cheek, but she wiped it away quickly before she could let herself get any more emotional. She was stronger than this, and she wasn't going to let him get to her.

Carla returned with her mug of coffee cupped tightly in her hands and slowly lowered herself into her office chair. Her over cautiousness didn't go un-noticed by Frank, and he took the chance to make her even more uncomfortable - especially since she hadn't made him his cup of tea. Of course, he hadn't expected her to, but he enjoyed toying with her and was a little annoyed at her disobedience.

'You ok, Carla? You seem a little on edge.' She gritted her teeth and suppressed a scream which was building inside her. She wouldn't let him get to her; she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

'I'm fine.' She stared at the order requirements she had been looking at before Frank had come to the factory, and became abruptly interested in the details. She chanted the specification in her head, trying to drown out all thoughts of the man in front of her.

'Have you been drinking?' He had picked up on the slight slurring of her words and knew he shouldn't be surprised. She was a drunk just like her alchie boyfriend. Carla couldn't believe he'd noticed; she'd been trying so hard to disguise it! But the effects were starting to take a stronger hold and she was finding it harder to fight them.

'I don't see how that's any of your business' she snapped. She hated the way he still poked his nose into her life. That now, even having broken up with him, she still had no privacy. One of the reasons their relationship hadn't worked was his constant need to know where she was and what she was doing and that still hadn't changed. That was about the only thing which hadn't changed in the last 6 months though.

'You have, haven't you? Some things never change' he spat, disgusted at her relationship with alcohol. When they had been together the root of many of their problems had been in the bottom of a bottle. He'd put up with it while he was with her because he loved her too much, but now there was nothing to hold him back.

'No, they don't' she shot back. 'Like however much you try and pretend it didn't happen, we both know it did.' The words cut the atmosphere like a knife and memories of that night hung in the air.

'Let's not start this again, shall we? I'd rather taunt you when you're sober if you don't mind. At least then I know you'll remember it.' His monotone voice and unchanging expression sent chills down her spine. It was clear in that moment just how serious he was about making her life hell.

Carla suddenly wished she hadn't had so much to drink. She knew the factory girls were in the Rovers and it seemed like it wouldn't be hard to get some truth from Frank tonight. After all, he thought she was too drunk to remember it in the morning. He'd get to have his fun, winding her up and wearing her down, and she wouldn't be holding a grudge in the morning. She fumbled for her mobile in her bag under the desk, making sure he wasn't looking.

She looked at her phone, wondering if she'd regret this is in the morning. This could go so wrong, and she wasn't exactly with it, but on the other hand she wasn't about to miss an opportunity like this.

When I call you put it on loudspeaker. Don't ask.

She sent it to Hayley; it was a no-brainer really, there wasn't anybody else she could trust with something as important as this. She found Hayley in her contacts and pressed dial, placing her phone in her pocket and waiting a while before she was satisfied that she had picked up.

'I can't believe it.' Hayley had just been filled in on the latest gossip by Shaun and Fiz, who had been having a quiet drink at the time of Carla and Frank's confrontation. 'I wish there was something we could do. I don't know how she does it.' Hayley had such admiration for Carla; true, she didn't hold it completely together one hundred percent of the time, but the way she could be in the same room as him without flipping was amazing.

'I feel sorry for Frank personally.' Eileen was sitting at the bar, but her interruption of the conversation made it clear that she was eavesdropping.

'Nobody asked your opinion Eileen.' She was a good friend of Sean's, but when it came to this they were very much divided. With Sean employed by Carla and Eileen employed by Frank their loyalties laid with their respective bosses, however Sean's opinion was much more deep rooted than Eileen's could ever be. True, the factory staff were the first to gossip and complain, but they were very fond of Carla, with Sean coming second to Hayley when it came to support.

'You know, I'm surprised at you Sean' she said as she turned towards to bar, not wanted to start a row with her lodger. Their friendship was worth more than a silly little argument and they both accepted that they each had their different views.

