Knowing how much pride my brother had, I knew he was in real trouble when he called me one day and asked for money.
Apparently, he couldn’t paid the mortgage and was about to lose the house, so I didn’t hesitate when I wired him $5,000 the following day.
Weeks passed by and I didn’t hear from him. No update on the house, nothing. And then, as I was scrolling through the news feed on Facebook, I saw a couple of posts from his wife. She and my brother were on a luxurious vacation on the Bahamas. Fancy resort, cocktails, you name it. And the caption? “Much-needed getaway! Living our best life!”
From losing the home to spending a fortune on a getaway?
I called my brother immediately, but he didn’t pick up. When he called me back later that day, he pretended that everything was normal.
I was fuming. “Is your house still standing?” I asked him. He just chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll pay you everything back when I can.”
Honestly, at that point, it wasn’t about the money my brother asked for. It was about the trust between us that he completely broke.
“Did you really lie to me about losing your home so that you can take an expensive trip?”
“We really needed it,” he said, and I knew I had it enough.
A couple of days later, I stopped by his place. His wife welcomed me as though I was a distant relative. “We didn’t expect you,”she said.
Once inside, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Not only they weren’t losing their house, but they apparently renovated the entire place. New rugs, carpets, and even a brand new espresso machine on the kitchen counter.
I wanted to make sure my brother knew that I was mad at him for lying to me.
It wasn’t about the money he kept assuring me he would return to me.
Following our meeting, we hadn’t spoke in months, and then, one day, he called me.
“Listen, I knew I made a huge mistake and I’m very sorry. I sold some of the furniture, including the coffee machine, and I’m paying you back part of the money.”
He did repay part of the money, I could see he was trying and was sorry for what he did.
Will I ever lend him money again? I guess no.
One thing I learned is that lending money to family always comes with a risk of breaking the relationship apart if things go south.
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