It was my sister Lisa. Her voice trembled as she explained their situation. She and her husband Rick were behind on their mortgage, drowning in bills, and facing the real threat of foreclosure.
“We just need a little breathing room,” she said. “Just a year to get things back on track. I swear we’ll pay you back.”
They were family. Of course I helped.
That was my first mistake.
Trusting Family with a Loan Felt Right — Until Everything Went Wrong
The next morning, I transferred $25,000 — nearly every penny I’d made from the flower shop sale. It wasn’t a small sum. But I told myself if the tables were turned, Lisa would do the same for me.
We wrote up a simple agreement over coffee at her kitchen table. We both signed it. Nothing fancy. Just two sisters trying to do the right thing.
I tried not to think about it. For six months, I said nothing. I didn’t want to be the sister who hounds her family over money. After all, they said they just needed a year.
But one year came and went. Then two.
And the only thing I received in that time were excuses.
“It’s been a rough quarter,” Rick would say, shrugging.
Yet social media told a different story.
They posted about weekend getaways, new handbags, lavish birthday brunches. And one day, Rick pulled into their driveway in a shiny new SUV.
That was the moment I started saving screenshots. Not out of spite, but because I knew — deep down — I was being taken advantage of.
A Thanksgiving Confrontation Changed Everything
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