The man outside Unit 214 knocked three times.<\/p>\n
Not pounding.<\/p>\n
Not threatening.<\/p>\n
Three measured knocks.<\/p>\n
That frightened Daniel more than shouting would have.<\/p>\n
He lowered the metal door until only several inches remained above the concrete.<\/p>\n
Rebecca switched off the lamp in the hidden room.<\/p>\n
Darkness folded around us.<\/p>\n
My phone vibrated.<\/p>\n
MOM.<\/p>\n
Rebecca saw the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if she knows you\u2019re here, she may not be alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The phone stopped.<\/p>\n
A message appeared.<\/p>\n
MOM:
\nI know where you are.<\/p>\n
My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n
Another followed.<\/p>\n
MOM:
\nWhatever Rebecca tells you, she\u2019s lying.<\/p>\n
I looked at my sister.<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew she would say that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew she might.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you lying about?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing that matters now.\u201d<\/p>\n
My temper returned instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sentence doesn\u2019t mean anything anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel whispered, \u201cKeep your voices down.\u201d<\/p>\n
I rounded on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to manage this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to keep them from hearing us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole world has apparently spent seventeen years keeping me quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside, the man knocked again.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Bennett?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know your married name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve known it for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStill don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
My phone buzzed again.<\/p>\n
MOM:
\nDo not open the red box.<\/p>\n
All three of us became motionless.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat red box?\u201d Daniel asked.<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked toward the cabinet in the outer unit.<\/p>\n
The expression on her face was immediate.<\/p>\n
Fear.<\/p>\n
Real fear.<\/p>\n
I saw it before she could hide it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just reacted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stepped in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
That guaranteed I would.<\/p>\n
I pushed past her into the storage unit.<\/p>\n
Daniel whispered my name.<\/p>\n
I ignored him.<\/p>\n
The bottom drawer remained open.<\/p>\n
Behind the cassette recorder, partly hidden beneath several old folders, sat a small red metal box.<\/p>\n
I had not noticed it before.<\/p>\n
Its paint was scratched.<\/p>\n
A three-number combination lock held the lid closed.<\/p>\n
Rebecca followed me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought Mom destroyed that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Mom lied again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing about tonight feels like one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside, someone tested the storage door.<\/p>\n
Metal scraped against concrete.<\/p>\n
Daniel moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have much time.\u201d<\/p>\n
I lifted the red box.<\/p>\n
Rebecca grabbed my arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you open that, there\u2019s no going back.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister came back from the dead twenty minutes ago. My husband admitted he knew me before our first date. My mother helped fake a corpse identification. What exactly do you think I\u2019m going back to?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m opening it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lock required three numbers.<\/p>\n
I tried my birthday.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at the note from the drawer.<\/p>\n
Wrong.<\/p>\n
Sister.<\/p>\n
Car.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered the numbers written on the photograph.<\/p>\n
12.<\/p>\n
13.<\/p>\n
14.<\/p>\n
I turned the first dial to 12.<\/p>\n
Then 7.<\/p>\n
Then 24.<\/p>\n
The lock clicked.<\/p>\n
Rebecca covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lid opened.<\/p>\n
Inside lay several documents.<\/p>\n
The first was a birth certificate.<\/p>\n
Mine.<\/p>\n
I recognized my full name.<\/p>\n
Claire Elizabeth Bennett.<\/p>\n
Date of birth correct.<\/p>\n
Hospital correct.<\/p>\n
But when I read the line identifying my mother, my skin prickled.<\/p>\n
The name was not Eleanor Bennett.<\/p>\n
I looked again.<\/p>\n
Different woman.<\/p>\n
A name I had never seen.<\/p>\n
Then I read the father.<\/p>\n
RICHARD VALE.<\/p>\n
My body went cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca was crying.<\/p>\n
I held up the document.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
She did not answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Richard my father?\u201d<\/p>\n
She closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
The silence answered me.<\/p>\n
Daniel took the paper.<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
I demanded.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never seen this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside, metal shrieked.<\/p>\n
Someone was cutting the lock.<\/p>\n
Daniel moved toward the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need an exit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe adjoining unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we reach the outer corridor?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen move.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remained where I was.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n
I held the birth certificate with both hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard Vale tried to have me killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked toward the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this says he\u2019s my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would my father send someone to kill me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause that document is real and false at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe certificate exists legally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Richard my biological father?\u201d<\/p>\n
Before she answered, the cutting outside stopped.<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then the severed lock hit the concrete.<\/p>\n
Daniel grabbed my arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The storage door began rising.<\/p>\n
A pair of black shoes appeared.<\/p>\n
Then dark trousers.<\/p>\n
I expected Richard Vale.<\/p>\n
Instead, I heard my mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
My sister went white.<\/p>\n
The door rose another foot.<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s face appeared.<\/p>\n
She looked older than she had that morning.<\/p>\n
Not surprised.<\/p>\n
Not confused.<\/p>\n
Almost relieved.<\/p>\n
Her eyes moved to the document in my hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire. Put down the birth certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n
