As someone who has had to confront a similar dynamic and who also didn't figure out what was really going on until my late 30s... this article really spoke to me.

I hope it is OK with you that I am going to share the article I recently wrote about this:

https://shefaliohara.medium.com/i-no-longer-have-a-brother-26ab2f1b091c

One of the hardest things for me was to even accept that this could be someone else's reality. I am an honest person and genuinely could not understand how someone could blatantly deny the truth despite evidence to the contrary.

I loved how you set a boundary when your mother called to complain about your paying tenants. You handled that so perfectly. Thanks for sharing.