Yvonne instinctively shrank back, her cheeks flushing uncontrollably.

It was an impossible question to answer.

Could she tell her assistant that she and Bennett had been in the middle of things when he was suddenly called away to the base?

Of course not.

So, Yvonne pretended she hadn't heard and kept her eyes closed, feigning sleep.

From Cherry Bay to the airport, and from takeoff to landing, Yvonne slept through most of it.

After getting off the plane, she rushed to the set, arriving around noon.

Perhaps because she'd slept well on the plane, Yvonne was full of energy, and the afternoon's filming went smoothly.

Her scenes were filmed back-to-back-one major, emotionally charged scene after another.

After seeing her mother, Stella was finally willing to talk.

It turned out her stepmother had always been a wolf in sheep's clothing, and her stepsister's sweet and innocent act was all a facade.

In public, the stepmother doted on Stella, but in private, she was constantly beating or cursing her. Stella did almost all the housework alone-cooking, laundry, cleaning.

Stella had to wake up before dawn and couldn't go to bed until late at night. If she didn't do her chores well, she wasn't given any food and was forbidden from going to school.

One time, after working all day, her stepmother, who was in a bad mood, refused to give her any dinner. Stella was so hungry that she stole a cookie from her stepsister. When her stepmother found out she had stolen something, she grabbed a pot of boiling water and poured it directly onto the back of Stella's hand.

"You worthless scum! Stealing food at your age! What will you steal when you're older? Things? Men? I'll scald you to death and see if you ever dare to steal from my daughter again!"

The skin on Stella's hand was burned so badly it was nearly rotting off. She ran crying to her father, saying, "Dad, it hurts."

But her father just pushed her away impatiently. "Your mother is doing this for your own good. If she doesn't teach you a lesson, you'll never learn Do you want to be downi

ge

the wrong path and end up in jail?"

Stella grew up under the weight of her father's neglect, her stepmother's torment, and her stepsister's bullying.

But she never gave up hope. She kept striving, studying hard. She knew that education was her only chance to change her fate.

Her grades were always at the top of her class, and she got into a top university. She was finally about to escape that hellish home.

But it seemed fate wasn't done with her yet.

Because Stella had been accepted into a top university, she became the talk of the neighborhood. Her good-for-nothing stepsister, however, hadn't even gotten into a community college.

Driven by jealousy, her stepsister used their father's phone to text Stella, tricking her into believing he had left a document at home and needed her to bring it to his office immediately.

Stella never dared to refuse an order from her father or stepmother, knowing it

would result in a severe beating or punishment.

Not daring to delay, Stella grabbed the file and ran out of the house.

On her way to the bus stop, as she was passing through a secluded alley, she was cornered by a group of thugs. They dragged her into the alley and took turns assaulting her.

For a girl who had just turned eighteen, it was an absolute nightmare.

Stella dragged her battered body home, intending to call the police, but her stepmother stopped her.

Cursing her as a 'filthy slut' and a 'shameless whore,' her stepmother forcibly dragged her into the bathroom, pinned her to the floor and relentlessly washed her cold water, scrubbing away any trace of evidence.