Lucious Lyon started losing his family - and almost his beloved Empire on Wednesday night's episode of the hit Fox show. The record mogul played by Terrence Howard at the start of the one-hour drama saw his fiancee Anika storm out of his life after being exposed for double crossing him with his rival record label boss Billy Baretti [Judd Nelson]. Lucious then increasingly pushed away his sons - ending with terrifying scenes as his eldest, Andre, had to be stretchered out of their offices and placed on a 48-hour psychiatric hold after freaking out after he stopped taking his bipolar medication. Wedding planning: Lucious Lyon and his fiancee were planning their wedding at the start of Wednesday's episode of the hit Fox show Empire . But as his personal life was crumbling around him, Lucious clearly had a far bigger worry - the fear that his record label could come crushing down. Even Anika [Grace Gealey] was shocked when he started begging her not to march away from him - but just so he could find out what Beretti was planning to do to try to destroy him, not to try to keep her. And Andre's melt-down also contained a whispered confrontation that hinted at heavy story lines to come. Kicked her out: Cookie exposed that Anika was double crossing Lucious and tossed her out of the mansion . After Lucious insisted he had yet to decide who would take over Empire after him, Andre put his head against his father and menacingly said: 'Piece of business advice from the Wharton education you paid so handsomely for: You pick the one who knows you're a murderer.' The latest episode, titled Unto The Breach, started with Lucious and Anika seemingly in domestic bliss planning their upcoming nuptials with a wedding planner. 'We'll have more doves, more champagne, more everything than anyone else they know', Lucious assured his fiancee as he nuzzled her ear in his mansion. Father and son: Andre got up close and personal to deliver a warning to his father . But their bliss was shattered when Cookie [Taraji P. Henson] and Porsha stormed in, and Cookie excitedly toldhim: 'She playin' you! She working with Baretti. 'While you up here planning weddings this b**** up here planning how to steal everything you got, which is everything I've got and I'm not gonna let that happen.' Anika stuttered at her first attempt at responding and then just stormed out, making business calls as she tried to steal away artists. Wedding off: Anika stormed off after Lucious was told of her betrayal . Lucious finally confronted her again outside, asking: 'Were you playing me with all those wedding plans just trying to buy time?' But Anika was having none of it: 'You are accusing me of betrayal? After all those women, all those lies?' She added: 'This is not even me. I am not a treacherous person Lucious but you - you! - you have twisted my love and made it some awful thing.' Lucious appeared to be at his weakest when he pleaded with her: 'I'm scared - I'm dying. You have to understand that when a man in my position says please it means something.' As she expected him to beg her to stay, he instead said: 'Please, I need to know what you planned with Baretti so I can fix this.' Heated conversation: Lucius and Anika angrily shouted at each other after she stormed out . 'Yeah, when a man like you says please it means something - it means you're lying,' she shouted back angrily. He then told her to listen because 'you're life could depend on it', then warned her: 'If you tell Baretti about my ALS, and my IPO goes down, your father's gonna be convicted of fraud.' As Baretti arrived in one of two SUVs to rescue Anika, Lucious made it clear that war had been declared with his rival. Warnings issued: Anike was warned that her father would be convicted of fraud if Empire was harmed . 'You started it. Now I'm gonna finish it,' he threatened him. As the rivalry between their labels heightened - with Baretti stealing more Empire artists - they soon had an even more chilling confrontation as their entourages meet outside of Teterboro airport. The music moguls exchanged slurs as security on each side pulled guns. Baretti pulled a pistol after Lucious told him: 'I got what I needed from her and I got rid of her. Oops, I think that I did that to you too,' referring to their closeness when Lucious started his musical career - and when Baretti lost his son to leukemia. Pistol out: Rival music mogul Billy Baretti at one point pulled a gun on Lucious . 'I used to pity you when you first lost your son,' he told his rival before they leave. 'You're beyond pity.' Lucious spent no time worrying about losing his fiancee - instead going straight into survival mode to make sure to save Empire. 'This morning Baretti tried to test our heart,' he told his staff in their 'war room'. 'Where I'm from, someone tried to test your heart you take their head off. Now the heart of Empire is its family. When a family is in crisis they put the differences aside and they come together. 'We have less than 24-hours to assure these streets that Empire is stronger now than it has ever been before. You draw blood.' War room: Lucious gathered his staff as they went to war with Creedmoor Entertainment . But throughout the crisis, he continually distanced his sons, especially Jamal after he came out as gay and accues him of 'prancing about with your little freak flag'. Jamal hit back at his dad insisting the only 'sexual proclivity' that has got them in trouble was 'the fact that you can't manage to simply keep it in your pants'. But Lucious's ignorance was so strong he continually ignored the fact that Jamal had opened the doors to signing British sensation Delphine, a far bigger star than the artists Lucious was fighting to maintain. That ended when Jamal put it all in business terms. 'You said that families put aside there differences,' he told his father. 'So put aside your played out homophobia, unless it's more important to you than Empire.' Fighting back: Jamal confronted his father over his homophobia as he joined the effort to save the label . Meanwhile, Hakeem showed he has learned some deceptive tricks from his family, confronting Anika in the street to beg her to stay with their family - but really just delaying her from a meeting to poach his ex, Tiana, with Cookie taking her place to keep her at Empire. Cookie also showed her dedication - taking part in a drinking competition just to keep another artist from leaving. Things appeared to be looking up by the end, with Lucious waking up and going along with Jamal to sign Delphine - and even taking over a nightclub piano to sing his old hit, You're So Beautiful, with his son and their new signing. Learning fast: Hakeem showed that he has picked up some of his family sly tricks . They were then joined mid-song by Hakeem, Cookie and Tiana, a clear sign that the initial crisis may have passed. The happy mood didn't last long as Lucious returned to his office - and saw Andre mid-meltdown, having to be restrained, given a shot and stretchered off, with his wife signing papers allowing a 48-hour psych hold. It came after he was earlier seen flushing away his medication - and had another meltdown when stuck in an elevator with his two brothers, ending when they tearfully hugged after singing Lean On Me together as they had as children. Freaking out: Andre had a meltdown in the elevator after going off his bipolar medication . Early numbers have shown that the ninth episode of the series marked the eighth week of growth in the ratings for the hip-hop centred programme. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Empire hit a viewership high of 14.2m viewers including a 5.7 rating among adults 18-49. The show has already surpassed The Big Bang Theory and is in position to end the season as the top-scripted show on all the national broadcast networks.
The series continued it's upward trend as the latest episode hit it's eighth week of growth . Empire's viewership hit a high of 14.2m viewers with a 5.7m rating among adults 18-49 .