We did not obey his instructions.<\/p>\n
Mercer never seriously considered letting me go alone.<\/p>\n
I never seriously considered staying away.<\/p>\n
The compromise satisfied neither of us.<\/p>\n
I would enter the duplex wearing a concealed microphone.<\/p>\n
Officers would surround the block.<\/p>\n
A tactical team would remain close enough to intervene.<\/p>\n
Mercer would listen live.<\/p>\n
If the caller saw police and fled, we would lose a lead.<\/p>\n
If he tried anything, he would discover I was not as isolated as he expected.<\/p>\n
The duplex looked smaller than I remembered.<\/p>\n
I had sold it years earlier to a schoolteacher who converted the upstairs unit into a home office.<\/p>\n
Police contacted her quietly.<\/p>\n
She and her family were moved out before dusk.<\/p>\n
The property remained visually unchanged.<\/p>\n
That mattered.<\/p>\n
Shepherd had chosen it because he believed he controlled the setting.<\/p>\n
At seven forty, I parked across the street.<\/p>\n
Snow along the curb had turned gray.<\/p>\n
The porch light was off.<\/p>\n
I climbed the steps.<\/p>\n
For a moment, memory overwhelmed everything else.<\/p>\n
Paint under my fingernails.<\/p>\n
Cheap takeout.<\/p>\n
Sleeping on a mattress upstairs.<\/p>\n
The first tenant handing me a rent check.<\/p>\n
I had once thought this building contained the hardest years of my life.<\/p>\n
I had been optimistic.<\/p>\n
The front door was unlocked.<\/p>\n
I entered.<\/p>\n
The downstairs unit was dark except for one lamp in the living room.<\/p>\n
A man sat beside it.<\/p>\n
Late sixties, perhaps.<\/p>\n
Silver hair.<\/p>\n
Dark overcoat.<\/p>\n
No visible weapon.<\/p>\n
I had never seen him before.<\/p>\n
He stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiranda.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEdward Sloane.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name meant nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Shepherd your name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA nickname Rachel dislikes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
His smile was faint.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re more like Thomas than he realized.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t compare me to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe built fraud schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then regretted them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t undo them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane seemed almost pleased.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou understand faster than your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stayed near the doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo finish the accounting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich accounting?\u201d<\/p>\n
He gestured toward a table.<\/p>\n
Several folders lay there.<\/p>\n
One carried the Original Ridge Holdings name.<\/p>\n
Another had my name.<\/p>\n
A third contained photographs.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel has made a mess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou funded her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane tilted his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cFunded is simplistic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you control her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel has never been controllable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she answer to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was enough.<\/p>\n
Mercer would hear it.<\/p>\n
I moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane sat again.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many years I arranged private financing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLegal?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cComforting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas worked for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo did Rachel?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLater.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrevor?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Brooke?\u201d<\/p>\n
His smile disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrooke was collateral.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated the word.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUseful because she was close to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked almost disappointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still think this began with your identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour property instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stalked a twenty-nine-year-old renovating a duplex because you liked how she picked houses?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he believed you saw neglected value.\u201d<\/p>\n
That phrase sounded like something from an investor presentation.<\/p>\n
Sloane continued.<\/p>\n
Thomas had worked with distressed properties long before meeting me.<\/p>\n
He became fascinated by people who could identify buildings others dismissed.<\/p>\n
Most investors saw numbers.<\/p>\n
Thomas believed I saw possibilities.<\/p>\n
That made me useful in a different way.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re saying he copied my deals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat deals?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane opened a folder.<\/p>\n
Properties I had considered but never purchased.<\/p>\n
Some from notes.<\/p>\n
Some from old emails.<\/p>\n
Some from conversations I barely remembered.<\/p>\n
Thomas had acquired several through other entities.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stole leads.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour company became better at finding them than he was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he watched.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt anger rise slowly.<\/p>\n
Not because he had taken money.<\/p>\n
Because something I considered mine in a deeper sense\u2014judgment, work, instinct\u2014had been harvested.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou people treated everyone like inventory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane shrugged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is one way to understand finance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. It\u2019s one way predators explain themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
His expression cooled.<\/p>\n
Good.<\/p>\n
I wanted him irritated enough to talk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Original Ridge?\u201d<\/p>\n
He glanced toward the folder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas bought that parcel because you had marked it years earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never tried to buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You wrote that the ridge would become valuable if utilities crossed the county line.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered.<\/p>\n
