Don’t plan your future around a number we haven’t proved.”

I appreciated the warning.

The story I’d been told for years was that wealth meant someone else could decide my future.

I didn’t want to replace it with a fantasy in which one big check solved every problem.

One document in the packet made Evelyn sit straighter.

It was an internal email from a former employee of the trust company asking why a beneficiary meeting had been marked completed when the attendee list contained no signature from me.

The response directed the inquiry to an attorney associated with Brandt Development.