Polly learns that Schultz was killed on the orders of the National Crime Syndicate’s leader, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, for planning to murder Dewey. Polly, who has never met Luciano but knows about his formidable reputation, wonders whether his takeover of the underworld will affect the sex-work business, which has so far been spared. Her relief at being free from Schultz’s control is short-lived. A redheaded man named Murph and a large accomplice invade her home, holding the Lion at knifepoint and subduing Jerry. They claim to be searching for a safe containing $7 million that belonged to Schultz. After a fruitless search of Polly’s private rooms, Murph decides to search the girls’ bedrooms upstairs. To protect them, Polly volunteers to go in the Lion’s place. As Murph holds a knife to her throat and forces her up the stairs, she asks what he really wants. He asks if she remembers him from the bail bondsman’s office, and as she places him, he announces that he’s there to ensure that she and her girls join the “Combination.”

On November 1, 1935, Eunice, accompanied by Murray, presents her sex-work-racket investigation to Dewey. She details the suspicious pattern of dismissals in Women’s Court, the proliferation of brothels, and the sex worker’s mention of “the Combination,” arguing that it points to an organized, Mob-controlled scheme. Although Dewey remains skeptical about high-level Mob involvement, he’s intrigued and agrees that the matter deserves a closer look. When Murray suggests starting with the girls, Eunice rejects the idea as too dangerous and instead proposes a legally controversial wiretap on the corrupt lawyers and bondsmen. Persuaded by the potential to gather important evidence, Dewey agrees and authorizes her to obtain a subpoena from Justice Philip McCook. As she leaves, Dewey praises her work but warns her to be careful, as the Mob may become more dangerous the closer the investigation gets.

On November 1, 1935, Polly ignores the Lion’s advice to project strength and instead goes out to test whether she can find a legitimate way out of the business for herself and her girls. Her efforts are fruitless. First, an old acquaintance, Harold Montague, tells her that his friend won’t hire her to manage a factory because of her notorious reputation. Next, club owner Lou Richman rescinds a previous business-partnership offer for the same reason. Defeated, Polly is approached by her rival, the madam Diamond Lil, who asks if she has also been visited by enforcers for the “Combination.” They cautiously confirm their shared experience with Murph. Lil then reveals a rumor that Luciano himself is behind the Combination and intends to control every racket in the city. With no legitimate exit available and no means to overpower Luciano’s organization, Polly resolves that if she can’t escape her reputation, she must live up to it.

On November 10, 1935, Dewey officially names Luciano as the new primary target of the investigation, arguing that Luciano runs a centrally coordinated criminal organization rather than the loose territory-based operation that Schultz ran. That afternoon, Eunice begins listening to the newly installed wiretaps, though the conversations between fixer Abe Karp and bondsman Jesse Jacobs are mostly garbled. While walking home to Harlem that night, she feels unnerved by Dewey’s warnings about the Mob. Her unease sharpens when a white man in dark glasses touches the brim of his fedora and smiles at her. When she reaches her apartment, she finds a package waiting at her door. Inside is a white doll with its cloth face smeared with black ink, its eyes gouged out, and its mouth sealed with gray tape. Lisle comes home early, hoping to mend their strained relationship. Eunice hides the threatening doll from him, and they agree to go out for dinner, temporarily restoring peace between them.

By January 12, 1936, Luciano and his men have become fixtures in Polly’s club. His control over her operation relies on quiet threat rather than outbursts, and Polly finds this harder to read and resist than Schultz’s explosive anger. One night, a guest of Luciano’s openly mocks Polly’s appearance before demanding her “best girl.” When Polly tries to stall, Luciano grabs her arm and orders her to comply. Polly and the Lion warn a sex worker named Virginia about the situation. Although Virginia approaches the men confidently, the situation quickly becomes tense. Polly intervenes and learns that the guest wants to take Virginia to work permanently at a brothel near his home in New Jersey. Polly protests, insisting that Virginia works for her. Furious, Luciano declares that Virginia is his property to command. As he starts to drag a struggling Virginia away, Polly yells at him to stop. Luciano turns and punches Polly in the face, knocking her unconscious.

