How do I access the value of an object in the view with handlebars when that object was created within a controller?

Question

I created a controller file that has an object with some items being one of them a function that returns files from a folder.

When giving console.log an array is returned with the files from this folder, so far ok! The problem is that I am unable to access this item in the view with Handlebars.

Follows code:

const fs = require('fs')

exports.index = (req, res) => {
    let aboutContent = {
        pageTitle: 'About',
        pageTitleClass: 'about not-home',
        files: fs.readdir('./public/assets/img/clients', function(err, files) {
            if (err) console.log(err);
            else {
                // items = {files}
                console.log(files);
                return files
            }
        })
    }
   
    res.render('about', aboutContent)
}

And in the view I can access normally for example pageTitle so simple {{pageTitle}}, but the item files I’m not getting. Follows below the form I’m trying to:

<ul class="teste">
    {{#each files}}
        <li>{{this}}</li>
    {{/each}}
</ul>