Betrayal - to be betrayed, a person must first experience trust in the betrayer. Therefore, the definition of betrayal involves the act of someone violating your trust in them. Betrayal is a devastating kind of personal loss because most often it is a loss that didn't have to occur. It only occurs because of someone's deliberately hurtful behavior. Unlike a loss such as death or illness, there is usually some sort of choice involved.
Vindictive - showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt; motivated by spite. A person described as vindictive is usually someone who holds a grudge and who always tries to get back at people who they think have wronged them in some way. Vindictive people retaliate against others for any insult or perceived slight. Vindictive people do not let things go.
As mentioned at the end of the previous post, "Kristen Wright's Version of the Big Lie", everything you've read thus far leads to the culmination of this tragic and disturbing story - a sister betrays her brother out of spite, vindictiveness and greed. If you haven't already read the prior posts in their entirety, I suggest you do so before continuing to fully appreciate how unconscionable my sister's actions have been.
My sister and I had always been extremely close. This bond between us began as children and continued throughout our adulthood and well into our middle age. As a result, my wife and I had a very close-knit relationship with my sister's children and, now, ex-husband. In fact, our family bond was so strong that in 2000 my sister and I jointly purchased a lake cottage for the sole purpose of having a place for our families to gather and spend time together during the summers. And, we did for many years.
The lake in Ontario, Canada where we chose to purchase our family cottage was not random. It was where we spent our summers as children - at a cottage owned by our parents, which our father sold when we were teenagers. Our shared dream was to one day purchase a family cottage of our own so our children could have the same amazing experience and make the same wonderful memories as we did. The cottage was never intended to be an investment property that would eventually be sold for a profit. We envisioned a cottage that would be mutually owned by our family for generations to come.
My sister, being an accountant, managed the cottage finances and paid the bills. My role, as a licensed contractor, was to be responsible for all the cottage maintenance and improvements. From the day we purchased the cottage we split all the expenses 50/50. There were never any disagreements over money and expenses because we trusted each other implicitly.
Things changed, my sister changed, when she began her affair with Jon Wright. She became distant, less engaged. We went from speaking on the phone a couple times a week to going months without talking. Phone calls to, and vmails left for, my sister went unanswered. When we did speak Jon was always within earshot of our conversation, commenting in the background.
My sister went from frequently visiting my family and me in Connecticut to never visiting at all. When we did see each other, it was only because my wife and I made the effort to travel to Delaware to visit my sister and mother. When we did spend time with my sister and Jon it was always awkward. There was a constant weirdness that I still can't fully put into words - Jon calls her "Krissie" and claims that's what she's always been called. Nobody ever called her "Krissie". My sister and I never spent any time alone when we visited because she and Jon are together 24/7/365. He answers questions directed to her, orders her food and controls her every action. My sister no longer has her own identity. She and Jon are one.
The start of my sister's relationship with Jon Wright also marked the end of her visits to the cottage.
In December 2018 I received a text from my sister stating she wanted to "pass" her ownership of the cottage to me. She went on to say she was better off not having the financial responsibility for something she wasn't enjoying. When we spoke on the phone about the issue, I raised the question about a buyout and she responded she was gifting me her share of the cottage. This was not a huge surprise since my sister had always been very generous and kindhearted toward my family and me. Plus, she knew how much the cottage meant to the rest of the family.
It should be noted that just months before she offered to gift her ownership of the cottage to me, I informed my sister of structural issues I discovered with the cottage that would need to be addressed in the spring of 2019.
In the weeks that followed, my sister removed her name from all the recurring bills associated with the cottage, including property taxes, insurance, utility bills, etc. By the end of January 2019 the only remaining record related to the cottage to bear my sister's name was the deed. I had full intentions of legally transferring my sister's ownership to me, but I didn't rush to do so out of consideration and respect. The last thing I wanted was to appear anxious to take advantage of her generous offer. Besides, as previously stated, I trusted my sister implicitly. There was no reason for me to ever consider the possibility she would renege on her offer.
