After My Stepsister Stole the Family Heirloom Meant for My Wedding, Faked a Pregnancy, and

After my stepsister steals the family heirloom meant for my wedding, fakes a pregnancy and proposes at my reception, I finally decide to get revenge. My stepsister, Lena, 31, female, has been a constant source of annoyance in my life for the past 5 years. Recently, she tried ruining my wedding, and that was the last straw.

She had to face the consequences of her actions. So, I plotted the perfect plan to get back at her. So, a little bit of backstory before we get into the details. I, 25 female, am the eldest child of my parents. I have a younger sister, Joseph, 22, female, and it was just the four of us for a very long time. My father was the most amazing person.

Our little family was filled with happiness and laughter for 15 long years until my father unfortunately passed away after suffering a stroke. It came as a shock to all of us because it was just so unexpected. Josie and I looked up to our dad for almost everything. No matter what, he always had solutions and answers.

Now, without him, it was as if we had lost our guiding light. My mother was distraught and overcome with grief after dad’s passing. She went into shock and didn’t eat or even speak for days after it happened. Suddenly, it was as if I was responsible for everything. I was only 15 and I remember being so scared and griefstricken that I cried every night.

But I was the one who had to step up and take charge. Josie was too young and my mother was in no shape to be making any kind of decisions. I was the one who had to plan the funeral along with my grandparents. I was the one who had to make sure that my mom and sister were okay. I had to make sure that things still ran smoothly even though I was dealing with my own pain.

It seemed impossible at the time to even imagine a life without dad. But as the days passed by, we found ourselves going back to our normal routines, or as normal as it could get without him. The good thing was that I had an amazingly supportive and caring boyfriend, now husband, Leo, 26, male, who was by my side through everything.

We had known each other as kids and he was my biggest support and comfort in the days after dad’s passing. I honestly don’t think I would have made it through those days without him. Eventually, we fell in love and have been together ever since. I can honestly say without a trace of doubt that Leo is not only the love of my life, but also my best friend who was there for me when no one else was.

While my love life was blossoming, so was my mother’s. I didn’t think that she would ever love again. But around four years after my dad’s passing, she sat Josie and me down and told us that she had been seeing someone for the past year and she finally felt secure enough in the relationship to tell us about him. To our shock, she told us that she was in a relationship with our former history teacher, Mr. Jones.

She told us that Barry, Mr. Jones, was a source of comfort to her during her grief and helped her out during her tough times. She said that she trusted him and did have feelings for him, but at the same time felt guilty for even thinking about love for anyone else. Except the more I saw my mom with Barry, the more I could see just how happy he made her.

I hadn’t seen her laugh and smile like this in years. And I was thrilled that she could at least regain a little bit of the joy that she once had. Barry was sweet and kind to both my mom as well as to Josie and me. And we all grew very fond of him, especially after seeing the dramatic change he brought about in our mother.

Barry had been divorced for over 10 years and shared a daughter, Lena, with his ex-wife. He told us that she was not as close with him after the divorce because his wife won her custody, which prevented her from seeing him often. He was hopeful that Lena would be more involved with him in this new phase of his life with my mother and us and was excited to introduce us to her.

I had seen Lena around when I was in school. She was much older than me and from what I remember was one of the most popular girls in our school. She was the typical pretty blonde cheerleader, prom queen, who could get any guy she wanted. She also had the reputation of being a bit of a bully and a mean girl. But we had never actually spoken to each other until our parents got engaged.

From what Barry had told me, after graduating, Lena married her boyfriend by the time she was 20 and was now living with him in another city while he pursued his music career. I wanted to make a good first impression on her because if she was going to be my new sister, I wanted us to be friends instead of having any animosity.

Josie and I volunteered to pick up Lena and her husband Jimmy from the airport when they arrived for the engagement party. To my surprise, I didn’t even recognize Lena at first. She had always been pretty, but now it looked as if she had gone overboard with lip fillers and Botox, giving her an almost plastic-like appearance.

She could barely even open her mouth fully to speak. Her initial greeting was pretty cold, not even a hug or a thank you for picking her up. I tried making small talk with her throughout the journey back home, but she never spoke nor even looked in my direction and stayed on her phone the whole time. The weekend that followed was awkward and uncomfortable to say the least.

Lena seemed pretty uninterested in the whole thing. Barry had gone out of his way and cooked lunch especially for Lena. He made all her favorite dishes. He spent days furnishing up the guest room for her to stay in, and even made sure that she had everything that she needed. She sent him an email with all her requests, which ranged from a specific type of shampoo to the brand of bread that she ate.

