Something has shifted in this room forever.
And Iknow... I’ve reached the end of Aadya.
FORTY-FOUR
Advik
Why?
Whywasn’t I shaking like every other time? When the muffled sounds through ear protectors caused the slight racing of my heart. It always did when I started polishing my shooting skills at the gun range for months.
Why wasn’t it racingnow?
Why was my hand still aiming my gun at where Mehul stood? Smug, arrogant. He isn’t there anymore.
And why—oh whywere my fingers numbing over the trigger after decorating Mehul’s head with a hole?
The next few seconds—maybe minutes—are eerily quiet. After the rapid pops of guns going off, there was an abrupt silence. But I had only shotonce.
Wait. Am I shot again? Am I in shock?
I wait for the pain to arrive like last time, but it doesn’t. I wait for my breath to stall, itfucking doesn’t.
But whatdoeshappen is the drop of my gaze from the unfocused point to where Dev is sitting.
His entire frame slumped down, chin resting on his chest. An unhurried stream of inky liquid coursing down his temple to his blue shirt. The shirt has started to darken near the collar.
A few seconds—and the blackness of it travels downfurther. The stillness of his form sends a cold shiver through my body.
Air finally manages to enter my lungs, and with it, the blur in my vision starts to fade.
It’s notblackness. It’s...blood.
The trembles ultimately come, starting at my fingers, spreading through my chest. They reach my knees and I expect my body to collapse forward.
But a stiff warmth catches me before. Making mesinkinstead offall.
I hear it then. The soft murmurs of the woman I love. She’s alive.
I didn’t check. I didn’t... Icouldn’t...
Whydidn’t I check? What was I doing?
Then I remember. I took a life but the lifeless one is... Dev. Why is itDev?
“Look at me, Vik.” I hear her gentle voice again. One hand cupping my cheek. The other coaxing my gun of my deathly grip. “Please, baby.Look at me.”
I obey. On both counts. I let go of my weapon. Myace.
And stare into her beautiful, terrified eyes. The ones that are rapidly filling with tears.
It must be true then. We’re sharing the same reality. That the man next to us is Dev. But he’s notDev, is it? Dev’s gone. It’s just a corpse of a man who left his wife and children behind.
My brain isn’t able to process anything other than that.
It’s a strained, train wreck of a singular thought. He’s gone. He’sfuckinggone.
“You... you’re going into shock.” Her eyes widen with panic. My head turns toward Dev again, but she pulls me back. “Hey—hey! Look at me. Just keep...fuck!Keep looking at me, okay?”