* It should be noted that at the time my sister offered to gift me her share of the cottage she was, in her words, "broke". In October 2017 my sister sent me an email with the subject line "I'm broke!". In that email my sister informed me that her ex-husband had cut off her pay from their jointly owned company and she no longer had an income.
Heading into the summer of 2019 I knew there was work to be done at the cottage, but the structural issues I had identified under the original portion of the cottage in the fall of 2018 were minor compared to the issues I had to address that summer. In addition to correcting the structural issues I had planned to address, I worked 10-12 hour days that summer, every day, for two months removing and rebuilding a portion of the block foundation that nearly collapsed during the winter, digging up and installing a new septic drain field (all by hand because the space was too tight for a machine), installing a footing drain around the foundation of the cottage to prevent future water damage, replacing a utility pole and more. In total, the expenses associated with the work completed in the summer of 2019 came to $72,000 CDN, for which I assumed 100% responsibility of the cost. My sister did not contribute a single dollar toward the maintenance and repairs that summer since she had, for all intense and purposes, relinquished her ownership of the cottage to me.
I had planned to formalize the transfer of ownership of the cottage in the summer of 2019, but I simply did not have the time due to the amount of work required for the repairs and maintenance. In hindsight, this was a major error in judgement.
In December 2020, two years after my sister offered to gift me her ownership of the cottage, there was a group text exchange between my sister, brother, me and our respective spouses. The purpose of the exchange was to share updates about our elderly mother and her ongoing health issues. The details of this exchange are provided in the previous post "Kristen Wright's Version of the Big Lie." The text exchange was uneventful until Jon Wright started making extremely inappropriate comments about our mother. Comments such as she would commit suicide if she knew her true state of mental health, stating our mother needed to be put in a straight jacket to be controlled and suggesting we start "planning the funeral now". The last straw was when Jon Wright told my brother, his wife, my wife and me to keep our suggestions to ourselves when it came to caring for our mother. That's when things spiraled out of control.
The exchange became heated. I tried to diplomatically address what Jon had said. My sister went ballistic. Her rage grew with each new text until she ended the exchange by stating she would no longer share updates about our mother's health with me. If you haven't already read "Kristen Wright's Version of the Big Lie" you should do so now.
Within days I called my sister to apologize for things getting out of control during the group text exchange. I had no intentions of acknowledging any wrongdoing since I had done nothing wrong, but I wanted to keep the peace in the family. My sister did not take my call, so I left a vmail. I did not hear back from her either by phone or text.
A week later I texted my sister about something unrelated to the group text disagreement. She responded with false accusations about me refusing to give an online password for one of my mother's accounts to her husband Jon. In turn, I provided screenshots of my text exchange with Jon as proof that he was lying about me withholding the password. When confronted with the truth, my sister attacked with a scathing text message accusing me of being selfish and self-centered.
Portion of text deleted to protect my nephew Ryan
"Pushed horrific attacks" on she and Jon, "attacked Ryan", "belittled Caitlyn", "ripped me and Jon to shreds", "beat the crap out of mom", "horribly abusive behavior"? These are the rantings of a mentally ill person (in my opinion). These things never happened. They are nothing but lies and fabrications to support my sister's alternative reality. Again, I will reference "Kristen Wright's Version of the Big Lie" which unequivocally proves these things never happened.
I did not have any further contact with my sister until I texted her on February 2, 2021 - roughly two months since I had last communicated with her. The purpose of my message was to inform her I had started the legal process of transferring her ownership of the cottage to me. Her response clearly indicated she was harboring resentment and holding a grudge because of the disagreement we'd had months earlier during the group text exchange. She expressed dismay that I would ask something of her after the way I "treated" her and Jon, her kids and our mother. If you read "Kristen Wright's Version of the Big Lie" you know this is a totally false statement. Below is the exchange, which set the stage for what was to come.
My sister never responded.
