On Friday night, Junior arrived at his parents’ suburban villa for an impromptu family dinner, frustrated because it conflicted with his plan to meet Lauren at Velvet. Cousin Aly and her boyfriend Josh arrived, revealing their engagement, which delighted Junior’s mother, Moira, and briefly eased the tension.

Nico, Junior’s father, rushed out with a gun after hearing Moira’s excited scream, then forced a brittle calm when he realized it was engagement news. At dinner, Nico enforced his no-phone rule, but Junior kept his phone nearby under the pretense of waiting on an update from Vinny regarding port bribes.

The dinner turned combative when Nico needled Aly about wedding timing and made an insulting insinuation about pregnancy, prompting Josh to bristle and Aly to snap. Aly declared they would not marry at the family estate. Nico threatened to expose secrets about Josh’s father unless the wedding were held there, violating a prior boundary Aly had set.

In response, Aly and Josh left, supported by Moira, who also exited and banished Nico from their bed for the night. With the others gone or silent, Nico turned his attention to Junior, probing about the port situation. Junior truthfully cited Vinny’s work smoothing a customs bribe and argued against eliminating the agent due to increased law enforcement scrutiny and an imminent shipment.

Nico then announced an expansion of the family’s import operation with Lorenzo and offered Junior the lead. Brothers Alec, Greg, and Stefan reacted with surprise, and Greg called it a promotion. Junior immediately recognized it as a trap to tether him closer to the organization just as he was trying to pull away.

Knowing refusal would draw suspicion and lacking a viable exit plan, Junior suppressed his anger and accepted. He understood the acceptance put him at greater risk of prosecution and deeper under Nico’s control, and it jeopardized his ability to meet Lauren that night.