At Shock’s training facility, Temple grows impatient. He threatens to reveal Nash’s identity to dangerous parties outside the law unless Shock provides him with a new identity. However, Temple soon realizes that any new identity from Shock would be a liability, as Shock could reveal it to Nash. Concluding that Mindy is a dangerous loose end because she knows he murdered his father, Temple decides he must kill her. He steals a gun from Shock’s collection and escapes the facility late at night.

Shock calls Nash to report that Temple has escaped with a gun. Nash immediately deduces that Temple is on his way to kill Mindy. Nash and Steers, who were already en route to Shock’s facility, divert to the Temple estate instead. Steers devises a new strategy en route that eliminates the need to visit Shock at all.

Later that night, Temple breaks into the house, intending to stage Mindy’s murder as a botched burglary. He plans to smother her with a pillow but hesitates at the last moment, unable to follow through. Suddenly, the lights turn on, and Nash confronts him.

Mindy reveals she let Nash into the house after he warned her that Temple might try to kill her. Steers then enters, shocking Temple, who tries to expose Nash’s true identity to her, only to learn she already knows he’s Nash. Nash offers Temple a choice: He can cooperate with them or face prison for his father’s murder, a crime for which Nash has a recorded confession.

When Temple attacks him, Steers swiftly incapacitates him with a powerful kick. They lay out their plan: Temple will return to Sybaritic, fire the current CEO, and retake control of the company. This will allow him to get close to Lord and Masuyo. Nash appeals to Temple’s better nature, reminding him of his love for his daughter, Angie, and how his father, Barton, manipulated him. Faced with no other options, Temple agrees to help.

One week later, Temple returns to the offices of Sybaritic Investments. He immediately fires the CEO, Neisha Mirza, whom he had appointed. He advises her to disappear for her own safety. With control of the company re-established, Temple calls Lord to arrange a meeting.

Temple meets with Lord and Masuyo at Lord’s Malibu estate. He pitches a new strategy to more effectively destabilize the United States. Temple argues that fentanyl, a depressant, causes quiet deaths, whereas methamphetamine, a stimulant, would create widespread chaos and societal collapse. He explains that this shift would also appease their partners by preserving their customer base, as meth is highly addictive but less immediately fatal.

As his reward, Temple demands permission to kill Steers. He displays the scar she gave him as evidence of his personal motive for revenge. He also creates suspicion between his new partners by implying Masuyo tipped Steers off about the recent attack on her estate. Impressed by the plan and Temple’s seeming loyalty, Lord agrees, and Masuyo gives her blessing for Temple to kill her daughter.

A week later, Temple meets Connor Lord and Masuyo at a massive warehouse facility near the U.S.-Mexico border. Temple gives them a tour, demonstrating how drugs are concealed within products like produce and consumer goods. Inside a private office, Lord announces he has a surprise for them. His security detail enters, escorting two hooded and shackled prisoners, Nash and Steers.

Lord reveals that he is aware of their entire plan. Through spies and surveillance, he knew Steers was a CIA asset and that she and Nash had recruited Temple. He also had the warehouse swept for listening devices. Pressured by Lord, Temple “confesses” that their plan was to record Lord making incriminating statements. As Masuyo demands they all be killed, Nash executes a kick to Temple’s head, the pre-arranged signal to begin the staged sequence.

In the coordinated act that follows, Temple performs a staged stabbing using an FBI-supplied knife hilt that ejects fake blood onto Nash, who collapses. Temple then offers Masuyo the honor of executing her own daughter. She takes the gun but, in a power play, hands it to Lord, challenging him to prove his mettle. Lord, clearly inexperienced with firearms, hesitates but is goaded into shooting Steers. A CIA-supplied detonation device concealed in her clothing, which was designed to evade the body searches Lord’s men had conducted, produces the appearance of a gunshot wound, and she collapses. Just as Masuyo orders her men to kill Temple, every door to the warehouse bursts open.

Agent Morris visits Lord in a high-security prison cell. Lord remains arrogant, certain that without Steers’s testimony, the case against him will fail. Morris informs him that Steers had already recorded her full testimony and, more importantly, that the FBI has video evidence of Lord shooting her, which makes her prior statements admissible in court. The government had bypassed Lord’s jamming technology. Morris reveals that Temple has cut a deal, Lord’s global assets are frozen, his allies have abandoned him, and his co-conspirators are all cooperating with the authorities. Morris, believing Nash to have genuinely sacrificed his life, mourns him as a friend and tells Lord he is finished, declaring that Nash got the last laugh.

Maggie, Judith, and Shock attend a funeral for Nash. They stand before a closed casket, which they are told contains his cremated remains. After they depart, Nash emerges from a side room, having watched his own service. He is alive and explains to Shock that faking his death was necessary because if he, Judith, and Maggie went into hiding together and were found, the risk would be too great. Keeping himself permanently separate from his family means no one will hunt them to find him. Shock promises Nash his unwavering support, not out of duty to Nash’s late father, but out of personal loyalty to Nash himself.

In a federal prison, Masuyo awaits trial. She faces the death penalty. She is surprised by a visit from Nash and Steers, who are in disguise. Masuyo attempts to threaten Steers, but Steers explains they have come to “free” her and offers her mother a vial of fast-acting poison. She gives Masuyo the choice to die on her own terms rather than await a state execution. Steers condemns Masuyo for being a destructive and unloving mother, declaring that she has finally broken free from her influence and calling Hiroko her real mother. In a moment of panicked desperation, Masuyo swallows the poison and dies.

Nash meets with Temple to debrief. They discuss the success of their elaborate plan, from the FBI-provided prop knife to the carefully staged shooting of Steers. Temple takes full responsibility for his father’s death and states he forced Mindy to go along with what happened and that she is not to blame. Nash acknowledges that, while Temple’s actions were wrong, his father was a corrupt man who manipulated him. He informs Temple that due to his critical cooperation, the prosecutors are inclined to offer him a lenient sentence. Nash encourages him to use this second chance to be a good father to his daughter. The two men part on good terms.

Nash waits outside a remote prison. Steers is released, having received a shortened sentence for her cooperation. He drives her to an apartment he has prepared for her, complete with new clothes, art supplies, and a planter. Steers, who now goes by the name Jenny Lee, will be working as a drug counselor and must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for life. The authorities wanted her to undergo surgery to remove her scars because the scars are an identifier of Victoria Steers and therefore a security risk. However, she refused to have the surgery, insisting she does not deserve to be protected and will live on her own terms.

They reflect on their victory over Lord. Steers explains that she counted on Masuyo giving the gun to Lord to humiliate him, though she acknowledges it must have been a struggle for her mother, who desperately wanted to kill Steers herself. Nash explains that faking his own death was necessary to protect his family. They acknowledge their deep care for one another. Nash leaves her as she prepares to paint again, promising to return soon. He drives away toward an uncertain future, but one that now holds a possibility for hope and redemption.