The city was dark.
Not partially.
Not flickering.
Dark.
The blackout had swallowed entire districts, and the industrial sector looked like the edge of the world — silent smokestacks cutting into a starless sky, abandoned warehouses standing like hollowed bones.
Cassian drove.
No driver.
No security convoy.
Just us.
His silence was deliberate.
Controlled.
But I could feel something under it.
Anticipation.
He wanted confrontation.
I studied his profile in the dim dashboard light.
Sharp jaw.
Steady breathing.
No hesitation.
"You know who it is," I said quietly.
"Yes."
My pulse skipped.
"And you didn't tell me."
"You wouldn't have come."
That was answer enough.
The abandoned power plant rose ahead — skeletal metal frames, broken glass, rusted gates hanging open like a mouth waiting to swallow us.
Cassian parked without killing the engine.
"If I say get down, you get down."
"I'm not fragile."
"No," he agreed softly. "You're central."
That word again.
We stepped out.
The air smelled like oil and cold steel.
No guards visible.
No snipers.
That was worse.
Too quiet.
We entered through the main turbine hall.
Massive generators loomed in the dark like dormant giants.
Our footsteps echoed.
And then—
The lights turned on.
Blinding white.
Rows of overhead industrial lamps flared alive simultaneously.
I flinched.
Cassian didn't.
He simply adjusted his stance slightly.
Predatory.
A slow clap echoed from the upper level balcony.
Measured.
Almost amused.
"Well," a voice drawled, "this is nostalgic."
My stomach dropped.
That voice.
No.
No.
Impossible.
A figure stepped into view.
Tall.
Dark coat.
Hands in pockets.
Messy black hair falling across his forehead.
And eyes I had once trusted more than my own.
"Adrian," I whispered.
Cassian's jaw locked.
Adrian Vale.
My brother.
Dead.
Executed three months after me in the last cycle.
Except—
He wasn't dead.
He was smiling.
"Miss me?" Adrian asked lightly.
My heart pounded violently against my ribs.
"You died."
"So did you."
The words sliced through the air.
Cassian's voice was ice.
"You shouldn't be alive."
Adrian tilted his head.
"You really thought I'd let you monopolize the apocalypse?"
Cassian didn't react outwardly.
But I felt it.
Tension tightening invisibly.
"You're the third faction," I said slowly.
Adrian gave a mock bow.
"Correct."
My mind raced.
Brother.
System architect's heir.
Financial prodigy.
Political ghost.
In the first timeline, he disappeared before my wedding.
In the second, he was arrested.
In the last—
He was executed quietly.
But what if that was wrong?
"What do you want?" I demanded.
Adrian's eyes softened briefly when they met mine.
"You alive."
That surprised me.
"And him?" I asked.
His smile sharpened.
"Unrestricted."
Silence thickened.
Cassian spoke calmly.
"You're gambling with global collapse."
Adrian shrugged.
"Global collapse is inevitable. The system only delays it."
He descended the metal staircase slowly.
Unarmed.
Confident.
That terrified me more than guns.
"You built a leash for a hurricane," Adrian continued, looking at me. "Did you really think that was sustainable?"
"I built it because without it—"
"—he burns everything," Adrian interrupted gently.
"Yes."
"And with it?" Adrian's gaze flicked to Cassian. "He stagnates."
Cassian's eyes darkened.
"You think you can control me?"
Adrian laughed softly.
"Control you? No."
He stepped closer.
"I just want to see what happens if no one does."
My stomach tightened.
"This isn't curiosity," I said. "It's revenge."
His smile faded slightly.
"For what?"
"For every timeline where I die."
His eyes flickered.
There it was.
Truth.
"You remember too," I said.
"Of course I do."
"How many resets?"
"Seven."
Seven.
My knees almost buckled.
Seven times I've died.
Seven times he's watched.
Seven times Cassian pulled the trigger.
I turned to Cassian slowly.
"You said—"
"I didn't know he retained memory," Cassian cut in sharply.
Adrian smiled faintly.
"That's because you're not the only anomaly."
The air shifted.
Unstable.
"What's your endgame?" Cassian demanded.
Adrian's eyes gleamed.
"Remove the correction window."
My pulse skipped.
"That's not possible," I whispered.
"It is," Adrian said softly. "If she survives long enough and the system destabilizes past threshold."
Cassian's gaze sharpened.
"You're accelerating destabilization."
"Yes."
The simplicity was terrifying.
The blackout.
The market freeze.
The infrastructure disruptions.
Not Cassian.
Adrian.
"You're pushing him over the limit on purpose," I realized.
"Exactly."
My breath turned shallow.
"If he crosses threshold before correction—"
"The system collapses without reset."
Cassian's voice was deadly calm.
"And you think you'll survive that collapse?"
Adrian's smile widened.
"Oh, I don't plan to."
The words hit like a hammer.
"What?" I whispered.
He looked at me.
Soft.
Almost gentle.
"You built the system because you were afraid of what grief turned him into."
"Yes."
