Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
With no one caught red-handed, he had no choice but to swallow his anger. Jackson, however, wasn’t so easy to fool. He gave his butler a look, and the man slipped silently upstairs.
Meanwhile, downstairs, someone brought out Taylor and began coaxing her to show off the gift. They didn’t really care about the gift; they just wanted to fawn over her.
Taylor clapped her hands twice. The person keeping the gift ledger stepped forward, followed by a row of attendants, each carrying a present.
“One hand-painted marigold vase.”
The man stepped forward, presenting the priceless piece to the guests.
“One gold leaf Victorian figurine.”
, Sweetheart
Anyone familiar with auctions would know that vase had once gone for 70 million; and the Victorian figurine was even more priceless, thanks to its sacred symbolism and repeated sky-high sales. Taylor had really gone all out to make a statement. The first two gifts were already so extravagant. What kind of treasure would the third one be?
All eyes turned to the third attendant holding a box. Even Taylor looked over… but as soon as she saw what was inside, the smile on her face began to fade. She hadn’t prepared that gift.
Send Gifts
“A hundred-year-old ginseng,” the attendant holding the gift box stepped forward, about to open it, when Taylor interjected, “That’s not one of my gifts.”
She lifted her eyes and said, “I only prepared two gifts. How did you record the gift list? You can’t just stick a guest’s gift under my name; what would that guest think?”
Then she turned to the crowd and said, “I don’t know which esteemed guest sent the ginseng, but it was mistakenly listed under my name. Please, come forward so I can apologize to you in person.”
When Taylor finished, the guests all nodded in approval. The daughter of the Kendall family really knew how to handle herself. Paul, on the other hand, always came up short in terms of tact. Just like now-he hadn’t even shown his face. What a breach of etiquette.
After Taylor spoke, no one stepped forward. The gift ledger keeper frantically flipped through the pages, cold sweat beading on his forehead. “It can’t be a mistake… it clearly says ‘granddaughter-in-law…'”
There was only one grandson in the Powell family-Paul-so naturally, there was only one granddaughter-in-law. Who else could it be but Taylor?
Carl sat at the head of the crowd in a high-backed seat, while Huajing stood at his side with her arms crossed. Her long curls fell over one shoulder as she looked in a certain direction, smiling sweetly. “Boss, look-what’s Ms. Elsie doing pushing through the crowd like that?”
Elsie didn’t hold any real status, and with no one to introduce her, there was no way she’d make it to the front. But she’d buttered up Kelvin earlier, so he had taken her upfront with him. Now, however, she was sneakily edging her way forward, leaving Kelvin behind.
Of course, with everyone fixated on finding out who had sent the ginseng, no one noticed her inching ahead. Elsie pushed her way to the very front. Seeing that no one had caught her yet, she tugged at her dress hem and let out a soft cry as she pretended to trip.
That sweet little gasp rang through the room like a sudden thunderclap, grabbing everyone’s attention.
Everyone instinctively turned to the woman behind her, who looked completely baffled. She hadn’t stepped on the woman’s dress. She had no idea how the girl had just gone down like that.
Realizing she was about to be made the scapegoat, her face flushed red with anger. She snapped at Elsie, “Who the heck are you? You slammed right into me! That hurt!”
She clutched her shoulder, making it clear she wasn’t to blame. Elsie’s eyes went red, and she bowed nervously. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. Don’t be mad at me,”
The woman was speechless. Who is this unbelievably sweet girl, and where did she crawl out from? But this was a room full of rich and powerful people. She didn’t know which family Elsie belonged to and didn’t dare lash out. She didn’t-but someone else did.
A shadow fell over them. Elsie looked up with teary eyes and locked eyes with Taylor’s mocking smile. “You again.”
“Taylor…” Elsie shrank back, head down, looking pitiful and scared. Taylor placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ve got pull here. If someone’s bullying you, I’ll back you up.”
What is she playing at? Elsie gave Taylor a wary glance. But Taylor turned to the scapegoated woman and coldly asked, “Did you step on her dress?”
The woman broke out in a nervous sweat, frantically shaking her head, “No, she-she did it herself.”
“You stepped on Ms. Taylor’s friend’s dress, and you’re not going to apologize?” Someone next to her piled on the pressure.
“I didn’t, I swear!” the woman said, nearly in tears.