She didn’t say much to her dad at all and barely even greeted him. When she saw the lunch that he had worked so hard to cook, she looked disgusted and said that she was vegan now and couldn’t even bear the smell of cooked meat. Barry looked disappointed and apologized, saying that he had no idea that she was vegan and offered to cook her something else.

She practically gagged and said that her mood was ruined and that she would prefer if we went out to eat instead. I was appalled by her behavior towards her father. As someone who lost her dad, I couldn’t fathom how she could take all his efforts for granted. I wanted to snap at her right then and there, but I didn’t want to worsen the situation anymore.

Reluctantly, we all went to the restaurant and surprise surprise, she ordered chicken wings. When I immediately pointed out that she claimed she was vegan, she came up with the dumbest excuse by saying that she was vegan with the exception of chicken and fish, which still made no sense because Barry had cooked her chicken. At this point, I was fuming.

Even Josie and my mom looked extremely uncomfortable. After a very awkward meal, we paid the bill. Lena didn’t contribute a single penny, and she declared that she would prefer to stay in a hotel for the remainder of her trip and asked Barry to book a room for her and Jimmy. He looked so disappointed and defeated that I couldn’t help but pity him.

At the same time, I was furious with Lena, and despite my mother and Barry trying to calm me down, I exploded. I told Lena as calmly as I could about how ever since she arrived, she had been nothing but rude, dismissive, and disrespectful to not only us, but also her own father, who had worked tirelessly to cook her a meal and make sure that she had all of her very specific demands met.

That wiped the smug look off her face immediately. I told her that she looked like an idiot, thinking that she was better than the rest of us just because she peaked in high school. And by the looks of it, went down a spiral, but still thinks that she is in high school despite being a grown woman. Lena was staring daggers at me.

It was clear that she wasn’t expecting an outburst like this. But I did have a bit of a temper, and I couldn’t stand people being disrespectful for no reason. She tried countering me with weak excuses, saying that I should learn to stay in my lane. But after noticing that even Jimmy looked embarrassed, made a feeble apology to us all, and came back home with us.

I could tell that it was killing her to listen to me and secretly wished that she would go to a hotel room instead because the more I saw her, the more I disliked her. This was just the beginning of our relationship. It started on a sour note and through the years remained sour. 3 years ago, Jimmy and Lena separated because she was caught cheating on him.

Unfortunately, she also lost her mother. Lena was in a terrible position and wanted a fresh start and decided to move in with our parents for a while until she could get back on her feet. At this point, I had moved out and was living with Leo while Josie was in college. We helped Lena move in and tried to give her space to grieve.

It was during this period that Lena became very attached to my mother. Earlier, Lena’s rude attitude rubbed her the wrong way and they weren’t close. But after her mother’s passing, my mom began consoling and supporting her and they began developing a deep relationship. I was happy to see them bond because after everything that Lena had been through, I was glad that my mom could give her comfort.

It was only after this that I started having real conversations with Lena for the first time. A few months after moving in, I went over to mom’s house to spend the evening, and Lena and I ended up having to share a bedroom. I expected us to butt heads as usual, but after drinking a glass of wine together, she began opening up to me like never before.

She told me about how her parents divorce traumatized her, and even though she wanted to be with her dad, her mother won custody and fed her all sorts of lies about him, making her dislike him and not visit in her teen years. Her mother completely abandoned her in terms of being a parent and was busy going on dates and having relationships with men, which never lasted for more than a few months.

She was neglected and made her act out, party, drink while underage, do drugs, etc. The worst part was that her mother didn’t really care about what she did or who she was hanging out with because she was too absorbed in her own life. She said that she never saw how a true mother actually was until she saw my mom and how she treated Josie and me.

She told me that I was lucky that I had a mother who loved and cared about me because she couldn’t relate and she lost the chance of ever mending her relationship with her mom now that she had passed away. This made me understand her a little better. As the months passed by, I noticed that Lena got extremely close with my mom.

Like I mentioned before, I initially didn’t have a problem with it. I was glad to see them get along, but now it was getting a little annoying. She never let Josie and me go out or even chat with mom alone. She constantly had to be involved in everything we did together. She would specifically arrange for mom and daughter spa sessions, completely excluding Josie and me from them.

