The moment Richard opened the hidden door, I felt my entire body go cold.
Behind it was another bedroom, softly illuminated by a small bedside lamp.
An elderly woman sat in a wheelchair beside the window.
She had beautiful silver hair, a pale face, and trembling hands.
But what terrified me wasn’t the woman.
It was what she was holding.
A small brown stuffed rabbit with one missing eye and a faded blue ribbon around its neck.
I recognized it immediately.
“Mr. Buttons…” I whispered.
The woman gasped.
The rabbit slipped from her hands.
“Emmy?” she whispered. “My little Emmy?”
Nobody had called me that in more than forty years.
I stumbled backward.
“How do you know that name?”
Richard stood beside me, tears streaming down his face.
“Emily, please listen. Nothing about tonight was what you thought.”
I shook my head.
“Then why did you lock the door? Why did you make me wear these clothes? Why did you offer me all that money?”