A note in my yellow notebook.<\/p>\n
One sentence.<\/p>\n
Pure speculation.<\/p>\n
Thomas acted on it.<\/p>\n
The land appreciated.<\/p>\n
Millions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made money from my idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen tried to leave it to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas wanted leverage against Rachel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I was leverage again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least Sloane did not pretend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Rachel want the property?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it contains more than land.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou haven\u2019t found it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFound what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane looked toward the window.<\/p>\n
For one second, I worried he had seen an officer.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cThomas always believed physical records were safer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe barn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToo obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s another location.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the ridge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginal loan documents. Signature cards. Identity packets. Things that prove which accounts were fabricated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evidence.<\/p>\n
Enough to destroy the entire operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t Thomas put that in Ledger Zero?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause a ledger can be dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd originals can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s voice remained silent in my hidden earpiece, but I knew he was hearing every word.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou brought me here to tell me you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how Thomas concealed the location.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave the key to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father.\u201d<\/p>\n
My body went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert never understood what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat key?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA brass survey marker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad had shown me one for years.<\/p>\n
It sat on a shelf in his garage.<\/p>\n
An old round brass disk mounted on wood.<\/p>\n
He once told me it came from a retired surveyor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas expected Rachel to search everyone directly involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Dad wasn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Dad meet Thomas before the diner eighteen months ago?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My anger sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow often?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA few times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProperty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLake house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad had hidden more.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
I wanted to believe Sloane was lying.<\/p>\n
Then he opened the second folder.<\/p>\n
Photographs.<\/p>\n
Dad and Thomas at a restaurant.<\/p>\n
Dad beside the lake property.<\/p>\n
Dad entering a title office.<\/p>\n
Dates spanning years.<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Dad know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVery little about the fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou expect me to trust you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane opened another page.<\/p>\n
A letter from Thomas to Dad.<\/p>\n
Robert,<\/p>\n
If I fail to correct this, keep the marker. Do not give it to Brooke. Do not give it to Rachel. If Miranda ever asks why her company name existed before she created it, then she is ready to know.<\/p>\n
I read it twice.<\/p>\n
Dad had received this?<\/p>\n
If real, he had known something.<\/p>\n
Maybe not enough.<\/p>\n
But more than he admitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Thomas died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Dad say nothing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk him.\u201d<\/p>\n
My anger became almost physically painful.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you helping me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginal Ridge Holdings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe property.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s frozen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want me to transfer my option.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would I?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you don\u2019t own it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe option still matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVery much.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout you, title disputes become expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
Sloane wanted clean control.<\/p>\n
The one-dollar option Thomas had created in my name complicated disposition.<\/p>\n
Perhaps not enough to give me the land.<\/p>\n
Enough to delay anyone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou brought me here to sign something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He removed a document.<\/p>\n
Assignment of option rights.<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou genuinely thought I would sign this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer frightened me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why ask?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I needed to see whether you came.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo understand whether you are like your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the front windows.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Rachel knows too.\u201d<\/p>\n
A sound came from upstairs.<\/p>\n
Soft.<\/p>\n
Floorboard.<\/p>\n
Every muscle in my body tightened.<\/p>\n
Sloane did not look surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou brought her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another sound.<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s voice finally whispered through my earpiece.<\/p>\n
Move toward exit.<\/p>\n
I did.<\/p>\n
Sloane stayed seated.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel doesn\u2019t like loose ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reached the doorway.<\/p>\n
A figure appeared at the top of the stairs.<\/p>\n
Rachel.<\/p>\n
Pale.<\/p>\n
Hair pulled back.<\/p>\n
Gun in hand.<\/p>\n
She pointed it at Sloane first.<\/p>\n
