Your tale is nothing short of ridiculous. What's even crazier, though, is the fact that you aren't alone. Many people find themselves in similar traps due to

Your tale is nothing short of ridiculous. What's even crazier, though, is the fact that you aren't alone. Many people find themselves in similar traps due to unscrupulous relatives. (hopefully that makes you feel slightly better) "The expectation that everyone is out to screw me, and that everyone will renege on every promise they will ever make to you." <-- I'm (glad?) you learned this early on. I learned this after college and I feel I would have done things differently had I realized this earlier.