For three seconds after midnight, nobody moved.<\/p>\n
Fireworks thundered outside.<\/p>\n
Music continued upstairs.<\/p>\n
The sirens grew louder until even the party guests began noticing them.<\/p>\n
Then Irving turned on Sabrina.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you erased his recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI erased the camera footage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you had control.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did until your people let him inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy people?\u201d<\/p>\n
Their discipline vanished almost instantly.<\/p>\n
That interested Denise.<\/p>\n
She said nothing.<\/p>\n
She simply let her camera capture them blaming each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wanted Wyatt kept alive,\u201d Irving snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we needed his signature.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said he\u2019d cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re the one who used the hammer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gloved man stepped farther away.<\/p>\n
Frank looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting to reconsider your employment?\u201d<\/p>\n
The man ignored the joke.<\/p>\n
He stared at Irving.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never said kidnapping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Irving scoffed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were paid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor security.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scar-faced man joined him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew there was a family dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed at Wyatt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know somebody was chained in the basement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Irving\u2019s face reddened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re already involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gloved man removed his glove.<\/p>\n
His fingers trembled slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I\u2019m done getting more involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward his partner.<\/p>\n
The scar-faced man nodded.<\/p>\n
Irving stared at both of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou walk out now and you\u2019ll regret it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d the scar-faced man said. \u201cI think staying is what I\u2019d regret.\u201d<\/p>\n
He removed an envelope from his coat.<\/p>\n
Cash.<\/p>\n
He dropped it onto the concrete.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two men walked toward the stairs.<\/p>\n
Sabrina called them cowards.<\/p>\n
Neither turned around.<\/p>\n
Frank watched them go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose may be the smartest decisions anyone working for you made all year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus opened a canvas bag.<\/p>\n
Inside were tools.<\/p>\n
He selected a compact bolt cutter.<\/p>\n
Wyatt watched him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill that work?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus positioned the jaws around a chain link.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry not to move.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first squeeze dented the steel.<\/p>\n
The second bent it.<\/p>\n
The third produced a sharp crack.<\/p>\n
The broken chain dropped heavily onto the floor.<\/p>\n
Wyatt stared at it.<\/p>\n
Six days of captivity ended with one piece of metal lying useless beside him.<\/p>\n
Marcus supported his shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cSlowly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyatt tried to stand.<\/p>\n
His injured leg folded immediately.<\/p>\n
He cried out.<\/p>\n
Marcus caught him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyatt clenched his teeth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can move.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can move later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus lowered him carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe joint\u2019s unstable.\u201d<\/p>\n
I crouched beside them.<\/p>\n
Wyatt looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought once the chain came off\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a moment he looked almost embarrassed by his own weakness.<\/p>\n
I put a hand on his shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou survived six days. You don\u2019t need to prove anything in the next six minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Above us, a door slammed open.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice!\u201d<\/p>\n
The music stopped.<\/p>\n
A woman screamed.<\/p>\n
Someone shouted that nobody should leave.<\/p>\n
Feet pounded across the floor.<\/p>\n
The cheerful New Year\u2019s party disintegrated into confusion.<\/p>\n
Denise checked her watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaster than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou called them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou activated the system. I gave dispatch enough information to make sure they brought more than one patrol car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Less than half a minute later, two officers appeared at the basement stairs.<\/p>\n
Their weapons were drawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cHands where we can see them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank immediately raised his hands.<\/p>\n
So did Denise.<\/p>\n
Marcus remained kneeling beside Wyatt but showed his palms.<\/p>\n
I stepped back.<\/p>\n
Sabrina froze.<\/p>\n
Irving did not.<\/p>\n
His eyes shifted toward the workbench.<\/p>\n
I saw it.<\/p>\n
Frank saw it too.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Irving lunged.<\/p>\n