Not me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou old bastard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always were impatient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel came down two steps.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to decide this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stayed still.<\/p>\n
Rachel\u2019s gun shifted toward me.<\/p>\n
Outside, officers would be moving.<\/p>\n
But any sudden entry could trigger her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiranda,\u201d Rachel said. \u201cClose the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not.<\/p>\n
She raised the gun.<\/p>\n
\u201cClose it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer whispered, Stall.<\/p>\n
I slowly pushed the door halfway.<\/p>\n
Not latched.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone keeps asking that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve spent years taking things. It seems relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes flashed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI built this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane said, \u201cThomas built it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel pointed the gun at him again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas was weak.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tried to stop you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tried to keep what was mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe victims\u2019 money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t moralize.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou used Brooke.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBrooke volunteered every time she needed cash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you kept her desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat part was Trevor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou paid Trevor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou found the letters.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was confirmation.<\/p>\n
Sloane looked bored.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re finished, Rachel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She moved farther downstairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat leverage?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel reached into her coat with her free hand and removed a phone.<\/p>\n
She turned the screen toward me.<\/p>\n
Live video.<\/p>\n
My parents.<\/p>\n
Sitting in a room I did not recognize.<\/p>\n
A man stood behind Dad.<\/p>\n
Gun visible at his side.<\/p>\n
My breathing stopped.<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s voice came sharply through my earpiece, but I could not focus on the words.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecurity protects the address you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
My parents had been moved.<\/p>\n
Someone inside the protection chain had leaked the new location.<\/p>\n
Or worse.<\/p>\n
Was involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is with them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel lowered the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who understands instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe option assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloane laughed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see, Miranda? This is why Thomas wanted her out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel swung the gun toward him.<\/p>\n
A shot cracked.<\/p>\n
Sloane fell sideways.<\/p>\n
I dropped behind the wall.<\/p>\n
The front door exploded inward almost immediately.<\/p>\n
Officers flooded the room.<\/p>\n
Rachel fired once toward them.<\/p>\n
More shouting.<\/p>\n
Glass shattered.<\/p>\n
Someone tackled me from the side and pulled me behind the kitchen wall.<\/p>\n
Gunfire lasted seconds.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
I heard Rachel screaming.<\/p>\n
Not injured.<\/p>\n
Furious.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet off me!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer appeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSloane?\u201d<\/p>\n
An officer was pressing gauze against his shoulder.<\/p>\n
Alive.<\/p>\n
Mercer grabbed my arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
I handed him the information I had.<\/p>\n
The video.<\/p>\n
Unknown room.<\/p>\n
Armed man.<\/p>\n
Mercer was already calling teams.<\/p>\n
Rachel laughed from the floor where officers restrained her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
She smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk Robert about the marker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she stopped talking.<\/p>\n
For the next forty minutes, everything became motion.<\/p>\n
Phone traces.<\/p>\n
Protection-unit checks.<\/p>\n
Internal calls.<\/p>\n
Rachel\u2019s device seized.<\/p>\n
Sloane transported.<\/p>\n
Brooke moved again.<\/p>\n
Then Mercer found something.<\/p>\n
Rachel\u2019s live video had not been live.<\/p>\n
The metadata showed it was recorded almost three hours earlier.<\/p>\n
Relief hit so hard my knees weakened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are Mom and Dad now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re confirming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minutes later came the answer.<\/p>\n
Safe.<\/p>\n
Their protection location had not been compromised.<\/p>\n
The video had been taken before their latest move, during an earlier transport stop.<\/p>\n
The armed man behind Dad?<\/p>\n
A plainclothes deputy.<\/p>\n
Rachel had cropped the frame to make him look like a captor.<\/p>\n
She had built leverage from a harmless moment.<\/p>\n
A lie using real evidence.<\/p>\n
The same method she had used for years.<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
Then cried.<\/p>\n
Not dramatically.<\/p>\n
Just suddenly.<\/p>\n
Megan found me outside beneath the porch light.<\/p>\n
She put her coat around my shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer approached carrying Rachel\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA message draft.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer read:<\/p>\n
You kept Thomas\u2019s marker longer than you were supposed to. Bring it to Original Ridge tomorrow, or Miranda learns what you did with the lake money.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
Dad had a secret tied to the marker.<\/p>\n
And Rachel believed it was powerful enough to control him.<\/p>\n
The next truth would not come from Brooke.<\/p>\n
Or Rachel.<\/p>\n
Or Thomas.<\/p>\n
It would have to come from Dad himself.<\/p>\n
We did not obey his instructions. Mercer never seriously considered letting me go alone. I never seriously considered staying away. The compromise satisfied neither of us. I would enter the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5088","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\/5088","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=5088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5108,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5088\/revisions\/5108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}