Ashley's mind went completely blank, swallowed by a tide of grief that she could neither resist nor understand.
She couldn't think. She couldn't speak.
She could only cry, the tears spilling freely as if her body itself were trying to purge the unbearable weight pressing down on her chest.
She didn't even notice Ross stepping closer at first. His arms wrapped around her, firm yet gentle, steadying her shaking body.
It wasn't a romantic hug, nor one born of desire—it was something far more essential, far more human: a hug meant solely to offer comfort, to hold a grieving woman who had lost her anchor in the world.
Lyric wasn't truly gone, of course—Ross was Lyric, in a way that no one else could ever know.
The truth he carried was one that could never be revealed, a shadow locked in his heart, heavy but he did not regret it also.
To speak it aloud would shatter everything.
