Chapter 12

Mrs. Bennett's voice sounded uneasy over the phone.

The day before, Elise's adoptive parents had gone on X, as they usually did, to argue with the people attacking their daughter. Someone had exposed them online and dug up what they called their address. Thousands of private messages had followed, every one full of insults. Some people had even taken their profile pictures and pasted them onto memorial portraits.

They were ordinary people. They had lived their whole lives without being cursed by so many strangers at once, without having that much filth thrown at them.

They had only stepped in because people were attacking their daughter. They couldn't stand by and watch. But they had been no match for the crowd, and the attackers had assumed they were using one of Elise's alternate accounts. Instead of helping, they had only brought more trouble down on her.

Neither of them had slept much. They felt they had let Ellie down, and they were afraid that telling her would only make her worry. So Mom had called early to find out whether Elise had seen what happened online. If she had learned about it, how hurt would she be?

Elise didn't use X, so she knew nothing about the previous night's events. Still, she heard something off in her mother's voice.

“I’m having breakfast. What’s wrong, Mom?”

Relief softened the other end of the line. Elise sounded like herself. She hadn't seen the posts. Good.

Mom thought of the things people had written about her daughter, and her eyes stung. “As long as you’re all right, that’s what matters. I’ll let you go. It’s getting colder, so take care of yourself.”

After she hung up, Elise lowered her eyes to her phone. Mom had sounded strange. Usually she had a dozen reminders for her, but today she had said only two things before ending the call.

“Was that Mom?” Julian asked. He had heard most of the conversation.

Vivian, who had been eating with her head down, glanced at him in surprise. It was one thing for Ellie to call her Mom. But Julian did too?

Elise was still thinking about the unusual call and barely registered the question. She nodded absently.

Warmth entered Julian's eyes. In his previous life, after the Whitmores went bankrupt and Elise took him in, the Bennetts had looked after them. They worried he wasn't eating well and brought him soup every few days. They had encouraged him gently, careful not to wound his pride, and even slipped him money when they thought he needed it.

The Bennetts were good people.

They had spent their lives running a produce stall and living in a cramped, badly maintained old house. Now that Julian had the means, he would not forget what they had done for him.

He considered it, then said, “Ellie, when can we invite your adoptive parents over for dinner? I’d like to meet them.”

At his gentle question, Elise finally came back to herself. “You want to invite them over?”

Julian gave a quiet nod. “The Whitmores offered them money before, but they wouldn’t take it. I want to thank them properly for taking care of you all these years.”

If they hadn't raised Ellie as they had, she might not have become the kind and thoughtful person she was now.

Elise hesitated. In her previous life, after she had been brought back to the Whitmores, her brothers had rarely spent time with her adoptive parents. The families came from very different worlds, and the Bennetts had deliberately kept their distance to avoid giving people anything to gossip about.

“Mom’s really busy,” she said. “She probably won’t have time to come.”

It sounded too final, so she added, “And they might not feel comfortable here. I appreciate the offer, though.”

The Whitmore mansion was grand enough to make anyone feel out of place. Her adoptive parents had lived modestly all their lives. If they were invited as guests, she worried they would feel burdened, self-conscious about what to wear, how to act, and whether they might embarrass her.

Julian lowered his gaze. Ellie still sounded distant, as if she didn't want to get too close to him. A rare, childish hurt stirred in him. For days he had been trying, almost desperately, to win her over, and she still wasn't ready to treat him with any real affection.

But he had ignored her for so long. Why should a few days be enough to change how she saw him?

He swallowed the ache and answered gently, “Then I’ll visit them myself whenever they have time.”

Vivian pressed her lips together. Julian actually wanted to visit Ellie's shabby adoptive parents?

They went to the market every day to sell vegetables. They must always be dirty, with the mixed smell of meat and produce clinging to them. Just imagining it made her feel suffocated.

The good mood she'd gotten from last night's online attacks faded at once. The smile slowly slipped from her face.

After breakfast, Elise went back to her room to get her school supplies ready. She had spent the past few days working through her junior-year material. She had already covered most of the fall coursework for several subjects; now she needed more practice problems to consolidate it.

Writing was her weak point, especially essays. She still couldn't find a reliable way to improve, and she usually earned only about half the available points. If she didn't work on it, she would keep losing points later.

She decided to go to the library and look for books that could help her write better essays.

When she went downstairs, Daniel came over to her.

“Are you heading out?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled and glanced back. A man in a suit, somewhere in his thirties or forties, walked in from the dining room.

“This is our new driver, Ethan Cole. He’ll take you wherever you need to go.”

Last time Daniel had driven Elise out, she had felt awkward about making him do it. Now there was a new driver, too?