{"id":15791,"date":"2026-10-07T21:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T21:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=15791"},"modified":"2026-10-07T21:43:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T21:43:00","slug":"part-10-olivias-mother-had-lived-under-another-name-and-the-reason-connected-our-families-years-before-either-of-us-was-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=15791","title":{"rendered":"PART 10 \u2013 Olivia\u2019s Mother Had Lived Under Another Name, and the Reason Connected Our Families Years Before Either of Us Was Born"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Olivia asked Rebecca for her phone. Her injured hand trembled as she searched for her mother\u2019s number.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you sure you want to do this now?\u201d Rebecca asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia pressed call anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Her mother, Elaine Bennett, answered on the fourth ring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSweetheart?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia closed her eyes briefly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom, I need to ask you something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened? You sound strange.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you change your name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>I watched Olivia\u2019s face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine\u2019s voice became cautious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy are you asking?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Marjorie Hale just told Derek to ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another silence.<\/p>\n<p>Longer.<\/p>\n<p>Then Elaine said, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom, answer the question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stepped closer.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine exhaled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia\u2019s eyes closed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was your name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOlivia\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElaine Porter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I saw no recognition in Olivia.<\/p>\n<p>None in myself.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca, however, immediately wrote it down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen did you change it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was twenty-three.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia\u2019s voice cracked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease don\u2019t make me drag this out of you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was trying to leave something behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA family problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine began crying.<\/p>\n<p>Not loudly.<\/p>\n<p>The restrained crying of someone who had spent decades expecting this conversation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy brother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe got involved with people he shouldn\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat people?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of them was Leonard Voss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stood.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stopped writing.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia stared at the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew Leonard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just said\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew his name. I met him once.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore you were born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The timeline expanded again.<\/p>\n<p>Leonard had not entered our family nine years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Or twenty.<\/p>\n<p>He went further back.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine explained that her older brother, Thomas Porter, worked at a small finance company in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Leonard was one of his clients.<\/p>\n<p>Then one of his partners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did they do?\u201d Olivia asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLoans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBad ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine said Thomas discovered ways to create credit using stolen information.<\/p>\n<p>At first, Leonard brought him names.<\/p>\n<p>Later they obtained records through businesses willing to sell access.<\/p>\n<p>Insurance offices.<\/p>\n<p>Medical clinics.<\/p>\n<p>Payroll companies.<\/p>\n<p>The fraud predated computers becoming common.<\/p>\n<p>Paper forms.<\/p>\n<p>Photocopies.<\/p>\n<p>Signatures.<\/p>\n<p>Addresses.<\/p>\n<p>Social Security numbers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow does Marjorie fit in?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine heard my voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs Derek there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d Olivia said.<\/p>\n<p>Another silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElaine,\u201d I said, \u201cplease.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe met Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore you were born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother knew your uncle?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly. Through Leonard, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine\u2019s family had already been falling apart.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas owed money.<\/p>\n<p>Leonard pressured him.<\/p>\n<p>Marjorie appeared around the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine never trusted her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did Mom do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElaine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her voice sharpened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was nineteen. My brother was lying to everyone. Strange people came to the house. Money disappeared. Then Thomas vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia sat straighter despite her shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVanished?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never found him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas he reported missing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe called eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMonths later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom where?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine told us Thomas warned her to stay away from Leonard.<\/p>\n<p>And from Marjorie.<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>Decades earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat exactly did he say?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said Marjorie was worse than Leonard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My skin prickled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t explain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then Thomas disappeared permanently.<\/p>\n<p>No calls.<\/p>\n<p>No letters.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine changed her surname after marrying Olivia\u2019s father but kept Bennett after their divorce.<\/p>\n<p>She never told Olivia because the Porter years belonged to a life she wanted buried.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia looked wounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me I had an uncle?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I thought he was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou thought?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine began crying again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Thomas was terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca asked permission to speak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElaine, did Thomas ever give you documents?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Every person in the room seemed to lean toward the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA notebook.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you still have it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI put everything from that period into storage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine gave an address in California.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca wrote it down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was in the notebook?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNames.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t recognize most of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarjorie?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeonard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDiane Morgan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n<p>The web had existed before Rachel and Olivia were adults.<\/p>\n<p>Before I knew any of them.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia pressed her fingers against her forehead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy whole life is touching this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine whispered, \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you know Marjorie when Derek and I got married?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you recognize her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot even the name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had forgotten it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I understood.<\/p>\n<p>People forget names from nightmares once they believe they\u2019ve awakened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about Leonard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia asked, \u201cWhen did you remember?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine took too long.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter your wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia\u2019s expression hardened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I saw Marjorie in one of your photographs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou said you didn\u2019t recognize her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut later?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I wasn\u2019t certain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia laughed once, without humor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat excuse must be contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt the blow even though it wasn\u2019t aimed at me.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine said she searched old boxes.<\/p>\n<p>She found a photograph.<\/p>\n<p>Marjorie, Leonard, Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow old?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe thirty years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSend it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A minute later Olivia\u2019s phone chimed.