Chapter 158 Last Goodbyes
Chapter 158 Last Goodbyes
Third Person POV
The ringing pulled Melissa from sleep.
It was distant at first. Then it got louder and more insistent.
She fumbled for her phone on the nightstand. Squinted at the screen with blurry eyes.
3:47 AM.
Gavin’s name glowed in the darkness.
Her heart lurched. Nothing good ever came from 3 AM phone calls.
She answered. “Hello?”
“Melissa.” His voice was tight. “Get dressed. We need to see your mom.”
She sat up immediately. Panic flooding through her system.
“Is something wrong?”
A pause. Too long.
“Just get dressed. I’m outside.”
The line went dead.
Melissa stared at the phone for a moment. Then scrambled out of bed.
She dressed quickly in the dark. Jeans. Sweater. Her cast made everything awkward but she managed.
Aria appeared in the doorway. Half-asleep. Confused.
“Mel? What’s happening?”
“It’s my mom. Something’s wrong. I have to…”
“Go.” Aria was immediately alert. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“No. Stay. Sleep. I’ll text you.”
Melissa grabbed her jacket and shoved her feet into shoes.
Ran out the door.
Gavin was leaning against a black car at the curb. He straightened when he saw her.
Even in the dim streetlight, she could see his face was grave.
“What happened?” she asked as she reached him. “Is she…”
“Get in. I’ll explain on the way.”
They climbed into the back seat. The driver pulled away immediately.
Melissa turned to Gavin. Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it.
“Gavin. What’s wrong?”
He took her good hand and heldit gently.
“Your mother is sick, Melissa. Very sick. She’s been sick for a long time.”
The words didn’t make sense. “What do you mean sick?”
“She has stage four pancreatic cancer. None of us knew.”
The world tilted.
“What? No. That’s…she would have told me. She would have…”
“She didn’t want you to know…” Gavin’s jaw clenched.
Melissa couldn’t breathe. “How long?”
“The doctors say… hours. Maybe less.”
Hours.
Her mother was dying.
Had been dying this whole time.And Melissa hadn’t known.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Her voice was rising. “Why didn’t you…”
“I just found out myself. …” He looked away. “ I got called an hour ago.”
The car was moving through empty streets. Heading toward the hospital.
Melissa felt numb. Disconnected from her body.
Her mother was dying.
Dying.
“I haven’t spoken to her since…” Melissa’s voice broke. “Since before the compound. I was so angry. I just… I couldn’t…”
“I know.”
“And now she’s…”
“I know.”
Melissa started crying. Silent tears streaming down her face.
Gavin pulled her against his chest. Held her as the car drove through the night.
The hospital was quiet at this hour.
A nurse met them at the entrance. Led them through corridors that smelled like antiseptic and death.
They stopped at a door. Room 347.
“She’s very weak,” the nurse warned. “The cancer has spread everywhere. She’s on heavy pain medication. She might not be… fully coherent.”
Melissa nodded, she could not speak.
The nurse opened the door.
The room was dim. Machines beeped softly. An IV stand stood beside the bed.
And in the bed, so small she barely made a shape under the blankets, was Diana.
Melissa’s breath caught.
This wasn’t the woman she remembered. The elegant, put-together mother who’d always worn pearls and perfect makeup.
This was a skeleton. Gray skin stretched over bones. Hollow cheeks. Sunken eyes. Hair mostly gone…probably from chemotherapy.
Dying.
Actually, visibly dying.
“Mom?” Melissa whispered.
Diana’s eyes opened. Struggled to focus.
“Melissa?” Her voice was paper-thin. Barely audible. “You… you came.”
Melissa crossed to the bed. Sat in the chair beside it. Took her mother’s hand.
It was so light. Like holding a bird.
“I’m here, Mom.”
Diana’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, baby. For everything.”
“Mom…”
“No. Let me…” Diana coughed. Winced. “Let me say it. While I can.”
Melissa nodded. Tears streamed down her face.
“I destroyed everything,” Diana continued. Each word seemed to cost her. “Your father. Our family. You. I was so angry. So focused on revenge. I didn’t see what it was doing. What I was becoming.”
“You were grieving,” Melissa said. “You lost Dad. You were…”
“I was selfish.” Diana’s grip tightened weakly. “I used you. Put you in danger. All to hurt a man who was already suffering.”
