Reddit Stories - Father figure evicted me for being a NUISANCE while my STEP-SIBLING CHUCKLED and

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #familydrama #stepfamily #eviction #conflict #siblingsSummary: Father figure evicted me for being a NUISANCE while my STEP-SIBLING CHUCKLED and watched. Feeling betrayed and hurt, I sought advice on Reddit to navigate this complex family situation.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, familydrama, stepfamily, eviction, conflict, siblings, betrayal, hurt, advice, relationshipadvice, familyissues, drama, emotional, support, community, storytellingBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Father figure evicted me for being a nuisance while my step-sibling chuckled and claimed I had it coming, now many years later they are pleading for me to allow him to stay in my place. Apartment because he is unemployed. Hello, Reddit. I am in a really strange and difficult situation with my family and I honestly don't know if I'm the one who is in the wrong here. My head is a mess and I just need some outside opinions because the people around me are making me feel like I am a horrible person. I am 30 now, and I have a pretty good life that I have built for myself. I have a stable

job in a decent-sized city, a nice two-bedroom apartment that I can afford on my own, and I am financially secure. I worked very, very hard to get to this point. My stepbrother, let's call him Leo, is 32. He recently lost his job, and his lease is ending at the end of the month, so he needs a place to stay. My mother and my stepfather, Mark, who is Leo's dad, called me last week and asked if Leo could stay with me for a few months until he gets back on his feet. My apartment is in the city where Leo is most likely to find work in his field, and I have a spare bedroom that I just use for storage and as a small home office. On paper, it makes sense. I told them no. Just as simple, flat no. And now my world has kind of exploded.

They are calling me selfish and cruel and saying that I am holding on to the past and that I am not being a good family member. They think I am the asshole and they are making sure I know it. So I need to explain the past, because that is what this is all about. My own father passed away from a sudden heart attack when I was 10. It was a terrible time. About two years later, my mom met Mark. He was a decent guy, a widower with his own. son, Leo, who was two years older than me. They got married pretty quickly, and suddenly I had a new

dad and a new brother and we were all living in a new house together. The first couple of years were okay, I guess. It was a big adjustment. Mark was never mean to me, but there was always a distance. I was my mom's kid, and Leo was his. He provided for me, made sure I had food and a roof over my head, but there wasn't any real warmth. Leo and I were like any typical step-siblings. We mostly ignored each other, and when we did interact, he was usually just being an annoying older brother, making fun of my music or the posters I had on my wall. It wasn't great, but it wasn't a nightmare.

Things started to get bad when I was around 16. Mark's construction business went through a really rough patch, and he lost a lot of money. He and my mom started fighting all the time, mostly about money. I would hear them arguing through the walls at night. Mark would be loud, saying things about how tight everything was, how he had an extra mouth to feed that wasn't even his. He never said it to my face, but I knew he was talking about me. I tried to make myself smaller.

I stopped asking for anything unless I absolutely had to. I got a part-time job at a grocery store to pay for, for my own things, like my phone bill or going out with friends. But it felt like no matter what I did, I was still a problem. Leo started picking up on it, and his annoying comments turned meaner. He started calling me the freeloader and would make jokes about how much I was costing his dad. He would say it quietly when my mom wasn't around, but loud enough for me to hear. The breaking point came a few months after I turned 17. It was a stupid fight that spiraled. out of control. I needed a new pair of running shoes for my school's track team. The ones I had

were completely worn out, with holes and the salls. I had saved up some money for my job, but I was about $20 short. I hated asking, but I had a meet coming up, so I asked my mom if she could help me with the rest. Mark overheard the conversation and he just lost it. It was the worst fight I had ever seen. He started yelling, not just at my mom but at me. He was screaming that he was sick and tired of this, that it was always something, that he was busting his back trying to keep his business afloat while I was just draining his resources. He said that I was almost an adult and it was time I learned what the real world was like.

