in august 2016, belinda flirts with grant mitchell (ross kemp), much to the annoyance of his daughter courtney mitchell (alice nokes). they meet again and they later head to belinda's flat to have sex, but are interrupted by her family. stacey later discovers that belinda's new beauty business, elysium, is severely struggling financially after all of neville's money was used to set it up. due to belinda's money being relied on to pay the rent monthly, stacey's husband martin fowler (james bye) rages at belinda, ordering her to find the money. belinda resorts to attempting to prostitute herself to wealthier men, however after joining forces with lauren branning (jacqueline jossa) to help her reduce costs and advertise through social media, belinda eventually manages to find the rent money. belinda begins a relationship with masood ahmed (nitin ganatra), although he initially fears she is after his money and they have sex. however the relationship doesn't last when belinda asks masood to call his ex-wife zainab masood (nina wadia) who is in the process of a divorce. belinda finds an old card from her schoolfriend maggie o'shea (zee asha) who has recently been through a divorce and contacts her. they both come to a conclusion they should start a new life with their newfound freedom by travelling around italy and they both leave walford together.