She looked past Melissa. At Gavin standing in the doorway.
“You loved her,” Diana said to him. “Didn’t you?”
Gavin nodded. “Yes.”
“I should have seen that. Should have…” Diana coughed again. More violently this time. Blood appeared on her lips.
The machines started beeping faster.
“Mom, save your strength. Don’t…”
“I’m dying, sweetheart. Strength doesn’t matter anymore.” Diana’s eyes found Melissa’s again. “I need you to know… I loved you. Even when I was destroying everything. Even when I made terrible choices. I loved you.”
“I know. I know, Mom.”
“And your father… he loved you so much. That day… the day he died…” Diana’s breathing was getting more labored. “His last words. He told me to tell you… he was proud of you. That you were his sunshine.”
Melissa was sobbing now. “Mom, please…”
“The cancer. I found out right after I approached Gavin. Right after I started planning.” Diana’s laugh was bitter. Wet. “Punishment. I thought it was punishment. For what I was going to do.”
“It’s not punishment. It’s just…it’s just terrible luck. Terrible timing.”
“Maybe.” Diana’s eyes were closing. “Maybe not. Either way… I deserve it. For what I did to you.”
“No, Mom. You don’t deserve this. No one deserves this.”
Diana’s hand went limp in Melissa’s grip.
The machines beeped louder. More urgently.
“Mom? MOM?”
A nurse rushed in. Checked the monitors.
“She’s still here. Just weak. The morphine is…”
Diana’s eyes opened one more time. Found Melissa.
“Forgive me,” she whispered. “Please. I need… I need to hear you say it.”
Melissa looked at her mother. At the woman who’d raised her and loved her in her own broken way.
At the woman who was dying.
And she realized…holding onto anger now would only poison herself.
Diana was already paying the ultimate price.
Forgiveness wasn’t for her mother.
It was for herself.
“I forgive you,” Melissa said. Her voice was shaking but clear. “Mom, I forgive you. For all of it.”
Diana’s face crumpled. Relief washing over her features.
“Thank you,” she breathed. “Thank you, baby. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
Diana’s eyes found Gavin again. “Take care of her. Please. She’s all I ever did right.”
“I will,” Gavin said. “I promise.”
Diana smiled. Small. Peaceful.
“Good.”
Her eyes closed.
The machines beeped steadily for a moment.
Then the beeps started slowing.
Spreading farther apart.
Melissa gripped her mother’s hand tighter. “Mom? Stay with me. Please stay.”
“I’m tired, sweetheart,” Diana whispered without opening her eyes. “So tired. And your father… I can almost see him. He’s calling me.”
“Not yet. Please, not yet.”
“It’s okay. It’s time.” Diana’s breath rattled. “Be happy, Melissa. Be happy for both of us.”
The beeps slowed more.
Farther apart now.
Melissa was crying so hard she could barely breathe. “I’m not ready. I’m not ready to say goodbye.”
“You don’t have to say goodbye,” Diana said. Her voice was fading. Getting distant. “Just… let me go.”
One more breath.
Then another.
Then…
Nothing.
The machines flatlined. A long, continuous tone.
Diana Hayes was gone.
“No,” Melissa sobbed. “No, no, no, Mom, please…”
The nurse gently pulled her back. “I’m sorry. She’s gone.”
Melissa collapsed into Gavin’s arms. He’d moved forward the moment the machines flatlined.
Caught her.
Held her while she screamed and cried and broke apart.
Her mother was dead.
She Would always love her.
Gavin carried her out of the room. Into the hallway. Found a quiet corner and just held her.
Let her cry until there were no tears left.
Until she was just shaking in his arms. Until she was empty and hollowed out.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her hair. “I’m so sorry, piccola.”
Melissa couldn’t respond. Could barely breathe.
Her mother was gone.
And she’d never get to have the conversations she needed. Never get to rebuild what had been broken.
Gone.
Just… gone.
Outside, the sun was starting to rise.
A new day was beginning.
But for Melissa, something had ended.
The last connection to her old life. The last piece of who she’d been before Gavin. Before the families. Before everything.
Her mother.
Gone forever.
And all Melissa could do was hold onto Gavin and cry.