My mom tried to stand up for me, she was crying and telling him that I was just a kid, that I worked and tried my best, but he just steaming. He shouted that he had done his duty, that he had housed me for five years and that was enough. He told me that I had a week to pack my things and get out. I was just frozen. I could not believe it was happening. I looked at my mom, hoping she would stop it, that she would tell him he was crazy, but she just stood there sobbing. She did not say he was wrong.

She did not tell me I could stay. She just cried. And in that moment, I knew I was on my own. I went to my room and I just broke down. I was so scared. I had no idea what to do or where to go. I started pulling my clothes out of my closet, throwing them into a duffel bag,

and my tears were getting all over everything. The door to my room was open, and Leo was just standing there in the hallway, leaning against the frame. He was not saying anything, just watching me. I looked up at him, and he had this smirk on his face, this look of pure satisfaction. Then he said the words that I have never, ever forgotten.

He looked me right in the eye and he said, You know, you kind of deserve this. He said I had been a burden on his dad for years and it was about time I was gone. Then he just laughed and he walked away. That moment broke something in me. It was the cruelty from Leo, from the person who was supposed to be my brother. He saw me at my lowest, most terrified point, and he chose to kick me while I was down and enjoy it. I left a few days later. I ended up staying on the couch at my best friend's house.

Her parents were saints. They let me stay for the rest of my senior year. I worked my grocery store job almost full time. It was so hard. I would go to school, then go straight to work until 10 p.m., then go back to my friend's house to do homework. I was tired all the time. After I graduated, I got a second job cleaning offices at night. I saved up every single penny I could. I went to community college, then transferred to a state university, all while working. It took me six years to get my degree. I did it all by myself. My mom and I reconnected very slowly a few years ago. She called me out of the blue, crying and apologizing. She said it was the biggest regret of her life and that she was weak and scared of Mark leaving her too. We have a relationship now, but it is fragile. I talk to her

on the phone and I see her for holidays, but I always keep my distance from Mark. I am civil to him for my mom's sake, but that is it. I have seen Leo maybe a handful of times at family gatherings over the past decade. We just exchange awkward hellos and then stay on opposite sides of the room. We have never once talked about what happened. So, back to last week's phone call. When they asked me if Leo could stay with me, I was stunned into silence for a moment. Then I just said no. My mom asked why, and I said that I was not comfortable with that. Mark got on the phone and his voice was already annoyed. He started by how Leo is in a tough spot.

He said that I have a successful career in a big apartment all to myself, and that the least I could do is help my brother out for a little while. That is when I started to get angry. I told him, he is your son, not my brother. I reminded him that they threw me out when I was a teenager with me. nowhere to go. Mark's response was that I was being dramatic and that it was a long time ago. He said he was under a lot of stress back then, and that maybe he did not handle it perfectly, but that I had landed on my feet, so it all worked out for the best, right? I could not believe

what I was hearing. I told him that it did not just work out. I told him about working two jobs, about being so tired I would fall asleep on the bus, about the constant fear of not having enough money for rent or for food. I told him that I succeeded despite what they did, not because of it. Then my mom got back on the phone, and she was crying. She begged me to reconsider. She said that Leo was a different person now, that he was just a stupid, arrogant kid back then. She said he feels bad about what happened. I asked her, has he ever said that to me? Has he ever once apologized? And she got quiet. So I told her.

I said, Mom, while I was in my room crying because your husband was throwing me into the street, Leo stood in the doorway and laughed at me. He told me I deserved it for being a burden. I had never told her that part before. There was just dead silence on the phone. Then Mark grabbed the phone back and he sounded furious. He said Leo would never say such a thing, that I was making it up to be manipulative, that I was just a bitter person holding. holding a grudge to punish them. That was it for me. I started yelling. I yelled that they had no right to ask me for anything, ever. I yelled that my home is my safe place, the place I built