I could barely make my voice work.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat document is not what you think.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not listed as my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard Vale is listed as my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the woman who had raised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stepped toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, who is with you?\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother ignored her.<\/p>\n
I held up the certificate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Richard my father?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer came instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut his name is here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI put it there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou falsified her birth record?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom looked at him coldly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mind could barely keep up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes shifted over her shoulder.<\/p>\n
Someone stood behind her.<\/p>\n
I could see only a shadow.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause seventeen years ago, I needed Richard Vale to believe you were his daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou made him believe I was his child?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the truth was worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca whispered, \u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our mother\u2019s voice sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Rebecca. You\u2019ve done enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came back because Richard found me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom laughed softly.<\/p>\n
A bitter sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Richard contacted me first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe contacted you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s head snapped toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sent it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you knew about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I moved toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho took it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone trying to force the family back together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat family?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom looked at me with unbearable sadness.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
The storage door rose another few inches.<\/p>\n
The shadow behind her became larger.<\/p>\n
Rebecca took my hand.<\/p>\n
Her fingers were freezing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, don\u2019t bring him in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t bring him.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother looked over her shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brought me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel positioned himself between me and the entrance.<\/p>\n
The stranger behind Mom remained still.<\/p>\n
I could not see his face.<\/p>\n
My mother spoke carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, seventeen years ago your father\u2014Robert, the man who raised you\u2014discovered that Richard Vale was moving millions through shell companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You know the smallest part.\u201d<\/p>\n
She pointed toward the red box.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert found records tying those accounts to people far more dangerous than Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never learned all of their names.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Richard wanted the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he thought I had it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Robert hid information in places connected to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of my childhood home.<\/p>\n
The basement wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Dad involve a child?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou weren\u2019t supposed to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed without humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat seems to be the family motto.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom flinched.<\/p>\n
She deserved to.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard learned Robert had concealed something. He threatened us. Rebecca began investigating him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen someone sabotaged her car.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd another woman died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s voice lowered.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had been sent to get close to Rebecca so she could reach you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy Richard?\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother hesitated.<\/p>\n
Rebecca noticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The distinction again.<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was Richard working for?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom looked toward the unseen stranger.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t working for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHim?\u201d<\/p>\n
She closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard was afraid of him too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man behind her laughed.<\/p>\n
Quietly.<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s grip on my hand tightened painfully.<\/p>\n
Daniel went completely still.<\/p>\n
I had never seen him afraid like that.<\/p>\n
Not nervous.<\/p>\n
Not alert.<\/p>\n
Afraid.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel?\u201d<\/p>\n
He did not answer.<\/p>\n
The stranger stepped closer.<\/p>\n
My mother moved aside.<\/p>\n
Still, the man\u2019s face remained above the line of the partially raised door.<\/p>\n
I saw polished shoes.<\/p>\n
A dark coat.<\/p>\n
One hand.<\/p>\n
There was an old gold ring on his smallest finger.<\/p>\n
Something stirred in my memory.<\/p>\n
A childhood Christmas.<\/p>\n
A hand lifting me onto a horse.<\/p>\n
A ring catching sunlight.<\/p>\n
But the memory vanished before I could grasp it.<\/p>\n
My mother looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should never have returned.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always have a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe found me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now he found Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou keep talking about me like I\u2019m evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s eyes met mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were never evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what was I?\u201d<\/p>\n
She started to answer.<\/p>\n
The stranger interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
I knew the voice.<\/p>\n
Not well.<\/p>\n
Not consciously.<\/p>\n
But somewhere deep inside, I knew it.<\/p>\n
Mom whispered, \u201cPlease.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man ignored her.<\/p>\n
He bent slightly as the door rose.<\/p>\n
Gray hair became visible.<\/p>\n
Then a forehead.<\/p>\n
Rebecca backed away.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel grabbed my shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither answered.<\/p>\n
