Marcus refused to discuss the settlement at first.<\/p>\n
That told us more than an immediate explanation would have.<\/p>\n
His attorney requested time.<\/p>\n
Mercer denied any delay that was not legally required.<\/p>\n
Investigators authenticated the document.<\/p>\n
The signatures were genuine.<\/p>\n
Harlan Pike.<\/p>\n
Marcus Whitmore.<\/p>\n
A bank trustee.<\/p>\n
The payment had moved through an account Thomas later flagged while working on the warehouse claim.<\/p>\n
Another circle closing.<\/p>\n
One hundred thousand dollars at nineteen.<\/p>\n
More money than Marcus had probably seen in his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do with it?\u201d Julian asked.<\/p>\n
Ortiz had already traced what she could.<\/p>\n
Part paid debts left after Helen\u2019s foreclosure.<\/p>\n
Part funded Marcus\u2019s first business.<\/p>\n
Part disappeared into cash withdrawals.<\/p>\n
So the business Marcus later described as proof he rose above Pike had been partly financed by Pike\u2019s payoff.<\/p>\n
Julian stared at the records.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why Dad said Marcus was building something worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew Marcus\u2019s money came from Pike.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. He knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Thomas\u2019s old notes.<\/p>\n
Maybe Julian was right.<\/p>\n
Thomas may have discovered the settlement.<\/p>\n
It would explain why he believed Marcus was no innocent subordinate.<\/p>\n
Marcus had already accepted corruption as capital.<\/p>\n
Helen lost a home.<\/p>\n
Pike paid the son.<\/p>\n
The son used that money to become Pike.<\/p>\n
The simplicity was brutal.<\/p>\n
I thought of Helen\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n
Do not let losing a house become losing yourself.<\/p>\n
Marcus had received the warning.<\/p>\n
Then did exactly that.<\/p>\n
When prosecutors confronted him with the settlement, he finally spoke.<\/p>\n
I did not attend.<\/p>\n
Mercer later gave us the important parts.<\/p>\n
Marcus claimed the money was restitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t what the agreement says,\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe signed a silence clause.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He knew the foreclosure involved irregularities.<\/p>\n
He knew Pike was vulnerable.<\/p>\n
He accepted the money and agreed not to expose him.<\/p>\n
That was the first secret Marcus carried voluntarily.<\/p>\n
Not one forced upon him.<\/p>\n
Not one inherited.<\/p>\n
Chosen.<\/p>\n
Then Pike gave him work.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Because Marcus had demonstrated two qualities Pike valued.<\/p>\n
He understood leverage.<\/p>\n
And he could be bought.<\/p>\n
That relationship began as mutual contempt.<\/p>\n
Then dependence.<\/p>\n
Marcus learned everything.<\/p>\n
Property manipulation.<\/p>\n
Insurance pressure.<\/p>\n
Records.<\/p>\n
Professional compromise.<\/p>\n
Pike taught the mechanics.<\/p>\n
Marcus improved the psychology.<\/p>\n
Mercer said the discovery affected plea negotiations immediately.<\/p>\n
Marcus had planned to portray himself as a young victim trapped by Pike after Helen\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n
The settlement complicated that story.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t erase what Pike did to him,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it proves he chose cooperation before Thomas ever investigated him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That distinction mattered.<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s pain was real.<\/p>\n
So was his agency.<\/p>\n
The defense could still explain.<\/p>\n
It could no longer pretend coercion was the entire story.<\/p>\n
Julian asked to see Marcus again.<\/p>\n
I was surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to ask him something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy he kept Helen\u2019s letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like something you already know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you need to?\u201d<\/p>\n
He considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer allowed a controlled meeting.<\/p>\n
I went too.<\/p>\n
Marcus looked different.<\/p>\n
Not physically.<\/p>\n
But the confidence had thinned.<\/p>\n
He knew we had the settlement.<\/p>\n
He knew the story he told himself had become evidence against him.<\/p>\n
Julian took the seat beside me.<\/p>\n
Marcus looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look like Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian ignored it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you keep your mother\u2019s letter?\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may be the first honest answer you\u2019ve given.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus smiled faintly.<\/p>\n
\u201cCareful. You\u2019re starting to sound like her.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded toward me.<\/p>\n
Julian did not react.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you read it after she died?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow often?\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s eyes hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that matter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt matters to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she told you not to become Pike.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you kept the letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus looked away.<\/p>\n
Julian continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe part of you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnew what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat everything you did afterward wasn\u2019t for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know anything about my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian\u2019s voice remained calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I know what she wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou read a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA letter from a sick woman who blamed herself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe also understood you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s eyes flashed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told you not to spend your life proving you could beat men like Pike.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou made her house your religion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus stood.<\/p>\n
A guard moved immediately.<\/p>\n
His attorney told him to sit.<\/p>\n
He did.<\/p>\n
Julian waited.<\/p>\n
Then asked quietly:<\/p>\n
\u201cDid the hundred thousand make losing her house hurt less?\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you take it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was nineteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had her truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus slammed one hand against the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd truth was going to feed us?\u201d<\/p>\n