His hand closed around a hunting knife lying beside the toolbox.<\/p>\n
One officer shouted.<\/p>\n
Irving ignored him.<\/p>\n
He turned toward Wyatt.<\/p>\n
Not toward the door.<\/p>\n
Not toward me.<\/p>\n
Wyatt.<\/p>\n
Even with police inside the house, Irving wanted to finish what he had begun.<\/p>\n
I moved before thinking.<\/p>\n
At sixty-eight, I was slower than Irving.<\/p>\n
But he was not looking at me.<\/p>\n
He was focused entirely on my son.<\/p>\n
I drove my shoulder into his chest.<\/p>\n
We hit the floor.<\/p>\n
The knife flew from his hand and skidded beneath the workbench.<\/p>\n
Pain shot through my shoulder.<\/p>\n
Irving struck my face.<\/p>\n
My vision flashed white.<\/p>\n
He raised his fist again.<\/p>\n
Frank grabbed his wrist.<\/p>\n
An officer tackled him from behind.<\/p>\n
Seconds later, Irving was face-down on the concrete with his hands cuffed behind him.<\/p>\n
I rolled onto my side.<\/p>\n
Wyatt shouted, \u201cDad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wasn't entirely sure, but nothing seemed broken.<\/p>\n
Sabrina remained near the stairs.<\/p>\n
She stared at Wyatt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did this for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyatt\u2019s expression was unlike anything I had ever seen on my son\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
Not anger.<\/p>\n
Not hatred.<\/p>\n
Recognition.<\/p>\n
He was finally seeing the woman he had married without the memory of the woman he thought she was.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sabrina took a step closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyatt shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou loved what you thought came with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou chained me to a pillar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou let him break my knee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled.<\/p>\n
For half a second, I wondered whether the tears were genuine.<\/p>\n
Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
She pointed toward Wyatt.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou raised him to distrust everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
My voice came out quieter than I expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI raised him to decide whom to trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe trusted me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at my son.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you punished him for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Lewis arrived several minutes later.<\/p>\n
He was a broad-shouldered man in his fifties with tired eyes and the deliberate manner of someone who had spent decades walking into rooms after terrible things happened.<\/p>\n
He looked around.<\/p>\n
The chain.<\/p>\n
Syringes.<\/p>\n
Documents.<\/p>\n
Blood.<\/p>\n
Drill.<\/p>\n
Wyatt\u2019s knee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened here?\u201d<\/p>\n
I handed him my phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cStart with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
He placed gloves on before taking it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long is the recording?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough.\u201d<\/p>\n
He played several seconds.<\/p>\n
Sabrina\u2019s voice filled the basement.<\/p>\n
Then Wyatt.<\/p>\n
Then Irving.<\/p>\n
Lewis stopped the playback.<\/p>\n
His expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou recorded the threats?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denise approached.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo did I.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis looked at her.<\/p>\n
He recognized her.<\/p>\n
\u201cCole.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLewis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always find interesting parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI try.\u201d<\/p>\n
She handed him her camera.<\/p>\n
He shook his head slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case is going to ruin my New Year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter yours than Wyatt\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paramedics entered with a stretcher.<\/p>\n
One knelt beside Wyatt and examined the injured leg.<\/p>\n
His casual expression disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long has it been like this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix days,\u201d Wyatt said.<\/p>\n
The paramedic looked up sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cSix?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey hit it with a hammer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to move him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I followed as they prepared the stretcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he going to be all right?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t tell you yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you worried about?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCirculation. Nerve damage. Infection. The joint itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He lowered his voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf blood flow has been compromised this long, there may be permanent damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyatt heard him.<\/p>\n
I saw the fear in his eyes.<\/p>\n
Not fear of death now.<\/p>\n
Fear of what survival might look like.<\/p>\n
He had always been active.<\/p>\n
Running.<\/p>\n
Boxing.<\/p>\n
Hiking.<\/p>\n
Standing for hours on warehouse floors.<\/p>\n
The possibility that his leg might never function properly landed differently than the danger in the basement.<\/p>\n
The paramedics lifted him.<\/p>\n
As they started toward the stairs, Wyatt reached for my hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought nobody was coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
