Page 28 of Mama Si's Paradise

“Why, though?” Eva asked me, shaking her head as she looked at the floor. “I don’tget it. Why?”

“Because look at her,” said Amber, giving me an approving nod. “She’s flawless.”

“Way too pretty to be a maid,” said Mia with a wink.

“Yeah, I don’t buy it,” Melahni said, shaking her head, squinting her eyes at me. “There must be something about her.”

“Ignore them,” Amber said to me with a wave of her hand. “Let’s hang out tomorrow, okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Yes, sure.”

They walked away from me with smiles on their faces, and some even waved. I turned around to look at the piano once more, taking a sip of my drink, stifling a smile.

That went well, didn’t it? Not in the beginning, but itendedwell.

And now here I was, actually looking forward to tomorrow. Yeah, definitely time to call it a night.

Moving as casually as I could, I put my unfinished drink on the tray of a masked waiter passing by, eager to leave already. Something about that ballroom and those people who were watching my every move despite how casually I walked. Something about the air, the scent of it, the feel of it…

Nobody stopped me, though. Nobody told me to get back inside when I slipped out the doors. And themagicthat had been hanging inside that room faded into nothing as soon as I pulled the doors closed behind me.

I released a long breath, eyes closed tightly. What a place. What a feeling—neither good nor bad. Just intense. Justmorethan I’d ever felt before. Even more so than the heartbreak I’d had to go through yesterday. The heartbreak I was still going through.

Maybe that’s why I was smiling as I walked down the hallway again, vaguely remembering the way Adam had brought me here. The farther away from the doors I went, the more myfootsteps echoed in my head, and the more I was starting to feel my feet throbbing from the high heels. A miracle I’d even known how to walk on them, but I was contemplating taking them off so I could walk up the stairs faster to get to my room.

The mask was itchy as hell on my nose and cheeks, and I was already starting to sweat from it, so I focused on reaching behind my head to take it off.

Maybe that’s why I saw nothing and heard nothing when I turned the corner. Maybe that’s why my heart about leapt from my chest when I was grabbed by the arm and spun around and slammed against the wall face first.

“You think you’re smart, don’t you?” someone whispered in my ear from behind, her body pressed tightly against my back, her hands wrapped around my wrists.

It was Hannah—I recognized her voice. I’d just had no idea she was that fucking strong.

“Let go of me,” I spit, trying not to panic. She was half a head shorter than me, her shoulders narrower. I could take her easily if I put my back to it. I could push her off me and run if need be, but…

“If you were, you’d run, little rabbit,” she said, tightening her grip around my wrists, pressing herself harder against my back.

“Let.Go!” I hissed, pushing myself back, and I did move her, but she gained the upper hand again the next second and slammed me against the wall again.

“You have no idea what you’re up against. You’re nothing but easy prey for the world’s deadliest predators,” she spit, and her every word rang true. That alone held me in place for a short second—what the hell did that mean?

But then Hannah stepped away from me and let go at the same time. I turned around, ready to claw her fucking eyes out if she tried to attack me again, but she didn’t. Instead, shecalmly put her blue mask on her face once more, never breaking eye contact.

“Run, little rabbit,” she told me, smiling slowly as she pushed her hair behind her shoulder. Then she ran the tips of her gloved fingers down the side of her neck, as if she wanted me to look.

I looked—and I saw the bite mark again, right there, just like it had been earlier in the evening.

She leaned closer and whispered, “Run—and don’t look back.”

I couldn’t say a single word if I tried.

She moved fast, almosttoo fastto be normal, turned the corner of the hallway and disappeared before I could blink.

Eight

Run,little rabbit.

The bad feeling didn’t fade away with breakfast, or lunch, or even while breathing in fresh, rose-scented air from my window as I looked out at the ocean and the sky. It was angry today. More grey than blue, and the ocean mirrored it, too. They both matched my mood.

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