Deputy Ben Carter didn't ask for the badge. He took it because someone had to stand between Bitter Ridge and the kind of men who rode in after dark with no names and no mercy. When a string of killings cuts through the territory-quiet, deliberate, and without a single witness left breathing-Carter knows this isn't the work of drifters or fools. This is something planned. Something patient. And it's coming closer. With the town on edge and the sheriff nowhere to be found, Carter rides alone into a stretch of country where the law doesn't reach and the truth doesn't come easy. Every mile brings him nearer to the men responsible-and to a reckoning that won't leave much standing when it's done. Because out here, a badge doesn't make a man safe. It just tells everyone who to shoot first.
