Marcus stepped through the temporal rift and found himself in a city he had tried to forget. The streets were the same. The buildings were the same. The people were the same. But everything felt different now. He was not the man who had lived here. He was something else. A ghost. A guardian. A prisoner of his own making.He stood outside the apartment where young Marcus lived. Through the window, he could see himself. Younger. Softer. Unmarked by the years of suffering that would shape him. The sight made Marcus's chest tighten. He was about to destroy that young man's life. Again.Victor Blackwood's car pulled up across the street. Marcus watched his old enemy step out, young and arrogant and cruel. Victor was here to attack Sophia. To start the chain of events that would send Marcus to prison.Marcus had to let it happen.He moved to a shadowed alley, invisible to the past, and waited. The attack came quickly. Victor's men dragged Sophia from her home. Young Marcus heard her screams