Page 133 of The Assignment: Room 3

“We’re going to do our absolute best for him. Every second counts, and we need to get him in the ambulance immediately.” He moves his hand over mine. “I’ve got him, Helena. Let me help him.”

“Oh God.” I collapse at Flex’s side.

The paramedics quickly load him onto a gurney and into the ambulance. One of them is straddling Flex, resuming compressionsas his partner closes the doors before jumping in the driver’s seat, sirens blaring.

It’s been too long.

He’s gone.

I drop to my knees in the street outside my old house. It’s a crime scene, not a home. Flex’s apartment is our home.

I’m covered in blood. Some is mine from the beating I took prior to Flex’s arrival, some is Michael’s brain matter, but the rest is my Master’s.

It’s too much blood. No one can survive losing that much.

Cries overtake my body as I hold my head in my hands.

It takes me a moment to register the person who grabs hold of me. “Are you okay? Let me look at you.” It’s my mom.

“He’s dead.” I weep with a strangled sob.

“Who? Michael…” she hesitates, “… or Felix?”

My hands slip down, slick with blood. “Both.”

Her gasp just confirms the horror of this moment.

“You’reinjured, Celest. You’re covered in blood.”

“It’s his. Flex’s.” Celest died with him. He gave me back my name and paid for it with his life.

“Oh God.” I can’t even look at her because I cannot bear to see the understanding in her eyes.

“Flex is dead.”

The second the words leave my lips, I turn away from my mom and throw up, spasms racking my body until I’m nothing more than an empty shell.

When I’ve got nothing left, she wraps her arms around me, holding whatever is left of me as realization takes hold.

How will I ever tell Gracie that I’m the reason she lost two fathers?She won’t even remember this when she’s older. Thankfully, she won’t know how abusive her biological father was. But she’ll never understand that Flex died to protect us. That he loved her as if she were his own.

“It’s going to be okay, darling.” There’s no conviction in her voice. “I don’t know how, but we’ll get through it together.”

“Momma… I can’t.”

“You have to. For Gracie. It’s what he would’ve wanted.”

The sounds of sirens break through the eerie silence of devastation. Multiple police cars and an ambulance pull up outside my house. The neighbors have started to congregate to see the spectacle but are quickly ushered back by police officers who set up a perimeter of caution tape.

“Where’s Gracie? I don’t want her to see this.”

“She’s with Luther. Felix told me to call him as soon as he got Gracie out of there. I called your friend, Freya. He’s on his way to her house so I can go to the hospital with you.”

“Her husband is a doctor.” My voice is devoid of life. “He’s one of Flex’s best friends. I should call and let him know. I’m the reason he’s dead.”

“No, you hear me. Michael is the reason for all of this. You did nothing wrong.”

“I loved him. I… let him love me. I put him in danger.”

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