My mom did like Lena and went along with her. And even though she didn’t like the fact that Lena excluded us and even spoke to her about it, Lena would always pull the I had an absent mother card and manipulate my mom and the rest of us, too. She slowly started becoming very possessive of her and wanted to be involved in everything.

Oh, and another thing, it was very evident that Lena was envious of my relationship with Leo. After her divorce from Jimmy, she tried very hard to get a boyfriend and got into many flings, which didn’t last long because none of the guys would put up with her demanding behavior. The fact that she couldn’t get into a stable relationship, especially when Leo and I were going strong for years, definitely annoyed her.

The fact that a pretty skinny girl like her couldn’t get a boyfriend, while I, the chubby one, definitely made her jealous. She’d often comment about how lucky I was to have found someone like Leo, and how I should be careful and watch my back because he was a great catch that any girl would want. I am extremely secure in my relationship with Leo.

We love each other and I am sure that he would never do anything to hurt me and didn’t have a disloyal bone in his body. Yet Lena’s smug comments always irked me. Moreover, she made Leo very uncomfortable by touching him all the time, sometimes even smacking his butt as a joke and invading his personal space.

Whenever I told her that she was being inappropriate, she’d jokingly say that there was nothing to be worried about and that I was just being insecure. It was at these times when I really wondered why I ever felt even an ounce of sympathy for her. Fast forward to last year and Leo proposes to me. It was magical and I obviously said yes.

Wedding preparations went into full swing and it was an exciting time for all of us. There is a tradition in our family wherein the eldest daughter gets to wear a beautiful necklace on her wedding day. It was sort of a family heirloom that had been passed down through generations. It was nothing fancy, just a simple string of pearls with a bow emerald in the center, but it held a lot of sentimental value.

My grandma wore it at her wedding and so did my mom and now it was my turn. I knew that this necklace meant a lot to my mother because even when we were struggling to make ends meet after my father’s passing, my mom refused to part with it. The minute Lena saw the necklace, I could tell that she wanted it.

She looked at my mom with all seriousness and told her that since she was now the eldest daughter, she was the one who had the right to wear the necklace. We all laughed, thinking that she was joking, but she was dead serious and even got offended when she saw that no one was taking her seriously. She began acting like she was just being funny.

But I knew her well enough to know that she was not. The months leading up to the wedding were hectic. Leo and I had to balance work with attending all of the appointments for the caterers, decor, flowers, and clothes. Josie, mom, Lena, and I went to the bridal boutique to choose my dress. I didn’t want Lena there, but she somehow forced her way into it and absolutely ruined my appointment by making terribly rude comments about how tubby and pudgy I looked in almost all the dresses I tried on.

I was on the verge of tears because she was ruining one of the best experiences of my life. When I finally found the dress I liked best and felt confident, Lena slightly commented that I could lose a few pounds so that the dress could look less frumpy and suggested that I go on a water fast. This was my last straw.

But before I did anything, my mother stood up to Lena and reprimanded her for being so nasty to me. I had never seen her so angry before. And the shock of this outburst was evident on Lena’s face. My mom supported me by having the assistant escort Lena out, telling her that she was being of no help and that the only thing she was doing was trying to make me feel bad.

My mother was never someone who lost her temper. She was always calm, cool, and collected. But I guess seeing how terrible Lena made me feel pushed her over the edge, and I appreciated her immensely for what she did. After Barry heard about what happened, he too had a few strong words with Lena and then even offered to remove her from the guest list for the wedding if she made me uncomfortable.

I should have agreed, but like an idiot, I didn’t want the matter to escalate and didn’t cut her out. After this, Lena stopped involving herself in the preparations and became subdued and quiet. I didn’t have much time to care about what she was doing because I was preoccupied with the wedding. Around two months before the wedding, Lena said that she had been dating a guy called Adam for a few months and would appreciate it if he could be her plus one for the wedding.

I agreed that as long as she didn’t ruin my wedding, she could bring whoever she wanted. She didn’t give me any other details, and I didn’t bother asking. Finally, the day of the wedding arrived, and I was a bunch of nerves. The night before, I had made sure to arrange my gown, jewelry, veil, and even my shoes in one of the bedrooms so that there wouldn’t be much hassle.

The next day, we had a beautiful rehearsal dinner where I met Adam for the first time and was shocked to see that he was only 22. I was expecting someone much older. Lena was all over him, touching him, kissing him to the point where he looked uncomfortable. The next day, with the help of my bridesmaids and mom, I began getting ready for the wedding.

