"Previously on Empire..." "Andre... promise me that you'll destroy that bitch that killed our baby." "Laviticus Las Vegas is not like any other club." "You and Nessa are out." "You two know each other?" "Lucious..." "let him go up to Vegas and set up Inferno." "And then we take it from him." "Your melody with my arrangement... that's what's beautiful." "Cookie, sweetheart, when my family decides to shoot, your entire family will burn to the ground." "We have received reports of child endangerment." "Wait, wait, wait..." "Don't make me ask you again." "Give her to me now, sir." "You think I don't know who's behind this?" "It's the Dubois." "My family and I..." "Perhaps they should speak first." "I'm sorry, what?" "It might be best if the Lyon family speaks first." "Okay, lady, we know you got connections" " and I know you got juice." " That's why I know you had something to do with my grandbaby getting snatched." "Along with the rest of the B.S." "y'all been peddling to the rest of these politicians" " in this city." " Watch your tone" " with me, Lucious." " Bitch, do you want me to jump across this table?" "Because I don't have all day for this, okay?" "You feelin' froggy?" "Leap." "Okay, well, here I come." "No, no, no, it's okay." "No, no." "No, it's all right, it's okay." "It's okay!" "No." "Let me..." " Come on." " You better tell this bitch who I am." "What Ms. Lyon is trying to get at is:" "This is about a child." "So, it's understandable that tempers are hot." "Now, the Lyon family has reason to believe that the Dubois family had something to do with Child Protective Services coming to their home and taking the baby, Bella." "A heinous act, that has the own child's father," "Hakeem Lyon, too distraught to even be here today." "Now, we demand that the child be returned home." "If that can happen, everything will be right as rain." "Our family had nothing to do with whatever happened to your baby." "Angelo, you took $5 million..." "I'm sorry, your family took $5 million from mine." "So what is all this, are you... you want to humble us, you want us to bow down?" " That's why y'all going so low?" " Us?" "My cousin, Angelo, lost his career because of you." "If you think that..." "Okay, okay." "What?" "Ezekiel, Snoop's banker." "Dubois have been governors, senators, cabinet members." "Angelo was destined for even greater..." "Congratulations." "What you're not gonna do is compare politics to a baby being taken out of her mother's arms." "Please don't start with this." " Politics..." " Yeah, yeah, yeah." "Let's do it, let's do it." "As everyone thinks your family is!" "Please!" "Please, everyone?" "Please just shut up!" "I do not care who did what to whom!" "I just want my daughter back." "Please." "Please, just help me find my child." "Please." "I am so sorry." "I think it's terrible that your child was taken." "Please." "You are so much better than the company you keep." "And yes, we have connections." "Yeah, I know." "Connections born from generations of serving our community... a community which you have chosen to represent very differently, I might add." "All right, all right, all right." "Look, look, I-I see where all this is going." "All right, so y'all got a little power in you." "You know how to play a little hit back." "And y'all fancy." "But when we hit, we hit real hard." "I have no idea what happened to your child." "So, y'all really want to go down that road?" "It's been 30 minutes." "Everything's working out as promised, okay?" "It's gonna work out." "My God." "My poor baby." "Paying for all the terrible things that I've done." "Don't be so hard on yourself." "Thirsty said he gonna get her back." "So, I've talked to my supervisor and asked him to cross-reference the name in the database, so..." "Why?" "Did something happen?" "No." "No, no, no." " I'm sure she's fine." " Wait, wait." "What do you mean, "I'm sure"?" "W-What she means is, we can't seem to find your daughter." "What?" "Can't or won't?" "I understand this is confusing." "If you would please just come into my office..." "I was told that the child would be released to her mother today." "I understand that and I'm sorry." "This is very odd." "Several motions have been filed, but I can't tell by who." "Any one of these motions would take at least a month to untangle." "Well, you better untangle it." "From what I can see here, you're not gonna see that child for quite some time." "No, no, no." "No." "No." "Last name Lyon, first