I squeezed his fingers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you were eight, you got lost at the county fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
A faint smile appeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou found me behind the livestock barn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou remember what I told you?\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes closed briefly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat if I got lost, you\u2019d find me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
He held my hand tighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou kept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat promise never expired.\u201d<\/p>\n
They carried him upstairs.<\/p>\n
The party guests stood along the walls while police took names and separated witnesses.<\/p>\n
Some stared at Wyatt.<\/p>\n
Others stared at Sabrina as an officer escorted her from the house.<\/p>\n
The expressions on their faces told me her carefully prepared story was already collapsing.<\/p>\n
Outside, snow had begun falling again.<\/p>\n
Red and blue lights moved across the yard.<\/p>\n
Wyatt was loaded into the ambulance.<\/p>\n
Before the doors closed, he looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m right behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ambulance disappeared down the road.<\/p>\n
For the first time all night, I allowed myself to feel tired.<\/p>\n
Frank stood beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should get checked too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re bleeding.\u201d<\/p>\n
I touched my mouth.<\/p>\n
My fingers came away red.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I\u2019m mostly fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denise joined us.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice are securing the property.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about Sabrina?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCustody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIrving?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso custody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the hired men?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey walked directly outside and asked to speak with detectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently murder wasn\u2019t included in their contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked back at the house.<\/p>\n
Hours earlier, Sabrina had expected the place to become the stage for Wyatt\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Instead it was now a crime scene.<\/p>\n
But something bothered me.<\/p>\n
The basement had been too prepared.<\/p>\n
The forged papers.<\/p>\n
The drugs.<\/p>\n
The planted bottles.<\/p>\n
The planned witnesses.<\/p>\n
This had not been an impulsive attempt to steal a company.<\/p>\n
Someone had spent months designing it.<\/p>\n
At Springfield General Hospital, a surgeon met me before I reached Wyatt\u2019s room.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Yates?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Dr. Randall.\u201d<\/p>\n
He led me toward a monitor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stabilized your son.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Only for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd his leg?\u201d<\/p>\n
The doctor displayed several X-rays.<\/p>\n
Even without medical training, I could see the damage.<\/p>\n
The knee looked fragmented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t a simple fracture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe joint was deliberately crushed in multiple places.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you fix it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can reconstruct much of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll need multiple operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t know until we begin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd afterward?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExtensive rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA year would not surprise me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I forced myself to ask the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill he walk?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Randall studied the images.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relief hit me.<\/p>\n
Then I saw his expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may never regain full function.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should be able to walk independently if surgery and rehabilitation go well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The doctor paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut running, high-impact sports, anything requiring full strength in that joint\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose may no longer be realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat beside Wyatt while he slept.<\/p>\n
Machines blinked around him.<\/p>\n
His face looked younger under the hospital lights.<\/p>\n
For almost an hour, I remembered the boy he had been.<\/p>\n
The bicycle.<\/p>\n
His first day working at Heartland.<\/p>\n
His graduation.<\/p>\n
The afternoon he introduced Eleanor and me to Sabrina.<\/p>\n
I had not liked her immediately.<\/p>\n
That bothered me now.<\/p>\n
Not because I had been right.<\/p>\n
Because being right had done nothing to protect Wyatt.<\/p>\n
A knock came at the door.<\/p>\n
Frank entered carrying two coffees.<\/p>\n
He handed me one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n
I tasted it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll drink it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe search team found more.\u201d<\/p>\n
He handed me a folder.<\/p>\n
Photographs filled it.<\/p>\n
Syringes.<\/p>\n
Medical sedatives.<\/p>\n
Forged financial statements.<\/p>\n
Blank signature pages.<\/p>\n
Prepaid phones.<\/p>\n
A laptop.<\/p>\n
Then one image stopped me.<\/p>\n
