The rabbit led her through the back of the house without another word.

Raina followed reluctantly, every muscle in her body taut with tension. The kitchen they entered looked ordinary enough at first glance. Faded wallpaper peeled from the corners of the walls, old wooden cabinets sagged beneath years of use, and a stack of unwashed dishes sat abandoned beside the sink. Yet somehow the normality of it all made the situation even more unsettling.

Nothing about this felt normal.

Nothing about it made sense.

The man wearing the rabbit mask moved through the room with complete confidence, as though he belonged here. As though this entire encounter had unfolded exactly the way he intended.

He pushed open the back door.

Cold evening air rushed inside.

Raina stepped outside and immediately spotted Frank and his men across the street.

The confrontation appeared to be over.

The crowd of masked strangers that had surrounded them earlier had vanished without a trace. No signs of a struggle. No evidence they had ever been there at all.

Frank noticed her immediately.

Relief flashed across his face.

He started moving toward her.

The rabbit casually raised a hand.

Not a threat.

Not even a warning.

Just a simple gesture.

Frank stopped.

The rabbit continued walking.

Raina glanced between them but nobody said a word. Frank’s expression darkened, though he remained where he was.

The message was obvious.

Not yet.

A black SUV waited beside the curb.

The rabbit opened the passenger door and made a small theatrical gesture.

"After you, Princess."

Raina considered refusing.

Then she remembered the photographs.

The call.

Felix.

Whatever answers she was going to get tonight were clearly not waiting back at home.

Without a word, she got in.

The rabbit closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.

Moments later the engine came to life.

They drove in silence.

Streetlights slid across the windshield in rhythmic flashes. The city gradually thinned around them. Buildings became neighborhoods. Neighborhoods became empty roads. The farther they traveled, the quieter the world seemed to become.

Raina stole occasional glances toward him.

The rabbit mask never moved.

Never shifted.

Never came off.

It was impossible to read anything behind it.

The silence felt deliberate.

Calculated.

Another method of keeping her off balance.

Nearly twenty minutes later they entered a trailer park.

Rows of mobile homes stretched beneath the pale glow of moonlight. Most looked worn by time. Rusted staircases. Sagging fences. Curtains drawn tightly across windows. Somewhere in the distance a television flickered behind thin blinds while a dog barked at nothing.

The entire place felt forgotten.

Invisible.

Exactly the kind of place somebody could disappear into.

The rabbit parked beside a trailer near the far edge of the property.

Unlike most of the others, this one appeared maintained. Not luxurious. Not impressive. Just cared for.

That alone made it stand out.

The rabbit stepped out first and motioned for her to follow.

The trailer door creaked softly as he opened it.

Raina stepped inside.

Immediately she was greeted by the scent of coffee, cigarette smoke, and old paper.

The interior was larger than she expected.

Bookshelves lined one wall.

Maps covered another.

Photographs, newspaper clippings, handwritten notes, and strings connecting various points transformed the space into something that resembled an investigative command center more than a home.

Every available surface seemed dedicated to collecting information.

Collecting secrets.

The rabbit closed the door behind them.

"What is this place?" Raina asked.

He ignored the question.

Instead he pointed toward a chair.

"Sit."

Raina remained standing for several seconds before finally lowering herself into it.

Not because she trusted him.

Because she wanted answers.

The rabbit crossed toward a miniature refrigerator beneath a counter and retrieved a beer.

"Drink?"

"No thanks."

The rabbit glanced back.

"Of course."

His tone carried amusement.

"You don’t drink beer."

He popped the cap free.

"You prefer expensive whiskey and overpriced champagne."

The mask tilted slightly.

"What a princess."

Raina’s jaw tightened.

The fact that he knew details that personal irritated her more than she cared to admit.

The rabbit took a long drink before settling into a chair opposite hers.

"Well."

He crossed one leg over the other.

"How have you been?"

That was enough.

Raina’s patience finally snapped.

"Stop acting like you know me."

Her voice cut sharply through the room.

"Stop pretending we’re old friends and tell me why I’m here."

The rabbit studied her quietly.

Then nodded.

"Fair."

The playful tone faded slightly.

"Let’s talk business."

He stood, crossed the room, opened a drawer, and retrieved a large brown envelope.

Without explanation, he slid it across the table.

"Open it."

Raina stared at it.

"What’s inside?"

"Open it."

Something about his voice made her stomach tighten.

Slowly she reached for the envelope and pulled out the contents.

Photographs.

At first they appeared completely ordinary.

A dirt road.

Trees.

Mountain terrain.

An empty clearing.

More trees.

More dirt.

More landscape.

She flipped through them one by one.

Confusion gradually replaced irritation.

Finally she lowered the stack.

"What exactly am I looking at?"

The rabbit leaned back.

"You really can’t tell?"

"No."

Silence stretched between them.

Then he said:

"That’s where Felix was buried."

The room seemed to tilt.

Raina’s fingers tightened around the photographs.

"What?"

The rabbit watched her reaction carefully.

Like a scientist observing an experiment.

"That’s impossible."

Her voice sounded distant.

