Chapter 1
My mother-in-law was really mean. She cut up my clothes, poured glue into my skincare, and refused to give me food or water when I was sick.
She even filmed me burning with fever and posted it online, just to make people laugh at me.
After I was discharged, I bowed my head and obeyed her every word.
What she didn't know was that I was secretly making a fortune off her.
*****
Recently, my mother-in-law, Rachel Foster, was kind of blowing up online.
She went into my bedroom when I wasn't home and pulled out my makeup, skincare, and jewelry.
In the video she posted, she was kicking the desk, pointing at the bottles, and complaining about all my stuff.
The caption read: [Do you have a daughter-in-law like this?]
Like always, the video was pushed to people her age.
The comments were full of blame.
[How could she waste money like this?]
[Ma'am, I feel sorry for you. You must not have it easy.]
[Get your son to control her. He has to stop spoiling his wife.]
[If she's buying all this now, she'll be after your pension next.]
That night, Rachel proudly showed me her phone.
She said I was nothing but a disgrace who only knew how to waste her son's money.
I found the video she posted and paid 30 dollars to have the platform target it to 18-23-year-olds.
The next day, Rachel's phone was blowing up with notifications.
The comments were completely different now.
[Old hag, buying this little bit of makeup won't kill you.]
[Old lady, I just spent over 300 bucks on a meal. Would you faint if you saw it?]
[Know why my grandma's stayed healthy all these years? She minds her own business.]
Rachel had never dealt with this kind of backlash before. She was furiously pecking away at her phone, sending angry replies to every single commenter.
But the younger users refused to tolerate her—they reported her to the platform.
A week later, the thousands of fans Rachel had gained from singing and dancing were gone.
Her account got nuked.
She slammed her phone down in front of me, her face twisted with fury. "Sophia, this is all your fault. You'll pay for this!"
I picked up the phone from the couch and slipped it in my pocket. "Well, since you clearly don't want it, I'll just take this back."
I was the one who bought her that smartphone, worried she'd feel lonely stuck at home all day. I had taught her, step by step, how to use it. I hadn't expected it to become a tool she used to hurt me.
Rachel lunged at me to grab the phone.
When I refused to give it back, she used her usual tricks: screaming, crying, and threats to kill herself.
When she realized I wasn't budging, she stormed over to the landline, ready to tattle to her son.
Rachel, who was in her fifties, cried into the phone like a child.
She said, "Eric, once you went away, Sophia started torturing me.
"She even won't let this old lady scroll on her phone at home."
My husband Eric was rarely home because of work.
But he knew exactly what his mom was like, and he trusted me with zero doubts.
On the phone he made Rachel apologize to me, and only then did I agree to give her the phone back.
*****
After her account got nuked, Rachel acted like she had lost her greatest treasure.
She took all her frustration out on me.
Whenever I wasn't home, she'd sneak into my room and cut up my new clothes.
From the bedroom camera, I saw her snipping while muttering to herself, "Eric isn't home, and she's all dressed up. Who is she trying to impress?
"Buying all these clothes—she's just burning through my son's cash!"
I couldn't care less. When she ruined my clothes, I just asked Eric for more money.
For every piece she cut, I bought a new one.
Eventually, Rachel totally snapped, yelling straight at the security camera, "You bitch!"
What I didn't expect was her new trick. She started secretly pouring super glue into my skincare bottles.
That night, I was unguarded. After using my skincare, my hand and face stuck together. If I had ripped them apart, I could have torn off a layer of skin.
I had no choice but to keep my hand pressed to my face and take a cab to the hospital.
Rachel followed behind, yelling, "When will you stop wasting money? Going to the hospital for something this small?"
The driver asked me who she was. I said she was my mother-in-law.
He turned his head and shouted, "Ma'am, so she's your daughter-in-law? I thought she was your enemy."
Rachel snapped at him, "I'll deal with my daughter-in-law however I want. Mind your own business!"