The Price of Familial Betrayal
otion and a significant raise. For the first time, my income was truly my own. I start
l from my mother appeared in my inbox.
ine was simpl
cruel and heartless. It detailed their financial struggles. Th
It' s not his fault. You' ve abandoned us in our time of need. How can you
l was so transparent i
short, sim
ou. Mike is the heir. The business and the house are his. T
nging my number, highlighting the sentence where I declare
a "community support" page for the Miller family. There, they posted carefully curated photos of themselves lookin
had stolen money from them before I left, that I
the hardware store, leaning on a broom with a tired expression, tryin
nd Dad," he' d write in the caption.
eople who didn't know the full story sent messages of su
in town saw a different story. They saw him leaving the store in the middle of the day to go to the bar. They saw him show
ly, told me about it on one of our
the deed your father gave him. He told everyone he was going to 'modernize.' Instead, he bought a sports car. Your
and validating. They were gett
s age, began to fall into disrepair. My mother complained to neighbors that the water heater was broken and they co
. My father yelling at both of them. It was the predictable outcome of a family built on a foundation of entitlement and exploitation. Once the sourc