for myself after they took my first home away from me, and that I would never, ever let someone who was cruel to me in that way live in it. I told them to lose my number and I hung up the phone. Since then, my mom has been sending me these pleading text messages. My aunt, my mom's sister, called me and said that my mom is a wreck, and that maybe I should just try to be the bigger person for the sake of peace in the family. She did not call me an asshole directly, but the implication was there. I feel like I'm going crazy. I feel so justified in my anger, but the pressure is making me question myself. What they did was awful, but it was 13 years ago. Leo is in a bad spot. Am I being a cruel, unforgiving asshole for refusing to

help him now? Update 1. Hi everyone. First of all, thank you so much for all the comments and messages. I have spent hours reading them, and I honestly teared up a few times. I have felt so alone in this for so long, and just having so many people, total strangers, tell me that my feelings are valid has been more helpful than you can imagine. The overwhelming entier verdict has been like a weight lifted off my shoulders. It has helped me stand firm when I was starting to wobble. Before I get into the new stuff, I wanted to clear up a few things that a lot of people were asking about in the comments and DMs. I realize I left out some important details to keep the first post from being a novel, so here's some more context that might help explain the situation better. A lot of you rightly asked why Leo

can't just stay with my mom and Mark. I should have explained this better. A few years after I was gone, Mark's business never fully recovered to what it once was. They ended up selling the old house we all used to live in and they downsized significantly. They now live in a small, two-bedroom retirement condo in a suburb that is about a 90-minute drive from the city. Their second bedroom is my mom's craft room and is filled with her stuff, it's very small, and they really don't have the physical space to house another adult for months. There is no basement or den, so he would literally be sleeping on a love seat in their main living area. So while they are pushing me to house him, they are not in a position to do it themselves, which I know is part of why they are so

desperate. And just for some context on Leo and why the focus is so heavily on me. He has not been a complete screw-up his whole life. He had a pretty good job for the last several years, and he lived in a nice apartment that he could afford. His company went through a huge restructuring a couple of months ago and his whole department was eliminated, so he lost his job unexpectedly. The main reason they are pushing for him to stay with me is purely about logistics. I live in the heart of the city, with easy access to public transportation and everything else. His best job prospects are here. For my mom and Mark's condo in the suburbs, it would be an expensive and difficult commute for him to even go-to interviews. My apartment is the path of least resistance for him, and they all know it.

Regarding my spare room, a few people wondered if it was just a tiny junk room. It's a proper second bedroom. It has a closet, a window, everything. I use it as my home office since I work from home a few times a week, and I have a desk and my computer set up in there. I also have a nice daybed with a trundle that I keep for when a friend or family member, a family member I actually like, visits from out of town. It's a very functional and important part of my apartment, not just an empty space. Finally, people also asked where my other family was when I was 17. This is a painful one. Me and my mom kind of drifted away from my dad's side of family after my mom got married. So at that time I didn't have anyone on that side and from what I know I didn't have any grandparents alive.

My aunt, my mom's sister, lived in another state at the time. My mom was so embarrassed and ashamed of the whole situation that she lied to everyone. She told my aunt and other relatives that I had gotten into a big fight with Mark and had chosen to move in with my friend to have more freedom. No one knew the full, ugly truth that I was forced out with nowhere to go. I was a scared and proud kid, and I didn't want to broadcast to everyone that my own family had thrown me away, so I just went along with the story. Okay, I hope that clears a few things up. Now, for what's happened since I posted. A few things have happened since I posted. As many of you predicted, the next person I heard from was Leo himself. He did not call it first. He sent me a text message a few days ago.

It was really awkward. It said something like, hey, heard you talk to mom and dad. Hope we can talk. I ignored it for a whole day. I had no idea what to say. Part of me wanted to just block his number. Another part of me felt like I needed to face this. The support I got here made me feel a little bit stronger,

like I could actually have this conversation without completely falling apart. So, I just texted back, I'm free to talk after work tomorrow. He called me yesterday evening. It was one of the most uncomfortable phone calls of my entire life. He started off with some stupid small talk about the weather, and then he just jumped into it. He said that he heard I had a spare room and that he was in a really tough spot, and that it would be a huge help if he could crash with me for just a couple of months. I just let him finish, and then there was this long silence.

