My dad passed away three years ago, leaving me everything — the businesses, the properties, the accounts. I’d been working with him since I was a teenager, so when he was gone, taking over just felt… natural. I never questioned it. He’d always told me, “You’ll keep it running one day, son.”
Then, about six months ago, a woman showed up at my office. She looked nervous but determined. She told me she was my half-sister. Apparently, my dad had a relationship before marrying my mom, and she was the result. I was skeptical, but we did a DNA test — and yeah, she’s my sister.
At first, things went fine. We got dinner a few times, she met some relatives, and everyone seemed happy to have her around. My grandparents adored her, which honestly was good to see. For a while, it felt like our family was healing from the shock of losing Dad.
Then last week, she came to me again — this time with a very different tone. She asked me what I thought about giving her a “fair share” of the inheritance. She said she didn’t expect half but thought a quarter or even a fifth would be fair.
I told her flat out: her fair share was zero.
I didn’t say it out of cruelty. Dad didn’t include her in his will. He’d had decades to acknowledge her financially, and he chose not to. Everything he left — he left to me. It wasn’t about greed; it was about honoring what he decided.
She didn’t take it well. She told me how unfair it was that she’d grown up without a father, without opportunities, while I had “everything.” That even in death, he favored me. She cried, yelled, and walked out.
Now my grandparents are calling me, saying I’m heartless, that I should come to some agreement, that family is more important than money. My grandfather even said he’s “very disappointed” in me — words that hit harder than I expected.
I don’t know. Maybe I am being cold. But at the same time, why should I rewrite Dad’s legacy to ease someone’s guilt or pain? I didn’t create this mess — he did. I just inherited it.
Source: Reddit