The Bunny Heard Everything
Chapter 01 - The Bunny Heard Everything
Amara Cross held the gray stuffed bunny against her chest with both arms.
The toy had once been white. Years of sleeping beside it had softened the fur and turned one ear slightly crooked. Her mother had sewn a tiny gold thread beneath its left paw before disappearing.
“Give it to me,” Celeste Ward said.
Amara backed against the sofa.
“No.”
Celeste wore a rose-colored silk blouse and gold earrings that caught the morning light. To the cameras at charity events, she looked elegant, patient, and perfectly prepared to become the next Mrs. Julian Cross.
Inside the mansion, with the staff dismissed early, her voice was different.
“You took something from my desk.”
“I didn’t.”
“The vault key is missing.”
“I only went to get my school tablet.”
Celeste reached for the bunny.
Amara turned away.
The woman caught the child by the hair and pulled her head back.
Amara cried out.
At that exact moment, the bedroom door opened.
Julian Cross stood in the hallway.
He had returned from the airport two hours early after his flight was canceled. His gray suit jacket was still folded over one arm.
For one second, no one moved.
Then Julian crossed the room.
“Let her go.”
Celeste released Amara and stepped backward.
Julian lifted his daughter into his arms. Amara wrapped herself around him, still clutching the bunny.
Celeste’s heel caught the edge of the marble threshold. She fell sideways, striking her shoulder and lower lip against the polished floor.
When she looked up, a thin line of red marked her mouth.
Her expression changed immediately.
“He attacked me,” she shouted toward the hall. “Call security!”
Julian stared at her.
“I never touched you.”
Amara buried her face against his neck.
“She was trying to take Bunny.”
Celeste pressed a hand to her lip.
“That toy contains stolen property.”
Julian looked at the stuffed rabbit.
Amara whispered into his ear.
“Mom said Bunny would remember if grown-ups lied.”
Julian’s body went still.
Amara’s mother, Leah Cross, had died in a laboratory fire six years earlier.
At least that was what Julian had been told.
He turned the bunny over.
Beneath the gold thread was a hidden zipper he had never noticed.
Inside the toy sat a miniature recorder.
May you like
A blue light was still blinking.
It had captured everything.
