Rebirth: My Sister Chose Our Penniless Mother, Not Knowing She Was a Monster

When our parents divorced, my sister chose to live with our wealthy father. I moved into my mom’s cramped rental apartment. Years later, my dad squandered the family fortune on booze, women, and gambling. Meanwhile, my mom started an influencer agency and became a famous female entrepreneur. My sister’s life was turned upside down, and she came to me crying for help. But when I wasn't looking, she poisoned my drink. "We have the same parents! Why do you get to live so well while I'm homeless on the streets?!" "It's my turn to live the good life!" When I opened my eyes again, we were back on the day of the divorce. This time, she beat me to it and threw her arms around our mom: "I want to live with Mom! I don't care how hard it gets, I'm willing to endure it." But she didn't know... Mom was far more terrifying than Dad. 1 My sister, Chloe, always had a sweet mouth and knew exactly how to charm people. She was always the favorite. Because of this, when our parents decided to divorce, they asked her first who she wanted to live with. Dad, Richard Sterling, was a trust-fund baby. His family was incredibly wealthy. Mom was a stay-at-home wife. After the divorce, she’d have nothing and would have to scrape by to survive. So, without a second thought, Chloe obediently threw her arms around Dad. "I love Daddy the most! I can't live without you. I want to grow up with you." Dad beamed with joy, lifting Chloe high into the air. "Good girl! You'll stay with Daddy and be a little princess for the rest of your life!" Chloe smiled sweetly. In a blind spot where our parents couldn't see, she shot me a smug, triumphant glance. Yes, she had been like this since we were little. Always trying to one-up me. As long as she could "defeat" me, she was perfectly willing to do things that didn't even benefit her. Dad and Chloe laughed happily together. Mom stood off to the side, looking heartbroken and gloomy. I stayed silent for a moment, then walked over and took Mom's hand. "Mom, I'm willing to live with you." She gave me a long, deep look, but said nothing. 2 Years later, through a stroke of luck, Mom's live-streaming and influencer business took off like wildfire. We moved from the run-down rental into a nice condo. Then from the condo into a luxury mansion. Mom's secondhand e-bike was replaced with a Mercedes. Then, it was upgraded to a Porsche. One day, Mom was driving me out to run errands. On the road, we happened upon a traffic accident. A man riding a scooter the wrong way down the street had crashed into a luxury car. The owner of the luxury car was screaming curses, while the scooter rider bowed and apologized submissively. His daughter stood off to the side, wailing loudly. Annoyed that she was embarrassing him, the man turned and kicked her. Heartbroken, the girl turned her head—and locked eyes with me through the tinted window of the Porsche. It was my sister, Chloe. And that pathetic, apologizing man on the scooter was our dad! Chloe recognized Mom and me. Her eyes lit up, and she began chasing our car like a madwoman. But Mom simply pressed the gas pedal and drove forward, acting as if nothing had happened. I hesitated before speaking: "Mom, that was Chloe." Mom replied coldly, "I saw. What, you want to help her?" I didn't dare make a sound. Mom sneered. "She was so cute when she was little. Now that she's grown, she's as ugly as her father. Ungrateful little brat. This is karma." I completely shut my mouth. Not long after, Chloe managed to find my contact info. She asked me to meet her. In the cafe, she cried a river of tears. "Serena, you have no idea. Dad is—" According to Chloe, Dad was an absolute fool. He was incompetent, yet infinitely greedy. A few years ago, he listened to the nonsense of some "friends" and, ignoring Grandpa's warnings, invested in a startup. But the company was a pre-planned trap, and tens of millions of dollars vanished into thin air. Grandpa was furious and banished him from the family estate. "I thought Dad would learn his lesson, but all he knew how to do was drink, party, and gamble." After being kicked out, Dad partied every night. Encouraged by his various girlfriends, he went to underground casinos and threw money around like dirt. Within a few months, his millions in savings were wiped out. He even racked up six million dollars in gambling debt. Grandpa was completely done with him and refused to give him a single cent. Desperate, Dad had to start doing food delivery to make ends meet. But he was a man used to a life of luxury. He used to have a chauffeur everywhere he went; he didn't