My parents are getting a divorce - She betrayed us

Relationships

This is so complicated, and it feels like so much more than just a divorce. I will include a TL;DR at the bottom. I'm not supposed to tell anyone about this but it's ok here, right?

I grew up in bumfuck nowhere. Everyone was poor, on drugs, and some of them murderers. My dad was the only person around with money so of course everyone would cozy up to him and use him for money. My dad has always been generous, he will buy his siblings and his friends houses, cars, whatever they need. It took me many years to realize that my favorite uncle, my favorite cousins, my favorite aunt..they were all bought with money.

My mother was one of the people addicted to drugs, she spent most of my life comatose. My dad dealt with it by locking himself away and working on his business. My dad has severe paranoia and believed that everyone wanted to kill us, so I was "homeschooled" and wasn't allowed to be seen by anyone. This meant that I was isolated from age 7 to 14, which did a number on me.

Sometime when I was 14, my mother finally died from her organs shutting down. This meant that we were free, no longer tied down with trying to keep her alive. My dad started dating and ended up in a serious relationship with my step mom. They have a 20 year age difference so he was a bit careful at first, he said he did some tests to make sure she wasn't just after his money.

Despite only being 5-6 years older than me, this woman helped rehabilitate me. She taught me how to hug, she taught me that families really do eat dinner together and that its not just a TV thing, she helped me through SH and eating disorders, she helped me work on my social phobia. Just think how difficult this would be with a 14 year old girl, one that had undiagnosed autism and was neglected and isolated.

I fell in love with having a mom. I fell in love with her family, my new grandma and grandpa, my new aunts and uncles, people who went to church and didn't do drugs, didn't steal, didn't kill anyone. I learned what having a real family is like, I felt loved.

My parents gave me two new siblings when I was 17-18. I felt like me dad got to start over and have a real family too. She fooled us. She fooled both of us.

My dad and I both have Ehlers Danlos. He has many health issues that he won't get help for because he's that type of older guy. Because of his health issues he ended up losing his business. They survived on the residual money for a long time. Eventually my step mom got her own business and she decided she didn't need my dad anymore... after about 14 years together.

She hasn't answered my texts in a while and now I know why, he finally gave me the news yesterday and I haven't stopped crying. How could she just forget about us? How could we go through so much together just to have it end like that? Will I see my siblings anymore? Will I see my grandparents? Will I lose my whole family?

I feel the worst for my dad. He doesn't have family anymore because they all left when he lost his money and his mom is basically on her deathbed. I'm the only person he has besides my younger siblings and I live far away. I'm also poor and don't have a spare room so I can't help him at all. He's disabled and can't work and isn't on any government assistance. If you know America you know it will take years for him to get help.

Will he lose his house? Where will he go? What will happen now? And most importantly, what can I do to help?

**TL;DR** My step mom spent 14 years playing the long game, loving us, giving us a family, and she dipped when the money ran out.

By the way, if anyone has any songs to recommend, I would love to hear them.

Posted May 5, 2025, 2:19 AM UTC

51
Loading comments…