The guard stepped closer.<\/p>\n
Julian did not move.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cTruth is expensive when you\u2019re poor.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentence landed.<\/p>\n
Not because it excused him.<\/p>\n
Because it contained something true.<\/p>\n
Poor people often cannot afford moral purity without consequence.<\/p>\n
Helen could not afford lawyers.<\/p>\n
Marcus could not afford a prolonged fight.<\/p>\n
Pike knew that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did the money buy?\u201d Julian asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDebts. Rent. A car.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour first company.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus did not answer.<\/p>\n
Julian nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Pike taught you truth could be priced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you spent the rest of your life pricing everyone else\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
I looked at my son.<\/p>\n
Thomas would have been proud of that sentence.<\/p>\n
Not because it was clever.<\/p>\n
Because it was accurate.<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s entire network came from that first transaction.<\/p>\n
Pike did not merely teach him blackmail.<\/p>\n
He showed him that shame plus money could purchase silence.<\/p>\n
Marcus industrialized the lesson.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much was my silence worth?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Marcus looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I signed the house away.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I sold, if I stayed embarrassed, if I never called Julian\u2014what was that worth to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think everything was personal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was personal to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat house was an asset.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it were only an asset, you would have stopped when the numbers stopped making sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wanted Thomas\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wanted his widow to lose what Helen lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wanted the story balanced.\u201d<\/p>\n
He spoke quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
There.<\/p>\n
Not confession.<\/p>\n
Something more human and less useful legally.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid it help?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlanning it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus stared at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid it make Helen\u2019s loss smaller?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid killing Thomas?\u201d<\/p>\n
His face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid building the network?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid any of it?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked down.<\/p>\n
For the first time since I met him, Marcus seemed tired rather than cornered.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believed him.<\/p>\n
That did not make me forgive him.<\/p>\n
It made the waste clearer.<\/p>\n
Decades of harm.<\/p>\n
And the original pain remained untouched.<\/p>\n
We left without saying goodbye.<\/p>\n
Outside, Julian exhaled slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I\u2019d feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou rarely do after asking a question that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The settlement opened more records.<\/p>\n
The trust used for Marcus\u2019s payoff had processed payments to others who stayed silent about Pike.<\/p>\n
Not just Marcus.<\/p>\n
Helen\u2019s case was one of several irregular foreclosures.<\/p>\n
Some families were still alive.<\/p>\n
Some descendants had never known their parents or grandparents had been cheated.<\/p>\n
Investigators began contacting them.<\/p>\n
The network was older than anyone imagined.<\/p>\n
Pike had built an early version.<\/p>\n
Marcus inherited it, expanded it, and made it personal.<\/p>\n
But one transaction stood out.<\/p>\n
A payment made on the same day as Marcus\u2019s settlement.<\/p>\n
Smaller.<\/p>\n
Twenty thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Recipient hidden through an attorney account.<\/p>\n
Charles Vane.<\/p>\n
Julian stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cVane got paid too?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
For preparing the agreement.<\/p>\n
Not surprising.<\/p>\n
Then another payment.<\/p>\n
Ten thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Arthur Raines.<\/p>\n
Young then.<\/p>\n
Before he became lead regulator.<\/p>\n
Pike had purchased silence long before Thomas\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n
That explained why Thomas\u2019s later investigation entered a system already compromised.<\/p>\n
People did not become corrupt around Thomas.<\/p>\n
They arrived corrupted.<\/p>\n
Then Ortiz found the first connection to Thomas himself.<\/p>\n
A bonus payment issued during Thomas\u2019s early employment.<\/p>\n
Five thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
The bonus Thomas confessed to accepting.<\/p>\n
Same trust.<\/p>\n
Julian went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad\u2019s money came from the same pool.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the record.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s shame.<\/p>\n
Now quantified.<\/p>\n
Five thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
The amount Julian later sent me monthly.<\/p>\n
The coincidence hurt.<\/p>\n
Thomas accepted five thousand once for processing a claim he suspected was wrong.<\/p>\n
Decades later, five thousand dollars a month became the route Marcus used to pressure me.<\/p>\n
Life does not create symbolism intentionally.<\/p>\n
People do.<\/p>\n
Still, I felt it.<\/p>\n
Julian looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father spent his life trying to repay five thousand dollars he should never have taken.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy exposing Pike.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he ever return it?\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not know.<\/p>\n
Ortiz checked Thomas\u2019s banking records.<\/p>\n
The money was withdrawn in cash three days after deposit.<\/p>\n
No record where it went.<\/p>\n
Then Father Michael remembered something.<\/p>\n
Thomas made an anonymous donation.<\/p>\n
To a housing legal-aid organization.<\/p>\n
Five thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Same week.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave it away,\u201d Julian said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy anonymous?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably because returning dirty money publicly would expose what he had done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo even his attempt to fix it was secret.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas again.<\/p>\n
