My stepmother is America's Sweetheart, a beloved A-list celebrity. On the surface, she’s an innocent angel, but in reality, she used the media and public opinion to drive me to my death. My spirit floated in the air— I watched my father weeping bitterly as my stepmother signed away my shares of the family empire. I watched a portion of the internet celebrate that the "toxic daughter" was finally dead! I was filled with utter despair, but... when I opened my eyes again, it was the exact day my father brought the celebrity home. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. In this life, I’m going to live brilliantly! In my past life, just because I called her "Big Sister" instead of "Mom," she punished me in secret. This time, she stood before me, smiling that perfect camera-ready smile, asking me to call her "Mom." I immediately burst into tears. My father, Franklin, rushed over and scooped me up. "Icey, sweetie, what's wrong?" I asked timidly, "Daddy, this lady insists I call her Mom, but my mommy is in heaven. Do I have to call her Mom...?" My mother's death had always been Franklin's open wound. Hearing me bring it up, guilt washed over him. He frowned and scolded, "Bella, we just got married. If the child doesn't want to call you that, she doesn't have to. Why force her?" My stepmother's face stiffened for a millisecond, but she quickly adjusted her expression. She gently hugged me. "I'm sorry, honey. I was too impatient. I just wanted your approval so badly." She sounded so aggrieved that my father's expression softened. Unexpectedly, with a crisp snap, I slapped my stepmother right across her hypocritical face. Both of them were stunned. My dad immediately yelled, "Icey! What are you doing?!" "Daddy..." I wailed as he yelled at me. "She pinched my waist! It hurts so much..." 2. A flash of panic crossed my stepmother's face, and she hurriedly explained, "No, honey, I didn't..." My father lifted my shirt and saw a bright red mark on my skin. His face changed instantly. My stepmother couldn't explain herself and broke out in a cold sweat. "Icey, I'm sorry. I must have held you too tight by accident." I sneered internally. In my past life, didn't she beat me plenty, both openly and secretly? My father suppressed his anger, looking at her with complicated eyes, and carried me away. That night, Bella sneaked into my room and stuffed a credit card into my hand. "Icey, your dad and I are going on our honeymoon. I heard you've wanted to travel solo for a long time, haven't you? Here's a card. After we leave, you can secretly go wherever you want." Trying to get rid of me already? Because of my weak immune system, my father never allowed me to travel alone, nor did he give me money to do so. In my past life, I listened to her and went on a trip alone, only to nearly die of a high fever in a motel room. In this life, I still took her card and said obediently, "Thank you, Auntie Bella." The next day, I brought it up at the breakfast table. "Daddy, I want to go on a trip by myself." Both of their faces changed. "Go where?! Don't you dare mention that again!" My father's face turned red with anger. I retorted, "I'm going! Auntie Bella gave me the money, why are you trying to control me?!" My dad immediately lost his temper at Bella. "Bella, are you out of your mind?! Didn't I tell you about her health condition?! Are you trying to kill her so you don't have to deal with a stepdaughter?!" "Honey, I was just afraid she'd be bored alone at home." She started crying as she spoke, looking wronged and fragile. My dad fell for this act the most, and his anger subsided. "Daddy, just let me go. You and Auntie are going on your honeymoon, and I'll be really bored alone at home." I pulled on my dad's hand coquettishly. "Besides, I have all my medicine ready. Nothing will happen." Mentioning my fragile health made my dad angry again. "No one is going anywhere!" He told Bella. "What honeymoon?! Cancel everything!" My stepmother's face was as black as coal. Although she was a national icon, marrying my dad was still marrying up into the billionaire class. This marriage was too high-profile. When news spread that my dad hadn't even taken her on a honeymoon, everyone speculated whether she was truly favored by him. She was eager to show that we had a good relationship, so she insisted on taking intimate photos with me. At first, I cooperated with her, but then she got the idea of live streaming, thinking it would better show the mother-daughter interaction and establish her persona. On the night of the live stream, she hugged me intimately, calling me "sweetie" and trying to snuggle. I "accidentally" headbutted her face. Crack. Her nose—her famous, "all-natural" nose—shifted to the left. I pretended to be scared and quickly covered her crooked nose— "Oh my god! I'm sorry, Mom! Let me fix your nose for you!" 3. I held back my laughter and reached out to adjust her nose. She was so scared she immediately turned off the live stream. After all, the "America's Sweetheart" debuted as a "natural beauty," claiming she never had plastic surgery and rarely wore makeup. Impossible? In her past life, she spent millions of my dad's money every month just maintaining that face. Now she had her hands full. Bella hated me to the bone, but she spent the next half month busy with PR. It wasn't until my dad helped her calm the public opinion that she didn't completely ruin her reputation. Learning about this made me feel terrible again because my dad was willing to help her calm the public opinion, but in my past life, I was killed by public opinion! Perhaps