The War Within《A Tiger Shroff Fanfiction》

19: The Butterfly Effect

[A/N] WARNING!!! This chapter includes mentions of violence and death.

Khalid followed Jiya's phone location to an abandoned factory outside the city with guilt eating him from the inside, he had to leave Kabir by his own at the safe house so he could reach out to her. Her cry on the phone still echoing in his head.

Arriving at his destination, he pulled his gun and prepared himself for the worst. Devak must have known about her interaction with him at the hotel, so he decided to take the chance and make both of them paying for their actions.

He would never let that happen.

Jiya was innocent, she wasn't a part of any of Devak's schemes but he forced her to be. Her only fault was that she was attached to him, something that he should have never allow. For someone like him, emotional connections equaled risking lives, living a life like his meant being distant and isolated for the sake of protecting the ones he cared about.

Khalid's heart leaped when he heard Jiya's voice calling him. Turning around, he saw the petite woman standing rigid a few meters away from his spot, shaking like a leaf as tears painted small rivulets on her cheeks.

"Jiya! Are you alright?" he demanded, lowering the gun a bit despite getting the shady sense that something was off. He expected her to run into his arms or at least respond to his call, but she only stared back at him with glazed eyes and trembling lips. The daunting quietness around them added to his dread.

"What's wrong, Jiya?" he questioned, resisting the urge to walk up and collect her in his arms, telling her that she shouldn't be afraid anymore because he was here. Yet, his feet turned to blocks of stone.

"I'm sorry," she wept, her voice barely audible as more tears coming down her pale face. At that moment, Khalid's brain finally processed the real situation.

She wasn't kidnapped.

The screaming voice in the back of his brain prevented him from hearing the bullet going off behind him, but he certainly felt it piercing its way through his flesh, leaving him stunned and wordless when his knees hit the ground.

All the noises around him went silent except for the shrilling scream that came out from Jiya's throat. His mind idly wondered why was he always betrayed by the ones closest to him? Was it his mistake because he easily trusted people? Or was it because he was an idiot who was driven by his heart rather than his brain?

"I'm sorry, Ronnie," Jiya sobbed as a guard grabbed her by the arms, "he threatened to kill me, I'm sorry!"

Khalid couldn't form words, the air burned his lungs as it went in and out in an irregular fashion, but there was one question trying to make its way out of his mouth.