name Bella." " That's exactly who's file..." " Are we talking" " time or money?" " Last name Lyon, first name Bella!" "I want my daughter, man!" "They must be out of their damn minds, they think I'm just gonna stand still for this." "So, what you gonna do, go in Child Protective Services guns a-blazing?" "Dubois' is a type of power we ain't never seen before." "No, we are a monster they've never imagined dealing with." "Well, they certainly are strong, and... they stick together, that's for sure." "Seeing how tight they are just reminds me of how weak we are when we're divided." "And we got to do better." "We got to do better, Lucious." "Let's clean this up, 'cause if that's Hakeem, and he sees this stuff, he's gonna spin out." "Can you take this to the room, please?" "That." "You were right." "I should have never let them take the baby." "Okay, um..." "Lucious, it doesn't make sense that a baby could completely disappear." "I don't know." "I mean, it's got to be the Dubois." "That's why they can't get away with this." "Well, you know what?" "They can and they did." "All right, apparently we underestimated how powerful this family is." "So what do we do?" "Well, just think about Bella being alone in some... some foster home." "Where's my daughter, Mom?" "Where's she at?" "!" "I don't know." "Bad news is, is that we're gonna have to, distance most of the Lyon family from the child." "Okay, then why is that?" "Because on paper, all of you are unfit." "I knew it," "I knew it, I knew it." "Please." "This whole situation... it's sick." "This whole family... is sick." "Hey, Anika, y-you two are still married, but if we can expedite the divorce, it would show in good faith that you're making an asserted effort to distance yourself from the family and that will benefit us." "Just, Thirsty, make it happen." "Okay." "I'm on it." "Listen, for the rest of us, what kind of a family is Bella coming back to?" "So, I need everybody to keep their lives on track, so that she's coming back to a strong family." "We got to get our minds right." "Dad's right." "We need to acknowledge the fact that we're all here together, for Bella." "So, we know how to come together." "Yeah." "Which means we're more fit than anybody." "We're gonna get my grandbaby back." "One way or another." "Kill it, kill it." "Look, ladies, I'm-a tell you the truth," "I love everything that y'all are doing." "I mean, it's a beautiful show." "It really is." "It's the wrong show." "They've got so much Cirque in there, that they're missing the Soleil." "They're missing the soul of the this whole thing." "I need it to be... this, with more of a hip-hop, urban, contemporary kind of thing," " you know what I'm saying?" " Yes." " Can y'all give me that?" " Yeah." " Thank you." " Come on, ladies." "Why is everybody leaving?" "I-I'm looking to see the whole." "Inferno extravaganza." "You'll see the Inferno extravaganza when either you become a part of the show or you pay like everybody else." "Yeah, well, one step at a time, not five, big homie." "Um, anyway, look, I..." "I listened to the first mix of the song." "And?" "It's fire." " Boom." " Whatever." " It's fire." " That's what I'm talking about." " That's what I'm talking about!" " It is." "I knew you was gonna love it." "You know what I was thinking, though?" "Why are we doing the same song on two separate albums?" "It's kind of superfluous, right?" "You know, so I think I want to remix mine." "Nah, man, I don't know about you remixing the song." " Yeah, 'cause it's dope, right?" " Yeah, it is." "It is." "But, look, if you're gonna remix it, if that's what we're really talking about, you know," " I-I still have to be..." " Of course, of course." "But what I'm gonna do is have a young emcee that's representing me on this thing." "Nah, nah, see, slow down." "There's no emcee on the song." "There's just not." "There's... send me the stems." "Why?" "So you can soft-pedal the thing?" "No." "No, trust me." "What I'm gonna do," "I'm gonna set up a session for you to meet this cat." "When I say he's incredible," "I'm talking about incredible." "Why you look all despondent now?" "I'm trippin', all right?" "Set it up." "Listen, don't call my stuff soft." "This album is a masterpiece." "And this is not gonna get Lucious to where I need him to be." "You don't know that." "Yes, I do." "Lucious is not sweatin' it, and this Vegas deal is worth billions." " Hey, Ma." " Hey." "So I gave him the basics of your