Page 29 of Mama Si's Paradise

I knew Hannah was full of shit. Whatever the reason why she’d cornered me like that and had basically threatened me, she was full of it. She was just trying to scare me, that’s all.

So, why did my instincts insist that she was telling the truth?

Whywould someone like her threaten me?

And what the hell was up with that bite mark?!

Questions filled my head. I wanted to go talk to Mama Si, but I didn’t dare. I wanted to ask Marissa, too, but somehow, I was sure she wouldn’t know what to tell me.

Nightfall found me as indecisive as ever, lost in thought still, so when someone slammed their fists on the door, I screamed.

It was almost ten p.m., and Marissa had already broughtme dinner. She said she was off for the night, too, so unless it was Mama Si coming to demand why I hadn’t left the room all day, it was Hannah. She’d come back to try to scare me again.

What the hell was wrong with that woman? Had she nothing better to do than follow me in the dark and slam me against walls and threaten me like that?

I stood up from the floor, feeling the blood rushing down my numb legs, when…

“Oh,Faaaallll! Wakey, wakey!” someone sang right outside the door, before slamming his fists on it once more.

Adam. It was Adam.

“You’ve got three minutes, sweet-cakes,” he said when I opened the door, raising three fingers at my face.

“What?” What the hell was he talking about?

And why did he look runway worthy at this hour, with his satin black shirt and dark wash jeans on, his makeup flawless, his hair combed back?

“We’re going shopping, baby girl!”

I blinked. “It’s ten p.m., Adam,” I informed him because, apparently, he didn’t own a clock.

The next second, doors down the hallway opened and closed, and sounds of women cheering and giggling filled my ears.

“Yes, well, Mama Si can’t shut down the mall during the day, only after ten, so our shopping hours are different from everyone else’s,” he said, looking down at my robe. “Go on, get dressed. Put on whatever you have. By tomorrow, your closet will be half full.”

I shook my head, sure this was a dream. Sure I was hearing him wrong.

Meanwhile the girls, Mia and Amber and Melahni and another blonde girl I hadn’t met yet were already rushing down the hallway, laughing and jumping in the air, clearly over the moon.

“I don’t…what…what the hell are you talking about, Adam?!”

“Baby girl, the chopper leaves without us if we’re not up there in time. I get that you have questions, but ask them when we get there, okay?”

My lips opened and closed. I wasn’t able to produce sound at all.

Adam grinned. “That’s a good girl. Now, come on. I’ll lend you my jacket until you buy your own. Let’s go!”

Realization hit me like a brick in the face. If I was understanding correctly, I was going to get on a fuckinghelicopter,right now, at ten p.m. to go shopping in a closed mall.

I flewfor thirty minutes on a helicopter with six other girls, headphones on my ears, and my heart about to beat right out of me. We landed on top of the mall building, and all the stores were open—only for us.

For the next three hours, we were to just grab whatever we liked and leave without paying for a single thing.

It was all so very overwhelming to begin with and then the girls began tothankme. I turned to Adam, who refused to leave my side, the question in my eyes.

“Mama Si has already taken the girls shopping for this month, but she’s taking them again because you need clothes and she wants you to have the whole shopping experience,” Adam explained. “Hence why she invited these little brats again.”

He pulled me down corridors and exit doors, and then we passed the food and drinks area, which was full of people who took pictures while the girls posed for them and blew them kisses—marketing,Adam said. They didn’t shut down this area, only the stores, Adam said.

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