Joe Kelly wakes to find Maria gone.

She left a letter. An explanation. A goodbye.

She's gone to face Chuck Warner—the tyrant ruling New Leesburg, the man she once married, the monster she thought she'd escaped.

Joe has a choice: stay safe at Lake Harris with his family, or follow the woman he loves into hell.

There's no choice at all.

But as Joe prepares for the most dangerous mission of his life, his past walks through the cabin door.

Paulette—his ex-wife, the mother who abandoned their children—arrives with a young survivor and a lifetime of regret. While Joe fights for his future with Maria, his past demands reconciliation.

Taylor and Jojo must face the mother who left them.

Joe must navigate emotions he thought were buried.

And all of them must prepare for what comes next.

New Leesburg is a nightmare.

Chuck Warner's brutality has created something dark—a town ruled by fear where the strong prey on the weak and questioning him means disappearing.

To save Maria, Joe's group will have to infiltrate Chuck's stronghold, turn his own people against him, and confront the man directly.

But facing Chuck means more than a fight.

It means Joe has to make a choice he's made before. A choice that saved his family but cost him sleep. A choice that makes him wonder if protecting the people you love means becoming the thing you're fighting.

What separates a protector from a murderer?

When is killing justice, and when is it just killing?

How much of yourself do you lose to save others?

Joe will have to answer these questions. And the answers might destroy him.

The mission will test everything Joe believes about himself.

His leadership. His morality. His capacity for violence. His ability to come back from the edge.

And when it's over—when the dust settles and the group returns to Lake Harris—they'll discover that defeating a monster doesn't end his legacy.

Some victories come with costs you never saw coming.

Some consequences last longer than the battle.