Emotional blackmail is the lowest form of manipulation (kind of a long story)

[Siwsan]

5. The frustrating thing is that I've always gone out of my way to be kind to her, even when she offended me

Her control issues should have been the first red flag.

I've always been very generous, financially, like helping to pay for her daughter's schooling when they refused to put her in public schools. Well, she's not vaccinated, so...... And helped them when their dog needed cancer surgery, just as a few examples. We all just let it go when we were told that getting vaccinated against Covid was a death sentence or that our internet modems would give us brain cancer.

All I asked in return for the financial help was respect but I guess I asked too much.