Uncertain.

"How did you even come up with something this ridiculous?"

She dropped the photographs onto the table.

"This has to be the worst lie I’ve ever heard."

"But I’m not lying."

There was no hesitation in his voice.

No attempt to convince her.

No effort to sell the story.

Just certainty.

And somehow that certainty was far more unsettling than any argument would have been.

Her thoughts raced.

Even she didn’t know where Felix had been taken.

She had never asked.

After that night, her grandfather had handled everything.

She never learned where the body went.

Never wanted to know.

The rabbit tilted his head.

"You seem surprised."

Raina remained silent.

His fingers drummed lightly against the armrest.

"Interesting."

He studied her for a moment longer.

"Looks like this information is new to you too."

Her heart skipped.

The rabbit chuckled.

"I’m learning things tonight as well."

"How do I know those aren’t random photographs?"

The amusement faded.

For the first time all evening, his voice became serious.

"Because I was there."

Silence.

The words seemed to suck all the air from the trailer.

Raina stared at him.

"What?"

"I was there that night."

The statement landed like a bomb.

Everything inside her went still.

"What did you just say?"

The rabbit leaned back comfortably.

As though he hadn’t just shattered her understanding of reality.

"I said I was there."

Raina shot to her feet.

The chair scraped loudly across the floor.

"Who are you?"

No answer.

"Tell me!"

The rabbit remained perfectly calm.

Infuriatingly calm.

"That’s a reveal for another day, Princess."

Raina clenched her fists.

Every instinct screamed at her to rip the mask off his face.

To force answers out of him.

Instead she stood frozen.

Because she suddenly wasn’t sure she wanted those answers.

The rabbit rose from his chair.

Conversation over.

Just like that.

"We’re done here."

"What?"

Raina stared.

"Done?"

"Done."

"You bring me all the way out here for this?"

The rabbit laughed softly.

"For this?"

He shook his head.

"Princess, I just changed your entire understanding of reality."

He walked toward the door.

"I’d say that’s a productive evening."

Raina followed him outside.

The night air felt colder now.

Heavier.

The rabbit stopped beside the SUV and tossed her the keys.

She caught them automatically.

"Aren’t you coming?"

The rabbit’s shoulders shook with amusement.

"Now that you’ve seen my trailer?"

He slowly shook his head.

"I can’t leave evidence lying around."

The man was either paranoid or brilliant.

Possibly both.

He took several steps backward into the darkness.

Moonlight reflected off the cracked white mask.

For the first time all evening, Raina realized she had learned almost nothing.

No identity.

No motive.

No explanation.

Only more questions.

The rabbit tilted his head.

"I’ll be in touch, Princess."

A pause.

"Soon."

Then another.

"Very soon."

He turned and disappeared between the trailers.

No dramatic exit.

No final threat.

Within seconds he was gone.

Raina stood alone beside the SUV long after the rabbit had disappeared.

The trailer park had gone quiet again.

No footsteps.

No movement.

No sign that he had ever been there.

Only the photographs remained.

For several moments she simply stared into the darkness where he had vanished, half-expecting him to reappear. But the shadows remained empty.

Eventually her gaze dropped to the photographs still clutched in her hands.

The mountain path.

The trees.

The clearing.

The patch of earth Bunny Head claimed was Felix’s grave.

A knot formed in her stomach.

Because there was one problem.

One detail she couldn’t stop thinking about.

She had never known where Felix was buried.

Not once in all these years.

Not when her grandfather’s men cleaned up the scene.

Not afterward.

Not ever.

Nobody had told her.

Nobody.

At the time she hadn’t wanted to know. She’d been too consumed by guilt, fear, and the desperate need to forget. Whatever happened after that night had been handled by other people. People she trusted.

People she believed would never betray her.

Yet Bunny Head had spoken with complete certainty.

Not speculation.

Not theory.

Certainty.

As though he knew exactly where the body had been taken.

As though he had seen it himself.

Raina looked down at the photograph again.

Then froze.

genuine fear swept through her.

Not fear of Bunny Head.

Not fear of exposure.

Something worse.

Because she suddenly realized she had been asking the wrong question.

The question wasn’t:

How does he know where Felix is buried?

The question was:

Who told him?

The answer struck her a second later.

And when it did, the blood drained from her face.

There was only a handful of people who could possibly know the truth.

Most were dead.

The others had disappeared years ago.

But one person remained.

One person who knew everything.

Slowly, Raina reached for her phone.

Her thumb hovered over the contact.

Grandfather.

For years, his name had represented safety.

Control.

Certainty.

The solution to every problem she couldn’t solve herself.

Tonight, for the first time in a very long time, seeing that name made her hesitate.

Because if Bunny Head was telling the truth...

Then somewhere along the line, somebody had talked.

And if somebody had talked—

There was a chance the leak hadn’t come from outside.

There was a chance it had come from within.

Raina stared at the screen.

Her pulse hammered inside her chest.

Then, very slowly, she lowered the phone without making the call.

Because for the first time in years...

She found herself afraid to hear what her grandfather might say.

To Be Continued...