Junior opened the chapter fixated on Lauren and their night at Velvet’s voyeur room, even as he sat cramped in the back of an unmarked van on a stakeout with Alec and several of their father’s men. The crew bantered crudely about relationships after Alec hinted that Junior was tangled up with a woman; Junior denied it, but the men offered unsolicited advice ranging from apologies and gifts to grand gestures and even proposals. The chatter ended when Stefan radioed that the target—an internal rat—was arriving.

On Stefan’s cue, Enzo opened the doors and the team swarmed out, ambushing the target before he reached his door. Junior had ordered the team to keep the man alive per Lorenzo’s instructions. The operation ended quickly and successfully, though not without a physical struggle.

Hours later, at the family home, Junior returned from showering with bloodstained clothes and encountered his father, who criticized him for getting messy and called him an amateur, then demanded Junior be present for breakfast. Seething, Junior considered his future and the need to break free of his father’s control. He weighed blackmailing his father using accumulated dirt but recognized he first needed clean, independent income, especially if he hoped to someday provide for Lauren.

In his room, Junior retrieved a hidden stash beneath a floorboard and pulled out Lauren’s floral high school diary, which he had stolen from Kelly’s room the night he planted drugs on Kelly. Spurred by the crew’s talk of grand gestures, he reread entries about the fireworks night and Lauren’s fantasies, including one where they meet at the neighborhood arcade and she performs oral sex in a photo booth while the camera snaps pictures. He felt renewed guilt for how he later hurt her but also saw the diary as a roadmap to reclaim those memories.

As his plan coalesced to recreate Lauren’s fantasies to earn her forgiveness, Junior received a Me4U photo message from Lauren: explicit images with captions suggesting she felt slutty and wished his hands were on her. He tipped her and grew more determined to see her again and make good on the fantasies recorded in her diary.