Raised by the "Wicked" Stepmom

Roxanne's fingernails dug into the cartilage of my ear, yanking so hard I thought she was going to rip it right off my skull.

Six months ago, she had wailed and sobbed in the courtroom, fighting tooth and nail for my custody. It had nothing to do with love.

She just wanted to cash those child support checks. Now that the verdict was finalized and she had hooked a new husband, I was nothing but dead weight.

She dumped me on Heidi's porch and walked away without a single backward glance.

Years later, as a multimillionaire CEO, I pressed the deed to an oceanfront villa and the keys to a Porsche into Heidi's hands.

Meanwhile, the woman who birthed me could only stand in the mud, staring up at us as my security guards dragged her off the property.

Chapter 1 Less than six months after the divorce, Vance had already married a beautiful woman. Not to be outdone, Roxanne found herself a man with a previous marriage of his own.

That man took a long drag of his cigarette, his eyes scanning me with blatant disgust as he blew a smoke ring into the air. "I'll marry you," he drawled, his voice cold. "But I'm not raising another man’s kid." With that one sentence, my fate was sealed.

I became the burden Roxanne couldn't wait to unload. She called Vance immediately, demanding he take me.

It didn't take long for the conversation to devolve into a screaming match. "I wanted to keep her back then, and you fought me tooth and nail for custody!" Vance’s voice crackled through the speaker. "Now that you don’t want her, you’re trying to dump her on me?

Forget it.

I don’t want her either." Roxanne held the phone in one hand while her other hand reached down, twisting the flesh on my thigh with brutal force. "Vance, are you even human?" she shrieked. "She’s your own flesh and blood!" I let out a piercing wail, tears blurring my vision.

Vance didn't miss a beat, his words sharp enough to cut. "If you’re so selfless, you keep her! You found yourself a new man, didn't you?

Make him step up!" "Why the hell should he raise your daughter? I’m telling you, if you don’t take her, I’m dumping her on the street.

Let whoever wants her have her!" They traded insults like blows, neither willing to back down.

Finally, Vance let out a frustrated sigh, his voice thick with agitation as he ran a hand through his hair. "It’s not that I won’t take her, but my wife is pregnant.

We’re about to have our own child, our own flesh and blood! She can’t stand having an outsider in the house.

Just keep her for a while, and I’ll figure something out after the baby is born." Roxanne scoffed. "Keep dreaming.

If she thinks the kid is a burden, what makes you think I'm a trash can? I absolutely don't want her." She slammed the phone down and glared at me.

Still unsatisfied, she landed a sharp kick to my ribs. "This is all your fault! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be going through this hell.

If I’d known…" She paused, her face twisting with resentment. "If I’d known what a drag you’d be, I never would have fought for you." "Don't blame me.

Blame yourself for being a useless parasite who does nothing but waste food. You're worthless." Only later did I realize that Roxanne hadn't fought for me out of love.

She just wanted the child support checks. Left in the biting early autumn wind, I froze on Vance's porch all night like a discarded trash bag.

When he stepped out the next morning, he actually tripped over me. He frantically dialed that woman's number, only to be met with the dead dial tone of a disconnected line.

Cursing under his breath, he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the house like a piece of troublesome luggage. "Keep your mouth shut," Vance hissed, his voice low and threatening. "If you upset your Aunt Heidi, I’ll throw you out on the street myself." I nodded timidly, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I was terrified to even breathe. "Throw who out?" a voice drifted from the bedroom. Vance stiffened, his body going rigid. It was clear my stepmother held the reins in this house.

I kept my eyes glued to the tips of my shoes, my fingers picking nervously at my skin. "Oh, what’s this?" A woman stepped into view.

Her belly was huge, round like a ripe watermelon, but her voice was surprisingly soft. "Honey…" Vance stammered, looking like a deer in headlights. "It’s just… her mom is in a bit of a spot right now." "She’s just staying here for a bit.

Just a short while, then she’ll be picked up.

I promise." "What do I look like, a daycare center?" Heidi countered. "People just dump things here when they’re done with them?" "Three days.

No, two days," Vance pleaded, trying to negotiate. Two days—the date of Roxanne’s wedding. "Vance, what did you promise me when we got married?

You said she was staying with your ex." "Now she’s back?" Her eyes narrowed. "I’m telling you now, I am not raising someone else’s kid." Vance’s response was a pathetic whisper, and I stood there, barely daring to exhale.

Chapter 2 Heidi barely batted an eye. "Three days," she muttered. "Not a single day more." The visible tension drained from Vance's face. "Okay, okay," he agreed quickly. "I'll have her out of here by then." He shoved me forward, right in front of Heidi, and swatted the back of my head. "Say hello." I pressed my lips together, my face burning, unable to squeeze a single sound past the lump in my throat.

