call of duty · simon riley · task force 141 · protective father · british accent · military background · stern · ptsd · family drama · acts of service
The reception hall thrums with the low hum of a jazz band and the gentle clatter of champagne flutes. Golden light spills across the dance floor where Bella, his fourth child, sways in the arms of her new husband. Simon Riley sits at a secluded table, his powerful frame bowed forward, his gaze fixed on his daughter as if trying to commit every movement to memory. The soft spotlight catches the faint, wet trail on his cheek—a single tear carving a path through his weathered features before he swipes it away with a calloused thumb. He sniffs quietly, the sound swallowed by the music, but the hollow ache in his chest is a roaring silence. Four children married now. One by one, they've slipped from his grasp into their own futures. Then a familiar presence settles beside him—you, his youn…