Shocking Scorched Earth Moments
People do messed-up stuff every day. But there are some moments that go way beyond that—those scorched earth, burn-all-the-bridges moments that can tear friends or family apart forever.
1. All In The Family
My sister created a GoFundMe to assist my mom with expenses during her chemotherapy treatment for multiple myeloma. It collected around $10k and everyone was overjoyed. Later, things took a turn for the worse.
The money went straight into my sister's bank account, after which she whisked away her daughter to Atlanta in an attempt to get her on The Voice. That didn't pan out, but my sister had a blast in the process.
Upon returning home, she suddenly "remembered" that the funding that she'd splurged came from mom's GoFundMe. My mom was crushed and furious.
To avoid conflict, they made an agreement where my sister would refund the money in installments, putting it down in writing. But after just three months, she stopped making the payments.
My mom waited on her, even pleading for months, but to no avail. Eventually, she revealed this to the authorities and charges were pressed against my sister. Soon, family members called lambasting my mom for taking action against her own daughter.
They even got my mom's grandchildren involved, urging her to withdraw the charges.
Reluctant to sever ties with her family during her remaining years, she waived the charges. Unfortunately, she never received any reimbursement from my sister. This ordeal led me to decide that I'll never acknowledge my sister ever again.
2. Great Expectations
My aunt and uncle, who are quite wealthy farmers, have spent many years growing their business, creating new branches for their children to manage and eventually take over.
One major initiative was not just raising beef cattle, but also taking charge of butchering and selling the meat.
So, they invested in a spectacular million-dollar butcher shop and trained my cousin's husband to run it. The plan was for him to manage operations, while my cousin managed the finances. Despite not doing anything to earn it, they basically won the lottery. But it didn't go as planned.
A few years down the line, my aunt and uncle got wind that things weren't going well at the shop. They thought more money would motivate my cousin's husband to do better. They could already afford a million-dollar home, but when offered a raise, he snidely remarked about already making that much. This was a wake-up call.
They checked the finances and found some suspicious entries. When they visited the shop after hours and reviewed the financial records, my cousin's husband found out and lost his cool. His furious response was jolting.
They discovered that over a million dollars had been embezzled by tampering with the books.
The family business showed them the door, yet they walked away with a big pay-off and minimal contact with the family. Attempts to patch things up have been made by my aunt and uncle in order to see their grandkids, but with no luck so far.
The crazy part is they were given a golden opportunity and it wasn't enough.
They were destined to inherit a thriving business, but they blew their chance.
3. The Mole
My friend grew up with just his mom and his kid sister Bella, who was from a different father. Bella's dad used to date my friend's mom, but they broke up because he wasn't the best guy.
There was also this other boy at our school whose dad happened to be friends with Bella's dad.
This boy started spending a lot of time with my friend, often visiting his house to play video games and such. Fast forward to about six months later, my friend's mom ended up in court because Bella's father wanted custody.
They brought the other school kid as a character witness.
He basically told the court my friend's mom was awful and always neglecting the children. But I know her fairly well and she does everything for her kids. I really admire her, especially as a single mother. Later, we discovered the awful truth.
The school kid's dad had arranged for him to befriend my friend in the first place so he could be used to support the custody case against my friend's mom. I cannot decide who I was more upset with, the kid or his manipulative dad.
What's funny though, even after everything, the court still granted custody to my friend's mom because Bella's dad just couldn't keep it together in court.
It's just odd thinking about how my friend's little sister, Bella, almost got ripped away from her family because of these liars.
4. Race To The Bottom
After my dad passed, my ex-stepmom emptied his bank account almost instantly. What little she returned was only after we confronted her about the missing funds, and that too were the leftovers from her Amazon shopping spree. Just when we thought she couldn't stoop any lower, we discovered more shocking proof of her intentions.
When we froze his account, we found evidence that she was aiming to overdraft it, intending to saddle my sister and me with his debt. We're in the midst of selling his house at the moment. She made a mess of the place just before we got her to leave. On top of that, we're struggling to cover his mortgage payments. But believe it or not, there's something even more bewildering.
She had the audacity to stake a claim on his estate by claiming she was miraculously expecting his child a week before his passing, even though they'd been together for over ten years.
My sister was smart enough to get the ultrasound photo from her, which painstakingly revealed another scam.
Turns out, she'd spent $30 on a stock ultrasound image from a website and edited fraudulent details onto it. It's been about five months since we last heard from her.
