EastEnders ' Vinny Panesar was forced to think on his feet in Thursday night's tense episode as he was rocked by a sudden death during a dodgy job for his family business.
He was tasked with looking after Stas' associate, but when he got into the front of the car and turned around, he realised the man was dead in the backseat.
Vinny could not simply call an ambulance as there were gold bars in the car that needed to get to Stas, so he called Callum Highway to help him clear up the scene.
Ben was impressed with Vinny for keeping his cool - but did not realise Vinny had actually taken the gold bars for himself.
He then couldn't help but boast about his tactic to Kheerat and Suki, and demanded they make him a partner in the family business, otherwise he would take the gold bars for himself.
Waltzing in back home, Vinny told Kheerat: "Your Russian friend had a heart attack and carked it, oh yeah, and there was a bag of gold in the boot as well.
"But it's alright, I called Callum -"
Furious, Kheerat interrupted: "You really are an idiot."
Vinny continued: "I called Callum to cover our tracks with Stas and the police. I knew he wanted to help Ben. Got him to take the gold back, and now Stas is happy, and the police won't be looking at our family business.
"Oh I almost forgot, I might have made a little withdrawal before Callum turned up," he added, taking the gold bars out of his pocket.
"And now no one knows where these bars are. Not Stas, not the police, just us," he said, as Suki and Kheerat looked visibly relieved.
Vinny told them: "You need to give me the respect I deserve, both of you. I am a Panesar through and through. So I think it's time you made me partner in the business.
"Or I can just do my own thing, take my gold bars with me."
Has he finally proved himself to the Panesars?
One viewer tweeted: "Oh no the big Russian is dead! #Eastenders "
"That man was dead ... poor Vinny! #EastEnders," added another.
"OMG is he dead... #EastEnders," wondered a third.
* EastEnders airs Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on BBC One
