Let the person depending on you hear bad news from you first.

Hearing it from someone else adds an injury to the injury. When a decision affects a person directly, finding out through a colleague, a group message or an overheard remark tells them they were not important enough to be told, which often hurts longer than the news itself. Who delivers it becomes part of what it means.

If you have something difficult to say, say it before it can travel. Go to them first, in person if you can, and accept the discomfort of being the one who brings it. The conversation is unpleasant either way, and only one version leaves the relationship intact.