{"id":9596,"date":"2025-08-22T21:07:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T21:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=9596"},"modified":"2025-08-22T21:07:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T21:07:58","slug":"9596","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=9596","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-reader-unique-id=\"38\">Tommy, get down from there <i data-reader-unique-id=\"39\">right now<\/i>,\u201d she snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. She lifted him from my lap, her movements rough enough to make him whimper. Then she turned her eyes on me, blazing with a cold fire. \u201cI think it\u2019s time for you to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-reader-unique-id=\"40\">The dining room fell silent. Twenty pairs of eyes bored into me. \u201cZariah, please,\u201d I started, my voice barely a whisper. \u201cIt\u2019s Tommy\u2019s birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-reader-unique-id=\"40\"><a href=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=9598\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7889 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7148-300x75.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"75\" srcset=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7148-300x75.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7148-768x191.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7148.jpeg 905w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_9596\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  \" data-element-id=\"9596\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tommy, get down from there right now,\u201d she snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. She lifted him from my lap, her movements rough enough to make him whimper. Then she turned her eyes on me, blazing with a cold fire. \u201cI think it\u2019s time for you to leave.\u201d The dining room fell silent&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=9596\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_9596\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  \" data-element-id=\"9596\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":52,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9600,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9596\/revisions\/9600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}