Wishing My Husband’s Daughter Would Choose to Live with Her Stepmother

I wish my husbands daughter would want to live with her grandmother.
When I married Julien, I knew he had a daughter from a previous marriage. His exwife, Élodie, had abandoned the child six years earliershe took her belongings and fled to Belgium with a new lover, starting her life over from scratch. Since then she has had two more children, calls her eldest only twice a month via video, and sends gifts only on holidays. I could see the little girl pining for her mother, staring at her phone screen, hoping she would say, Come live with me. But she never invited her, never showed up. She simply erased her from her life.
At first the girl lived with my motherinlaw, Juliens mother. But the older woman soon became exhausted, overwhelmed by chores, tantrums, and crises. She gave the granddaughter back to her father. Julien brought her home, looked me straight in the eyes and whispered, Amélie will live with us. For a long time.
I genuinely tried to be a good stepmother. I bought her clothes, cooked her favorite meals, took her to school, and spoke to her hearttoheart. I wanted to become a friend. Yet she shut herself off, as if an invisible wall had risen between us, without any attempt at rapprochement. She didnt ignore meshe made it clear that, in her world, I was nobody.
Three years have passed. Today the girl is twelve and still lives with us, issuing commands as if the house were her own apartment. Every evening she complains to her father: Aunt Claire made me tidy up, Aunt Claire didnt buy what I wanted. Then my motherinlaw calls me, accusing me of not taking enough care of the child and reminding me that Im about to have a baby too, so I should learn to be a mother. Yet she herself refuses to look after her granddaughter even for an hour when I have an urgent doctors appointment or a work commitment.
I am exhausted. I work, manage the home, cook, and now Im pregnant. Julien, while not taking his daughters side, still asks me to be gentler, more lenient. I cant take it any longer. This girl has become a source of irritationmessy, insolent, never saying thank you, never listening, never satisfied. She isnt mine, and I no longer try to hide that.
Sometimes, late at night in the kitchen, I think, If only I had refused for her to move in If I had insisted But its too late. I cant leave Julienwe are expecting a child together. And, selfish as it may sound, I increasingly hope that his daughter will want to go back to her grandmother, that shell say, Im better with Grandma. I wont beg her to stay. I wont even cry.
All I want is peace. No constant accusations, no fighting for my place in this house. I want my child to grow up surrounded by love and harmony, not tension and arguments. Perhaps that is my only chance to save this family without losing myself.