Reborn To Tame My Wicked Mother

After my mother and I married into the billionaire class, she decided being a shopping-obsessed socialite wasn’t enough. She wanted to be the Wicked Stepmother.

To get rid of my stepbrother and monopolize the entire family fortune, one day she’d dose his juice with a laxative, the next she’d stick thumbtacks in his shoes. Our fabulous new life in a mansion was a daily circus of escalating, psychotic drama.

Then, Robert’s Unattainable Ideal—the woman he’d loved and lost—saw her chance. She used the chaos my mother created as cover, setting a fire that severely burned my stepbrother, perfectly framing my mom for the attack.

I, who should have been lounging by the pool as a carefree rich kid, was caught in the crossfire. My mother and I were thrown into the open ocean to die.

Now I was back. Reborn.

I watched my mother, Vivian, once again reaching for the bottle of laxatives, her perfectly manicured hand hovering over a glass of fresh-pressed orange juice.

I pressed down hard on her wrist, fighting to stop her self-destructive insanity.

“It’s just about teaching Leo a lesson, right, Mom? Don’t worry, you can leave the hard work to me.”

This time, I had to take control. I had to permanently derail the horrific fate that ended us both.

1

While she was still frozen in shock, I quickly swapped the orange juice for the foul, hyper-bitter green detox concoction the chef had made for her cleanse.

“Just wait, Mom. I’m going to make big brother cry, just for you.”

Fearing she’d snap out of it, I clutched the noxious green liquid and stumbled over to Leo.

“Leo, Mom says you have to drink this.”

He shot me a glacial look, his handsome young face etched with defensive coldness. “Your psycho mom trying to give me the runs again?”

I couldn’t blame him for the brutal tone. The last time he drank something from Vivian, he ended up hospitalized with severe dehydration, solidifying her reputation as the toxic stepmother.

To immediately pivot Leo’s perception, I took two gulps of the bitter stuff myself. The flavor was a physical shock.

“Mom said you have acne because you’re ‘too heated,’ so she wants you to drink this detox to cool down,” I said, trying to steady my voice. “Your face will clear up after this, and you’ll be back to being the hottest guy in school.”

Leo watched me, tears stinging my eyes from the sheer bitterness, yet I was earnestly holding out the glass for him.

He hesitated for a few seconds, then snatched the glass, swallowing the whole thing in one defiant gulp.

“Done. Now stop bothering me.”

The intense, bitter shock hit his system, and his eyes welled up instantly.

I pulled a lollipop out of my pocket, unwrapped it, and shoved it into his mouth.

“Here. Sucker. Takes the nasty taste out.”

Leo looked utterly assaulted. He stared at me for a long moment, not even wiping away the tears still tracking down his cheeks.

I gave him a mischievous, relieved smile and bolted back into the kitchen.

“Mom, see? Big brother is crying and he can’t stop!”

Though completely baffled, Vivian pulled me into a proud hug.

“Stella, my genius! You’re finally thinking! Leo is the biggest obstacle to us getting the money!”

“Once we team up and take him down, darling, this entire fortune belongs to us!”

I hugged my beautiful but brainless mother back, silently weeping inside.

Our billionaire father, Robert, treated me wonderfully, not like some piece of luggage. He gave me everything I could ever want. I was already perfectly content.

I was a non-blood-related stepdaughter. Why should I scheme to take everything from his only son?

But I knew I couldn’t change my mother’s mind overnight. I had no choice but to follow her around, secretly implementing my plan to change our fate.

Night fell.

Sure enough, Vivian crept into Leo’s room and started sticking thumbtacks into his dress shoes.

The moment she was gone, I slipped in.

I swapped out the thumbtacks for something else entirely.

2

The next morning, my mother stood poised, ready for the drama.

“That stray dog’s child thinks he can compete with me for the inheritance? I’m going to make him suffer today!”

Leo, as usual, skipped breakfast and headed toward the door to grab his backpack and shoes for school.

The second he slipped his feet into his loafers, he let out a strangled cry of agony.

“Who put an acupressure mat in my damn shoe?”

Vivian sprayed a mouthful of coffee across the room.

“A what? Where are my thumbtacks?”

I quickly clamped my hand over her mouth.

“Mom, keep your voice down! If anyone hears you admitting to trying to hurt Leo, you’re finished!”

That was exactly what happened in the last life. Leo’s feet were bloody messes. He was in the hospital for two weeks. When Robert discovered Vivian was the culprit, he nearly handed her over to the police. She only got off after days of humiliating begging. The stain on her reputation was what gave Serena, Robert’s manipulative ex, her opening later on.

I quickly pitched my alternative plan.

“The acupressure insoles are perfect! He’s in pain, but he can’t report us. It’s a win-win!”

As Vivian started to process this, I rushed over and grabbed Leo’s arm.

“Big brother, Mom says these insoles massage your feet, help your circulation, and make you grow taller!”

“Stella has a pair too! We can grow taller together!”

