Working for girlfriends parents, payment issues? Me ‘M18’ and ‘F18’

So me M 18 and this girl F 18 (not to be confused with the fighter jet) have been on and off for around a year and a half, at first things went great, I knew she had her run ins with a lot of drama in the past but I put it past her in hope that she had probably changed/matured, then in the first span of us dating it was ridiculed with drama, leading to lose friendships etc etc, while there were many good moments of us loving each other and being a all around good couple it was constantly tainted with drama and all around craziness, the real issue is this, in the time I had spent with her I had grown close to her family and especially her parents, I had eventually been asked if I had wanted to help work as a extra set of hands on her fathers contracting business, the first months of it were great, construction experience while getting payed decent, and due to this I had decided to put up with the occasional drama and strain on my mental health from her for the good money and education, but the problem arrises when over the course of the summer we had worked a particular job on a house, in summary a crack in the foundation was revealed leading to a extensive legal battle between the home owners and previous owners (still ongoing) where the people hiring us could not pay until it was sorted out, in total I had worked weeks from 7am-5pm with grueling physical labor. I had counted on this money to pay for a car as this was my only source of income at the time due to school. Now I don’t get asked to work anymore but I am still owed the hefty sum of pay, yet every time I mention it, the remark is quickly shot down with a response of “that whole thing is filled with legal red tape, I’ll let you know when it’s sorted out”, it has been about 6 months since I have worked those weeks and now stuck in a point where if I leave their daughter, I could potentially lose out on what would be my car, while if I stay I continue to hurt my mental health and hers by staying in a relationship i don’t have love for anymore where I could possibly only see the money months or even years down the line.