Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Gerardo chuckled and exchanged a glance with Taylor. Yunice understood-it was time for Gerardo to talk serious business with Wyatt.
Sure enough, Taylor turned and led Yunice away. As they descended from the sky garden, Taylor asked, “I still don’t know your name.”
“You can call me Dr. Rylie,” Yunice replied.
“Then Rylie it is,” Taylor said. “I believe in your skills now. I hope you can really help me with my problem. If you do, I’ll even cover my dad’s consultation fee along with mine.”
“Alright,” Yunice said simply.
But she didn’t care about consultation fees. What truly mattered were the connections-just like today. That single moment in front of Gerardo had secured her a place in Taylor’s network.
Taylor arranged for someone to escort Yunice out of the Kendall estate, then headed back to the sky garden. She still cared deeply about what Gerardo and Wyatt might be discussing.
As soon as Yunice stepped outside, a car honked sharply from the roadside. Once she got in, Gill looked at her with concern. “Ms. Saunders, what took you so long?”
“I ran into Wyatt.”
Gill looked confused. “Isn’t the Kendall family close with Paul? Why would Wyatt be there?”
“Wyatt came to deliver an invitation.”
Gill took the invitation from her, read it-and her face immediately flushed with anger. She threw the card across the car.
“This is insane! A wedding is a huge deal, and no one even told you? Whose wedding is this really?”
Yunice picked the invitation back up and said calmly, “What’s there to be mad about? Even if they wanted to contact me, they couldn’t.”
She’d only just realized she and Wyatt had never exchanged contact information. As for the Saunders family-there was no way they could’ve found her even if they tried.
Gill still couldn’t let it go. “Then what’s with this ‘the Saunders family’ crap? What kind of bride doesn’t even get her name on the card?”
Yunice gave a faint smile and stayed silent. There couldn’t be two people named Yunice in the Saunders family. Honestly, it was already generous of them not to make up a fake name for her.
Suddenly, Gill let out a sharp gasp. “Ms. Saunders-look at this!” She nearly shoved the phone into Yunice’s face. The moment Yunice saw what was on the screen, her face turned ghostly pale.
Her voice trembled. “Drive, now.”
“Ms. Saunders!”
Before Gill could even park properly, Yunice flung open the car door and bolted out. She staggered slightly, but didn’t stop, running full speed toward her father’s grave.
The news had broken early that morning-grave robbers had desecrated several burial plots at the cemetery. Headstones had been shattered. The story had triggered a rush of media and grieving families, many demanding answers from the cemetery’s management.
Yunice didn’t stop to engage with anyone. She stumbled and shoved her way through the crowd, desperate to reach Will’s resting place. When she finally pushed past the last group of people and saw that his headstone was still standing, completely intact, she felt her whole body go weak with relief.
“Thank God… Dad’s grave is still here. I still have this piece of him.”
She glanced at the grave beside Will’s-now a gaping hole. Her heart skipped. What kind of monsters do this? How desperate do you have to be to dig up the dead? Thank God they didn’t touch him.
Yunice knelt down and began wiping the dirt from his headstone with her hands, painstakingly brushing away every last speck like it was something sacred. As she cleaned, she murmured, “Dad. Owen and the rest of them never really come visit you anyway. I’ve been thinking maybe someday I’ll move you somewhere nicer-better view, better air. Somewhere I can visit more often. You only feel at peace when I’m-“
Before she could finish, a towel suddenly pressed over her mouth from behind. The sentence died in her throat.
“Ms. Saunders?” Gill had just parked and was scanning the crowd. She stood in front of Will’s grave, turning in circles-dozens of people were milling around in mourning, but Yunice was-
Yunice was being dragged away. She could still hear Gill’s voice nearby, but her body had no strength left to answer. There were plenty of people around-grieving, crying, barely staying on their feet-but no one noticed one more person being dragged away. It all blended into the chaos. No one suspected a thing.
The towel covering her mouth and nose had been drugged. Even biting her tongue hadn’t been enough to fight off the sleepiness. Yunice’s vision blurred; her entire body felt limp. Her eyes could barely stay open, just a narrow slit through which she saw blurry shadows moving. She drifted in and out as people lifted and shifted her from place to place.
Eventually, the movement stopped. She seemed to be lying on a couch in some kind of room. Then several people came in, propped her up, and began changing her clothes.
“Why is there blood on her hands? Wait, there’s a needle stuck in her finger!”
Yunice’s pupils shifted faintly beneath her heavy eyelids. She could hear them speaking, but the voices felt far away and distorted, like temple bells.
Someone else chimed in, “Forget it, let’s just get her changed. That’s our only job here.”