I lifted my foot to show him the exact same spikey insole in my own sneaker.

Leo’s profanity was visible on his face, but seeing my innocent, eager expression, he choked it back.

He yanked his arm free, shouting impatiently, “Stop touching my stuff! And mind your own business!”

But for all his bluster, a few seconds later, Leo slipped the loafers back on and hobbled out the door.

In the last life, Leo always spoke so cruelly to me. I hated him, so I never intervened with my mother’s antics.

But later, I understood. Leo lost his mother at birth, and Robert was always too busy running his company to be a father. He was lonely and isolated. Then he gained a vicious stepmother. It was a miserable situation for any kid.

My heart ached with sudden empathy. I grabbed a milk carton and a pastry, stuffing them into his free hand.

“You have to eat breakfast, Leo. You need to eat to grow tall with Stella.”

He looked completely shocked again. He studied me with a complex expression for a long time, then quietly left, eating the pastry.

Vivian threw her arms around me, praising me wildly.

“Stella, you’re so smart! Look at him wincing with every step! He must be dying!”

“His miserable face makes me so mad! Think of another way to get back at him!”

I fought the urge to strangle her and opted for creative misdirection instead.

“Didn’t he just tell us to mind our own business? The more he doesn’t want us involved, the more we should!”

“He hates eating with us. We should force him to eat huge meals, smother him with expensive food every night, and turn him into a hideous, uncomfortable fat boy!”

Vivian slapped her knee, declaring me a genius.

That evening, the moment Leo got home, Vivian dragged him to the dining table.

“From now on, you will eat exactly what I tell you to eat, every single meal!”

Before Leo could react, plates of braised pork belly, abalone, and sticky ribs were piled onto his plate. I personally peeled two massive shrimp and held them to his mouth.

“Big brother, you’re too skinny. You need to eat all the good meat!”

Leo’s mouth twitched, his fury visible but trapped.

Vivian only leaned in closer, shoving a massive chicken drumstick directly into his mouth.

“I told you to eat! You don’t leave this table until your plate is clean!” she hissed, a triumphant, wicked gleam in her eyes.

But just at that moment, Robert and Serena—the Unattainable Ideal—walked through the door.

3

Serena saw Vivian holding Leo down, her face twisted in a malicious grin. She pounced immediately.

“Vivian, you wicked creature! I knew you were abusing Leo again!”

“The staff told me everything! This monster forced Leo to drink poisonous juice and made him cry! She put nails in his shoes so he couldn’t walk! This malicious gold-digger belongs in prison!”

Serena always positioned herself as Leo’s godmother, constantly antagonizing my mom. In the previous life, she was the one who ruthlessly burned Leo and then manipulated him into naming Vivian as the culprit, leading to our deaths.

I watched Robert’s face flush with rage. He raised his hand, ready to strike Vivian.

I frantically jumped forward.

“My mother gave Leo bitter detox juice, not poison, and she put in massage insoles, not nails! Ask Leo!”

Robert froze, his hand suspended in the air. He looked at Leo, doubtful.

“Is Stella telling the truth?”

Leo looked at me with a peculiar expression. My stomach dropped. I thought he was about to seize the moment to finally expose my mother.

Instead, Leo calmly removed the chicken drumstick from his mouth and said faintly, “Yes.”

“The detox juice cleared up my acne.”

“And the acupressure insoles… after a while, they’re actually really comfortable. They relax my feet, and I don’t get tired when I play basketball.”

Vivian and Serena stared, dumbfounded. Neither of them had expected Leo to defend my mother.

Serena grabbed his shoulder, unwilling to give up. “Then why was she yelling at you just now?”

I immediately cut in.

“Mom thinks Leo is too thin, so she wanted him to eat more meat.”

“She cooked this whole table of food herself.”

Leo’s eyes flickered at my words. Robert’s face softened, overtaken by guilt.

“Vivian, I’m sorry. I misjudged you.”

Vivian, finally catching up, burst into tears and threw herself into Robert’s arms, sobbing.

Serena tried to interject again. I proactively grabbed Robert’s and Leo’s hands.

“Dad, it’s rare for you to be home for dinner. Let’s all eat together! I’ll peel shrimp for you and Leo!”

I turned to Serena. “Aunt Serena, we don’t have a seat for you at the family table. Maybe you should eat at home tonight.”

Serena gritted her teeth but was left with no choice but to retreat in humiliation.

For the first time, our family of four sat down for a happy, peaceful dinner.

After that day, Vivian kept up the act, determined to make Leo miserable by feeding him like a pig. Unexpectedly, Leo stopped complaining. His perpetually cold expression even started to soften. Sometimes, he’d pretend to casually drop a bag of chips or a candy bar for me after school.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It felt like things were turning around.

But Vivian wasn’t satisfied.

“That brat has too much patience! I need a new way to make him truly suffer!”

Fortunately, I had learned how to easily manipulate her.

