While my mom battled cancer, I was her caregiver, nursing her until her final days. But when she passed away, my mom split her money between my money-hungry brother and aunts.

But it turns out that there was more to the story. It turns out that inheritance, loss, and family are the ultimate recipes for drama.Let me tell you all about what happened after my mom passed away.

My mom battled with cancer for the longest time. When I look back now, it was something that had been around throughout my early life and then carried on when I enrolled at the community college close to home.

Mom was always my best friend, so naturally, I was going to be there every step of the way while she battled this illness. I just remember the days bleeding into nights when she was sick — something that was in a constant loop. But I also remember that the spoon-feeding and the hand-holding gave her as much comfort as they gave me. And then, on the other side of this story, my brother and aunts only showed up when they needed something.

Usually, to have their bills paid.Or, like the one aunt (while my mom was on a steady decline), she wanted mom’s “contacts” to sort out a new house for her. Because my mom owned a real estate agency. The audacity was unbelievable. Anyway, Mom tried her hardest, but the illness took over in the end.

Now, fast forward to the day of the will reading. All the relatives, the lawyer, and I were sitting in a room like something straight out of a Hallmark movie — think of wood everywhere and a chipped tea set on the scratched surface of an impossibly old coffee table.

I was sipping a cup of weak tea from one of the chipped teacups when the lawyer dropped the bomb. Mom’s savings, about all $5 million of it, was to be split between my brother and my aunts.