my dad didn't even believe me about that incident. Sure enough, two years later, Bella proposed to my dad to send me into the entertainment industry. "Honey, Icey isn't cut out for academics anyway, and she's always wanted to be a big star. Why don't we arrange some resources for her and send her to act?" In my past life, I really did want to be a big star, so I worshiped my stepmother and begged her to take me into the industry. At that time, I was about to take the SATs, but despite my dad's objections, I threatened suicide to go out and film a movie. Unexpectedly, the famous director introduced by my stepmother often touched me inappropriately in private. Finally, I couldn't bear it anymore and beat him up, but he deliberately filmed it and posted it online. He and my stepmother played good cop/bad cop online, openly and secretly framing me. I was crushed by the internet mob, like a rat crossing the street, with everyone shouting for me to be beaten. My dad was disheartened with me at the time. Although he withdrew the public news stories, he couldn't control the rumors at school. Under the pressure of public opinion, I lived a life worse than death every day, and had no mood to study. In the end, unsurprisingly, I failed to get into college and was completely abandoned by my dad. The last straw that drove me to jump into the river was the news of my stepmother's pregnancy. She hugged my dad and smiled sweetly. "Sweetie, you're going to have a brother." I felt like I had been struck by lightning, as if I were outside of this family. This was the last straw that broke the camel's back. I never thought my dad would have other children. He clearly promised me that he would only love me, his only daughter... That night, I jumped from the bridge and died in the freezing river water. 4. Now, in this life, my stepmother proposed to pull me into the entertainment industry again. "Bella, why are you telling the child this now? She's taking the SATs next year. Do you want to distract her?" My dad was unhappy as soon as he heard it. "I'm just planning for Icey. Besides, Icey has been begging me to take her into the industry. With our family's strength, can't we support her?" Seeing my dad about to get angry, I immediately interjected, "Yes! I just want to be a big star! Auntie told me that being a big star means knowing a lot of people and making a lot of money. With our family's situation, why bother with college?" "What good people are there in that cesspool of an industry for you to know?!" My dad's words slapped my stepmother in the face. Seeing her bad expression, he realized he had scolded her too. "Bella, are you really doing this for her good?" My dad finally sensed something this time and became suspicious of my stepmother. "Honey! How can you think of me like that! I'm doing this for her good, to fulfill her dream! Boohoo..." This time, my stepmother's pitiful crying didn't arouse my dad's sympathy. I innocently pulled my dad's sleeve and persuaded, "Daddy, don't argue with Auntie. I'll study hard from now on." My dad was both distressed and angry. "You're speaking for her. I think she has a lot of schemes!" A crack of suspicion appeared between my dad and stepmother, and I was happy to see it happen. While watching my stepmother pretend to be pitiful, I studied hard. Because I had fallen behind too much, later I even took the initiative to ask my dad to hire a tutor to come to the house at night. My stepmother was afraid I would get into a good university. Because my dad said as long as I got into a prestigious university like Harvard or Stanford, he would hand over the company to me in the future. She wasn't pregnant yet, how could she be willing!? So she often ordered people to send food in during tutoring sessions. It was all ice cream, milk tea, chips, cakes, and other things kids like to eat to distract me. I ate them all, but I never got distracted by these little things. Later one day, my dad found out I hadn't gone to class and pulled me out of bed. "Sweetie! Why are you sleeping in again?! Don't you have school today?" I clutched my stomach, sweating profusely. "Daddy, I'm dizzy, my stomach hurts." My dad immediately became worried. "What's wrong? Daddy will call the doctor to see you right away!" After the examination, the doctor said I had eaten something bad, causing gastroenteritis and a slight fever. I had been weak since childhood, and my dad didn't allow me to eat random things. When he asked the maid, he found out that my stepmother had given me so much junk food, and he was furious! "You ate three tubs of ice cream yesterday?" He questioned me. I nodded timidly. He was going to settle accounts with my stepmother, but I stopped him. "Forget it, Daddy. Stepmom isn't my real mom. It's normal that she doesn't know about these things." My dad's face darkened instantly. He thought of my mom again. My mom died of difficult childbirth, leaving me behind as soon as I was born. My dad wanted to give me a complete family. He married my stepmother because he heard she was a breath of fresh air in the entertainment industry. He thought—since she's America's Sweetheart certified by the people, how bad could she be? But now he finally began to regret it. I asked him, "Daddy, if you and Auntie have a child in the future, will you not want me anymore?" "Daddy doesn't plan to have any more children. Don't worry, Daddy will only have you as a child in this life." I immediately became suspicious—then what was the deal with the child in my stepmother's belly in my past life?
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