Another month went by without any contact with my sister. During that time I continued moving forward with the transfer of ownership process. It was clear from our last exchange that she was still upset, but never in our entire lives had she ever given me reason to question her integrity or consider the possibility she would go back on her word. Plus, the disagreement we'd had months before had nothing to do with the cottage. So, I texted her an update on the transfer. Below is the exchange, which includes the text when she informs me she has no intentions to honor our agreement.
There was no further response from my sister other than to tell me to "stay the fuck out" of her life. She totally ignored the issue of reimbursement for the cottage expenses.
A day later I responded to my sister and, once again, broached the subject of the reimbursement for the cottage expenses.
Again, as with my previous attempts to address the issue of the cottage expenses, my sister did not respond. I continued to send text and email messages requesting reimbursement for the previous two years of cottage expenses, but my sister didn't respond to a single message. I even went so far as to send invoices.
The invoices were based on this spreadsheet I created detailing all the cottage expenses from January 2019 to June 2021 - expenses toward which my sister did not contribute a single penny.
* It should be noted that at the time I was seeking reimbursement for the cottage expenses my sister told my mother and other family members that I was "after her money". She claimed I had learned she'd received a large settlement from her divorce and that I wanted a piece of it. She failed to mention that what I was actually after was reimbursement for legitimate expenses related to our jointly owned cottage.
After repeated requests to be reimbursed for the cottage expenses, all of which went unanswered, I had my attorney send my sister a demand letter. The letter was simple and straightforward - either honor the offer to gift her ownership of the cottage to me or reimburse me for her share of the cottage expenses.
This time, my sister finally responded. And, her response was unconscionable. Instead of being an honorable person and agreeing to either keep her word or pay her fair share of the expenses, she retained an attorney who issued this ultimatum - pay my sister $152,000 CDN or they would petition the court to invoke the Partition Act and force the sale of the cottage. In Ontario, the Partition Act allows a joint owner of a property to apply to the court and force the sale of the property to obtain their interest in the property. See the PDF letter below:
Demanding I pay my sister $152K to convey her ownership or they would force the sale of the cottage was nothing short of extortion.
It was around this time I discovered my sister had received a $1.6M divorce settlement. So, two years before, when she was struggling financially, she offered to gift me her ownership, but now that money wasn't an issue she was insisting to be bought out. And, she was doing so out of spite and vindictiveness over something that had nothing to do with the cottage.
* It should be noted that when our mother questioned my sister about reneging on her offer my sister responded that I had nobody to blame but myself because I should have made the transfer legal while I had the chance.
Although my sister had reneged on her offer and betrayed my trust I had my attorney agree to the $152K she was requesting less her share of expenses. I thought this was more than reasonable given my sister, for two years, had allowed me to assume full financial responsibility for the cottage and led me to believe I had taken full ownership of the property.
My sister's response was unyielding. She refused to accept any responsibility for the previous two years of expenses and threatened that if another counteroffer was made she would increase the amount of the buyout for which she was demanding.
Ultimately, I agreed to the buyout even though I disagreed with it in principle. During the process I attempted to contact my sister a couple of times to suggest I pay her directly to save in bank and foreign exchange fees. In order to complete the transfer of ownership I was going to have to send the money to my Canadian bank, convert if from USD to CDN and then wire it to her attorney. Once the transfer of ownership was complete, my sister would then need to send the money to a U.S. bank and convert it from CDN to USD. It seemed like a waste of time and money when I could have simply paid my sister the money directly.
My sister never responded to my emails suggesting I pay her directly. So, I enlisted the help of our mother to try to set up a face-to-face meeting between my sister and me to address everything that had happened and put the entire, unfortunate, ordeal behind us. My sister refused. The only time my sister has responded to me since she made the decision to betray me was when she discovered I had created this website. She sent me text and email messages threatening to publicly disparage my wife and me as well as contact my wife's employer in an attempt to harm my wife's career. I shared this at the end of the post "RB Convenience Fake Customer Review".
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