Elsie, all understanding and grace, tried to defuse the situation. “If she says she didn’t, then she didn’t. I’m not hurt anyway-please, don’t make this harder for her…”
The woman was fuming, eyes red with rage as she glared at Elsie. Elsie reached out to help her up, but just then, Taylor subtly pressed her heel down on the hem. Elsie took a step and she went flying face-first to the floor. Her lip split on impact, blood spilling down her chin.
The woman couldn’t make sense of it. Elsie was supposed to be Taylor’s friend?
Taylor smiled. “That acting of yours needs work. That first fall was so artistic. Were you filming a scene?”
The crowd finally caught on. They looked at the woman sprawled on the ground, her skirt torn, a mess, blood on her lips. Now that was what a real fall looked like.
Up on the second floor, Yunice watched the chaos below with nothing but satisfaction. Only the ruthless can deal with the wicked. Elsie might have a talent for stirring the pot, but in the face of real power, the crowd would gladly twist truth into fiction. Taylor had status-and if she said a deer was a horse, everyone else would just smile and agree with her.
Send Gifta 20
‘s Crying Again
In the face of real power, all pretense had to give way. Elsie had only managed to stay afloat these past few years by clinging to Owen and Paul, thinking that was enough to elevate her. But the truth was, outside of the little greenhouse those two built around her, Elsie couldn’t withstand a single storm.
“Excuse me, please let me through!” Owen’s voice rose from the back of the crowd. He pushed his way forward, clearly in a rush. By the time he came into view, his neatly styled hair had come undone, strands falling across his forehead, even the collar of his suit had come loose. But he couldn’t have cared less about appearances. The moment he saw Elsie crying on the ground with blood on her lip, his expression changed. He pulled out a handkerchief and gently pressed it to her wound.
Elsie gasped between sobs and clung to Owen’s jacket. “Owen, don’t worry about me. I need to apologize to Taylor. I was the one who gave the ginseng. I don’t know how it got listed under her name; this whole mess is my fault. If she slapped me, I probably deserved it…”
“She gave the ginseng?”
“Who is this girl, sending hundred-year-old ginseng to Mr. Jackson?”
“I’ve seen her before-Ms. Saunders, right? She attended a medical conference once. Seemed like a polite young lady.”
Someone whispered, “Ms. Saunders? Isn’t that Wyatt’s fianc?e?”
“No, no-that’s just the one listed under the Saunders name. That girl spent years in a psych ward, from what I heard. This one is the real Ms. Saunders. And unmarried, too.”
Huajing heard the whispers and cast a sideways glance at Carl. Sure enough, Carl’s face had gone dark. She’s the real Ms. Saunders, then that makes Yunice… just a stand-in? It’s laughable, completely backward! What a joke!
And Owen was devoted to the daughter of the very people who had hurt his parents. It was both pathetic and disheartening.
Owen helped Elsie to her feet, believing every word she said. His brows drew together as he turned to Taylor. “It was just a mix-up with the gift ledger, Ms. Taylor. Did you really need to be so aggressive? What you did today reflects poorly on both the Powell and Kendall families.”
He’d once had a bit of a crush on Taylor, but after she broke Elsie’s finger the last time, that fondness had vanished completely.
‘s Crying Again
Taylor shot back, “She deliberately wore the same dress as me and got her gift listed under my name. Mr. Owen, who’s really trying to stir things up here!”
One of Taylor’s friends stepped in to back her up. “Exactly. She obviously wanted to steal the spotlight. Fine, the gift list was a mistake-but no one forced her to wear that dress.”
Plenty of guests had noticed the identical dresses. And in a crowd like this, full of sharp minds and sharper instincts, everyone could see through the act. It was so obvious-she was trying to piggyback on Taylor’s status to boost her own exposure.
Elsie shook her head in Owen’s arms, tearful and trembling. “Owen, I wasn’t trying to compete with Taylor. Someone sent me the dress and told me to wear it to the party. I don’t even know how it turned out like this…”
Taylor sneered, “You’ve always got an excuse. So who supposedly sent you the dress?”
Elsie whispered, “I don’t know…”
Owen’s frown deepened. He didn’t believe Elsie would pull a stunt like that. Someone had to be setting her up.
Thinking back to the tension between Taylor and Elsie, Owen couldn’t help but spiral into a conspiracy theory. He muttered, “Ms. Taylor… did you send Elsie the dress? Was this your plan to humiliate her?”
That dress was a custom piece-only Taylor and her designer had access to the original. How else would Elsie know?
Taylor’s face twisted in disgust. She had never found Owen so repulsive.
Before the argument could escalate, the old man returned. He had changed outfits and reentered the hall, instantly drawing everyone’s attention back.