Chapter 5 - MR. RABBIT
Clarissa pretended not to understand what she had heard.
She tightened her grip on Dustin’s hand and walked toward the front door.
Parker ended the call.
“Where are you going?”
“To a hotel.”
“You are not taking my car.”
“It is in my name.”
“The accounts are frozen.”
Clarissa stopped.
“What?”
“I moved the funds this morning.”
“You emptied our accounts?”
“I protected our assets.”
“From whom?”
“From you.”
Parker’s family watched without shame.
This was not a spontaneous argument.
It had been planned.
The forged trust, the guardianship papers, the frozen accounts, and the family gathering were parts of a single operation.
Parker expected to control the house before Clarissa realized she had lost it.
Clarissa reached into her purse and found twenty-three dollars in cash.
Her credit cards might already be blocked.
Her phone plan was connected to Parker’s business account.
Even the car could be remotely disabled.
She looked at Dustin.
He was watching her face, waiting to learn whether he should be afraid.
Clarissa smiled for him.
“We’re going upstairs to get your coat.”
Parker frowned.
“You said you were leaving.”
“He needs a coat.”
She walked past him before he could object.
Instead of going to Dustin’s room, Clarissa headed toward the attic stairs.
Ellie followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To get winter clothes.”
“It’s April.”
“For the hotel.”
Ellie looked toward Parker.
Clarissa climbed faster.
The attic was warm and dusty, filled with boxes from her childhood, old furniture, and objects her father had refused to throw away.
Dustin pointed toward the cedar chest.
Clarissa opened it.
Blankets.
Baby clothes.
A wooden train.
No rabbit.
“Where is it?” she whispered.
Dustin searched under the blankets.
“It was here.”
Ellie appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Looking for something?”
Clarissa turned.
Ellie held Mr. Rabbit by one ear.
The toy’s stomach had been cut open.
Cotton stuffing hung from the torn seam.
No key was visible.
Dustin gasped.
“You broke him.”
Ellie tossed the rabbit onto the floor.
“There was nothing inside.”
Parker came up behind her.
“Enough.”
Clarissa picked up the toy.
She felt along the torn seam.
Something hard remained inside one of the legs.
Ellie had searched the stomach but not the limbs.
Clarissa concealed her reaction.
She hugged the rabbit against her chest as though comforting Dustin.
“Why did you destroy my son’s toy?”
Ellie shrugged.
“It was old.”
Dustin began crying.
Clarissa moved close to Parker.
“Your family has two hours.”
“That order no longer matters.”
“It matters to me.”
Parker smiled without warmth.
“You still think you have power here.”
Clarissa carried the rabbit downstairs.
In the kitchen, she placed it inside Dustin’s backpack.
Then she filled a reusable bottle with water, packed crackers, fruit, and a small knife, and added two sweaters.
Alana watched.
“You will be back before midnight.”
Clarissa zipped the bag.
“Why?”
“Because no hotel will take you without a working card.”
“I have friends.”
“Not after Parker speaks to them.”
Clarissa knew Alana was probably right.
Parker had isolated her gradually. He criticized friends until she stopped calling them. He convinced her to leave her job after Dustin started school, promising she could focus on family.
Her closest friend, Maya Bennett, had moved to another state two years earlier.
Yet Clarissa still remembered Maya’s phone number.
She used the kitchen landline while pretending to call a hotel.
Maya answered on the fourth ring.
“Hello?”
Clarissa almost cried at the sound of her voice.
“It’s me.”
A pause.
“Clarissa?”
“I need help.”
Maya did not ask why they had not spoken in eighteen months.
She said, “Tell me where you are.”
Clarissa explained as little as possible while the family listened.
Maya told her that her cousin owned a rental property forty minutes away. The place was empty, and a key was hidden behind the exterior utility box.
“I’m sending you the address,” Maya said.
“My phone may be monitored.”
“Then remember it.”
Maya repeated the address three times.
Clarissa memorized it.
Parker stepped into the kitchen.
“Who are you talking to?”
Clarissa hung up.
“A hotel.”
“Which one?”
She ignored him.
He seized her phone from the counter.
“Give that back.”
Parker turned it off and slipped it into his pocket.
“You will get it after we settle this.”
Alana nodded approvingly.
Clarissa looked at the clock.
Forty-five minutes had passed.
She still had no transportation.
Then a car horn sounded outside.
Everyone turned toward the window.
A taxi waited at the curb.
Clarissa had not called it.
The driver stepped out and held up a sign.
CLARISSA VALE.
May you like
Beneath her name was a symbol drawn in red.
A small door.