On the night of January 12, 1936, Eunice and Lisle are enjoying a renewed closeness, a peace that she has maintained by hiding the threatening doll from him. Their reconciliation is shattered by a midnight call from Officer Calcagnini of the 30th Precinct, who has a young woman in custody asking to speak to the district attorney. Lisle drives Eunice to the station, though she recognizes that, with this call, their peace has come undone. At the station, Eunice finds that the woman, Virginia, is severely beaten. Virginia explains that she was attacked after being sent to “entertain a man” (145), and she mentions Luciano when Officer Calcagnini interrupts. He announces that her lawyer, Abe Karp, has arrived to post bail. Virginia panics, insisting that she never called a lawyer and that Karp isn’t there to help her. Terrified, she tells Eunice that someone has sent Karp to kill her.

The following day, January 13, Polly recovers from being punched by Luciano. The assault triggers a flashback to a painful memory from when she was 17. Six weeks after a foreman named Frank lured her to Coney Island and raped her, she returned to the factory to confront him, demanding that he marry her because she was pregnant. Instead, he publicly fired and ejected her from the factory. Her coworkers, fearing for their own jobs, filed back inside without helping her. Her cousin evicted her, and she chose to end her pregnancy through a back-alley abortion. With few options, she became a sex worker to support herself. The memory of how she was abandoned in the past drives her protective instincts toward her employees. 

The Lion tends to Polly’s injuries and confirms that there has been no word from Virginia since Luciano dragged her away. The Lion voices her fear of the Combination, which she has heard will consolidate all the city’s sex workers under the control of central bookers, stripping them of safety and autonomy. Determined that her girls will not face the same powerlessness she once experienced, Polly resolves to fight back against Luciano’s takeover.

On January 14, 1936, Eunice is distracted at work, haunted by the events at the police station. She recalls helping Virginia escape through a back door while Officer Calcagnini deflected Karp’s demands. Though she regrets losing a witness who could directly link Luciano to the racket, she knows it was necessary to protect Virginia’s life. Focusing on the wiretaps, Eunice overhears Karp and Jacobs discussing their operation. They mention a booker named Pete Harris; Murray has separately told Eunice that Harris is rumored to be a Luciano associate, and the wiretap now places him at the center of the operation. Karp and Jacobs brag about the brutal, factory-like efficiency with which Harris manages sex workers. Their conversation then turns to a woman named Carmen, who complained in court about the $10 a week she pays for guaranteed bail. Karp warns that such talk is dangerous, reminding Jacobs about what happened to another woman, Viola, after “Tommy the Bull” (Thomas Pennochio) “handled her.” He states that any woman who mentions the Combination will end up in the Hudson River, providing Eunice with her first wiretapped evidence of the organization’s name and another potential link to Luciano’s inner circle.

Five days after Virginia’s disappearance, Polly searches for her across the city. She visits a low-end hotel run by her rival, Ginny, who hasn’t seen Virginia but complains that the Combination has been commandeering her sex workers for jobs without paying her, confirming the racket’s expanding control. Later, Mabel reports that Virginia’s estranged mother hasn’t heard from her either. Fearing that Virginia is being held captive or has been killed, and that her other girls will be next, Polly decides that she must take action. She tells Mabel to leave the business and offers to cover her tuition if needed so that she can finish her degree at Columbia. Then, determined to fight back, Polly sits down and pens a letter to Eunice.

On January 16, 1936, Eunice receives Polly’s urgent note requesting a secret meeting at a Chock Full o’Nuts coffee shop near Penn Station. The letter’s arrival feels providential; just the day before, Murray had suggested that the city’s madams might be desperate enough under Luciano’s new regime to cooperate with the prosecution. Eunice takes a car service to the rendezvous point, finds a discreet booth, and waits. Soon after, Polly enters, dressed plainly in a wool coat in place of her usual fur stole to avoid attracting attention. As their eyes meet across the room, Eunice hopes that Polly can name the bookers and bondsmen whom her wiretaps have identified but not yet placed inside the racket.

Polly enters the crowded Chock Full o’Nuts, having chosen the neutral location because it serves both Black and white customers and offers anonymity. Upon spotting Eunice in a corner booth, Polly signals for her to move to two empty stools at the counter, where they can better blend in with the crowd. Sitting side by side, they speak quietly. Polly alludes to the power vacuum left by Schultz’s death and confirms that a “very lucky fellow” is now forcibly consolidating the sex work business (174), using a network of lawyers and bondsmen. She tells Eunice that her primary motivation for reaching out is her inability to protect her employees, some of whom are now disappearing. Their tense meeting is cut short when Polly spots a corrupt police officer she has bribed in the past. After whispering that they must leave immediately, she directs Eunice to a service exit. They slip out into a garbage-filled alley, where Polly tells Eunice that she has a proposition for her.