Everything was perfect. The weather was great. My dress was beautiful. The cake was amazing. It was too good to be true. We were running short of time when the priest and guests arrived. After quickly getting my hair and makeup done, my mother went in to get the finishing touch, the necklace. The only problem was it had vanished.

I clearly remembered placing it in a drawer in my room the previous night, but no matter where we searched, the necklace was nowhere to be seen. After pointlessly searching for it everywhere for over an hour, I had to walk down the aisle without it because the guests were getting impatient and it was getting too dark.

I didn’t have much time to think about what exactly happened to it because there was so much going on. But I hated the fact that I broke the long tradition of not wearing the necklace at my wedding. To make things worse, at the reception, Lena unexpectedly got down on one knee and asked Adam to marry her. Yeah, I was as surprised as you are.

It gets worse, Adam looked terrified. It was clear that he had no intentions of marrying Lena, but then she proceeded to say that she would have liked to propose at a better time and place, but she couldn’t because she didn’t have much time because of the baby. Lena was pregnant. Everybody gasped in confusion.

And I was surprised Adam didn’t pass out. Lena told everyone to get ready for a double celebration because she was planning on getting married in a month so that she could still fit into her dream dress. We were all gobsmacked. By now, I was sure that Lena had something up her sleeve because I had known her for years. I knew how she was.

She was jealous of my relationship with my husband and mom. She always wanted the attention to be on her. She thrived that way. I knew that somehow my necklace was tied into this story somewhere. My gut told me she was behind it. During my entire honeymoon, I racked my brain trying to find a way to get proof that it was her.

And this proof came from an unexpected source, my uncle. He told me that the night before the wedding, he saw Lena sneak out of the room where the necklace was placed. And he remembered her being very startled when she saw him in the kitchen. At the time, he didn’t think much of it, but now that the necklace was missing, he had to tell me.

Now, I was almost sure that Lena was the culprit, but I needed definitive proof. Luckily, my neighbor is a little paranoid about thefts and has CCTV cameras all over his backyard, and one of them has a pretty good view of my bedroom window. After going through the footage, we saw that the bedroom lights turned on around midnight, and just for a few seconds, I could briefly see Lena’s fake platinum blonde hair through the window.

Now, it was confirmed, and I was going to take revenge. What made me hate her even more was the fact that she was faking her whole pregnancy. I asked her many times if I could accompany her to one of her appointments, but she denied it. She didn’t even let Adam go with her. She’d sent us pictures of her ultrasounds, and a simple reverse Google search was proof that she had taken them off the internet.

Moreover, I called up the clinic that she claimed to go to for her appointments. And guess what? There was no Lena that had ever visited. I have no clue why she was lying about this whole thing. It was ridiculous. I knew I had to do the right thing and tell Adam. We met up a few days later and I told him everything. He was furious at the lies and couldn’t believe that Lena was trying to trap him, but mostly he was relieved.

He told me that he had only started dating her a few months ago and it wasn’t serious at all. This baby bomb had caught him off guard and he only accepted her proposal because of the baby. He felt obligated to do so. We were both so angry and done with her lies she had to pay big time. Now you can call me rude, cruel, childish. I don’t care.

Lena has been ruining my life since I’ve known her. Stealing this heirloom was the last straw. Her constant need for attention was now becoming dangerous and was harming many people. She had to learn a lesson. Adam and I began to hatch a plan. We decided to let her go on with the wedding. Let her feel as if she was slick and nobody suspected her.

I was sure that she was going to wear my necklace at her wedding. She was predictable that way. Once she arrived at the wedding, she would find out that nobody showed up because we told them it was a scam. Then Adam would tell her that he knew about the fake pregnancy and her plans to trap him and break up with her on the spot.

If I was lucky, she’d have the necklace on her, and I could take it back and cut ties with her once and for all. I told my family about the plan, and they were all surprised by how mean it was. However, when they found out she had stolen the necklace and lied to everyone, they were more than happy to oblige to help her learn a lesson.

Even Barry, her own dad, was disgusted. The next few weeks went by in a blur with Lena thinking that she had gotten away scot-free. She didn’t let me anywhere near the wedding planning because she said that she wanted it to be a surprise. Even Adam was left in the dark. By now, most people knew about the fake pregnancy and were so disgusted by what she was doing that they didn’t want anything to do with her anymore.

