Bane closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe. Even then, the tremor in his voice betrayed emotions he could no longer fully suppress.
"Are you saying I should have just stood there and watched my daughter die?" he said hoarsely. "As her father… I couldn't do that."
Vermut's gaze hardened.
"A true family stays until the very end," he snapped back. "They don't turn their backs and run away like you did."
They were standing in the same room, speaking to each other.
Yet their thoughts were worlds apart.
A father who had abandoned everything, claiming he would overturn the world—leaving behind a daughter dying from an incurable disease.
And grandparents who had never given up, who stayed by her side day and night, holding her hand until the very last moment.
Between them lay a chasm that could never be bridged.
