"The most dangerous document is the one you sign without reading. The second most dangerous is the one someone reads for you."Probate attorney Rue Ainsworth is used to dealing with the dead. But when she's handed the $11 million estate of wealthy real estate developer Everett Collier, the clock starts ticking. The will dictates a grueling 72-hour deadline to find and verify his unnamed, natural-born daughter via genetic testing.
Fail, and the fortune falls into a discretionary trust managed by Everett's longtime personal attorney, the highly respected Graham Doane. A supplemental letter miraculously produces the perfect heir: Doane's own niece. It looks like a clean, open-and-shut case, until the DNA results come back at a staggering 0.00%. Digging into the estate's pristine financial records, Rue uncovers a fifteen-year embezzlement scheme worth millions, masked behind phantom shell companies and a dead notary's forged seal.
But Everett Collier wasn't a fool. Knowing he was being robbed and running out of time, he weaponized his last will and testament to expose the thief. And he specifically requested Rue to handle his estate for one undeniable reason: the DNA he secretly tested matches her own. Rue is the missing heir. Now, entangled in a massive conflict of interest and harboring a career-ending secret of her own, Rue must outmaneuver a ruthless mentor to claim the inheritance of a father she never knew.
If she fails, the truth dies with the documents.
"The most dangerous document is the one you sign without reading. The second most dangerous is the one someone reads for you."Probate attorney Rue Ainsworth is used to dealing with the dead. But when she's handed the $11 million estate of wealthy real estate developer Everett Collier, the clock starts ticking. The will dictates a grueling 72-hour deadline to find and verify his unnamed, natural-born daughter via genetic testing.
Fail, and the fortune falls into a discretionary trust managed by Everett's longtime personal attorney, the highly respected Graham Doane. A supplemental letter miraculously produces the perfect heir: Doane's own niece. It looks like a clean, open-and-shut case, until the DNA results come back at a staggering 0.00%. Digging into the estate's pristine financial records, Rue uncovers a fifteen-year embezzlement scheme worth millions, masked behind phantom shell companies and a dead notary's forged seal.
But Everett Collier wasn't a fool. Knowing he was being robbed and running out of time, he weaponized his last will and testament to expose the thief. And he specifically requested Rue to handle his estate for one undeniable reason: the DNA he secretly tested matches her own. Rue is the missing heir. Now, entangled in a massive conflict of interest and harboring a career-ending secret of her own, Rue must outmaneuver a ruthless mentor to claim the inheritance of a father she never knew.
If she fails, the truth dies with the documents.