A whiteboard from Irving\u2019s home office.<\/p>\n
Across the top was a project name.<\/p>\n
Below it were dates and assignments.<\/p>\n
The final entry was scheduled for January 1.<\/p>\n
It described Wyatt\u2019s disposal.<\/p>\n
I stared at the photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey planned this months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t panic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey expected to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The following afternoon, Detective Lewis arrived at the hospital.<\/p>\n
Two elderly people accompanied him.<\/p>\n
I recognized them.<\/p>\n
Harold and June Benson.<\/p>\n
Sabrina\u2019s grandparents.<\/p>\n
June had been crying.<\/p>\n
Harold carried a small metal box.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to speak with you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout Sabrina?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout Irving.\u201d<\/p>\n
He placed the box on the table beside Wyatt\u2019s bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur daughter gave this to us years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSabrina\u2019s mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told us that if anything ever happened\u2014if Irving ever hurt someone badly enough that the truth finally came out\u2014we were to give this to someone who could stop him.\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened the box.<\/p>\n
Inside were letters.<\/p>\n
Bank records.<\/p>\n
Insurance papers.<\/p>\n
A flash drive.<\/p>\n
And a sealed envelope.<\/p>\n
My name was written on it.<\/p>\n
Abraham Yates.<\/p>\n
I looked at Harold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen was this written?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin went cold.<\/p>\n
Five years before Wyatt\u2019s kidnapping.<\/p>\n
Before the forged Heartland papers.<\/p>\n
Before New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n
I opened the envelope.<\/p>\n
The letter inside was from Margaret Palmer, Sabrina\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
She wrote that Irving had been stealing for years.<\/p>\n
Businesses.<\/p>\n
Money.<\/p>\n
Property.<\/p>\n
Trust.<\/p>\n
She had feared him and stayed silent.<\/p>\n
Then came the warning that mattered.<\/p>\n
If Wyatt was ever in danger, she wrote, Irving must not be underestimated.<\/p>\n
Everything necessary to prove what he had done was stored on the flash drive.<\/p>\n
I lowered the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did Margaret die?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years ago,\u201d June whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had this the entire time?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold looked ashamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were afraid of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
June began crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should have said something.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the elderly couple.<\/p>\n
Fear had already cost enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re saying it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Lewis took possession of the drive.<\/p>\n
By evening, his forensic team had opened it.<\/p>\n
The files went back years.<\/p>\n
Secret accounts.<\/p>\n
Shell companies.<\/p>\n
Insurance fraud.<\/p>\n
Property schemes.<\/p>\n
Bribery.<\/p>\n
Threats.<\/p>\n
Recordings.<\/p>\n
Video.<\/p>\n
Names nobody had connected to Irving.<\/p>\n
Lewis stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis doesn\u2019t only destroy Palmer.\u201d<\/p>\n
He scrolled through another directory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may expose everyone who helped him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three days later, news stations across Missouri and Kansas were reporting the kidnapping and attempted murder of a prominent freight executive.<\/p>\n
But the public still did not know everything.<\/p>\n
Neither did the police.<\/p>\n
While recovering Wyatt\u2019s cloud backups, I remembered what he had told me in the basement.<\/p>\n
He had started secretly recording conversations eight months earlier.<\/p>\n
One file remained.<\/p>\n
I found it buried among dozens of ordinary business recordings.<\/p>\n
The date was months before the attack.<\/p>\n
I brought it to Detective Lewis.<\/p>\n
He pressed play.<\/p>\n
Sabrina spoke first.<\/p>\n
Then Irving.<\/p>\n
And then a third voice entered the conversation.<\/p>\n
Lewis stopped the recording.<\/p>\n
He replayed it.<\/p>\n
His expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
I knew the name.<\/p>\n
Victor Harlan.<\/p>\n
A financial consultant who had advised some of the largest companies in the region.<\/p>\n
Lewis listened to the entire conversation without interrupting.<\/p>\n
When it ended, he sat perfectly still.<\/p>\n
For the first time since I had met him, the detective looked genuinely unsettled.<\/p>\n
He turned toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Yates.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at the computer.<\/p>\n
Then at Wyatt sleeping beyond the glass.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to determine exactly what this man knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
Saving Wyatt had ended the immediate danger.<\/p>\n
But the truth behind what happened in that basement was still unfolding.<\/p>\n
And before Sabrina and Irving ever reached a courtroom, we had one more question to answer.<\/p>\n
Had Victor Harlan helped create their plan\u2014or had Wyatt\u2019s secret recording captured the moment he tried to stop it?<\/p>\n
For three seconds after midnight, nobody moved. Fireworks thundered outside. Music continued upstairs. The sirens grew louder until even the party guests began noticing them. Then Irving turned on Sabrina. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10799,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779\/revisions\/10799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}