In the competitive world of residential real estate and asset management, legacy is often measured by the strength of one’s character rather than by the size of a portfolio. For Joanna, a forty-two-year-old waitress in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that legacy had been quietly forged through years of sacrifice, even as her marriage to Derek slowly unraveled. For fifteen years, Joanna had been the backbone of their household, working double shifts at a local diner to cover the mortgage and car insurance, while Derek drifted through life, buoyed by a sense of unearned entitlement.
The breaking point came three days after the death of Derek’s father, Theodore, a self-made titan in the construction industry. Derek, convinced he was the sole heir to a fortune he estimated at seventy-five million dollars, declared Joanna unfit for the life of luxury travel and private equity investments he believed awaited him.
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