Folder contains invisible file whose name starts with ..\..\

I have a Visual Studio for Mac project folder that contains an unusual file: The file is only visible with ls -A in the terminal, and its name is ..\..\items.json:

~/Projects/Boss/Boss/bin/Debug % ls -A
..\..\items.json        .DS_Store
~/Projects/Boss/Boss/bin/Debug %

(I understand what the file is, and where it originally came from - so the file name or contents of the file aren't the problem. The fact that it's invisible and its name begins with ..\..\ is the problem.) I want to delete this file. As a first attempt, I moved everything else in the folder to somewhere else and then deleted the folder. Then I re-created the folder and the file was immediately present again! How can I delete it?