“Leo’s personality means he must hate being forced to study, Mom.”

“If you start forcing him to read and do homework every day, he’ll be so furious he’ll run away from home for good!”

Vivian’s eyes lit up.

“If he runs away and never comes back, it’s his fault! He chose to abandon the inheritance! I can’t be blamed!”

She rubbed her hands together and that very day returned with three boxes of test prep books.

Leo was locked in the study right after dinner and wasn’t allowed out until after midnight.

As predicted, on the first night, Leo stormed out, slamming the door. Serena’s secret maid, who was clearly spying, pressed her ear to the door.

This routine went on for a while.

Then, one evening, Serena dragged Robert back to the house.

“Vivian verbally abuses Leo every day! I’ve heard her calling him an idiot, a deadbeat, a lazy fool—all the most degrading things!”

“We hear crying from the study, and sometimes the sound of a belt hitting something! Vivian is definitely abusing him in secret!”

The spy maid immediately backed her up, swearing she’d seen Leo run out crying, saying my mother was a monster who tortured him.

Robert was livid. He kicked the study door open.

But the scene inside stunned everyone.

4

My mother was sitting on the floor, head in her hands, sobbing.

“I’m such an idiot! I don’t understand this simple English grammar! Even Stella is laughing at how stupid I am!”

“I don’t care, you have to teach this idiot—me!—or my own daughter will look down on me.”

Leo was fighting a smile, currently trying to bargain with her.

“I’ll teach you, but you have to let me skip two of those practice tests today.”

Vivian argued back.

“No way! Your teacher said if you just do two more tests, you might get the number one spot in your grade!”

“If you can’t get first place, you’re embarrassing your father!”

As she finished, I hit her lightly with a toy belt.

“Bad Mommy! Leo is already Third in his grade! That’s super good! Mommy can’t call him names!”

Vivian shrieked dramatically. “Stella! You are asking for it!”

Leo pulled me behind him, and the three of us dissolved into a tangled pile of play-fighting.

Serena’s jaw went slack. Robert just stared.

“What in the world are you doing?” Serena demanded.

I took a moment to explain.

“Mom wants Leo to be number one in his class, so she and I are supervising his study.”

“But Mom is super dumb and can’t even do one problem, so she has to beg Leo to teach her! Shame on her!”

Serena looked defeated. She grabbed Leo and frantically lifted his shirt, checking for any marks.

Satisfied he wasn’t physically harmed, she glared at him. “Is this woman emotionally manipulating you? If she’s bullying you, you have to tell us!”

She looked at Leo, desperate for him to turn the tide.

Leo simply smiled.

“Vivian isn’t bullying me. She even went to my parent-teacher conference for Dad.”

“No one has ever cared about my schoolwork like this. I actually think it’s pretty good.”

Leo’s words wiped the anger from Robert’s face. He embraced my mother.

“Thank you, Vivian. You’ve done something I never managed to do.”

The tension evaporated, replaced by unexpected warmth. Vivian grinned foolishly, giving me a secret thumbs-up, thanking me silently.

The truth was, the more time Vivian spent playing this role, the more she actually softened toward Leo. And Leo, getting the family attention he’d missed for years, had genuinely bonded with us.

I watched Serena storm off, and my anxiety finally eased. This life, I thought, we wouldn’t be thrown into the ocean. I could finally relax and be a rich kid.

But the peace didn’t last two days…

I came home from kindergarten to see two fire trucks parked outside the mansion.

The familiar, terrifying sight made my heart seize up. It was the fire. Again.

Shaking uncontrollably, I begged the chauffeur to rush me to the hospital.

Inside the hospital room, Robert was predictably screaming at my mother.

“How could you hate him so much? If anything happens to Leo, I swear, you will pay with your life!”

Serena stood nearby, the familiar venomous look in her eyes.

“Why did the security cameras break down today? You planned this! You wanted to burn Leo alive and steal the fortune!”

My mother was sobbing, devastated. “I don’t know how it started! I’m the one who called 911! I swear, it wasn’t me…”

Serena slapped her across the face.

“You’ve been abusing him for months! The laxative incident proves you’re a monster! I haven’t forgotten your evil deeds!”

I watched my mother crumple, unable to defend herself. My heart clenched.

Then, Serena suddenly shrieked. “Leo’s awake!”

She rushed to his bedside, whispered something into his ear, and then urged him loudly, “Tell us! Was it Vivian who set the fire?”

Robert encouraged him. “Don’t be afraid to tell the truth, son. I’m here. No one will hurt you.”

He shot a furious look at Vivian, who instantly paled.

I saw Leo hesitating, the same gloomy, conflicted look he had in my past life.

Sweat beaded on my palms. I prayed desperately.

Please, not again. I can’t go back to the ocean. I can’t be fed to the sharks!

The memory of our gruesome, agonizing death made my body stiffen, unable to breathe.

In the agonizing silence, Leo slowly raised his finger and pointed directly at my mother.