<\/p>\n<p>The photograph loaded.<\/p>\n<p>Three young adults stood outside a low office building.<\/p>\n<p>Leonard was thinner.<\/p>\n<p>Marjorie\u2019s hair was dark.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Porter stood between them.<\/p>\n<p>On the building behind them was a sign.<\/p>\n<p>WESTBRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES.<\/p>\n<p>Not Consulting.<\/p>\n<p>Financial Services.<\/p>\n<p>The company had existed in another form decades earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca forwarded the image to the detective.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at my mother.<\/p>\n<p>Young.<\/p>\n<p>Smiling.<\/p>\n<p>Her hand rested on Thomas\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>She had never mentioned him.<\/p>\n<p>Never mentioned Westbridge.<\/p>\n<p>Never mentioned any financial business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom told me she worked in medical billing before I was born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat may be where she obtained identities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia said, \u201cAnd Westbridge was where they used them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The detective returned with preliminary information.<\/p>\n<p>The old Westbridge company had closed after an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat investigation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFraud allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCharges?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAgainst Thomas Porter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy uncle?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about Leonard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot charged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarjorie?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot named publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had taken the fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas he convicted?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe disappeared first?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The detective looked at Elaine\u2019s photograph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was speculation he fled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia whispered, \u201cWhat if he didn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nobody answered.<\/p>\n<p>My phone rang again.<\/p>\n<p>Marjorie.<\/p>\n<p>This time I wanted to answer.<\/p>\n<p>The detective allowed it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did you know Thomas Porter?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still nothing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou, Leonard, and Thomas outside Westbridge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her voice finally came.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElaine should have destroyed that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Olivia.<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>Confirmation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew Elaine too?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew who she was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew Thomas had a sister.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you know Olivia was her daughter?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marjorie exhaled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore you married her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia closed her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you arrange for us to meet?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked Rachel to invite you to a party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to see what Olivia knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The answer was so cold that I almost missed its meaning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou used me to get close to her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou met a woman. You liked her. Don\u2019t dramatize it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My fist tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou put her in my life because you thought her family had evidence against you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did not make you marry her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That echoed Olivia\u2019s words, stripped of everything human.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Thomas have evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marjorie\u2019s tone changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas was a thief.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat isn\u2019t an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe stole from all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe ran.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Leonard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another silence.<\/p>\n<p>I pressed harder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Dad find out about Westbridge?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The admission came quietly.<\/p>\n<p>My father had discovered the old scheme years later while examining Marjorie\u2019s debts.<\/p>\n<p>That was why he began collecting records.<\/p>\n<p>Not because of one unauthorized account.<\/p>\n<p>Because he discovered decades of fraud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened the night Dad died?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had a heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter you put something in his water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>Marjorie stopped breathing.<\/p>\n<p>For several seconds, I heard nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Then my mother said, \u201cLeonard is lying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew about the water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe lies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you put something in it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted him to calm down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The exact language Leonard used.<\/p>\n<p>My chest tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you give him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA pill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat pill?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had taken it before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething for anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose prescription?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She began crying.<\/p>\n<p>I felt nothing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you crush it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia covered her mouth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou crushed your medication into Dad\u2019s water without telling him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was screaming. He was going to drive. I was afraid he\u2019d hurt somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you drugged him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was trying to help him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had a heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter you drugged him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t kill your father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maybe she believed that.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe she had repeated it until belief replaced memory.<\/p>\n<p>I asked the question that mattered next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to Thomas Porter?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The crying stopped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told you. He ran.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you drug him too?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She hung up.<\/p>\n<p>The detective immediately requested the recording be preserved.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia stared at me.<\/p>\n<p>I felt strangely calm.<\/p>\n<p>Not because I was.<\/p>\n<p>Because something fundamental had finally broken.<\/p>\n<p>The mother I had spent my life protecting existed mostly in explanations she had given me.<\/p>\n<p>Each explanation had required me not to look too closely.<\/p>\n<p>Now I was looking.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>She listened.<\/p>\n<p>Her eyes widened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She lowered the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalifornia police checked Elaine\u2019s storage unit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was broken into yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNotebook?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt despair rise.<\/p>\n<p>Then Rebecca continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut whoever searched it missed something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA sealed envelope taped beneath a drawer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Thomas?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey think so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s inside?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhotographs. Account numbers. And a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo who?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked at Olivia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo Elaine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen was it written?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThree days after Thomas supposedly disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The detective asked the obvious question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPostmarked?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was never mailed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt the hairs rise on my arms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere was it written?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked at the message again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhoenix.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Porter had supposedly fled the state.<\/p>\n<p>Three days later, he was still here.<\/p>\n<p>And someone had prevented his final letter from ever reaching his sister.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=15792\">Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Thomas Porter\u2019s Unsent Letter Named the Person He Feared Most, but Its Final Page Had Been Deliberately Removed<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Olivia asked Rebecca for her phone. Her injured hand trembled as she searched for her mother\u2019s number. \u201cAre you sure you want to do this now?\u201d Rebecca asked. \u201cNo.\u201d Olivia &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15838,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15791\/revisions\/15838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}