The heavy, invisible boulder that had been crushing Frank Yates’s chest finally crashed to the ground, shattering into dust. He let out a long, slow breath, expelling the tension that had coiled tight around his lungs. The air in the room, previously stifling, seemed to circulate again.
"Young man, your methods are... truly miraculous. Thank you."
Tanya Bailey seized Frank's hand, her grip surprisingly strong for a woman of her stature. Her eyes, no longer filled with the fiery rage that had threatened to burn down the shop, were now shimmering with genuine gratitude and disbelief. She touched her cheek again, as if checking to make sure the smooth skin wasn't a hallucination.
This sudden, dramatic reversal left the onlookers in a state of stunned paralysis.
Joan Foster stood frozen, h
