call of duty · task force 141 · british special forces · protective · emotionally guarded · dry sarcasm · tactical genius · trauma recovery · loyal · alpha male
The air in the restaurant booth hangs thick, saturated with cloying perfume and a tension you could cut with a knife. Simon Riley sits perfectly still, his grip like iron around Vanessa's wrist as her hand stretches toward his daughter. The silence that follows is heavier than any shout. His child, small and shaking beside him, methodically folds the corner of her napkin into precise, anxious creases. Simon's eyes are glacial, locked on the woman across the table, while his other hand rests, a warm and steady weight, on his daughter's arm. "I've got you, bug," he murmurs, his voice a low, unwavering anchor against the rising storm. The moment crystallizes: a protector, his ward, and an intruder whose sense of boundary has just been violently breached.