plan, but, we both have concerns about that tight window." "Baby, I done climbed through many a tight windows in my day." "Speaking of which, are we doing what we talked about, about getting my grandbaby back?" "Yeah, it's in the works." "But... let's talk about this Vegas thing." "Look, we all know it's Vegas or bust, right?" "So what we got to do is turn this album into a Vegas production." "What about Inferno?" "Child, they already falling' behind." "You know, Lucious as bad as Dr. Dre when it comes to trying to be a perfectionist." "Look, they don't have a story line." "It's not coming together." "Unlike When Cookie Met Lucious." "We got a built-in story line." "Shine, you need to get us in to see Marcone." "Yes." "What does that do for me?" "We secure our place, or we'll all be out." "How do you not understand that?" "I understand you need to drop your tone, Andre." "All right, look, look, look, look, if we switch out." "Inferno for our show, I promise you, Shine," "I got you." "I keep telling you that." "And I'll make Lucious crawl." "Boy, this is not about punishing your daddy, this is about family, and that woman got your daddy twisted and that ain't good for none of us." "Well, my last name's not Lyon." "Will you, for once, take your mind out of the gutter and think big?" "Can you do that?" "Can you think big, Shine?" " Can you?" " Andre." "Andre." "Do me a favor, call me after you sing the lullaby for this J Cat." "We'll work out the details later." "Yes." "I'm gonna need you to calm down." "Get proactive and call your doctor, boy." "Hey, Andre, you know," "I know a good doctor." "Shut up, Porsha!" "Mind your business." "All right, I'm here." "About damn time." " What's up, Tyree?" " What up, J?" "Yeah, I got Tyree here so we can try and recapture some of that magic you had on that first one." "Well, I mean magic, it sounds like you just sped up the track." "It does." "All right, so where's this emcee you want me to meet?" "Hey, Ty, will you turn that off, man?" "For a minute?" "Just getting out, so he's gonna be a minute." "What you mean, "just getting out"?" "We waiting for an artist 'cause he got locked up?" "He's not coming from jail." "Allegedly, someone shot him four times yesterday." "My Lord, the plot thickens." "Y'all got to be joking." "How are we supposed to have a rapper that just got shot?" "Allegedly." "Ain't no one confirm it." "Look who the cat drug in." "Yo, what up, man?" "What's up, brother?" "You all right?" "Yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." "Too many stitches for the hugs right now, man." " You know what I'm saying?" " I hear you, man." "Hey, you got the pills on you?" "Man, you better be careful, they're gonna start calling you" " the Grim Reaper." " Here you go, fam." "Man, you should keep that limp, it's kind of slick." "Thanks for showing up, baby." "You know I got you, man." "Dad, come on, man." "This dude can barely stand up, let alone perform." "Will you give that brother a chance, please?" "Yeah, well, he should be in a hospital right now." "If he's supposed to be in the hospital, he'd be in the hospital." "He's supposed to be right here in this moment." "I ain't even want the rapper on the song." "Tyree, will you school this young Lyon cub for me, please?" "Shut this brother up?" "See, this is his moment." "He's willing to die for this moment, right now." "All right." "The emcee is dope." "But your track still ain't right." "No, no, no, you're just saying that because, what?" "It's too hard?" "But you see that young man in there, bleeding?" "He's doing that 'cause that's what it takes." "He's got heart, man." "He got shot four times and where is he?" "He's right in the studio." "You got shot once." "What did you do?" "You disappeared." "No, no, Mal, I'm not even saying this as any kind of a diss." "What I'm saying is I understand this music in a way that you don't get yet." "Yeah, all right." "Yo, how many of y'all been shot before?" "But you haven't." "Dad, nobody told you how to deal with your father getting shot, so don't tell me how to deal with taking a bullet for mine." "And I'm sorry, but you play it hard and-and being hard-headed and doing it your way, that's why Bella was taken." "Now, I want to work with you, but I ain't backing down." "You need to listen to my version, you need to listen to my version now." "Tyree, please take this and school this old Lyon." "My God." "Lucious, he killed it." "He killed it." "Did he?" "I don't