CHAPTER 21 #3
"She’s gone, Miley... she’s gone," Kelly cried out, her voice breaking completely as she buried her face against my neck, her hands clutching the back of my blazer.
"Malik... he didn't even hesitate, real talk.
He put one in her leg to drop her... and then he put two straight into her chest while she was on the pavement.
She died right there on the sidewalk, Miley. She died in our arms."
"Fuck! He didn't... no, he didn't!" I spat, a sudden, towering wave of pure, unadulterated fury burning through my grief, my jaw clenching so hard it ached. "That cowardly piece of shit! I’ll kill him! I swear to god I’ll find him myself and tear his fucking throat out—"
"Excuse me? Oh my god... are you Helisa?"
The sudden, jarring voice shattered the sanctity of our grief like a rock through a window.
I blinked through my tears, looking over Gabriel’s shoulder, and my jaw dropped in absolute, disgusted disbelief.
A young medical resident in blue scrubs, along with two visitors who had been sitting further down the hall, had noticed the commotion.
But they weren't looking at the blood on Gabriel’s hands.
They weren't looking at the three broken black kids crying their eyes out.
They were staring directly at Helisa.
Within seconds, a small, surreal crowd began to form in the intensive care hallway.
Cell phones were pulled out, the lenses clicking as people began taking pictures, whispers bouncing off the sterile walls.
'Is that really her?' 'The tech billionaire?
' 'What is she doing here?' A young woman actually stepped forward, a pen and a stray piece of medical scrap paper in her hand, her face split into an eager, starstruck grin.
"Ms. Helisa? I’m such a huge fan of your green tech initiative...
could I please get a quick autograph? It would mean the world to my daughter—"
For a fraction of a second, the sheer, twisted irony of the moment paralyzed me.
I had completely forgotten how famous Helisa actually was.
She wasn't just my boss; she was a global icon.
And here I was, my entire world laying murdered in a cold room down the hall, crying my eyes out with my best friends, and these mindless, tone-deaf strangers were crowding her for a fucking selfie.
It felt sick. It felt like a dystopian nightmare.
"Back off! Every single one of you, back off right now!
" Ciara barked, her voice snapping through the hallway like a whip as she stepped in front of Helisa, her sharp eyes flashing with a dangerous glare that made the woman with the paper instantly shrink back.
"Have you lost your minds? This is a hospital!
There is a tragedy occurring here. Put those phones away before I have hospital security confiscate them and have you removed from the premises! "
Helisa’s face hardened into a mask of pure, regal fury.
She didn't offer a single smile. She ignored the outstretched hands, her eyes locking onto a senior physician who had just stepped out of a pair of double doors at the end of the hall, an official badge reading DR. WILLIS pinned to his white coat.
"Doctor," Helisa called out, her voice carrying an icy weight that immediately cleared the remaining fans from her path. "Clear this hallway. Now. We are here for Terra Gordon, and we require absolute privacy."
Dr. Willis took one look at Helisa, then at the cameras, and his expression instantly turned serious.
He turned to two nearby security guards.
"Clear the floor. No unauthorized personnel in this corridor.
Now." He turned back to us, his gaze shifting to my swollen, tear-stained face. "Are you Miley? The family?"
"Yeah," I choked out, the anger draining away, leaving only the hollow, aching emptiness. "I need to see her. Please. I need to see her."
"Follow me," Dr. Willis said softly. "The viewing room is ready."
***
The double doors swung shut behind us, instantly sealing out the muted whispers and the clicking cameras of the public hallway.
We moved down a long, narrow corridor where the temperature dropped significantly, the air turning into an icy, sterile chill that made the hairs on my bare arms stand up.
The silence here was absolute, heavy with the permanent weight of departure.
Dr. Willis led us into a small, square room made of white brick and stainless steel.
It was cold as fuck—so cold that my breath formed a faint, ghostly mist in front of my face.
In the exact center of the room sat a long, silver gurney, and resting upon it was a shape.
A long, motionless form completely covered by a heavy, stark white sheet.
My heart began to thump against my ribs like a trapped bird, a heavy, agonizing rhythm that made me feel physically sick. I stopped dead in my tracks, my boots freezing against the linoleum.