Doing something decent in the most private way possible.<\/p>\n
I loved him.<\/p>\n
I wanted to shake him.<\/p>\n
Both remained true.<\/p>\n
Father Michael said Thomas eventually told him the story.<\/p>\n
Michael advised him to confess formally.<\/p>\n
Thomas waited.<\/p>\n
Then left Pike.<\/p>\n
Years later, when the warehouse case brought Pike back into his life, Thomas saw an opportunity to correct what he once avoided.<\/p>\n
That became the investigation that killed him.<\/p>\n
Not redemption in some perfect sense.<\/p>\n
Consequence.<\/p>\n
Choice.<\/p>\n
One mistake did not define Thomas.<\/p>\n
One good act did not erase the mistake either.<\/p>\n
I found that strangely comforting.<\/p>\n
The same principle applied to everyone.<\/p>\n
Corinne.<\/p>\n
Daniel.<\/p>\n
Elaine.<\/p>\n
Even Vane.<\/p>\n
Responsibility without simplification.<\/p>\n
Only Marcus seemed to have spent decades refusing that possibility.<\/p>\n
He believed a mistake became ownership because Pike taught him that.<\/p>\n
Thomas proved otherwise.<\/p>\n
That evening, Corinne came to see Julian.<\/p>\n
I stayed in the kitchen while they spoke in the living room.<\/p>\n
I did not listen intentionally.<\/p>\n
My house was small.<\/p>\n
Some sentences traveled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t expect you to forgive me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not asking to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve started selling the apartment furniture too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
Then Julian:<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t confuse repayment with repair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Corinne answered:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying not to.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
That was growth.<\/p>\n
Painful.<\/p>\n
Incomplete.<\/p>\n
Real.<\/p>\n
The next morning Mercer called.<\/p>\n
Marcus had revised his plea offer.<\/p>\n
Full admission regarding Thomas.<\/p>\n
Full cooperation on financial-network cases.<\/p>\n
Testimony regarding Pike-era corruption.<\/p>\n
Identification of still-active participants.<\/p>\n
In exchange, prosecutors would consider consolidating certain fraud counts and recommend concurrent sentences on some nonviolent offenses.<\/p>\n
No concession on the homicide-related charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does full admission mean?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would acknowledge planning the intimidation, knowing the brake sabotage, following Thomas, removing evidence, and failing to summon aid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian stood beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould he say Dad was alive when he left?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder oath?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian looked away.<\/p>\n
That mattered more than he wanted it to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about Evelyn?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill under investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen no final deal yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before any agreement, prosecutors wanted the Evelyn Marsh case resolved.<\/p>\n
Her vehicle fire had never been examined for foul play.<\/p>\n
The physical evidence was gone.<\/p>\n
But her diary remained.<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s master notes remained.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s letter named her.<\/p>\n
And Brighton Mutual archives contained something new.<\/p>\n
A payment.<\/p>\n
Twenty-five thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Made three days before Evelyn\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Recipient:<\/p>\n
R. Hall.<\/p>\n
Robert Hall.<\/p>\n
The same mechanic who cut Thomas\u2019s brake line.<\/p>\n
Julian closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall had been involved again.<\/p>\n
The payment memo said:<\/p>\n
Vehicle disposal.<\/p>\n
The phrase was chillingly clear.<\/p>\n
Investigators returned to Hall\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
She searched the last of her father\u2019s stored possessions.<\/p>\n
Behind a drawer in an old workbench, she found another cassette.<\/p>\n
Labeled only:<\/p>\n
E.M.<\/p>\n
Evelyn Marsh.<\/p>\n
When the audio was restored, Hall\u2019s voice returned.<\/p>\n
Older than on the first tape.<\/p>\n
More frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did another job for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Marcus this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian covered his face.<\/p>\n
Hall continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t supposed to burn.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Another familiar defense.<\/p>\n
Not supposed to.<\/p>\n
Supposed only to scare.<\/p>\n
Supposed only to pressure.<\/p>\n
People who create danger always seem surprised by consequences they made likely.<\/p>\n
The tape continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tampered with the fuel line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn\u2019s vehicle fire.<\/p>\n
Hall admitted it.<\/p>\n
Then said:<\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus told me she had Carter\u2019s papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
There.<\/p>\n
The motive.<\/p>\n
Evelyn had received Thomas\u2019s evidence.<\/p>\n
Marcus wanted it back.<\/p>\n
Hall believed Marcus intended only to strand her.<\/p>\n
Maybe frighten her.<\/p>\n
But the damaged fuel system ignited.<\/p>\n
Evelyn died.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Marcus know the risk?\u201d Mercer asked through the recording.<\/p>\n
Hall had answered decades earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That one word changed the charge landscape.<\/p>\n
Thomas was not the only death.<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s method had killed again.<\/p>\n
And Hall had left proof.<\/p>\n
The tape ended with a sentence I would not forget.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept saying I wasn\u2019t a killer because I didn\u2019t mean for them to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you keep doing things that can kill people, eventually that excuse becomes a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Hall had understood in the end.<\/p>\n
Marcus still had not.<\/p>\n
Marcus refused to discuss the settlement at first. That told us more than an immediate explanation would have. His attorney requested time. Mercer denied any delay that was not legally … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-every-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8545,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8510\/revisions\/8545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}