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.”
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 .”
Autumn: “Maybe Chucalissa should burn before it sells out.”
Murda: “Baby girl… that’s a different kinda pole dancin’.” Clifford finds a USB stick taped to the back door of The Pynk. No note. Inside: the Autumn/Montavius video, plus a second file — a partial recording of Woddy (the dead bouncer) talking about “the money behind the casino.” The video ends mid-sentence. Corruption artifacts flicker across the screen.