Awful experience with sibling

[Marissa]

I'm new and am glad I found this forum. This week, I had an awful experience with 2 brothers. My mom was a covert narcissist. She passed away almost 2 decades ago. I'm the only daughter and moved abroad about 3 decades ago. I had stored some boxes at my mom's. When she passed, these boxes were stored with a brother, Golden Child A. Two years before my mom passed, I brought up an issue with my mom. Golden Child A. was present. He, as he always had done, sided with my mom, who started crying. My feelings and what I saw as the truth were completely shoved aside (very painful but that happened to me all the time). Golden Child A was so enraged at me for making mom cry that he physically threatened me. I went no contact with Golden Child A some years after that incident because he stayed hostile. This week, I received an email from Golden Child A about the boxes stored in his attic. He made up a fiction amount of rent of $100 per year for 15 years = $1,500. He demanded payment, included his bank acct # in the email, called me a scofflaw for not paying the back rent. If I refused to pay him $1,500, he would sell my stuff and apply the proceeds to the rent he had made up. No contract was ever signed and in 15 years he never informed me he would charge me rent for the storage of 3 boxes in his attic.

I was in shock. That Golden Child A would use, what in my eyes, is extortion. I then emailed the brother I had always felt closest to, suggested to go through the boxes over zoom. I would then decide what to keep. He didn't want to do that. Something I would have don for him in a heartbeat if he had been in my situation. Our contact seemed mostly good over all the years I have been living abroad.

I also thought he would be on my side about the extortion. Boy, was I wrong again! He said that what Golden Child A did to me "wasn't all that bad". He told me to talk to Golden Child A. I told him Golden Child A was only out to hurt me and I therefore couldn't. He didn't suggest to Golden Child A to talk to me. I'm still in shock and feel I've lost the only remaining family member I had.

[notrightinthehead]

Welcome Marissa! If I understand you correctly, these boxes were stored for 20 years and you never needed any of the stuff in all that time? Do you still want anything of what's stored there?
I would understand the sudden demand for storage fee as provocation or an aggressive attempt to get rid of the boxes. I would decide if I would bother to engage with my brother or not take the bait.

[GoodPesto]

Hi Marissa,

Welcome. I am sorry you ended up in this situation. To come up with a bill for storing these boxes says a lot and leaves one speechless. A contract about it would not have made it better tmo. Do you remember what's stored in them? If it's not super personal stuff like old diaries, I'd second notrightinthehead's advice and let go of it.
The brother you're close to might have his strategy to stay out of the other brother's way, but that's just a guess. I do not know if you brought up the term extortion with him but if you have his reaction would not surprise me. Even if the word "extortion" described the other brother's behaviour accuratly, it's hard within family systems to get someone to side with you when it comes to big words (it's a phenomena with the word "absuse", too). If he did what you asked him to do (go through your stuff) he probably would get in trouble with the other sibling and like I said, he might like to avoid that. That doesn't help with the pain you're feeling, but maybe these thoughts give you some space to think if or under which conditions you can keep this relationship going.
If this is still the end of your relationship to him, I am sorry for your loss.
 

[Adria]

I am so sorry. That is awful! I agree with the others.  If you can let the boxes and their content go, I would. And, cut your losses with your brother as well unless he tries to turn this around.  Maybe if he thinks you don't care, he will change his tune.