even know the traffic laws. Not long after he started delivering, he drove the wrong way and hit a luxury car— Which was exactly the scene I had witnessed a few days prior. In the cafe, Chloe threw herself into my arms, sobbing pitifully. "Serena, I saw Mom driving a Porsche and wearing Chanel. Your bag is Dior. You guys must be living so well." "Serena, can you go back and talk to Mom? I'm her daughter too. I don't want to live with Dad anymore. I want to live with her." "She must miss me, right? During those first few years after the divorce, she used to call me all the time, begging me to come back." Her eyes were filled with desperate hope. But the moment I thought of Mom, an involuntary shiver ran down my spine. Finally, I said, "It's best if you don't live with Mom. But... I can give you a little money." Chloe's head snapped up, a flash of pure, venomous resentment darting across her eyes. But just as quickly, a grateful smile spread across her face. "Thank you, Serena. I always knew you treated me the best." 3 The next day, I transferred fifty thousand dollars to Chloe. She insisted on inviting me to her cramped apartment for a home-cooked meal to thank me. Inside the dingy rental, Chloe handed me a cup of tea. "Serena, I remember you loved Jasmine tea when we were kids. I picked these leaves out just for you. Taste it and tell me what you think." My guard was down, and I drank it. But soon, the room started spinning. The last thing I saw was Chloe coming at my face with a knife, slashing it open. "Serena Sterling, we have the exact same parents! Why do you get to live in luxury while I sleep on the streets?!" "You have so much money, yet you only give me this pathetic amount, and you won't even let me go back to Mom! You selfish, greedy bitch!" An endless darkness washed over me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of our parents' divorce. Facing Dad's question. This time, without a second thought, Chloe spun around and hugged Mom. "I can't live without Mom! I want to live with Mom! I don't care how hard it gets, I'm not afraid!" Mom, moved to tears, hugged Chloe tightly. Buried in Mom's embrace, Chloe wore a sly, wicked smile. In a blind spot where no one else could see. Chloe silently mouthed the words to me. Sister, this time, it's my turn to fly high. So, she had been reborn too. But what she didn't know was that Mom was far more terrifying than Dad. 4 Chloe marched off happily toward the run-down rental apartment. While I stayed behind in the sprawling Sterling mansion. Dad was just as unreliable as always. Having just finalized his divorce, he was already prepping for a wild night out at the club. On the phone, some mistress's voice was disgustingly sweet and whiny. But it put Dad in a fantastic mood. He grabbed his coat, ready to head out. Just as he was about to step through the door, I stopped him. I asked, "Dad, who's going to eat dinner with me?" He replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "We have a nanny, don't we? Have her eat with you." I bit my lip and said, "I haven't seen Grandpa in a long time, and I miss him. Dad, can you drop me off at his house?" Dad hesitated for a moment. Seeing this, I added, "I heard Auntie's son went to see Grandpa a couple of days ago. I don't know what he said, but Grandpa bought Auntie another new car. Did you know about that, Dad?" Hearing this, Dad's hesitation vanished instantly. "That family does nothing but leech off my side of the family, spit!" "Serena, I'll have the driver take you right now. Remember, you have to say good things about me to Grandpa, you hear?" With that, he practically shoved me into the back of a luxury SUV. Grandpa Arthur Sterling lived in a secluded, massive lakefront estate. In his eyes, my mother was a scheming gold-digger. He believed she had used every dirty trick in the book to climb the social ladder and marry my dad, and that she was deeply manipulative and malicious. Because of this, he had always despised Mom, and by extension, he didn't like Chloe or me. In our past life, after the divorce, Chloe also tried to suck up to Grandpa. But she had always been a spoiled, pampered little princess at home. Her head was empty; her only skills were acting cute and pretending to be innocent. But at Grandpa's house, none of her little tricks worked. No matter how much she cried or threw tantrums, all she got was his cold indifference. Her situation was the exact opposite of Auntie's son, Ethan Vance, who was Grandpa's golden boy. No matter what Ethan said or did, he always earned Grandpa's praise. Over time, Chloe grew deeply resentful. During a family banquet, she deliberately