Mark was a business associate of Aidan Connor who he met at a disastrous networking lunch in May 2017 to promote Underworld. Aidan wanted girlfriend Eva Price to accompany him but she was in high dudgeon after he had refused to respond to her hints that they should get married. Discovering that the two had had a row, David Platt stirred matters up and pushed Maria Connor into taking Eva's place at the Chinese restaurant. He knew that she had been bitterly hurt after being rejected by Aidan following a one-night stand and David pointed out that this was an ideal opportunity to exact her revenge. An unwitting Eva agreed that she could take her place and a hapless Aidan could only concur.
Realising that David was right in this being an ideal occasion to get back at Aidan, Maria pulled out all the stops to embarrass him as much as possible. Sat at the table with the two other couples - Mark being accompanied by his partner Justin - Maria laughingly asserted that Aidan was a slavedriver in the factory and made various jokes at his expense, all the time posing as Eva herself. Whilst the other couple, Elise and Louis, sat in an uncomfortable near-silence, the two men enjoyed her parade of witty remarks, with Justin especially stating that he found her hilarious, though Mark was hurt when his partner hinted that their love was not as strong as it had been. As Maria knocked back expensive champagne, she disparaged any talk about Underworld's products as "boring, making Louis and Elise even more uncomfortable. Aidan took her aside to find out exactly what she was playing at, and she gave him both barrels, snatching her bag and walking out on the perplexed guests at the table.