The pain of loss often lays bare the true nature of relationships. For this family dynamic, it was years of cruelty and resentment.

For one grieving woman, one insensitive request from her estranged aunt reignited decades of bitterness and forced her into a difficult decision.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for refusing my aunts request for some of my brothers ashes?

I (26F) recently lost my brother (47M).

Two days after his death, our aunt contacted us requesting some of his ashes.

But she wasn’t even close to her aunt. In fact, she was always mean to her.

However, his aunt and her sisters have been cruel to my brother and me our entire lives. We later learned that their hatred for our mother was the cause of their actions.

They would say mean things, exclude us from gatherings, and more, including our grandmother.

Her brother, on the other hand, still tried to make his relationship with his aunt work.

My mother finally removed me from the situation, but my brother, being older, made his own decisions and always hoped they’d love him for real, so he stuck around.

When life threw a big curve ball, the aunt’s true nature was clear.

When my brother was diagnosed with a terminal illness, my aunts suddenly reappeared to “take care” of him.

They provided him with somewhere to stay or gave him some money, but it wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts.

Once he was well enough to care for himself, they would leave him again until he was on death’s door once more.

After her brother’s death, the aunt had a pretty audacious request.

Flash forward to now: he passed, and my aunt sent my mother a fake condolence text.

In the same message, she quickly asked for some of his ashes because it would make her family feel better with his passing.

It appears her request was 100% motivated by self-interest.

There was no apology for how they treated my mother or us for years, and no real sentiment behind what she was saying.

Everything was drowned out by the fact that she wanted his ashes so her and her family could feel better after his passing.

She didn’t seem to care at all about how the rest of the family was feeling.

There was nothing about what my mother or I might need, nothing about helping us out or being there if we needed anything.

It was just “sorry your son died, but my family and I feel sad, so can you let us have something incredibly intimate so we can feel better?”

So finally, the grieving daughter decides to go off on her aunt.

My mother couldn’t believe it and didn’t answer, but I sent my own message in secret.

I told her how disrespectful her text was and how her lack of empathy was astounding. I told her no, she couldn’t have any ashes and to never contact my mother again.

Suddenly, I am the bad guy because my aunts feel they deserve some of his ashes.

AITA?

If the aunts really cared so much about their family, they should have done a better job of showing it when it really mattered.

Redditors chime in with their opinions.

This commenter affirms it’s not just in their head – this really is a bizarre request.

This user can’t believe her aunts could be so heartless in the face of such a tragedy.

As if the grieving family doesn’t have enough to worry about, this user urges vigilance over the next few weeks.

Maybe it’s time the aunt is out of their life for good.

Her words may have been sharp, but after years of cruelty, her aunt hadn’t earned a lick of compassion.

Sometimes the harshest truth is the only fitting response.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.