The stranger laughed again.<\/p>\n
Then he said one word.<\/p>\n
\u201cCricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
No one had called me Cricket since I was twelve.<\/p>\n
My father had used it.<\/p>\n
Rebecca sometimes had.<\/p>\n
Mom.<\/p>\n
And one other person whose face I could no longer remember.<\/p>\n
A man from scattered childhood memories.<\/p>\n
A man who visited our house.<\/p>\n
A man I had been told moved overseas before I became a teenager.<\/p>\n
I whispered, \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
The door rose high enough for him to step beneath it.<\/p>\n
He straightened.<\/p>\n
Older.<\/p>\n
Thinner.<\/p>\n
But the memory returned all at once.<\/p>\n
Summer afternoons.<\/p>\n
Cedar aftershave.<\/p>\n
Gold ring.<\/p>\n
A voice teaching me how to shuffle cards.<\/p>\n
My mother stood rigidly beside him.<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked as though she had seen death itself.<\/p>\n
The man smiled at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello, Cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
His smile widened slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo was your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
My legs weakened.<\/p>\n
His name formed in my mind.<\/p>\n
Not Richard Vale.<\/p>\n
Not my father.<\/p>\n
Not anyone Daniel had warned me about.<\/p>\n
Thomas Mercer.<\/p>\n
My mother\u2019s older brother.<\/p>\n
My uncle.<\/p>\n
A man whose funeral our family had attended twenty years earlier.<\/p>\n
I turned toward my mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me Uncle Thomas died.\u201d<\/p>\n
She whispered, \u201cI believed he had.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked amused.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. She hoped I had.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stepped between us.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay away from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s expression softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter seventeen years, that is how you greet me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou destroyed our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Richard did that quite efficiently without assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou used him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI employed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
The hierarchy we had been missing.<\/p>\n
Richard had never been the top of anything.<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at the red box.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou opened it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I held the birth certificate tighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is Richard\u2019s name on this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause your mother needed a monster everyone would recognize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom said, \u201cThomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd because the real name would have made certain people ask inconvenient questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked from him to my mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose name should be there?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas smiled.<\/p>\n
Rebecca whispered, \u201cClaire, don\u2019t listen to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause every truth he tells is designed to make you follow him into the next lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked almost proud.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill clever, Rebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stepped closer to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent seventeen years hiding because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at my uncle.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou tried to kill me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca said, \u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas kept his eyes on mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard believed killing you would solve his problem. I prevented it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom snapped, \u201cYou created the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy telling Richard that Claire carried access to the account?\u201d<\/p>\n
My entire body stiffened.<\/p>\n
Rebecca whispered, \u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they haven\u2019t told you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTold me what?\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed at the birth certificate.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard\u2019s name was not put there because Eleanor wanted him to believe he was your father.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother looked terrified now.<\/p>\n
Thomas continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe put his name there because she wanted the courts, the banks and everyone connected to Vale Holdings to believe you were legally entitled to something Richard could never afford to let you claim.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom stepped between us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEleven million dollars at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The number silenced everyone.<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cEleven million?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch more now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca grabbed my hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, we have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas reached into his coat.<\/p>\n
Daniel moved immediately.<\/p>\n
Thomas stopped.<\/p>\n
Then slowly withdrew a photograph.<\/p>\n
He placed it on the concrete.<\/p>\n
It showed my father standing outside our childhood house.<\/p>\n
Beside him was Richard Vale.<\/p>\n
My mother.<\/p>\n
Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Thomas.<\/p>\n
And a little girl.<\/p>\n
Me.<\/p>\n
On the back was a date from seventeen years ago.<\/p>\n
Two weeks before the crash.<\/p>\n
Beneath it, my father had written a sentence.<\/p>\n
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, CLAIRE OWNS EVERYTHING.<\/p>\n
My hands began shaking.<\/p>\n
Thomas watched me read it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour sister didn\u2019t spend seventeen years hiding from the man who wanted to kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He glanced at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe spent seventeen years hiding from the man who wanted to bring you home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHome where?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s smile disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the family you were taken from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind me, Rebecca whispered, \u201cClaire, run.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man outside Unit 214 knocked three times. Not pounding. Not threatening. Three measured knocks. That frightened Daniel more than shouting would have. He lowered the metal door until only … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2416,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404\/revisions\/2416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}