Unwelcome Ties

Toni Horvath is tired of being an orphan-again. No matter that she's thirty this time instead of a newborn. She's alone in the world, except for the needy fiancé she's stuck with because of a death-bed promise to the only father she's ever known. Her best friend encourages Toni to ditch Gordon and the ring he offers, but loyalty is a powerful tie. As if life weren't complicated enough with Gordon's political ambitions, a letter arrives at Toni's desk on the anniversary of her adopted father's death.
The handwritten note from a seemingly-repentant felon recalls an off-hand comment Toni made when he passed through Toledo, Ohio's federal court two years earlier. His carefully printed words, "I can help you find the family you so desperately seek, " set Toni off on a journey to find her family ties. But her naïve quest ensnares her as a mule for a counterfeiting ring. She must decipher not only phony documents but phony family and relationships before the FBI arrests her - or the villain makes good on his threats.
Only by calling on connections with ties stronger than family does she have a chance to free herself from the tentacles of history and misplaced loyalties. For readers of Forty & Out (2014) and Burned Bridges (2018): Toni's adventure introduces us to a younger Jadz who is still a patrol cop. "Pulled a Star Wars" as they say, with Unwelcome Ties as a prequel.