I finally said, Leo, are you seriously calling me to ask for a huge favor without even mentioning what happened between us? He got all flustered. He started stammering, saying that yeah, yeah, he was getting to that. He said that our parents had told him I was upset about some stuff from when we were kids. Some stuff. That's what he called it. I did not say anything. I just waited. He then coughed. and let out this sigh, and he said, Look, man, I'm sorry, okay. I was a dumb and moody teenager.

I probably said some stupid things. We were all going through a lot of stress back then with my dad's business. That was his apology. He did not even say what he was sorry for. It felt like he was just saying the words because his parents told him he had two. I felt that old anger starting to bubble up again, but I tried to stay calm. I took a deep breath and I said, very quietly, what stupid things did you say, Leo? He was quiet for a second, and then he said, I don't know, man, I don't remember exactly.

It was over a decade ago. I was probably just being an idiot. My composure just snapped. I could not hold it in anymore. I told him, oh, I remember exactly. I was crying, I was packing my life into a bag, because your father was throwing me out onto the street, and you stood there and you laughed. You told me I deserved it and that I was a burden and you were glad I was leaving. Hearing me say the words out loud like that, his whole tone changed. He got defensive. He said that he did not remember it like that at all. He said I was being really dramatic and that he would never have said something that horrible. He accused me of twisting things and

making him out to be some kind of monster and he was just trying to do the right thing and apologize so we could move on, but that I clearly wanted to hold on to my grudge forever. We started yelling at each other then. It was an ugly fight. I was shouting that he was a liar, that he was trying to gaslight me about the worst day of my life. He was shouting back that I was bitter and crazy, that I was the one who was the asshole for throwing the past in his face when he was just trying to ask for help. I screamed at him that he was the exact same cruel person he was and I told him to never contact me again, and I hung up on him. Of course, my phone rang almost immediately. It was my mom. Leo had called her right away, probably crying

about how mean I was to him. She was hysterical and was yelling at me, asking me how I could be so cruel to him when he was trying to apologize. She said that I had hurt him deeply, that he was just a kid back then and I was punishing him as an adult. She said, she did not raise me to be so hateful and unforgiving. I just told her that she did not raise me at all after I was 17, and I hung up on her too. I have not spoken to any of them since. I feel awful. I feel drained and angry and sad all at once. The fight with Leo was terrible, and hearing my mom defend him and attack me like that just ripped open all the old wounds. But at the same time, I know I was right to stand up for myself.

His apology was a joke. He did not care about what he did, he just cared about getting my spare room. Your comments helped me see that and I am so grateful. I don't know what will happen next, but for now, the answer is still no. I will update again if anything else happens. Thank you for listening. Final update. Hello again, everyone.

This will likely be my final update on this situation. The past month has been a roller coaster, but I think things have finally settled, and I have a resolution. After the huge fight with Leo and my mom, I went into a period of complete silence. I blocked Leo's number and I muted my mom's texts and calls. The constant notifications were giving me anxiety. I needed space to just breathe and process everything that had happened. The validation from my last post was still a huge comfort, and I reread the comments whenever I started to doubt myself. It was my anchor in a really stormy sea of family guilt. Then about two weeks ago,

I got a call from my aunt, my mom's sister. I mentioned her in my first post. She had called me before and sort of gently nudged me to be the bigger person. Her tone was completely different this time. She did not start with any talk about keeping the peace or forgiving and forgetting. She just said, honey, I am so sorry. She told me that she had a long talk with my mom after our last fight. She had asked my mom to tell her, from the very beginning, everything that happened when I moved, kicked, out. My mom finally told her the whole story, including the part one had told her on the phone about what Leo had said to me. My aunt told me she was horrified. She said she tore into my mom. She asked my mom how she could ever, for one second, think it was okay to ask me to house the very person who had been so cruel to me during such a traumatic event.