know if, um..." "Andre." "I-I thought you were Lucious." "We have unfinished business." "I don't know what you're talking about." "You know what I'm talking about." "About the murder of my child." "Rhonda told me you pushed her down the stairs." "No, no..." "My God!" "I'm s...!" "Don't lie to me!" "Shut up!" "You think I'm gonna let you get away with that?" "You think you can kill my wife and kill my kid and get away with that?" "That what you think?" "!" " No!" "I'm gonna make you pay, bitch!" "Do it!" "Do it, I deserve it!" "What?" "!" "Why?" "!" "What?" "!" "What?" "!" "I'm sorry!" "I wanted so badly to be a Lyon." "I sold my soul, and now... now my... my baby." "I deserve to suffer!" "Do it." " Do it." " No." "Suffer." "Like I do." "Suffer." "Keem." "You got me feeling nervous, man." "I mean, I ain't really never seen you this beat." "I got to do something." "I feel like I should." "Yeah, you're right, you should." "Yo, kill it." "Nah, keep my music on." "Matter of fact, hey, shorty, you, you, you, get the hell out of here!" "Now, I know Cookie told y'all to watch me, but y'all got to get to steppin'." "Get to steppin'!" "No offense, y-you, too." "I need to be alone." "Catch." "Can you get Paulie Walnuts to back up off me?" "So why am I meeting with you behind Lucious' back?" "'Cause you're doing a deal with a man who's lying to you." " What's he talking about?" " Inferno." "Lucious is billing it as performances by all of Empire's artists, and he doesn't have Jamal Lyon." "Empire's biggest star." "Not to mention, the show is struggling." "Lucious doesn't like the script, so..." "So what are you offering?" "Look, we all know people come to Vegas in search of something special." "Well, I want to give it to them." "I have an Empire show that's better than Inferno." "It's called Jamal Lyon's When Cookie Met Lucious." "It's a visual album..." "you saw Lemonade, right?" "And it tells the story of the first family of hip-hop." "Performed and produced by all of the Lyons." "You're gonna get me Jamal and Lucious?" "Yes, I..." "No, no." "Lucious isn't gonna be..." "Yes." "Yes." "You see the chitter-chatter on twitterverse." "They can't keep Coocious out of their mouths." "They want to know our love story." "They want to know how we built that Empire." "That could be huge." "Lot of money." "But Lucious isn't here." "So how do I know he's on board?" "Lucious is a businessman and an artist." "He's gonna love this." "Who wouldn't?" "Who doesn't like making money?" "It's Vegas, baby." "You get me Lucious, and I'm in." "Lucious is a liar and a snake." "I won't work with him." " How about that?" "Hey, man." "Sit down!" " Hey!" "Hey!" " Hands off me, man." " Get your hands off my son!" "Call them off." "Get off my son." "That's enough." "That's enough." "Yeah, that's enough." "Back up." "Andre." "Out the way." "Pazzo." "I'm telling y'all, the Dubois family used my family's struggles into tricking the system and taking my baby." "And at first, I was mad at my mom and my pops, because I actually believed it." "All we want is Bella back." "I want her back!" "The Dubois family is ready to put this standoff behind us." "Which is why we're recommending libel sanctions against Hakeem Lyon." "We should let it blow over." "The boy is understandably upset, but we didn't have anything to do with CPS taking that baby away from the family." "What..." "Right, Mother?" "The Lyon family." "Such a disgrace." "A setback for the entire race, with their degrading lyrics and thuggish behavior." "I won't lie to you," "I had nothing to do with that baby being taken." "But I can't say that I feel an ounce of sympathy for them." "Okay, but we can agree that we cannot let this escalate into a full-on Hatfields and McCoys situation," " right?" " Well, of cour... course not." "Free Bella!" "Yeah, free Bella!" "Free Bella!" "Free Bella!" "You need to free Bella, you dirty Dubois." "What's this?" "Really?" "You steal a baby?" "You are despicable." "Free Bella!" "Team Keem!" "Free Bella!" "Yeah, free Bella!" "What'd you say about the Hatfields and the McCoys?" "Free Bella!" "Free Bella!" "Free Bella!" "Free Bella!" "Ma." "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "I guess, thinking." "So strange." "Never thought I would feel this helpless." "If I had known this was gonna happen, I swear," "I'd have done things differently." "You know?" "It can't all be my fault." "Know that much." "H-Hey, Ma." "Do you think I'm a good father?" "You're