Keyshawn freezes. She hasn’t texted anyone from Baton Rouge. Which means Derrick is either lying or watching her more than she knew. She gets up, grabs the kids, leaves. In the car, she calls Lil Murda — not for romance, but: “Teach me how to make someone disappear. Not kill. Just disappear .”

Clifford, watching from the booth, whispers: “Some love got to be encoded just to survive.” Big Bone (Megan Thee Stallion cameo appearance) returns from Atlanta with a proposition: she wants to open a “mobile Pynk” — a tricked-out party bus for private events, no walls, no city permits. Clifford is intrigued but wary. Big Bone: “You scared of what? Growth?” Clifford: “I’m scared of who sees what when you ain’t got doors.”

Autumn: “Maybe Chucalissa should burn before it sells out.”

Autumn closes the laptop. (Tyler Lepley) knocks. He brings food, but really he wants to know why she’s been so cold. She deflects. Andre mentions a “corporate raid” rumor: someone’s trying to buy up Chucalissa’s waterfront properties. He thinks it’s connected to the casino money.

Patrice: “Same demon, different dress.”

She touches her locket. “You don’t know me.” Mercedes (Brandee Evans) is in a new gym — not Terrence’s. She’s training a raw but talented young fighter, Kiana (guest star). Mid-pad work, Mercedes’s knee buckles. She hides it. Later, at her mom’s house, Patrice (Harriett D. Foy) ambushes her with a church flyer: “Healing from Sexual Trauma in the Strip Club Industry.”

Clifford calls Autumn. “We need to talk. Now.”

Murda drops a mop. “You avoidin’ me.” Clifford, adjusting a wig stand: “Baby, I’m avoidin’ everybody. Even my own reflection.”