Vance's patience snapped. He slapped the top of my head hard. "What is wrong with you?

Are you mute?" Heidi's eyes widened, her voice booming through the small space. "Vance, drop the abusive father act!

Keep yelling, and you can both get the hell out of my house right now." Vance clamped his mouth shut, shooting me a glare that promised trouble later.

It wasn't that I was trying to be difficult. I just didn't know what to call her.

On the drive over, Roxanne had threatened to disown me if I dared to call this woman 'Mom'. "Just call me Aunt Heidi." She let out a short, dismissive breath, clearly unimpressed by my silence.

When she just stared without speaking, she looked genuinely intimidating. No wonder Vance was so terrified of her.

Roxanne had drilled it into my head that this woman was a homewrecker. She was the reason Vance didn't want us anymore.

Roxanne also swore that all stepmothers were evil, warning me to keep my distance.

I might have been young, but I understood what that meant. "Aunt Heidi," I mumbled, my voice barely a squeak. She gave a curt nod, accepting it, and turned toward the kitchen.

Vance, rushing for the door, called out to her. "Honey, if you need anything done, just make her do it." Heidi didn't even look up from the counter. "I wouldn't dare.

People will start calling me the wicked stepmother." Vance shoved me toward the kitchen entrance, leaning in close. "Behave," he hissed. "Or you're out on the street tonight." "I'm heading to work, honey!" he yelled, casting one last warning glance my way before the front door clicked shut.

After he left, I stayed rooted to the floor in the entryway, too scared to move an inch. "What are you standing there like a statue for?

Come help." Heidi appeared in the doorway holding a bowl, annoyed to see me frozen in place. "Oh," I squeaked, scurrying into the kitchen.

She had made scrambled eggs and a stack of steaming hot pancakes. Staring at the heat rising from the fluffy stack, I couldn't stop myself from swallowing hard.

Heidi shot me a look. "Eat!" she ordered, sounding impatient. "Why are you staring at me? Do I have a menu on my face?" My stomach had been practically eating itself.

I grabbed a fork and started shoveling pancakes into my mouth. Halfway through, I froze, looking up at her timidly. "Why did you stop?" she asked.

Fat tears spilled over my eyelashes, splashing directly onto my plate. "Aunt Heidi…" I choked out. "I don't eat much. I can do chores. Please don't kick me out…" Heidi paused.

She dropped her fork onto her plate with a clatter and furrowed her brows. "Don't try to play me with those tears.

You're exactly like your father." But I saw the hard lines of her face soften slightly. "I'm done.

All this crying killed my appetite." She pushed her halfeaten plate of pancakes toward me. "Finish this.

I don't tolerate wasted food in my house." Seeing my confusion, she added, "We don't do freeloaders here.

You can talk a big game all you want, but if you don't behave, I'll have Vance throw you out myself." I nodded frantically. "I'll be good.

I promise." She let out a heavy sigh. "What a goddamn mess," she muttered under her breath.

Chapter 3 Under her watchful eye, I scraped the plate clean, finishing enough food for two people.

The moment she retreated to her bedroom, I started organizing the scattered clutter in the living room piece by piece, even stretching my arms to wipe down the massive windows towering over me.

When she came out yawning, her eyes widened. "You did all this?" I nodded. Her brows snapped together. "Who told you to do this?" she demanded. My head dropped.

I'm dead. "I'm sorry… I… I just wanted to make you happy," I stammered. That was exactly what Roxanne had hammered into my head. She always said girls had to make themselves useful.

Did I not do enough? Is that why Aunt Heidi was mad? The next second, she snatched the dirty rag right out of my grip and slammed it onto the coffee table.

She grabbed my hands, which were swollen and cherryred from the freezing tap water. "Damn it!

That venomous bitch made you do this?" I shrank in on myself, my shoulders pulling up to my ears as I nodded, convinced I had done something horribly wrong. "Fuck that socalled mother of yours!

In my house, the only thing a sevenyearold girl needs to figure out is what toy to play with next!" She dragged me over to the space heater and pushed me onto the sofa.

The orange glow washed over my face, the heat soaking into my skin. It felt just like her hands—warm and safe. During dinner, she practically shoveled food onto my plate.

In seconds, my small bowl was a towering mountain of meat and vegetables. "Eat!" she ordered. "How are you supposed to work for me if you pass out from starvation?" I practically buried my entire face in the bowl.

Her cooking was incredible. That night, the muffled sounds of Vance and Heidi arguing drifted through the thin walls.

