Chapter 317 Invite Me In

• Aurora’s P.O.V
• As soon as I gently closed the door to Riley’s room, the air around me felt lighter than it had a few minutes ago. Maybe it was the sheer weight of emotions I had tried to bottle up while Riley’s wide, innocent eyes stared back at me, asking questions I couldn’t give answers to—at least, not yet. But thanks to Ashton’s explanations, the tension had now dissipated and Riley was sound asleep on his bed.
• Ashton stood silently beside me in the dim hallway, his arms loosely crossed and his gaze fixed on the floor as though lost in thought. I watched him for a moment, tracing the line of his jaw, the slight furrow between his brows. It was the silence of someone who had just carried a fragile truth across a tightrope and miraculously made it to the other end.