Back in the foyer, Evelyn schedules a follow-up in thirty minutes. Monique steadies herself with a childhood breathing technique she learned from her father, then calls her editor Frankie. To keep control of Evelyn’s offer, Monique lies that Evelyn is focused on auction gowns and that she’s building trust before pushing for more. Frankie presses for a cover and broader access but accepts the update, and Monique hangs up determined to steer this on her terms.

Grace guides Monique to Evelyn’s study. When Evelyn arrives, she has Monique take the desk and asserts that Monique is a biographer starting now. Evelyn then recounts her adolescence: a dead mother, dire poverty in Hell’s Kitchen with stolen electricity, and growing fear of her father’s intentions or plans to marry her off. Remembering her mother’s Hollywood dreams and aware of her own beauty at fourteen, Evelyn targeted a connection—Ernie Diaz—through her friend Beverly and lied about being sixteen to advance. Her lesson for Monique is clear: the world doesn’t give; you take.

Monique pivots to the book’s hook—who was the love of Evelyn’s life—and asks if it was Harry Cameron. Evelyn answers no. She describes Harry as her greatest friend who “invented” her and loved her unconditionally, love she calls the most pure other than for her daughter, but not the great love of her life.

Suddenly, Evelyn ends the session, calling it late despite the midafternoon, and walks Monique to the foyer. She proposes reconvening Monday at ten and confesses she has spent her life spinning the truth and needs time to learn how to tell it plainly. She promises to be ready then.

Monique returns home and moves through her weekend preoccupied with the unanswered question of Evelyn’s true love. She notices, for the first time since her separation, that her thoughts are less on David and more on Evelyn’s mystery.