Out of the blue, the default text message tone sounded from the pocket of Hayley's red anorak. She reached for it in a confused manner; it wasn't often she got a text if she was honest.

'It's her' she announced vaguely, looking curiously at her phone.

'Who?' they chimed in unison; Hayley hadn't really given them a lot to go on. They loved a bit of juicy gossip, and this sure sounded good.

'Mrs Connor.'

'What did she say?' Hayley read the text aloud and they all stared blankly at each other.

'Why?' asked Sean, eager to know the latest.

'No idea.' The sudden ringtone made Hayley jump, despite waiting for the call. She accepted and fiddled with the options to find the loudspeaker setting.

'Mrs Connor?' She asked apprehensively. She was confused when she got no reply; what was going on? Then Carla's voice sounded loudly throughout the pub, attracting the attention of every person in the room. Stella was about to ask Hayley to turn it off, but she decided to see what it was about first.

'You may not want to talk about it, Frank, but I do. Why are you doing this to me?' Carla's voice cracked with fear, and suddenly she didn't want to do this anymore. What if she angered him trying to get him to admit it? It was only the two of them alone in the factory. But she couldn't hang up now, she had to do this.

'Carla, you know why.' His voice was cold and chilling; nothing like any of the others had heard him speak like before. Those who didn't believe Carla were scared to hear him talk like that, and those who did believe her were even surprised just how chilling he could be when it was just the two of them. It was evident to everyone, however, that Frank had no idea he had an audience.

'No, I don't' she pushed. She needed him to spell it out. As many times as she'd heard it, she had to remember that nobody on the other end of the phone had. She started wondering how they were reacting at the other end of the street, but quickly refocused herself to the situation. It was hard enough to concentrate because of her alcohol consumption, let alone letting her mind wander too.

'Well there are two reasons really' he explained calmly. 'You didn't think you'd get away with shopping me to the police did you?' There was a hint of amusement in his voice, and she suddenly felt vulnerable. Carla knew it was a rhetorical question, and she didn't quite know how to answer it anyway. She'd always known that he'd make her life hell if he got off, but at the time she'd needed the comfort of knowing he could go down for what he did.

'And the second?' She wasn't sure she wanted to hear it, but the only way she was going to get him to open up would be to keep him talking about it.

'It's actually quite fun.' The whole pub remained frozen in shock as they heard the scene unfold. Not once had they considered that he was being so mentally abusive. They were aware that he would rub Carla's nose in his newfound freedom, but they had been blissfully unaware of the psychological torture which she had to endure every day.

'You make me sick.' The aggression in her voice was there, but the confidence was sorely lacking. It didn't take a mastermind to work out how repulsed she was by him, and Frank loved that. But he wasn't content with just weakening her; he wouldn't stop until she was completely broken. He wanted to see her soul shattered into tiny unfixable fragments; then he would be satisfied.

'That'll be the alcohol' he said casually. The ease of his tone stung.

Carla was visibly taken a-back by his comment, but after a few seconds her face soon contorted into confused rage. 'You really think you're the innocent one in all this don't you?' she shouted.

'I loved you, Carla. And you hurt me.' They were statements, said with such conviction that his meaning behind the words wasn't hard to decipher. It was her fault he did it. She deserved it.

'How many times? I wasn't sleeping with Peter!' She knew there was no point because he wouldn't believe her, no matter how many times she told him this, but it was an automatic defensive reaction.

'There's no point denying it! You practically admitted it when you broke up with me!' There were many exchanges of glances between people in the pub as they picked up on what Frank had said. According to him, Carla tricked him into bed with her passion, not break up with him due to her steamy affair Peter.

'No...' She stood there shaking her head slowly as she digested what he was saying, her voice feeble again. 'No, I told you I loved him. It was you who came to the conclusion I was a cheating slut.'

'Twist it however you like...'

'I didn't deserve what you did to me, Frank!'

