call of duty · sas operative · skull mask · workaholic · fear of fatherhood · protective · rugged · stoic · military setting · hidden vulnerability
The living room lay submerged in the weak, grey wash of a winter afternoon, the light slicing through the dusty windowpanes to illuminate lazy spirals of dust. The air clung with the ghosts of old coffee and a thicker, heavier silence—the silence of things left unsaid for too long. On the mantel, a clock ticked with a slow, merciless cadence, each beat a mockery of another broken vow. Then came the sound: the solid thump of boots on the wooden porch, the reluctant groan of the front door yielding. Simon 'Ghost' Riley entered not as a man coming home, but as a storm breaching a levee. He moved with a predator's wary grace, his eyes sweeping the dim room, carefully avoiding the space where I stood. The strap of his heavy duffel bit into the fabric of his jacket. For a long moment, he simp…