A friend was telling me about her favorite nephew, a working college student, who recently called to ask for money.

“I’m drowning. I need your help to pay for a ‘new’ car for my part-time job. Mine is just an incident away from costly repairs that I can’t afford,” he texted. “Mom and Dad have already turned me down.”

My friend isn’t wealthy by any means, but she loved her nephew and wanted to see him succeed. She knew his parents were having financial problems, which is why they couldn’t help. So, after he assured her that the vehicle had been checked out by several people and was a good buy, she wired him $5,000.

He was more than grateful.

“You saved my life and my part-time job,” he texted.

As the weeks went by, she felt good about what she had done. She remembered when she was young and had to get a second job to make ends meet. She didn’t wish that on anybody, especially someone she cared about.

Scrolling through Facebook one day, she was surprised to come across a photo of her nephew in an older model BMW sports car. He had listed it for sale for $7,000 and described it as his primary car.

She sent a text to him. “Are you selling the car you just bought?”

And why in the heck did you buy a luxury sports car? she thought.

He responded with a series of laughing emojis: “Car belonged to my roommate’s father. We are selling it. Long story.”

She stewed about his response for weeks, then finally sent him another text.

“How’s the new car? Would love to see a photo?”

As she read his answer to her text, the “long story” unfolded. There was no new car. The dealer had refused the cash and BMW trade-in. Now they were trying to sell the sports car and combine that with the money the aunt had sent. He was sorry he had not told her the truth.

And why was that? the aunt wondered. Her skepticism meter was off the charts. She called her nephew’s father, who still was able to access his son’s checking account. There were more “truths” to come.

“He made two payments on his old car and a repair bill. The rest of it went for rent, insurance, DoorDash deliveries. A month after you wired him the money, it was gone.”

The aunt was staggered.  He had definitely let her down. At first, she wasn’t sure how to react. She could confront him with the whole truth and listen to him squirm. That didn’t feel good.

So she did what felt right for her and for him. She forgave him, realizing that he must have been desperate to betray her trust like that.

“Good luck selling the BMW and combining that with the money I sent you. I love you, but there is no more,” she texted. And she meant it.

Still the aunt was sad. Once broken, trust is hard to rebuild. It was a hard lesson she knew her nephew would one day have to learn.