Chapter 270 You Must Help Me

Chapter 270 You Must Help Me

Samara crumpled to the floor. She was so thin she barely had the strength to move — just getting back up looked like it would take everything she had.

She opened her mouth, trying to say something more.

But what came next was a series of slaps.

Stella didn't hesitate for a second. She looked down at Samara on the floor, then turned to Alice, ready to collect.

"Alice, see? I did exactly what you asked. Can I go now? Do whatever you want with her — I won't go to the police. I swear."

The desperation on Stella's face was plain. Right now, nothing mattered more to her than getting out of this alive.

Alice had watched the whole thing play out and was already losing patience. She nudged Samara with the toe of her shoe.

"You hired a dying woman and gave her every penny you had, just to have her run me over. And look — your daughter doesn't seem the least bit grateful. Was it worth it?"

The words landed like a punch. Samara's whole body jolted.

She shoved herself upright, eyes locking onto Stella beside her.

"I switched you with another baby when you were little, all so you could grow up with money. Then I hired someone to kill Alice — for you. And this is how you repay me?"

Stella flinched hard and immediately dropped to her knees.

"Alice, don't listen to her. I would never do something like that to you. My life is already a mess — Brandon doesn't want me, and no one else will touch me either. All I want is to go home and live quietly. That's it."

Alice's expression was cold, edged with something close to boredom.

"Either way, everything Samara did, she did for you. So here's your choice. Option one: I give you two million dollars, and you walk out of here with your birth mother. Option two: you stay, and you hand over the evidence that she hired someone to kill me."

Stella barely hesitated. She grabbed onto Alice's pant leg, her voice urgent, almost convincing.

"I choose the second one. I never wanted to hurt you — she was the one pushing me the whole time. I have the messages between us on my phone. Alice, all I want is to go home and take care of my parents. I'm not asking for anything else."

On the floor, Samara watched the last flicker of hope die behind her eyes.

Alice pulled a small knife from her pocket and pressed it against Stella's throat.

"Then make Samara go on camera and confess everything she's done out loud. Do that, and I'll let you go."

Sidney tossed a phone over.

Stella held it, hesitating. She knew that a private confession was one thing — but once this went public, the reputation she'd spent years building would be gone for good.

"Not willing? Fine. Sidney, let's go. Looks like they can hold out a little longer."

Alice moved to leave.

Stella threw her arms around Alice's legs and made up her mind.

"Okay. I'll do it. I'll go on camera, cut ties with her, and expose everything she's done."

On the floor, Samara heard those words, closed her eyes, and went completely still.

Alice looked at that utterly hollowed-out face and let a cold smile touch the corner of her mouth.

Letting Samara die right now would be too easy.

What she wanted was to break her from the inside — to make this woman watch with her own eyes as the daughter she had spent her whole life shaping became the very blade now turned against her.

Following Alice's instructions one step at a time, Stella started the live stream.

The viewer count spiked instantly.

Stella's face was pale, but she had no other choice. The only way forward was to throw this woman — who was no longer of any use to her — completely under the bus.

She raised her hand and wiped away a tear.

"I'm the second daughter of the Hall family. There's been a lot of talk about us online lately. I'm here to set the record straight. Everything that happened was orchestrated by my birth mother. She gave me life, but she never raised me. I never imagined she was capable of something this cruel..."

Stella laid out everything her birth mother had done, leaving nothing out.

The woman on the floor listened to all of it, then suddenly burst out laughing. The laughter grew more and more unhinged. Her eyes went red, and her bony fingers pressed against the floor as she slowly dragged herself upright.

Her face crept into the frame.

The comment section exploded.

[What is this? That's her birth mother?]

[She looks terrifying — so she's the one who hired the hitman!]

[Oh my god, someone call the police!]

Samara stared at the face on the screen — a face she barely recognized as her own — and let out a dry, hollow laugh from somewhere deep in her chest.

She had never imagined that a lifetime spent revolving around Stella would leave her looking like this.

Stella was shaken by the sight of her, but she had no choice but to keep going. Samara was already finished. She couldn't go down with her.

She set her jaw and kept talking.

"This is my so-called birth mother. I want to make one thing clear — I am a Hall, through and through. My birth mother didn't want me. She gave me up. If my parents hadn't taken me in, I don't even want to think about where I'd be now."

She had already decided to cut this woman loose. She was going to pin every last bit of the blame on her.

Samara's laughter grew louder and louder, sharp and ragged, tears streaming down her face.

"What a good daughter I raised! I gave my whole life for you, and in the end you just throw me out there to take the fall! Fine! Then let me tell everyone exactly what kind of person you really are!"

She swayed as she pulled herself upright, then slammed both hands down on the table and turned to face the camera with a twisted grin.

"My dear daughter — from the moment she found out Alice was back, she's been scheming..."

"Shut up!" Stella suddenly screamed, cutting her off.

A flash of panic crossed her face, but she forced herself to hold steady.

"Even now, you're still trying to drag me down with you! How did I end up with someone like you? Just knowing we share blood makes me sick. You always said you loved me — so why did you give me away in the first place? Is that what love looks like to you? What were you even thinking?"

Samara froze. Her expression shifted into something complicated and raw. Her lips trembled, but she couldn't get a single complete sentence out.

Stella grabbed her arm, nails digging nearly into the flesh, eyes locked onto hers.

"Are you trying to destroy me now too? Everything I've become — you pushed me here, every step of the way."

"I... I pushed you here?" Samara repeated the words as if she couldn't quite process them.

Stella gritted her teeth and leaned close to her ear.

"You've got no way out of this. Are you really going to take me down with you? Do you hate me that much? Mom — help me one last time. Let me walk away clean."

That word — Mom — made Samara's pupils visibly contract. Her expression crumbled piece by piece, until all that was left was a bitter, broken smile.

"Fine." She lifted her head and looked back into the camera. "It was me. I was jealous of Alice. So what — she's still alive, isn't she?"

She gestured toward Stella, as if playing her part in a scene they'd rehearsed.

"It's because you refused to go along with me. You only ever claimed the Halls as your family — of course that gave her something to use against me."