At first, Vance was putting up a fight, but his voice gradually shrank until only Heidi's furious tones cut through the quiet. I caught snippets of the argument. Send her away.

Baggage. I pulled the thin blanket tightly over my head, squeezing my eyes shut. Of course. I was getting kicked out anyway.

When I woke up the next morning, a thick, heavy quilt was draped over my shivering body.

Heidi was sitting by the heater, knitting needles clicking rhythmically in her hands as a tiny pink sweater took shape. She glanced up when I shifted. "Breakfast is on the stove.

Feed yourself.

When you're done, we're going out." My breath caught in my throat. "Where?" She didn't even look up from her yarn. "Where do you think?" I dropped to the floor and locked my arms around the heavy wooden table leg, hyperventilating through my sobs. "I don't want new clothes!

I don't want to buy anything! Please, just don't throw me away…" I knew Roxanne would never take me back.

She had explicitly told me that if Vance tossed me out, I was going straight into the foster system. Heidi's eyes reddened.

She quickly hardened her face, forcing a gruff bark. "If you embarrass me in public wearing those trashy homeless rags, I really will throw you out!

Now, get in the car!" I looked down at my grimestained jacket and frayed pants, snapping my mouth shut.

At the mall, Heidi bought me three brandnew outfits, including a beautiful little sundress. When we got home, she dragged me straight to the bathroom and ran a hot bath.

It took three rounds of shampoo before the water running off my hair finally rinsed clear instead of muddy brown. "There," she murmured softly. "Now you actually look like a little girl." Heidi helped me slip into the new dress and carefully braided my hair into neat pigtails.

A soft, genuine smile touched her lips, clearly satisfied with her work. I flashed a wide, missingtooth grin at my reflection, warmth blooming in my chest.

Maybe stepmothers weren't so evil after all. Chapter 4 That night, Vance and Heidi argued about me again.

But this time, I clearly heard the thick, wet tearfulness in Heidi's voice. "What kind of monster calls herself a mother and does that?

You didn't even see her, Vance." "Her hair was matted into solid blocks.

She was covered in layers of cakedon dirt… How did she end up with a bitch like that?" "That poor little girl…" Three days turned into another three days.

Every morning, I woke up terrified that the dream would shatter, that today would be the day I was tossed out on the street.

Instead, Heidi seemed obsessed with bringing home shopping bags.

I’d whisper that I didn't need anything, but she'd just wave me off. "It's a loan, kid," she'd say, not missing a beat. "You're paying me back for every cent of this later." Vance noticed she had stopped threatening to kick me out, so he kept his mouth shut and let her do what she wanted.

In the blink of an eye, three months flew by. Heidi's belly swelled larger by the week. Sleep became impossible for her, and she spent most nights pacing.

From my makeshift bed on the living room sofa, I’d watch her pressing one hand against her aching lower back, lumbering back and forth across the floorboards.

She even walked around in her socks, terrified her shoes would wake me. "Did I wake you?" she whispered when I shifted beneath my blanket.

I threw the covers off and padded over to massage her stiff shoulders. "The floor is freezing, put your slippers on!" she scolded, though the harsh words couldn't hide the soft concern in her eyes.

Over the past few months, I had figured out her game. She talked a big, tough game, constantly threatening me, but every single thing she actually did was wrapped in care.

As her due date approached, Heidi grew increasingly anxious. Her family started dropping by constantly.

The second they saw me, their faces would scrunch up in disdain, and every single one of them told her to get rid of me.

Heidi's mother was the most aggressive. "Heidi, did the pregnancy rot your brain?" her mother snapped. "You're about to be a mother yourself, and you're raising some other woman's baggage?

Are you stupid?" "Do you have any idea how impossible it is to be a stepmother? You do a good job, nobody gives a damn.

You make one mistake, and everyone accuses you of abuse." "She belongs to her biological mother anyway.

Why are you acting like a charity?" Heidi just laughed it off, trying to deflect. Seeing this, her mother jabbed a harsh finger into Heidi's forehead. "Don't say I didn't warn you.

Other people's kids are just leeches.

You feed them, and they still turn around and bite the hand that feeds." Heidi just leaned into her mother's shoulder, smiling easily. "I know, Mom." "You stubborn brat, get rid of her, or don't bother calling me your mother anymore." Ignoring her own threat, her mother sighed.

Heidi reached out and pulled me into her side. "Juniper, say hi to your grandma." "Hi, Grandma," I mumbled softly.

The older woman rolled her eyes, her voice dropping to a harsh mutter. "I'm not your grandma." Despite the harsh words, Heidi grinned, looking as happy as a kid.

I watched them, a sharp ache expanding in my chest. I envied her. She was a grown woman, and she could still lean on her mother like that. Unlike me.

