Yvonne instinctively shrank back, her cheeks flushing uncontrobly.


    It was an impossible question to answer.


    Could she tell her assistant that she and Bet 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 tonding, Yvonne slept through most of it.


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


    Perhaps because she''d slept well on the ne, 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, Ste 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 Ste, but in private, she was constantly beating or cursing her. Ste did almost all the housework alone-cooking,undry, cleaning.


    Ste had to wake up before dawn and couldn''t go to bed untilte 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. Ste 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 Ste''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 Ste''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?"


    Ste 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 ss, 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 Ste had been epted into a top university, she became the talk of the neighborhood. Her good-for-nothing stepsister, however, hadn''t even gotten into amunity college.


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


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


    would result in a severe beating or punishment.


    Not daring to dy, Ste 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.


    Ste 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.