The next afternoon.
Since she had dinner plans with Mrs. Grant, Claire left Lotus Smoke early. She'd already given her brother Adrian a heads-up that she was going to visit the Coopers' old house and would be back later than usual, so they wouldn't worry.
Adrian wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but he didn't stop her.
Honestly, if he thought about it, it was thanks to the Coopers that their little sister had made it this far. If it weren't for them, she might've been thrown out by the Thompsons and left to fend for herself as a teenager.
Imagine—after being treated like a rich daughter for fourteen years, getting tossed into reality all of a sudden? She probably wouldn't have made it to learning how to do the laundry before some trafficker snatched her up.
The Coopers gav