She apparently laid out for my mom, in no uncertain terms, how deeply they had all failed me, not just back then, but right now by trying to force me to ignore my own pain for Leo's convenience. My aunt then just listened to me. I talked for almost an hour. I told her everything. About how scared I was at 17, how hard I had to work, how lonely I was, how Leo's words felt like a final twist of the knife. I cried a lot, and she just stayed on the phone and let me. She told me my anger was justified. She told me I had every right to protect my home and my peace and that I was not a bad person.

It was the first time anyone in my family had ever really validated my experience. It meant the world to me. A few days after my call with my aunt, I received an email. The subject line was just my name. It was from Leo. I almost deleted it without opening it, but I saw the first line in the preview. I am not writing to ask for anything. I was curious, so I opened it.

The email was long. And it was a real apology. It was the apology I had needed to hear for 13 years. He wrote that after our fight, and after getting yelled at by our aunt, he was forced to really think about that day. He said that at first, he was angry and felt like I was attacking him, but the more he thought about it, the more the real memory came back to him. He said he does remember it now.

He remembers me crying in my room. He remembers standing in the doorway. And he remembers saying it. He wrote that he could not explain why he did it, other than to say. say he was a stupid, insecure, and cruel teenager. He said he had heard his dad complaining about the financial burden for so long that he had started to believe it and resent me for it. He said he was parroting his dad's bitterness, and that he took his own teenage frustrations out on me because it was easy. He said seeing me so upset and scared should have made him feel

sympathy, but instead, it made him feel powerful in that moment, and that he was deeply and truly ashamed of that fact. He wrote, I am pasting it here word for word, you did not deserve what happened to you. You were a kid, and you were our family. What my dad did was wrong. What my stepmom allowed to happen was wrong. And what I did was despicable. It was not a stupid thing, it was a cruel thing. I broke your trust and added to your pain when you were at your most vulnerable. I have no right to ask for your forgiveness, and I certainly have no right to ask you for a place to stay. I understand now why you said no. I would say no to me too. I am writing this only to say that I am sorry. I am sorry for what I said, I am sorry for how I made you feel,

and I am sorry that I tried to deny it when you first confronted me. I read the email over and over again. I did not feel a sudden wave of forgiveness. I did not feel happy. I mostly just felt. Quiet. The anger that had been simmering inside me for so long just sort of dissipated. It was gone. I thought about it for a few days. Then I wrote back to him. I told him that I believed his apology was sincere, and I accepted it. I told him it meant something to finally have him acknowledge what happened. Then I told him that my answer about the room was still no. I explained that accepting his apology and wanting him to get back on his feet was one thing, but living with him was another. I told him that my home was my sanctuary, the one place in the world where I felt completely

safe. I explained that his presence there would be a constant reminder of the worst time in my life, and that it would destroy my peace of mind. I had worked too hard to build this life for myself to compromise that. As a final gesture, I did offer him a small bit of help. I told him I would not house him, but I did not want to see him on the street either. So I transferred $500 to his bank account and told him to use it to get a room at an extended stay motel for a week or two while he looked for a job and a room to rent, and that it was a one-time gift, not alone. And that it was the absolute extent of the help I was willing or able to give. He wrote back a few hours later. He just said, thank you. I understand. My mom called me after that. She was very subdued. She apologized

again, properly this time. She told me she understood my decision and that she would not pressure me anymore. She said she was just glad we were talking. Our relationship still feels fragile, but it feels more honest now. I am still not speaking to Mark, and I'm not sure when or if I will be ready for that. So that's where things are. Leo is not my problem to solve, but I no longer feel the burning anger towards him. I feel like I have finally closed a very painful chapter of my life. Thank you all again for your support. You were the voices that I needed to hear to find my own.