shattered an antique vase. And she framed Ethan for it. She thought this would send Ethan's status plummeting. But what she got instead was hidden security camera footage. Ethan's position remained utterly unshaken. Chloe, however, faced the full wrath of the family's discipline. Grandpa scolded her, calling her "scheming and vicious, willing to use any dirty trick for personal gain, exactly like your mother." He strictly forbade Dad from ever bringing her to the estate again. From that day on, Chloe held a deep grudge against Grandpa. On his 80th birthday, Chloe even posted a vicious comic on social media. The comic was a malicious curse, depicting the Grim Reaper using various methods to harvest an old man's life. Grandpa saw it, of course, but he simply ignored her. Later, when Dad went bankrupt and Chloe's living conditions plummeted, she finally remembered Grandpa. She knelt at the gates of the estate, begging him to forgive her and take her in. Grandpa didn't even show his face; the security guards just dragged her away. This time, time had rewound. Chloe had run off to chase the new life of her dreams. And the one standing outside the lakefront estate, about to visit Grandpa, was me. I took a few deep breaths and pressed the doorbell. 5 Even though Dad had called ahead to say I wanted to visit him, Grandpa's expression in the study remained ice-cold. After I politely greeted him, he showed absolutely no intention of acknowledging me. I didn't get upset. I simply found a quiet corner and sat down. During the years I lived with my mother in my past life, I endured humiliations a hundred, a thousand times worse than this. This was nothing. In the study, Grandpa was quizzing Ethan on his coursework. Ethan was seventeen this year, academically exceptional, and a genuine prodigy with a deep passion for finance and economics. Grandpa was a self-made billionaire, but sadly, his own children were all mediocre failures. Therefore, he genuinely admired this driven, grounded grandson. He frequently pulled Ethan aside to lecture him on famous domestic and international business case studies. Grandpa's questions were highly advanced. Ethan managed to answer the first few perfectly. But this current question was different. Ethan sank into a long, contemplative silence. Grandpa wasn't in a rush; he waited patiently for his answer. I tentatively raised my hand. "Grandpa, may I share my thoughts?" Grandpa glanced at me, his expression full of doubt. "You? You haven't even finished middle school. What could you possibly say?" "If you can't sit still, go outside. Stop trying to play these little games." I didn't get angry. I just smiled and said, "If my answer displeases you, I'll go stand in the corner outside as punishment. Is that fair?" Grandpa scoffed. But Ethan interjected, "Grandpa, why not let Serena try?" Grandpa said nothing, which meant tacit approval. I shot Ethan a grateful smile and immediately began: "This particular wave of early entrepreneurs had questionable startup capital. In the early days, they acted as middlemen, helping foreign tech companies break into the domestic market. They relied heavily on information asymmetry to reap massive profits." Grandpa looked at me in surprise and pressed further: "Then tell me, what was their natural advantage, and what was their fatal flaw?" I thought for a moment and replied, "They established close ties with foreign enterprises early on and adapted quickly to the market—that was their advantage. But those who live by the sword die by the sword. Their fatal flaw was an over-reliance on the first-mover advantage provided by those foreign firms. They never developed their own core competencies. Therefore, once the market matured and became regulated, their competitive edge vanished completely." Grandpa stared at me fixedly for a long time. His expression was complex. There was doubt. There was scrutiny. The only thing missing was contempt. After a while, he asked, "You're only fourteen. Where did you hear all of this?" I replied, "There are a lot of books in the city library. I love reading." But that wasn't true. Among the "clients" my mother entertained, a large portion were the exact beneficiaries of that middleman era. They had exploited loopholes, amassing wealth through nepotism and information gaps, yet attributed all their success to their own supposed brilliance. And on many drunken afternoons, while groping the young girls in their arms, they couldn't wait to brag about their past conquests. Thinking of this, I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them again, I was still in Grandpa's solemn, antique study. Not in a