My siblings and I were pretty much best friends until about ten years ago when my oldest brother became an addict. He was adept at hiding it and I was pretty much the only one who knew what was happening for awhile. When I realized how bad it was getting and tried to point it out to my family, he flew into a rage and swore I would pay. My daughter and I were living with my mother after my SO and I split up and I got sick, so this was his first target. He tried everything he could think of to make her kick me out (because I refused to enable him the way my she was), including physically assaulting me and changing the locks after a particularly brutal confrontation. After my mother came home that night and couldnt get in, he told her someone had stolen his keys so he got new ones.
When that didnt work because I just eventually went home, he began leaving empty bottles and drug paraphernalia in my bedroom and around the house in an attempt to make ME look like the addict. He took pictures to show everyone as 'proof'. Then he started telling everyone - immediate family, extended family, mutual friends, etc - that I was an addict and they needed to intervene and get me into rehab.
When that didnt work, he started to tell people I was abusing and neglecting my own child. The he called DYFS several times to "report" me. Each time I was cleared but that didnt stop people from thinking I was guilty anyway. Reputation absolutely ruined. For some reason, the only outrage came from myself. Thanks, fam,
So I decided to cut ties with my apathetic family who were totally in denial and move away and you'd think it would have ended there but no. About a year after I left, he found out what company I was working for and started calling them and making 'anonymous' claims about me and my unethical practices. I was once again cleared by leadership after they investigated but again...another blow to my reputation. My family did precisely fuck-all in my defense.
It was two fucking years before he lost the ability to hide his addictions, during which time I had to struggle with damage control and repair my image. When I was hospitalized for nearly a month due to a serious immune disorder, he told my ex I was a danger and made up stories about how I supposedly had been neglecting/abusing my kid. After that, I was in and out of the hospital for awhile and I ended up in court tying to convince an asshole judge that I shouldnt lose custody of my own child, and it did NOT go well. The judge ruled against me because I had been spending a lot of time in the hospital and needed my SO to take my daughter during those times and I dont think I'll ever recover from that. I still consider suicide at least once a day.
This was my brother and best friend and he robbed me of my motherhood, robbed my child of a loving mother, and ruined my life. If that isnt betrayal, I dont know what is.
As a "bonus": even though he literally drank himself into dementia and eventually the grave a few years ago - totally validating everything I had warned my Benedict Arnold family about - to this day not only have I never heard one apology from anyone who enabled him or didnt believe me when it was happening, my daughter also hates me and a whole lot of people still think I'm some sort of addict who lost her kid because of abuse. Double whammy....thanks for the extra betrayal, fam!
All I can say is I'm glad he's dead, I wish the rest of my family would join him, and I hope hell is real. Some things are just unforgivable.