A new Home and Away promo shows dramatic scenes as fraudster Bronte kidn𝕒ps Dana after she gets close to exposing her secret.
Bronte (Stefanie Caccamo) arrived in Summer Bay last month after meeting Irene (Lynne McGranger) at a hospital in the city, where Irene was having her annual health check.
When Irene introduced her to Harper (Jessica Redmayne), Bronte explained that Irene had approached her after seeing she was upset, and that she had poured her heart out to her.
Irene later explained to Harper that Bronte was very sick, and was undergoing tests for an autoimmune disorder.
However, before long we discovered that Bronte wasn’t sick at all, as we saw her on the phone to an associate telling them that Irene owns her own home and business, and that she’s a pushover.
In the weeks that followed, Bronte explained that her last remaining option was an experimental treatment in Canada, with a price tag of roughly $100,000.
Irene then made it her duty to raise the funds, and as more and more of Summer Bay’s residents fell under Bronte’s spell, Xander (Luke Van Os) helped her set up a crowdfunding campaign.
The money began rolling in, with Salt making a substantial donation, and many across the bay more than happy to help.
Then, when the Diner was shut due to a contamination incident, and Irene let slip that one of the affected customers was suing them for $50,000, Bronte conveniently mentioned that she too had been affected by the poisoning.
Her apparent exposure to the benzine – which had leached into the diner’s water system – had supposedly sped up the progress of her mystery autoimmune condition, leaving Irene wracked with guilt.
When the diner’s insurers announced that they wouldn’t be covering the claims, as Irene and Leah (Ada Nicodemou) had failed to adequately service the pipework, Irene decided that she’d fund Bronte’s compensation herself, and began working out how to raise $50,000.
The only person who doubts Bronte is Dana (Ally Harris), who quickly spotted the holes in the fraudster’s story. Yet despite her best efforts, she’s been pushed aside by Irene, and even boyfriend Xander and sister Harper have been unwilling to entertain her theories.
An earlier promo from mid-June first revealed that Dana would find herself held captive by Bronte and her associate as she came closer to exposing Bronte’s secret.
Now, a new promo, which aired after the latest Australian episode, gave us a more in-depth look at the action, as Xander (Luke Van Os) fears his girlfriend has gone missing.
“We need to shut her up,” Bronte tells her mystery associate, as the promo voiceover reminds us that “she’s conned the bay, but one person sees through the lot.”
We then see Bronte and an as-yet-unknown man enter Irene’s beach house one evening, as Dana is home alone.
Dana tries to make a break for it, but she’s quickly grabbed by Bronte.
Through the window of the beach house, we can see her kicking and flailing as Bronte’s mate holds his hands over her mouth.
The next thing we see is Dana locked inside a metal shipping container.
She reaches out through the small gap in the door and grabs the padlock, but it’s no use – she’s firmly locked in, and seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
“Now she’s gone,” says the voiceover.
With Dana missing, Harper simply assumes that her sister has done a runner, explaining that her sister has a habit of disappearing.
“Whenever things get tough, she takes off needing space,” she tells Irene.
“Should we be worried?” Irene asks, but Harper reassures her that “it’s fine, she always comes back.”
When Xander catches up with Harper the following day, he asks her if she had a chance to speak to Dana the previous night.
“Actually, she’s gone away,” Harper tells him, as Bronte follows closely behind. “And she hasn’t answered any of my messages or calls.”
As the promo cuts back to a miserable Dana trapped in the shipping container, with only a sliver of daylight to allow her to see her surroundings, Bronte is busy working to convince everyone that Dana’s disappearance is a good thing.
“Maybe this is exactly what she needs,” Bronte tells Xander in Salt.
However, Xander can’t stop himself from worrying.
“I just, I can’t help but feel like Dana’s not okay,” he tells Alf (Ray Meagher).
“Where on earth is Dana?” asks John (Shane Withington), throwing his arms up in the air in frustration at the disappearance of his newest surf lifesaver, before the promo cuts back to Dana screaming for help.
It seems Bronte admits that she was the last person to see Dana, but tells Xander that his girlfriend has headed off on a retreat.
Xander isn’t sure whether to believe her, and he tries to get Bree (Juliet Godwin) and John on side.
He manages to convince Bree that the story doesn’t add up, and the two of them head to Yabbie Creek Police Station, where they file a report with Rose (Kirsty Marillier).
“These are some serious accusations,” Rose reminds her brother, and it seems like she’s another person who’s not about to believe Bronte is anything but an innocent dying woman.
“She was the last person that saw Dana,” Xander insists. “Tell me that’s not suspicious.”
Will Dana be found in time, and will she expose Bronte’s secret before Summer Bay’s residents part with more of their hard-earned cash?
