Junior and Lauren leave the voyeur room late and find a secluded alcove downstairs to decompress. They share coffee and champagne and slip into intimate aftercare, with Junior tending to Lauren’s hair and checking on her well-being. Taylor briefly interrupts to summon Lauren to a stakeholders’ meeting with Sylvia, Velvet’s founder. Lauren explains Velvet’s structure, the rent crisis imposed by landlord Patrick McKinney, and unsuccessful efforts by her, Ryan, and Taylor to find a new location despite legal compliance and profitability hampered by rent.

Junior privately resolves to look into the landlord situation. A call from Junior’s father demands his immediate attention, which he refuses, revealing his mounting frustration. Lauren asks about his situation with his father, and Junior discloses that he is being pushed to expand a lucrative but illegal olive-oil fraud operation linked to the Agromafia, where he would take the fall if anything goes wrong. Lauren sympathizes, offers support, and Junior admits he wants out of the family business and hopes to run a legitimate enterprise someday.

The conversation turns when Junior asks what Lauren will do “when this is all over,” implying she might leave camwork. Lauren asserts she intends to continue sex work long term, that it aligns with her psychology degree and community, and rejects any notion of being domesticated. The exchange escalates as both raise their voices; Lauren, hurt and angry, tells Junior to go.

Before he can fully apologize, shouting erupts at the front door as three drunk men try to force entry. Junior orders Lauren to stay back and confronts the intruders. When one large, intoxicated man shoves a guest to the ground and demands a woman, Junior swiftly disables him—dislocating his shoulder and breaking his nose in under ten seconds—prompting the other two to surrender to bouncers.

Ryan and Taylor join Lauren, who looks shaken and reminds Junior that Velvet forbids violence. Despite murmurs of support from onlookers, Lauren enforces the rule and tells Junior he must leave. Junior argues he was protecting the club and claims it is his job to protect her, letting slip that he has spent a decade doing so. Realizing he revealed too much, Junior cuts himself off, ignores Lauren’s attempt to stop him, collects his things, and strides out into the night.