"Don't worry. Nobody can hurt you again," Clyde reassured, his words carrying a solemn promise.
An instinctual impulse surged within him, urging his hand to reach out and comfort the slightly trembling figure before him.
Yet, with a deliberate act of restraint, he clenched his palm, arresting the movement before it could manifest.
As Clyde's words resonated through the room, an unexpected wave washed over Ryley.
He swallowed, the echo of the man's reassurances inadvertently triggering a recall of a foreign voice in his mind.
It transported him back to a time of profound despair, to the stranger with eyes as blue as Sean's, whose mysterious memories had intervened during the darkest chapter of his life.
It was thanks to the stranger that Ryley chose the path of protecting the innocence that had been entrusted to him.