dimly lit, pink-tinted bedroom reeking of alcohol and sleaze. Clap, clap, clap. Ethan was clapping softly. He said, "Serena is only fourteen, yet her reading comprehension and critical thinking are incredibly sharp. She deserves praise." He looked at me, his expression warm and genuine: "I bow to your insight." I quickly shook my head. "It was just a lucky guess. I don't know any of the advanced finance and economic concepts you were talking about earlier. I still have so much to learn." After a brief silence, Ethan asked, "Serena, do you want to study with me?" 6 At Ethan's suggestion, Grandpa allowed me to audit their sessions. But he was still suspicious of me. He suspected this was just another unorthodox scheme to con money out of him. So, he ordered Ethan to give him regular reports on my behavior. In truth, there was no need for Ethan to monitor me, nor did anyone need to force me to work. I attended classes religiously. Every weekend, I was either practicing the piano or buried in the library. This was the life I had desperately begged for but never received in my past life. How could I not cherish it? Several months passed. In Grandpa's study, I was no longer just a listener. Often, over a specific scenario Grandpa posed, Ethan and I would debate until we were red in the face. Until Grandpa finally called a halt. I don't know exactly when it happened. But Grandpa stopped looking at me with guarded eyes. And Ethan stopped giving Grandpa reports on my behavior. Because he complained that keeping an eye on me wasted too much of his time, which was why he had actually lost to me on a recent pop quiz. Grandpa just threw his head back and laughed heartily at that. I pretended not to know any of this and just quietly kept doing my practice tests. At school, my relentless studying yielded rich rewards. I won first place in a state math competition. The teacher said they were going to formally commend me at the upcoming parent-teacher conference. But Dad was as unreliable as ever. He had promised to attend, but half an hour before it started, he called to say he couldn't make it. "Serena, Daddy has a very important meeting to run. Have the nanny go to the conference for you, okay? Be a good girl." But I could clearly hear the giggling of several women in the background. I didn't expose his lie; I just calmly hung up the phone. Then, I took a picture of the honors list posted on the classroom bulletin board and texted it to Grandpa. On the list, my name and Ethan's name sat firmly at the top of the middle school and high school divisions respectively. Our matching last names gleamed brightly in the sunlight. I added a message: [Grandpa, Dad had an emergency and can't make it to my conference. But the teachers really want to talk to my guardian about my future academic track. Could you come?] Grandpa came to the school personally. This was a treatment not even Ethan had ever received. My homeroom teacher was terrified, and the Principal rushed over to host him personally. Grandpa sat regally in the center seat of the Principal's office and asked, "How are my granddaughter's studies? Is there anything she needs to improve?" He knew the answer already. The homeroom teacher immediately poured on the praise, confirming that I was an absolutely flawless, top-tier student in every possible regard. Only then did Grandpa nod in satisfaction. After the conference, he hesitated for a moment before actually ordering his driver to take us to the mall. He said, "I noticed all the little girls in your class dressing so brightly. Why are you dressed so plainly? Is your father neglecting you?" In the end, he custom-ordered six or seven tailored outfits for me. And bought me several designer bags. Looking at the numbers on the receipts, I felt a rush of panic. "Grandpa, aren't you worried I'm just after your money anymore?" He let out a booming laugh. "Go ahead and be after it! I'd be more worried if you weren't!" I froze for a second, then joined in his laughter. Chloe thought that to win Grandpa over, she needed to be cute, provide emotional value, and act like a spoiled, innocent child. But she didn't understand that Grandpa was a self-made billionaire. He had seen countless sugar-coated bullets and witnessed the darkest depths of human nature. He didn't need, nor did he respect, flattery and whining from useless people. What an aging patriarch wanted to see more than anything was a vibrant, capable successor. And me? As long as I continuously proved my competence, it was only a matter of time before I became the second Ethan. Grandpa's golden child.

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