"You're all ready?" Dr. Willis asked softly, his hand resting gently on the top edge of the white sheet, his eyes looking at me with a solemn, professional pity.
Helisa stepped up beside me, her hand resting firmly against the small of my back, offering her strength. She looked at the doctor and gave a slow, somber nod. "Please. Go ahead."
With a slow, practiced movement, Dr. Willis drew down the sheet.
The universe fractured.
There she was.
Terra.
The vibrant, beautiful girl who had been teasing me about my expensive trousers just twenty-four hours ago was completely gone.
Her skin, usually so rich, warm, and full of life, had turned into a pale, ash-tinted gray under the harsh fluorescent lights.
Her lips were slightly parted, frozen into a silent, peaceful stillness, completely stripped of that sarcastic, loving smirk I had grown addicted to.
The sheet was pulled down just enough to expose her torso—revealing the horrific, jagged reality of the two dark, stitched entry wounds right over her chest, and the brutal laceration on her leg where Malik’s first bullet had dropped her to the concrete.
"Oh, god... Terra..." A violent, choking sob tore from my throat, my legs completely giving out beneath me.
Before I could hit the steel floor, Ciara caught me from the left, her powerful grip lifting me up, while Gabriel stepped forward from the right, wrapping his arms around my waist as the two of us broke down into a synchronized, echoing weep over her lifeless body.
I buried my face against Gabriel’s shoulder, the smell of Terra's blood still lingering on his clothes, mixing with the icy air of the morgue.
"The entry wounds to the chest caused massive internal hemorrhaging," Dr. Willis explained softly, his voice echoing flatly against the steel walls.
"The paramedics attempted advanced cardiac life support for twenty minutes in transport, but the trauma to the pulmonary artery was too severe.
She didn't suffer long, Miley. She passed within minutes of the impact. "
"She talked about you, Miley," Gabriel whispered into my ear, his voice trembling as his tears soaked into my braids.
"Right before she passed... right there on the concrete, she looked up at the sky and she whispered your name.
She said, 'I love you, Miley. Sorry I couldn't be here with you. ' Those were her last words."
Hearing that final, beautiful message from her dying lips completely broke the remaining pieces of my soul.
I pushed past Gabriel and stepped toward the silver table, my trembling fingers reaching out to touch her cheek.
Her skin was freezing—cold as ice, stiff, and utterly devoid of the warmth that had anchored me in my apartment.
I leaned down, pressing my lips gently against her pale forehead, letting my hot tears spill over her cold face.
"I love you too, baby," I whispered against her skin, my voice a broken, desperate promise. "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry I wasn't there..."
After a long, agonizing ten minutes, Helisa gently stepped forward, her hands resting on my shoulders as she softly ushered me out of the room, leaving the doctor to pull the white sheet back over the face of my future.
We walked out into a private, secluded waiting area that Ciara had cleared through hospital administration.
I collapsed into a vinyl chair, my arms wrapped tightly around my stomach as I stared blankly at the floor, the world completely devoid of color.
Kelly and Gabriel sat beside me, their hands locked in mine, the three of us forming a small fortress of survival.
Helisa walked over, kneeling down directly in front of my chair so she was looking up into my eyes. She took my cold hands in hers, her gaze burning with an intense, unyielding resolve.
"Listen to me, Miley," Helisa said, her voice dropping into a register of pure, untouchable power.
"You are not alone in this. E-Tech is your family now.
I am going to personally handle every single detail of the funerary arrangements.
You won't pay a single penny, and her family won't have to worry about a thing.
Do you hear me? We are going to give her a beautiful, dignified departure. "
"Thank you, Helisa," I whispered, a fresh wave of tears hitting my eyes. "But... that won't bring her back. The apartment... it’s gonna be so lifeless without her. I don't even think I can walk through that door again."
"You aren't going back there," a heavy voice interrupted.
We looked up to see a tall black man in a dark blue police uniform walking into the waiting area, his badge gleaming under the lights. His name tag read OFFICER JENKINS. His face was hardened, serious, but his eyes carried a deep respect as he looked at Helisa before turning to Kelly and Gabriel.