The ruthless cartel swore to make an example, one so grotesque it would burn across every screen in America. Videos of unspeakable cruelty and torture refined into an art of horror-they were eager to inflict scars not just on their enemies, but on the soul of a nation.

The feverish confidence spreading through the compound was almost tangible, a dark force-feeding on itself. Their belief in their own untouchable power was as infectious as it was dangerous-and it would soon become their undoing.