“You help her change-I’ll take out the needle. Ten fingers, one heart. This must hurt like hell.”
They moved her again, undressing her. One hand was lifted, then pinched. A sharp pain tore through her fingertip and shot straight to her brain.
She groaned, and the fog in her mind began to clear. She had stuck the needle into herself while barely conscious-right at the center of her fingertip. It was known to snap people out of fainting like nothing else.
She didn’t dare open her eyes, only pretended to still be passed out. One maid was dressing her; the other was bandaging her finger.
“Why do we have to dress her like this?”
“Can’t you tell? She’s being given as a gift. Some man’s gonna come in here soon.”
They worked quickly. Once they were done, one of them said, “Take all the clothes in this room. There aren’t any cameras outside-if she runs, we’ll never find her.”
The rustle of fabric followed. Yunice barely opened her eyes, catching a glimpse of the two maids hurrying out, arms full of clothing.
She lay completely still, listening for any movement outside. Only when she was sure the room was empty did she roll off the couch. The drug still lingered-her limbs had no strength. The moment she rolled, she crashed to the floor with a loud thud.
Panicked, she curled up beside the couch, holding her breath to listen for approaching footsteps.
No one came.
She gathered her strength and staggered to the door, gripping the handle. Slowly, she cracked it open just enough to peek through. There was nothing; the hallway was dead silent.
“No cameras outside if she escapes, they’ll never find her…” The maids’ voices echoed in her mind. Her first instinct was to run. But just as she pushed the door further, she hesitated.
Yunice closed the door, locked it, then dragged furniture in front to barricade it. Still, she knew it wouldn’t hold for long. She scanned the room. As expected, not a single thing she could wear. No sheets. No curtains. Not even a towel. Footsteps sounded faintly from the hall. Panic kicked in again.
She rushed into the bathroom and opened the cabinet-inside, a roll of thick trash bags. Quickly, she unraveled them and wrapped herself up, layer by layer, until the makeshift outfit clung to her like a black sheath dress. The luxury hotel used heavy-duty bags-durable enough not to tear easily.
The scrambling drained her energy, but she could finally move again. Her palms were slick with sweat from the adrenaline. The hallway went quiet again. She approached the door, ready to escape-but just as she reached for the handle, something struck her.
Wait… this isn’t right. If they want to stop me from escaping, why don’t they lock the door? If I’m a gift, why isn’t there a bed in the room? None of this adds up.
She stared at the doorframe like it was a threshold between life and death. After three seconds of hesitation, Yunice went with her gut. She re-locked the door, darted into the bathroom, and locked that door too.
There were only three exits: the hallway door, a massive floor-to-ceiling window, and the bathroom’s ventilation window. Yunice climbed onto the sink and pushed open the vent. She hauled herself up until her torso cleared the ledge, and looked out-only for her heart to sink.
She was at least eighteen floors up. Her stomach churned just looking down. But whoever had put her here clearly meant harm. She couldn’t just sit and wait.
“Dad, please watch over me.” She whispered the prayer in her mind, then began crawling through the narrow opening. The second she pushed her body through, her arm gave out-she almost slipped.
This was a glass building; the ledge was barely four inches wide. Yunice could only rest the balls of her feet on it-her heels hung in midair. She shut her eyes for a moment, too afraid to look down. All she could do was stare straight ahead and glance around; there were ventilation openings not far in either direction.
If she climbed left, she’d have to pass that corridor again… Yunice made a quick decision to crawl right. She knew her stamina wouldn’t last long; the more she hesitated, the weaker her limbs would get. Without wasting time, she grabbed hold of anything that could help support her weight.
Honestly, if she could just get over her fear of heights, this climb wasn’t much different from balancing on a curb as a kid. Except this game didn’t allow for mistakes. Once she managed to inch her way over to the ventilation window of the room on the right, Yunice reached up. But the window was too high; not only did she miss, her ankle cramped up.
Gritting through the pain, she changed tactics-first grabbing onto the platform that held the outdoor unit beside her. It took a huge effort to haul herself onto it, and once she managed to stand, her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the tiny platform, utterly drained.
Heart still racing, Yunice decided to rest for a bit in this relatively safe spot before figuring out a way to call for help. After all, no one would expect her to actually climb out the window.
“Stop pacing around. You’re making me dizzy?”
Suddenly hearing Paul’s voice, Yunice’s eyes lit up. In such a desperate situation, hearing a familiar voice felt like grabbing onto a lifeline. She sprang to her feet and looked up at the ventilation window overhead. The window was open; she could hear voices coming from inside.