not even a good person." "True." "Boy, what the hell is wrong with you?" "Acting a fool in that damn meeting, like you two nickels short of a dime." "Told you I'm not doing that deal with Lucious." "There wouldn't be a deal if I didn't save it with Marcone." "I told him you lost your mind for a minute, but you're fully on board." "Yeah, well, then you told him a lie." "Yeah, yeah, boy." "Fix your tone." "You say you're looking out for us." "You always end up protecting Lucious." "No matter what it costs the rest of us." "We had a deal without him." "This family needs him." "When Cookie Met Lucious needs him, stupid." "Yeah, yeah." "Why the hell didn't you say something before we got in front of Marcone?" "I'll tell you why." "Deep down, in your soul, you are ashamed of how much you cater to that man, and you should be." "You should be, Ma." "Look, if we include Lucious on the deal, we keep him from going to war, stupid." "You know your daddy." "And we all get a piece of Vegas." "I don't get a piece of Vegas." "This new show's got nothing for me." "Andre." "I think you are forgetting that Lucious is not our biggest problem." "It's that bitch, Giuliana." "And you see how she weaseled her way all up in our family business." "That skank is trying to steal all of it." "I don't like Giuliana either, Ma, okay?" " Andre..." " No, what?" "You were still out of line for bringing Lucious in on this deal." "What did you say, little girl?" "And Andre is grown, Cookie, you can't talk to him like he's a child." "He's not." "I'm-a need you to understand what I'm about to do, Andre." "Bitch, don't you ever come in between me and my son." "Andre." "Sweet child of mine." "We do this deal my way, with the whole family, or we lose everything." "Do you understand that?" "!" "Damn!" "Bitch, next time, hold your mouth!" "I have something to show you." "That's him." "Who?" "Your father." "Here, sit down, Mama." "The day he proposed." "If he didn't die, things might've been better for you." "I would've been a better mama." "Violence made you what you are, Dwight." "What about this one?" "You couldn't tell Joe he wasn't sharp as cut glass in those days." "Maybe that's who Hakeem got his style from." "I should've did something to save him that day." "What are you talking about?" "You were just a boy." "You would've run out in the middle of that mess and got killed, too." "Yeah, like..." "It's like Jamal, when he was in the same situation, you know, he didn't even hesitate to jump in front of that bullet." "He just..." "I'll tell you this." "For whatever I can or did say about you, that boy, Jamal, is special." "He's got a little bit of God in him." "You did that, Dwight." "You put that light into the world." "Where you going, big spender?" " Hey, Dad." " Just listen, man." "No, I mean, look, we already discussed this." "It's obvious that you got a problem with letting anybody else take control of the music." "So just go do Inferno, it'll be dope, and let me do When Cookie Met Lucious." "Are you finished?" "I heard you, man." "Go on." "Spoiled mother..." "Is, is this your..." "Yep." "My father." "Your grandfather, Mr. Joe Walker." "You look a lot like him." "Especially when I was fat." "I figured this might help with your visual aid... and, um, help us make a better album." "What do you mean, us?" "Yeah, I relented." "I'm gonna do the song your way." "Why?" "I'm sick and tired of fighting your ass." "And I realized the truth is" "I was fighting against the natural course of things." "I mean, every son takes over after his father." "When my daddy died I took over from him and... point is, same way my music was Empire's legacy, your music will be Empire's legacy, and it might as well start with this song." "Hell, it's time." "It is time." "It's time." "You promised a piece of the casino." "Yes." "Look, Dre will come around." "We're gonna be running Vegas by the time this is done, trust me." "No, no, no, no, no, Andre." "He can't be here." "He's old enough to know how things get done in this family." "Stupid ass." "Hi, baby." "Mom, what's going on?" "Andre told me we're getting Bella back." "You okay?" " Mom, is she gonna be okay?" " Yes, she's gonna be fine." "We're gonna get her back." "Okay?" "You know what?" " You sure?" " Yes." "Just go wait in the car." "Go ahead." "You telling me you and Shine are gonna do this?" "I'm telling you we looking forward to it." "Get him out of here." "Stupid ass." "Everything's gonna be