Carla Connor has faced fires, factory wars, breakdowns, and betrayals on the Cobbles — but nothing quite like this. What begins as a quiet, heartbreak-fueled escape from Weatherfield spirals into one of Coronation Street’s most chilling mysteries yet, leaving Lisa Swain consumed by panic and guilt as the terrifying truth emerges: Carla hasn’t just gone away. She’s vanished.

And the timing couldn’t be more ominous.

In the aftermath of her devastating split from Lisa, Carla’s decision to take a solo holiday initially feels painfully understandable. Her world has been dismantled piece by piece — not just by heartbreak, but by the suffocating return of Becky Swain, the ex-wife who was supposed to be dead and who has methodically wedged herself back into Lisa’s life. For Carla, leaving looks like self-preservation. A wounded lover retreating to lick her wounds somewhere far from Weatherfield — somewhere with sunshine, distance, and no Becky.

But that illusion doesn’t last long.

Cracks begin to form almost immediately when Carla fails to check into her hotel in Lanzarote. What should have been a simple confirmation becomes a deafening silence. No booking. No arrival. No trace. And when Roy Cropper gently delivers the news to Lisa on Christmas Day, the festive cheer drains from the room in an instant. The laughter, the wrapping paper, Betsy’s excitement — all of it fades into background noise as dread coils tightly in Lisa’s chest.

Carla Connor does not disappear without reason.

For Lisa, the realization is devastating. Every dismissed warning, every argument she brushed aside, every time Carla tried to voice her fears about Becky now comes rushing back with brutal clarity. What Lisa once framed as jealousy or emotional exhaustion now feels like something far darker: terror. Carla wasn’t just running from heartbreak. She was running from danger.

And the most frightening possibility of all is one Lisa can no longer ignore — Becky Swain.

Becky has already proven how far she’s willing to go. She faked her own death to evade Spanish gangsters. She resurfaced without hesitation. And the one man who could contradict her story — DI Costello — lies in a coma, silenced at the exact moment he became a liability. Carla suspected Becky’s involvement in the attack. Alongside DC Kit Green, she quietly tried to uncover the truth. But Becky was always one step ahead.

Every dead end, every blocked lead pushed Carla closer to despair. And as the investigation stalled, the pressure drove her back toward old demons — alcohol becoming a temporary escape from the feeling that she was being watched, manipulated, and erased from Lisa’s life.

The final blow came when Lisa shut down Carla’s last desperate plea for reconciliation. That rejection didn’t just break Carla’s heart — it convinced her that staying put was no longer safe. When she texted to say she was leaving, nobody panicked. Nobody asked the right questions. And Becky, watching from the shadows, finally claimed her victory as Carla packed her bags and walked away from #Swirla.

Or so it seemed.

As Christmas unfolds, Lisa’s internal conflict reaches breaking point. She’s tormented by images of Carla smiling into the sun on social media — cocktail in hand, apparently thriving. But now those posts feel wrong. Too polished. Too perfectly timed. Lisa’s detective instincts, long dulled by familiarity and emotional blind spots, roar back to life as she realizes the photos may have been pre-scheduled. A smokescreen. A lie.

Behind closed doors, panic sets in.

Lisa excuses herself under the pretense of a work call and begins frantically retracing Carla’s steps — contacting airlines, hotels, car hire companies. Every answer leads to nothing. No paper trail. No credit card activity. No evidence that Carla ever boarded a plane. And with every dead end, the truth becomes more horrifying.

Carla didn’t just go missing. Someone made sure she couldn’t be found.

Under the same roof, Becky watches Lisa carefully. She notices the tension instantly — the forced smiles, the shaking hands, the sudden urgency. Ever the manipulator, Becky slips seamlessly into damage control mode, dismissing Carla’s absence as drama, impulsiveness, emotional instability. Each word is carefully chosen to undermine Carla’s credibility while soothing Lisa’s growing fear.

For a terrifying moment, Lisa almost believes her.

Denial is easier than facing the truth. Easier than accepting that the woman she allowed back into her home might be capable of something truly monstrous.

But then Kit Green reaches out.

Kit has been trying to contact Carla for days — with no response. His unease mirrors Lisa’s, confirming that Carla cut off communication abruptly after weeks of paranoia about Becky. The pieces snap into place with sickening force. Carla uncovered something she shouldn’t have. Something dangerous. And if Becky believed Carla was getting too close to exposing her, removing her from the board entirely would be the most chillingly logical next move.

As Christmas night falls, Weatherfield carries on oblivious. Lights twinkle. Families gather. But inside No. 6, Lisa is barely holding herself together. She must maintain normality for Betsy’s sake while living under the same roof as the woman she’s beginning to suspect. Confronting Becky without proof could put Carla in even greater danger — if she isn’t already.

Quietly, methodically, Lisa begins to investigate.

She replays her last conversation with Carla over and over, searching for clues. She checks CCTV near the factory. Taxi logs. Phone records. Anything. Every minute without answers sharpens the fear — because every minute is another moment Carla could be hurt, trapped, or worse.

Elsewhere, Kit digs into Becky’s past. Gaps in timelines. Unexplained movements. Inconsistencies surrounding her so-called resurrection. Every lead confirms the same chilling conclusion: Becky is skilled, dangerous, and always several moves ahead. And if Carla became a liability, she wouldn’t hesitate to deal with it.

The final blow comes when Lisa finds a delayed message from Carla — scheduled days earlier. On the surface, it’s upbeat, joking about “finding herself.” But reading it now, Lisa hears the fear beneath the humor. A goodbye disguised as bravado. A woman preparing for the possibility she might not return.

That’s when guilt hits hardest.

Carla may have put herself in danger trying to protect Lisa and Betsy — and Lisa didn’t listen.

With her composure shattered, Lisa cautiously confronts Becky, testing her reactions as she mentions Carla’s disappearance. Becky remains disturbingly calm. Dismissive. Unconcerned. And that absence of empathy seals it. Whatever Becky’s hiding, it’s big. And it’s dangerous.

As Roy formally reports Carla missing, the stakes skyrocket. Opening an official case will put Becky under scrutiny — forcing Lisa to choose between personal loyalty and professional duty. Between protecting her family’s fragile peace and doing what she knows is right.

One thing is certain: Carla Connor’s disappearance is no accident. And as suspicion tightens around Becky Swain, Coronation Street is barreling toward one of its darkest, most explosive chapters yet.

Because if Carla didn’t leave by choice — then someone made sure she couldn’t come back.