She Died Thirteen Times

Stage 1: Mara Vale is only a courier, but the Precrime Network has branded her the mastermind of the city's next massacre. During her transfer, a wanted assassin named Eli Rook tears her out of custody. Then he shows her the contract. Her encrypted signature ordered the mayor's death. Mara has no memory of signing it. Before she can demand answers, a combat drone fires. She dies in Eli's arms, and the clock snaps back twelve minutes. Stage 2: Every death resets the same twelve minutes, but each reset permanently erases one piece of Mara's life. Eli claims she once hired him, trusted him, and hid a lethal identity from the entire city. Forced into an alliance, they race toward a planned blackout while Cyrus Quinn turns public fear into a weapon. The closer Mara gets to the truth, the more Eli treats her like someone he has already lost. Stage 3: The citywide memory overwrite is minutes away. Mara must choose between shutting down the system and destroying what remains of her identity, or trusting the assassin whose gun may be the only thing keeping her alive.