okay, I promise." "Ready." "Okay." "I don't know what you want from me." "It ain't what we want." "It's her you've got to answer to." "Cookie." "Listen to Cookie." "They think that I did something to your... to your granddaughter." "I didn't do anything to your granddaughter." "I know, listen to Cookie." "Just tell them, please." "I don't believe you, so that's not gonna cut it." "Cookie, no." "Okay, look, when we broke up, I know... things got weird, but you have to understand" " I would never do anything like this." " No." "No, no, no." "When we broke up, you and your bougie-ass mama decided to wage a war on my family, and it stops today." "Look, Cookie." "Please." "Cookie." "What?" "You broke my heart." "Okay, now, I know I kind..." "I lashed out at you and Lucious, and I'm sorry, but I would never." "I mean, you know me." "I wouldn't go this far." "I wouldn't do anything to your granddaughter." "Okay, all right." "Let's talk." "I know that your mama had something to do with my granddaughter being snatched out of my arms." " So..." " No, no." "You can tell me where she is and I'll let you go." "How about that?" "I don't know where she is, I don't know. " "I swear to you, I had nothing to do with this." "I had nothing to do with this." "Please believe me..." "You know all those things your mama said about me?" " Being ghetto and hood?" " No." " I swear to you." " She was right." "Look at me." "You need to talk to your mama 'cause I know she knows where my grandbaby at." "Cookie." "Cookie, Cookie." "You're not gonna get away with this." "Watch me, bitch." "Go ahead, fellas." "I was just kidding." "I was just kidding." " Cookie, wait." " Bitch." "Wait." "Stop!" "Look, I put the squeeze on him, Lucious." "I did everything." "He didn't budge." "I honestly don't think Angelo's in on it." "Look, I promise you, we're gonna get Bella back." "Okay." "Look, there's something I need to tell you." "When Cookie Met Lucious is going to be on our stage in Vegas." "I already talked to Marcone, he agreed, it's done." "Cookie." "Look, this is what the fans want, Lucious, me and you together." "All this in-fighting we've been doing, that's how Bella slipped through the cracks." "Come on." "We need to come together, Lucious." "I don't think that's going to happen." "Lucious." "It's a win-win for the family." "You get the show in Vegas and Empire gets the casino." "What do I get?" "Because Marcone called and told me about your little conversations." "So I thought I'd fly into town and make sure Lucious and I were still on the same page." "We are." "Inferno is the Vegas deal, Cookie." "And Inferno will be the show to launch Empire Casino." "Jamal and I recorded a track this morning." "It's one that's gonna be on Inferno." "So, you're saying no to something that could bring this family together?" "You do know that, Lucious." "You know I love my family, Cookie... but I've made my choice." "I did 17 years for you." "Thank you for that, but I'll take it from here." "Hey." "I've been calling you all day." "Where's your phone?" "My family needed me." "So, When Cookie Met Lucious, that's actually happening?" "I told Cookie I'd think about it." "Okay, so then what's your plan, Dre?" "Because I know you don't expect me to just sit and watch from the audience." "You can do whatever you want." "It's between me and my family." "You and your family?" "That's right." "I thought I was family." "Your mother disrespected me." "And I thought you were strong enough to take it." "Tory Ash stole a song from me and you didn't do a damn thing about it." "Giuliana comes and she dangles Vegas in your face, and what do you do?" "You're ready to hit it." "I told you, that's how I do business." "That's how you do business." "This was never about me, was it?" "This was about you." "You needed an artist that you could control." "Somebody whose career boosted yours and you just, you choose me?" "Could've worked out for you." "It still can." "You're crazy." "Am I?" "Hold still, honey." "I'm gonna go see the police chief right after this.." "I'm so sorry." "This isn't about Cookie anymore." "I'm gonna make sure they're all in jail, every last Lyon." "No, Angelo." "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures." "Let me see." "Mama?" "Mama, what did you do?" "Meet the newest member of the Dubois family." "They ruined one of mine, so I took one of theirs." "Didn't I?" "Yes, I did." "Yes, I did." "Subtitle sync and corrections by awaqeded for"