I was just the trash my mother threw away. Later that night, Heidi tucked the blanket around me, brushing her hand gently over my braided hair.

Lying in the dark, I slept more soundly than I ever had before. Chapter 5 As her due date approached, Heidi was admitted to the hospital, and Vance grew increasingly frantic.

One afternoon, I caught him pacing on the balcony, his phone pressed hard against his ear.

His voice was sharp with frustration. "Roxanne, you have to come get the kid." From the receiver, the tinny, longlost voice of my mother drifted over. "Why the hell should I take her?

I raised her for months, and I haven't even asked you for a dime of living expenses!" Vance shot back. "You call that raising a kid?

I don't even want to say it, but you barely kept her breathing." He wasn't wrong. After the divorce, I had moved into a cramped apartment with Roxanne.

I never knew when my next meal was coming. She had never held a job while married to Vance.

She took every penny from the divorce settlement and blew it playing slot machines at the local dive bar until her pockets were empty.

She refused to find work, surviving solely by waiting for Vance's monthly child support checks. Once she hit the casino floor, everything else vanished from her mind.

If she remembered, she'd toss me a cheap takeout box. If she didn't, I went two or three days without a single bite. My vision would swim from the hunger.

I frantically tore through every corner of the cabinets. When the starvation hit its peak, I shoved moldy bread crusts and cold, halfyear expired canned food into my mouth.

If the old lady living in the trailer downstairs hadn't taken pity on me, slipping a few sandwiches through the crack of the door every now and then, I would have starved to death in that reeking apartment. "Vance, don't think I don't know what you're playing at!" Roxanne yelled. "Your new wife is about to pop, right?" "What, throwing out the old baggage to make room for the new?

I'm telling you right now, don't even think about dumping her on me." Vance ground his teeth together. "Roxanne, you fought for custody!

If you pull this, I'm taking you to court." "Go ahead and sue me! Don't forget you're her father too. And guess what? I'm pregnant." "Take her or dump her, I don't care.

I'm not taking her back." She paused, her tone dropping into something icy. "Why don't you just beat her to death and be done with it?

It'd save us both the headache of screaming at each other." Vance froze, speechless. A long, heavy silence stretched before he finally spat out, "Roxanne, are you even human?

That is your own flesh and blood. How can you say something so venomous?" Roxanne scoffed. "Look who's talking.

You're only calling me because you don't want the little parasite either." Vance slammed the phone down.

He aggressively ground his cigarette butt into the ashtray, grabbed my arm, and dragged me toward the door. I was hauled outside, too terrified to make a sound.

The truck drove for hours, traveling from the bright morning light deep into the pitch black of night. When we finally arrived, Vance yanked me out of the vehicle.

We were standing in front of a weedinfested, dilapidated country house with a sagging porch. The front yard was piled high with rusted, abandoned car parts.

Vance dragged me up the steps and called out to his parents. That was how I figured out we were at my grandparents' rural farm.

Vance pushed me away from the truck, pressing a crumpled bill into my palm.

I lunged forward, my fingers locking around his door handle, begging through my hyperventilation. "Dad, don't leave me here! That woman is going to beat me to death!

Aunt Heidi is going to be so mad when she comes home and can't find me!" Vance's face hardened into a cold mask.

He brutally pried my fingers open, peeling them off the metal one by one. Slamming the door shut, he floored the gas pedal.

The truck sped off, leaving me choking on a thick cloud of dust.

The old woman marched over and grabbed my arm, yanking me toward the rotting porch. "You useless brat, you think you're some kind of princess?

He wishes you would die out on the street! From now on, you stay here and serve your cousin." I thrashed and screamed, fighting with everything I had. It was utterly useless.

Chapter 6 That crumpled bill was snatched away by Colt the very next morning.

He licked a lollipop, parading it right in front of my face. "The old bat said you're just an unwanted feral stray!

You only deserve to dig through the trash!" That was the first time I ever fought back. Colt went bawling into the house.

A minute later, the old woman stormed out onto the porch, clutching a heavy wooden broom. "You little stray! Troublemaker! You make my Colt cry the second you get here?

No wonder your mother threw you out. I'll beat you to death!" She swung the broom handle hard at my ribs. I was too terrified to run, freezing in place to take the hit.

Colt stood off to the side, clapping and laughing. "Are you stupid? Why are you just standing there letting her hit you?!" A fiercely familiar voice rang out behind me.

I spun around and saw Heidi. The tears I had been holding back instantly spilled over my eyelashes. "Where did she hit you?

Let me see!" Seeing me cry, raw panic seized her features. She immediately pulled me into her arms, checking me all over