A day before the wedding, Adam sent me a photo that made my jaw drop. It was a photo of Lena’s wedding dress. And when I took a closer look, I noticed that Lena had used the gems and pearls from my necklace to make sort of a fancy waistband belt for her dress. I was outraged. Not only did she steal something so important, she disassembled it and ruined it. She was crazy.

The worst thing is she really thought that no one would find out about it. Now, I’m not saying that what I did was right. I was definitely no saint. I was petty and I was very vengeful. But if anyone deserved this kind of behavior, it was Lena. On the day of the wedding, I wore my best dress and went to the venue extra early.

While Lena was getting her makeup done, I went to the bridal room, took her dress, and waited along with my parents, Leo, Josie, and Adam, for her to show up in the living room. She looked puzzled to see us all there, and even more puzzled to see me holding her wedding dress. I told her that we knew everything she was up to.

How she stole the necklace, how she lied about her pregnancy, how she fooled not only Adam, but all of us. I told her that we knew that she was a lying, attention-seeking scamster and nobody was going to show up at the wedding because they saw her true colors. I even showed her all the proof that we had collected these past few weeks.

Now that she was caught, she started coming up with all sorts of excuses and started crying and begging for forgiveness. She said that she was just borrowing the necklace and she was going to give it back as soon as the wedding was over. Lena had completely ruined the necklace. It wasn’t salvageable. I’m sure she thought we were never going to detect that she had used the jewels this way.

She thought we were that stupid. Then she fell to Adam’s feet, apologizing for lying about the pregnancy and begging him to give her another chance. Honestly, it was pathetic seeing a grown woman cry like a toddler. Adam told her that they were done and that he never wanted to see her again. He was so disgusted.

I called the cops on her and I’m not sure what exactly is going to happen. Maybe I am ruthless, but I do think she deserves it because it is all karma for the stupid thing she’s done her whole life. I had to have the last laugh. And now she’s left with the police with no dress, no husband, no dignity. AITA for what I did. Update one. Wow, this blew up.

And I have been getting so much hate from so many of you all. So many of you are calling me evil, jealous, and all sorts of nasty things and are defending Lena and calling me a witch for destroying her life. Honestly, did you even read this whole thing? How could you possibly be on her side after what she has done to not only me but our whole family as well as Adam? Yes, maybe I could have handled it better, more logically, be the bigger person.

But why should I? Why can’t I do what I feel is right and give her a taste of her own medicine? I don’t think what I’ve done is even half as bad as the things she’s been doing for years. You’re entitled to your opinion, but if you really think that Lena was a defenseless, innocent person, I don’t know what to tell you.

Anyway, we called the cops on her and submitted all the pictures that we had collected. Lena told them that she never stole anything and that she had just borrowed it for her wedding, but I don’t think anyone was buying that story. Either way, she was charged with petty theft and will have to return the necklace plus extra cash for the damages caused in addition to a fine.

She wasn’t arrested or anything, but she will have to do 3 months of community service. A lot of you were asking whether Adam wanted to get her charged for faking her pregnancy. Technically, I don’t think that there are any laws as such. I’m not sure. But Adam didn’t want to have anything to do with her. He wanted to get as far away from her as possible and didn’t press any charges.

Instead, he got a restraining order on her. So, yeah, I think a few thousand in fines and community service is a small price to pay for what she did, but at least it’s something. Update two. Hello. It’s been a while. I just thought I’d pop in and give a small update since this thread is still active. Our entire family cut ties with her completely.

I haven’t spoken to her in months, but what I’ve heard is that she’s completed her community service and has plans on moving to another city. She also paid the fine and gave back the necklace in pieces. I don’t think there’s any hope of salvaging it. All of us have been trying to cope with the roller coaster that was the past few months, but it still seems surreal that any of that happened in the first place.

Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have stooped to her level. I could have given her a taste of her own medicine in a more elegant way, but at the time I was so angry I only had revenge on my mind. I need to get a handle on my temper before it backfires on me. Anyway, I don’t think I want to have anything to do with Lena anymore.

I’m much better off without that kind of toxicity in my life, but I hope that she becomes a better person for her own sake, and I wish her nothing but the best. Update three, guys. I was able to find a goldsmith who was pretty confident that he could salvage the pieces of the necklace and try to recreate it. After a long wait, I got it back last week and it looks great.

I mean, it doesn’t look exactly the same, but the goldsmith did such a great job at restoring it. I didn’t think it could be saved, but I’m so happy that it has so much resemblance to how it originally looked.