154.

Ashton, on the periphery of this tense exchange, lets out a bitter chuckle. The bitterness that tinges his laughter reflects the bitter truth they all face—a truth that Asher refuses to accept. The room becomes a pressure cooker, the weight of their actions and the consequences they seek to avoid bearing down upon them with an unyielding force.

Asher's voice trembles with a potent mix of anger, frustration, and disappointment as he confronts his father's callousness. His words cut through the air like shards of ice, each syllable carrying the weight of his deep-seated resentment.

"You are cruel beyond measure," Asher's voice drips with a bitter disdain, his words laced with venom. He had hoped, even for a fleeting moment, that his father would acknowledge Kylie's pain in his self-serving monologue. Yet, Thomas's omission fuels Asher's righteous indignation. He lays bare the painful reality that Kylie has been forced to endure—the loss of her father, her mother's misguided blame, and t