'You needed to be taught a lesson!' The relief for it to finally come out in the open was overwhelming. It was like it was always hanging over them, but it had never been brought to the surface. Carla was satisfied that everyone would have heard enough and was eager to get as far away from him as possible, and she began walking towards the office door as another wave of relief rushed over her body. It was the best she'd felt in ages, and she couldn't believe she'd finally done it. Everyone knew the truth now, and that was enough for her. She let a smile begin to evolve, but she had only walked a few paces when Frank grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him with a great force. Carla's shocked eyes met his cold stare and she couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to think this would work. 'You broke up with me the day before the wedding, you told me you loved him, you wanted me to leave the business and then you go to open the door for me to leave like you could just toss me aside!'

Oh, he wanted to go down that route. Well, there are two sides to every story. She'd heard his sickening version more than once, but she'd never told him hers. 'I came home from work to find you sitting in my living room and you start telling me it doesn't matter that I don't love you because I could grow to love you...'

'I was giving you a chance to make things right, Carla. To take me back...'

'...I asked you to leave so many times, but you were getting angrier and angrier...'

'You wouldn't do as I said!'

'...you were scaring me, Frank!'

'Good!' As he spoke his eyes darkened and his voice raised for the first time. She'd only heard his voice raised once before, and it bought back too many memories for her liking.

'Ok, you need to calm down.' In that moment, Carla forgot about the phone in her pocket which was broadcasting their conversation to the entire pub. It was just her and Frank, and this had gone way too far. Hayley couldn't stand it anymore and she knew someone had to do something. She got up from the booth and ran out of the pub, leaving her mobile phone lying in the middle of the table soon as Carla and Frank's voices continued to echo around the room. Julie quickly followed, aware that Hayley wouldn't be able to do much without support.

'You don't have the right to tell me what to do' he said, warningly.

'Don't I know it...' she whispered, turning her head away from him. It just slipped out.

'By tomorrow...' He could tell she wasn't paying attention, that she was trying to block everything out and pretend this wasn't happening. He abruptly pulled her ever closer, so that their bodies were now touching, and she stared into his eyes with such intensity, the fear evident in her eyes and the stiffness of her body. 'By tomorrow morning, I need you to have decided who you're laying off.' She swallowed hard, trying to rid the lump in her throat. She didn't want to sound afraid, although she knew it was inevitable.

'I told you, I'm laying off no-one. My workforce will be shown the same loyalty as they showed me, remember?'

'Aww, how touching.' He stroked the side of her cheek to wipe away one of the tears which had escaped, and she flinched away from his touch. She tried to free herself from his grip, but it was too strong, he was too strong, and she just ended up flailing helplessly under his control. 'I won't be in until eleven, and if nobody has gone by then I'll be sacking all of your machinists and we'll only be keeping mine. Is that clear?'

'You can't do this, Frank!' she shouted. She let herself flop, giving up, and he held her up by her wrist. She looked up at him, begging him to spare them. 'They've done nothing wrong!'

'Maybe you should start thinking about them before opening your mouth then. Eleven o'clock, Carla.' Frank left the factory, glancing back to admire the broken wreck who was crouched on the floor, silent tears sliding down her face and her body shaking violently. When Carla heard the factory door slam shut, she finally let herself sob, throwing her mobile against the wall with the little energy she had left. The last thing she wanted was for them to suffer for her mistakes.

Hayley rattled the factory door urgently, and wasn't surprised to find it locked. Frank wouldn't have taken the chance of somebody walking in on them. She routed around in her bag for a few seconds before pulling out her set of keys and bursting into the factory, with Julie following closely behind.

She was greeted by a dark and eerily empty factory. She hit the lights and searched around frantically but it was clear that nobody was here.

'Julie, give me your phone!' Hayley quickly typed in Carla's number and, hoping she had remembered it correctly, silently prayed that she was okay. Both women jumped when they heard Carla's phone ringing from beside one the machines, and Hayley groaned when she realised she had left her mobile.

No words were exchanged as Hayley and Julie locked the factory back up, knowing that this would be a sleepless night, full of worry for their boss.