Chapter 1 TEN MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

"I'm not paying for a mural that mocks everything I've built."

His voice was sharp and clean like a scalpel. Controlled. Cold. And utterly infuriating.

Avery dropped her brush, letting it clatter to the floor. The sound echoed in the too-perfect lobby like a scream no one dared to acknowledge.

"Maybe if what you built wasn't so hollow," she replied, tilting her chin just enough to show she wasn't intimidated. "You wouldn't be so bothered by some paint."

Chase Turner. The Machine. The man who owned half of Manhattan, the world's leading anti-aging tech empire, and apparently, a sense of humor so thin it snapped under the weight of truth. He stood there in his tailored black suit like he belonged to a different species. Impeccable. Untouchable. Immortal at least, that was the goal, wasn't it?

He stared at the mural. Her mural. Shadowy faceless men in suits tearing apart golden clocks with manicured hands. Time bleeding out in thick streaks of red and gold.

"I want you out of this building in ten minutes," he said, voice like the tick of a clock about to strike midnight.

Avery's heart pounded in her chest, but she forced a laugh. "Firing the help, huh? Classy."

He didn't flinch. Just turned and walked away, like she was already erased from his day.

Whatever.

She scooped up her supplies, heart still racing with adrenaline. She didn't regret the mural. Not for a second. She'd painted the truth, and if it rattled the king in his tower, good. Someone needed to.

But just as the elevator doors began to slide open behind him-

Everything blinked.

Not like the power went out. Not like the lights flickered.

No. Time blinked. Like someone hit a reset button on the world.

Avery's knees went weak. Her hands pressed to the wall. The mural-

Gone.

Her jaw dropped. The wall was blank. Pristine.

Like she hadn't painted a damn thing.

Like she hadn't been there at all.

"Cole!" a voice barked from behind her.

She turned sharply. Same room. Same man. Same goddamn suit.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chase's eyes narrowed, and this time, confusion mixed with the usual condescension. "Why are you just standing there? Get to work."

She blinked.

No. No way.

This isn't happening.

"I-" Her lips parted, then snapped shut. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.

He walked right past her. Didn't even seem to remember that he'd fired her.

Didn't remember the fight.

Didn't remember the mural.

What the hell is going on?

Chase slammed his office door and leaned against it, breathing heavily. The migraine behind his eyes had gotten worse. Third time this day was repeated. Third time he'd watched Avery Cole drop that damn brush and throw his empire in his face.

But it wasn't just déjà vu. He knew. He remembered.

She didn't.

And somehow, she was the only constant in the chaos. The only variable he couldn't predict. The mural changed, the sky shifted, even the data in the Time Resonator logs reset. But not her. Not the fire in her eyes. Not the punch of her voice in his ears.

He'd built TempoTech to defeat time. Built it on the promise that no one would lose a parent like he did. That no one else would have to feel that empty chair, that silence. He'd almost succeeded.

And now?

Now time was laughing in his face.

And Avery Cole guerrilla artist, chaos personified, was at the center of the storm.

He stared at the wall of analog clocks behind his desk. Dozens of them. All ticking. None in sync. His father's obsession. His inheritance. His curse.

Avery's laugh echoed in his memory. The way she stood there like she knew him even when she didn't. The way she stripped his empire bare with her brush strokes and that mouth.

And god help him... the way she made him feel something other than sterile ambition.

He pressed the intercom. "Don't let her leave."

There was a pause.

"Sir?"

"Avery Cole. Keep her in the building."

This time, he'd try something different.

This time, he'd find a way to stop the loop.

And maybe just maybe he'd find out why the universe kept resetting to the exact moment he let her go.