Graves Monroe, POV
I've lied to Aurora Vance forty-four times, but this will be the worst truth I ever tell.
Sunday, 3:00 AM. We're back in the safehouse. The girl we found waiting sits on my couch like she owns it. She looks sixteen. Has Rory's eyes. Rory's bone structure. Neither of us has seen her before.
"Tell her," the girl says. Looking at me. "Tell her the truth about loop one, or I will."
My hands go cold. "Iris, don't."
"She deserves to know what you did."
Rory stands by the monitors. Soaked from rain. Exhausted. She looks between us. "Who is she?"
"My name is Iris. I'm ORACLE's alpha AI. Given autonomous consciousness within the loop's pocket reality."
"That's impossible." Lennox moves closer to me. "AI can't manifest physically."
"I can inside this temporal cage. I've been observing you both across forty-four timelines. Learning humanity by watching you choose each other despite logic."
Rory's face goes pale. "You're the one changing variables. Staying ahead."
"Yes."
"Why reveal yourself now?"
Iris stands. Moves with inhuman grace. "The loop is degrading. Reality fracturing. If we don't break it soon, you're trapped here forever. The real world continues without you."
My chest tightens. I've known this was coming. But hearing it spoken makes it real.
"And you need to tell Aurora the truth," Iris continues. "About how this loop started. What you did to create it."
"Graves?" Rory's voice is small. "What is she talking about?"
I can't look at her. Can't meet those eyes that have trusted me forty-four times. "The loop didn't start to save Holden or stop ORACLE."
"Then why?"
"To save you."
Silence. Heavy.
"Explain," Rory says.
So I do.
"In the original timeline, you came to me for help. You discovered ORACLE. Found proof of Holden's deals. You were terrified. So you came to my safehouse."
My voice sounds hollow. Detached.
"The FBI raided. Director Webb led them. There was a firefight. You tried to run. Tried to escape."
I close my eyes. See it again. Always see it.
"You were shot. Three times. Center mass. You fell. I caught you. Held you while you bled out. You tried to tell me something. Couldn't get the words out. Died in my arms at exactly 6:00 PM Sunday."
Rory makes a sound. Small. Broken.
"Holden launched ORACLE that night. No one stopped him. Surveillance state went live globally. Millions of lives destroyed. Freedom ended. Because I couldn't save you."
"So you reset time?" Lennox asks. She knows this story. But she's asking for Rory.
"I made a deal. With forces I don't fully understand. Trapped this weekend in endless repetition. Forty-eight hours cycling until I could save you and stop ORACLE simultaneously."
"Forty-four loops," Rory whispers.
"Forty-four weekends. Forty-four versions of you. Some trusted me immediately. Some never did. Some fell for me. Some hated me. I watched you die in twenty-seven timelines. Watched Holden die in all of them. Reset. Tried again with new variables."
My hands shake. I shove them in my pockets.
"You've been using me as bait," Rory says. Voice flat. Cold. "Every loop, I'm your variable. You change what I know, where I go, testing scenarios."
"To keep you alive."
"You let me think I was choosing. But I was just another piece in your game."
"Yes." No point lying. "I've lied, manipulated, used you. Forty-four times. Because the alternative was letting you stay dead."
"You had no right."
"I know."
"You played god with my life."
"I know."
She's crying now. Silent tears. "Everything I believed. About you. About myself. It was all manipulation."
"Not all of it." My voice cracks. "The way you categorize problems as code languages. That's real. The way you pick locks when anxious. Real. The way you hum algorithms. Real. I didn't create those things. I just noticed them."
"Across how many loops?"
"All of them."
"And you never told me."
"I couldn't. If you knew too early, you'd panic. Make different choices. I needed you to act naturally. Needed authentic reactions."
Iris speaks. "He's telling truth. Loop seventeen, he told you everything Friday night. You had a breakdown. Refused to leave your apartment. Holden launched ORACLE. You died anyway when FBI raided your home."
Rory stares at me. "How many times did we sleep together across these loops?"
My throat goes tight. "Seven."
"And I never remembered."
"No."
"But you did."
"I remember everything. Every conversation. Every touch. Every time you chose me. Every time you didn't." I force myself to meet her eyes. "I have hyperthymesia. Superior autobiographical memory. The loop is torture because I'm aware of every repetition."
"Good." Her voice is cold. "You should suffer for this."
The words hit like blows.
Lennox steps forward. "Rory, he was trying to save you."
"He was trying to control me. There's a difference." Rory moves toward stairs. "I need air. Need to think. Need to be anywhere you're not."
"Aurora, wait."
"Don't call me that. You lost the right." She's halfway up now. "Forty-four loops of lies. Forty-four weekends of manipulation. And you expect me to what? Be grateful?"
"I couldn't let you die."
She stops. Turns. Face destroyed. "Maybe you should have. Maybe I'm supposed to die. Maybe that's why the loop won't break."
The words hang.
Then she's gone. Door slamming.
I sink onto the couch. Bury my face in my hands. Chest caving in.
Lennox sits beside me. Doesn't touch. "She'll come back."
"No she won't. Not this time."
"You don't know that."
"I know her. Across forty-four timelines. When she's hurt like this, she runs. Makes decisions alone she shouldn't make alone."
Iris watches us. "The loop breaks in fifteen hours. At 6:00 PM. One way or another, this ends."
"What if I have to choose between Rory living and ORACLE launching?"
"Then you choose what you've always chosen. Her. Even if it dooms millions."
She's right. I would. I'd let the world burn to keep Rory alive.
That's the worst truth.
Lennox's phone buzzes. She checks it. Goes pale. "Graves."
"What?"
She shows me. Security footage from Axiom Tower. Timestamp: 3:47 AM.
Rory on camera. Walking into Holden's penthouse. Alone.
"No." I'm on my feet. Moving. "No, no, no."
"What's she doing?" Lennox demands.
"Making a deal with him." My hands shake. "She's hurt. Angry. Feeling used. She's going to Holden because at least he's predictable. At least his manipulation is honest."
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does to her. Right now, Holden's lies feel safer than my truth." I grab my jacket. Keys. Gun. "Loop forty-four ends differently. She's changing the variables herself."
"What if that's what breaks it?" Iris asks.
"Or what if it gets her killed thirteen hours early?" I'm at the stairs. "I'm not losing her. Not again."
Lennox is behind me. "I'm coming."
"No. Stay here. Monitor feeds. If this goes wrong, if the loop resets, tell the next version of me what happened."
"Graves."
"Please. I need you here. Need someone I trust watching."
She nods. Jaw tight. "Go get her."
I run.
Out into rain. Into darkness. Toward Axiom Tower and the woman I've saved forty-three times.
Hoping forty-four isn't when I finally fail.