Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
That kind of tone had always been used on Yunice. Now, it was being turned on her?
Elsie immediately picked up on it-there was a subtle shift in Owen’s attitude toward her.
“I’m worried about Yunice too,” she said quickly. “And besides, you’re all men. If she’s really hurt, wouldn’t it be better to have a woman there to look after her?”
Owen hesitated, clearly moved by the reasoning.
“You’re right. If she really was injured, we need to bring her home. Our family should be taking care of her.”
With that, he strode out the door.
Elsie hurried to catch up, and once they reached the hospital, Owen called Oscar and Carl to come as well.
He had a plan-and this was only the beginning.
Meanwhile, Yunice sat up in her hospital bed, a small tray table across her lap as she worked on a research proposal.
Lately, Wellinges Pharma had caught wind of a rare new infectious agent appearing overseas.
Laurie and a group of PhDs were deep in analysis, studying the mutation process of a newly discovered infectious agent. They were working on targeted antivirals and vaccine candidates.
Yunice had been attending Laurie’s lectures for the past two weeks and had gained a lot of insight. She was now compiling her own thoughts and proposed solutions, refining them as she wrote.
Wanting a quiet environment, she had told Joe in advance not to let anyone disturb her. If she needed anything, she’d press the call button herself.
She hadn’t expected that lack of supervision would open the door for Owen and Elsie to barge in just like that.
Owen entered with long strides, his face tight with worry. He had pictured Yunice badly injured-wrapped head to toe like a mummy. Wyatt had a reputation for being violent. Anyone who clashed with him rarely walked away unscathed.
So when he saw Yunice sitting upright, clearly alive and without visible wounds, he paused in confusion.
Yunice had an IV drip in her hand and sat up in surprise. Her injuries had been kept confidential, so she was shocked they had found her. But the movement tugged at the deep cut along her side. It wasn’t life-threatening, but the pain still felt like being sliced open again.
Elsie noticed the grimace.
Owen stepped forward, voice uncertain. “Did Wyatt hit you?”
He did care-deep down. He could scold Yunice all day, but if someone else laid a hand on her, especially someone like Wyatt, it would spark both anger and guilt. He wanted to ask if it had been a slap or something worse, but the rift between them made him hold back.
“Yunice, if anything happened, you have to tell your family…” Elsie burst into tears and suddenly lunged at her.
Her hand landed squarely on Yunice’s injured side, pressing directly on the stitches. Yunice’s eyes flared with pain and fury. “Get off me!”
It felt like the wound had ripped open all over again-the stabbing pain was enough to blur her vision.
But Elsie, oblivious or pretending to be, kept pressing down. “Owen was so worried when he heard you were hurt, he ran out without even putting on proper shoes. Please, Yunice, just listen to him. Leave that monster Wyatt and come home-you won’t have to suffer anymore…”
Sweat soaked Yunice’s back as the pain drained every ounce of her strength. Her vision flickered between black and white.
“Yunice, don’t be so hard on Owen. If you’re angry, take it out on me. He really does care about you. Everything you go through weighs on him. I hate seeing you fight with the family like this. I hate seeing Owen suffer because of it…”
Elsie kept rambling, pretending to be the voice of compassion.
And Owen-idiot that he was-stood there doing nothing, even as Yunice’s face turned ghostly pale.
Yunice couldn’t summon the strength to push Elsie off. So instead, she grabbed Elsie’s wrist and, with the last of her energy, sank her teeth into Elsie’s shoulder.
It happened so fast, no one reacted in time.
But the harder he pulled, the more Yunice clamped down.
Finally, in desperation, Owen braced his hand against Yunice’s shoulder and shoved her away.
The metal IV stand clattered to the floor. The needle in Yunice’s hand ripped free, and a thin stream of blood snaked down her fingers in a vivid red line.
Owen pulled Elsie’s collar aside and saw the bite: a raw, angry imprint-already bleeding through her shirt. She’d been bitten hard. If he hadn’t stepped in, Yunice might’ve taken a chunk out of her.
Owen turned and glared at Yunice, furious. “What could she possibly have done to deserve this?!”
Yunice braced herself on the mattress, gasping for breath. She glanced toward the call button and reached for it.
Owen, faster, yanked it away.
“You better give me a reason,” he said sharply. “Why’d you bite her?”
“Because she couldn’t keep her filthy hands to herself,” Yunice snapped.
Owen was about ready to explode. “You’re unbelievable. Wyatt already hit you, and you think he’s still going to protect you?”
“Where did you hear that?” Yunice narrowed her eyes. “Who said he hit me?”
Elsie wept. “Yunice, stop being stubborn. Owen’s only trying to help you.”
Owen snapped. “You always put up a front like you’re strong, but you’re nothing but a bully behind closed doors. If you had the guts to bite someone, why didn’t you bite Wyatt when he hit you?”
He was convinced Wyatt had lost patience with Yunice. Now, Owen was set on dragging her back to the Saunders family.
“Get up. You’re coming home with me.”
He grabbed her by the arm, trying to pull her out of bed.
Yunice screamed and fought him off. “Get away from me!”
“Owen, help me tie her down,” Elsie said, pressing her to the bed. “You’ve completely lost it. You need to go back to the psych ward. Once you learn how to behave, then you can come back.”
Elsie rushed over, grabbed the IV tubing, and began wrapping it around Yunice’s wrists.
The two of them were actually trying to restrain her and send her back to a psychiatric facility.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
A sharp voice cut through the chaos behind them. The moment Owen heard it, he froze.
He turned and saw Carl and Oscar standing in the doorway.
Owen shifted to the side, revealing Yunice behind him.
Her hair was a mess, her wrists tied with IV tubing. She’d collapsed to her knees on the hospital bed, her gown disheveled from the struggle.
Her eyes were red with humiliation, but she refused to shed a single tear.
The sight made Oscar snap. He let out a furious yell, lunged forward, and grabbed Owen by the collar-then slammed him to the floor.
Elsie didn’t even have time to react before Oscar turned and kicked her hard, sending her sprawling to the ground.
Then he ripped off his jacket and gently draped it over Yunice’s shoulders.
He knelt down and began untying the IV tubing from her wrists. It had been wrapped so tightly, it had sunk into her skin.
Yunice looked at Oscar silently, her throat tightening. At least someone still stands up for me.
Carl didn’t move, but his mere presence was overwhelming.