Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Eleanor nodded, her face still wearing that special smile for Stell.
Stella nestled her head against Eleanor’s hand, wishing she could stay like this quietly forever, not wanting to think about anything else.
Stepping out of Eleanor’s room, Stella saw Anna standing in front of Fiona and Andrew.
“Mom, Dad, you’ve always been so good to me, and Stella has suffered enough all these years. Since we’re twins, please let me take her place and marry into the Bass family. I can help our family out of this crisis,” Anna offered.
Fiona shook her head. “No way. Even though you’re twins and share the same birthday, you were born at different times. Your birth time falls into a different astrological hour, which means your birth charts are completely different.”
Andrew frowned deeply. “Anna, you can’t marry into that family. Have you ever thought about Lionel?”
“But I want to help!” Anna said. “All these years, I haven’t done anything. It’s always been you guys making sacrifices. Now that we’re in this crisis, I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
Max snapped furiously, “Even in this situation, you don’t need to step in. It’s Stella’s mess, and all she’s done is watch Eleanor suffer and the company spiral into crisis. That’s what makes her happy, right? She just wants revenge on us!”
Fiona quickly said, “Max, don’t say that. Henry is much older than Stella. It’s understandable that she doesn’t want to marry him.”
Max snapped, “If she didn’t want to marry, she shouldn’t have messed with Troy and his crew. Now she’s ruined everything and expects us to fix it? Yeah, we’ve wronged her, but aren’t we trying to make it right?
“Besides, with her reputation, even though we’ve said countless times that she wasn’t raped, who would actually believe it?
“She should be grateful and seize the opportunity to save face while someone’s still willing to marry her. But no, she’s completely ungrateful. I swear she’s just trying to drag us all down!”
“Damn right. I want to bring you all down,” Stella sneered, making her way down the stairs. Every heavy step made their hearts race.
She continued, “Aren’t you the ones who tried to screw me over first? Henry got married years ago and was divorced. His kid is already eight, and now you expect me to be a stepmother?
“Even you can’t stand me like this. Do you really think they’ll accept me? Let’s be real. You’re only thinking about yourselves.
“Don’t say it’s for my own good. You’re just scared of losing everything. You couldn’t live without your precious wealth. Anyway, you’ve already sacrificed me once. You wouldn’t think twice about doing it again.
“Max, if you hadn’t lost your temper and attacked Troy in the first place, would we have even been in this mess today?
“You didn’t hit him because of me. You did it for yourselves and everyone else. You just didn’t want people to know the Hayes family had a member like me, did you?”
Hearing this, the servants each let out soft sighs. They could hardly believe that the Hayes family had treated Stella this way. What began as a preference for Anna had spiraled into something much worse.
Stella had once been a cheerful, kind-hearted girl. The fact that they had pushed her to this point left the servants in
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disbelief.
Andrew was about to slap Stella, but Fiona quickly stepped in to stop him. She said, “Andrew, let’s consider other options. If Eleanor finds out we’re forcing her to marry, she’ll be furious. What if her condition worsens because of it?”
Andrew jabbed a finger at Stella and snarled, “Listen up, Stella. If anything happens to my mother, I’ll have your head!”