"And I built the fracture because I'm not afraid."
My chest tightened painfully.
"You'd sacrifice the world."
"I'd sacrifice the illusion of control."
The turbine hall hummed faintly as backup generators activated somewhere deep below.
Adrian's gaze shifted to Cassian.
"You love her," he said evenly.
"Yes."
"And you would destroy everything for her."
"Yes."
"And you would kill her again if she chose the world."
Cassian didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
Adrian looked back at me.
"See? He's honest."
Rage flared through me.
"You think you're better?"
"No," Adrian said calmly. "I'm just done watching you die."
Silence fell heavy.
"I don't need you to martyr the planet," I snapped.
"I'm not martyring it," Adrian replied. "I'm freeing it."
He reached into his coat slowly.
Cassian's gun lifted instantly.
"Easy," Adrian murmured.
He pulled out a tablet.
Swiped the screen.
Behind us—
The massive turbine engines roared to life.
The entire building vibrated.
On the tablet screen—
Live data.
Grid overloads.
Military communication disruptions.
International banking panic.
He was pulling threads globally.
"You think the Ten can contain this?" Adrian asked. "They can't. Not at this scale."
My stomach dropped.
"How far have you pushed it?"
Adrian's smile faded.
"Far enough."
Cassian's voice turned deadly.
"You're miscalculating."
"No," Adrian said quietly. "You are."
And then—
The ground trembled.
Not from the turbines.
From something bigger.
My phone vibrated violently.
Emergency alert.
NATIONAL DEFENSE PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
Cassian's expression changed instantly.
Not anger.
Not calculation.
Recognition.
"They've escalated," he muttered.
I looked at Adrian.
"You wanted this."
"Yes."
Outside, distant sirens multiplied.
Helicopter blades thudded in the distance.
Military.
Adrian glanced upward casually.
"Now the Ten have to choose."
"Choose what?" I demanded.
"Whether to eliminate him…"
He nodded toward Cassian.
"…or you."
My blood ran cold.
Cassian stepped closer to me instinctively.
Protective.
Always protective.
Adrian watched it with something almost like sadness.
"You don't see it yet," he said softly to me.
"See what?"
"You're not the leash."
The words echoed.
"Then what am I?"
Adrian met my eyes fully.
"You're the ignition."
The turbine engines screamed louder.
The building lights flickered violently.
Cassian's phone buzzed.
One message.
From the silver-haired man.
"Containment failed. Execute variable immediately."
My heart stopped.
Cassian's jaw hardened.
Adrian watched him carefully.
"This is your moment," Adrian said quietly. "Prove which side you're on."
Cassian didn't look at him.
He looked at me.
The weight of it crushed my lungs.
"You have thirty seconds," Adrian added.
Outside, helicopters circled.
Sniper lasers flickered through broken windows.
This was bigger than resets now.
This was open conflict.
Cassian stepped closer.
Gun lowering slowly.
My pulse pounded violently.
"If I kill you," he said quietly, "the cycle resets."
"Yes."
"If I don't—"
"The world fractures."
Yes.
His hand trembled slightly.
Just slightly.
Seven resets.
Seven times he chose the world.
Seven times he killed me.
Adrian's voice cut through.
"This is the first time she knows."
Cassian's eyes locked onto mine.
I saw it then.
The breaking point.
Not rage.
Not hunger.
Not dominance.
Fear.
Not of losing control.
Of losing me.
I stepped closer.
Close enough to feel his breath.
"If you pull that trigger," I whispered, "you lose me forever."
His grip tightened.
"If I don't, I lose everything else."
The helicopters grew louder.
Sniper dots multiplied.
Adrian stepped back.
Watching.
Waiting.
The correction window had collapsed.
This wasn't seventy-two hours.
This wasn't forty-eight.
This was now.
I reached up slowly.
Placed my hand over the gun.
Over his hand.
And pushed it down.
"Let it burn," I whispered.
Silence.
Heavy.
Then—
Cassian lowered the weapon.
The snipers outside fired instantly.
Glass exploded inward.
Adrian moved fast.
Faster than I expected.
Shoving me to the ground as bullets tore through metal.
Cassian returned fire.
Military-grade weapons answered.
The turbine engines overloaded.
Sparks exploded overhead.
The building began to shake violently.
Adrian grabbed my wrist.
"Time to see what you built," he said over the chaos.
"What did I build?" I shouted.
He smiled wildly.
"Something worse than him."
The turbine exploded.
The power plant roof ruptured.
Fire swallowed the upper levels.
And through the collapsing steel and sparks—
I saw it.
Military drones circling.
Targeting.
Not Cassian.
Not Adrian.
Me.
The variable had changed.
I wasn't the leash.
I wasn't the sacrifice.
I was the trigger.
And someone had just decided—
To eliminate the creator.
A targeting laser locked onto my chest.
Cassian turned.
Too far.
Too late.
Adrian's grip tightened.
And for the first time—
I wondered if surviving the reset
was never the real threat.
The missile launched.
End of Chapter Four.