Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Suddenly, she didn’t know why she’d fought so hard. All the university exams, all the credentials she’d clawed her way toward-had it all just been for this revenge?
She’d armed herself with sharp, gleaming weapons and stormed the battlefield. But by the time she got there, everyone else was already retreating.
The war had ended before she could even fight.
And now she stood alone, a fully armored soldier, watching others celebrate and return home… but with nowhere to go herself.
“Get back to work,” Tommy said gently. “When your hands are busy, your mind doesn’t spiral.”
But Yunice moved suddenly. “Tommy-I’m going back to my room first.”
He looked surprised but nodded.
Once inside, Yunice picked up the radio and called, “Wyatt. Come get me.”
He didn’t ask why. He simply said, “Wait for me.”
Two hours later, a supply truck entered Saunders Hospital.
Wyatt came with one of the suited medics-someone who would quietly take Yunice’s place.
Once she changed into the other person’s protective gear, the name on her chest was no longer hers.
Yunice was quietly smuggled out.
She said nothing during the entire trip.
Only when they reached Wellinges Pharma, and she’d removed her suit, gone through full decontamination, did she finally speak.
Her voice was low, but fierce, “I want the first batch of the antigen.”
Her eyes were red. Determined. Shaking with barely contained emotion.
Wyatt met her gaze. “The first batch hasn’t even gone through preclinical testing. We don’t know how safe it is.”
Typically, a drug needed years of development-lab testing, animal models, toxicity profiles-before human trials. Even in emergencies, this was rushing it.
But Yunice didn’t flinch. “I don’t have time to wait. Owen won’t survive until that day.”
She looked almost fevered. Obsessive.
“I can’t let him die-not like this. He doesn’t even know what the Saunders family did. He’s never regretted any of it. Wyatt, do you understand?”
Wyatt didn’t say anything. He simply pulled her into his arms.
She trembled faintly against him, her composure unraveling.
He didn’t point out the truth behind her desperation. He didn’t say a word about the guilt and twisted justice mixed in her grief.
He only held her and whispered, “Why are you so dramatic? I never said you couldn’t have it.”
Resting against his chest, Yunice felt the vibration of his voice as he spoke. Deep. Steady.
And for the first time in a long time, she felt calm.
Like no matter how far she fell, Wyatt would catch her.
That rare, sock-tucked-into-thermal-underwear kind of warmth-it wrapped her up tight, and she didn’t want to let go.
Wyatt, still holding Yunice tightly, felt her arms remain locked around him. Thinking she was still doubtful, he gently offered, “Want to go get the medicine now?”
Yunice looked up and pressed a soft kiss to his throat, just beneath his Adam’s apple.
His breath caught.
Then he gave her back a light pat. “Laurie’s waiting. Go.”
He knew-if they delayed too long, Owen might not make it. And that would haunt Yunice.
She nodded and left for the lab.
Inside Wellinges Pharma, Laurie looked Yunice over through her protective suit, her relief obvious. “You’re likely past the incubation period. You might’ve avoided infection.”
Yunice had always been meticulous with her protection. If anyone would survive, it made sense it’d be her.
Laurie led her through the halls of the research facility-past the machines, the white walls, the silent, humming dread.
They stopped at a room. Inside, a single patient lay in isolation.
Elsie.
Tubes threaded through her limbs, monitors beeping steadily as she lay unconscious in a bed under strict observation.
There was no dignity left in her state. But that wasn’t the lab’s cruelty. It was just what the disease did.
Had Owen not traded places with her, she wouldn’t have lasted this long at Saunders Hospital.
Yunice stood by the glass, unmoved. She raised her phone and took several photos.
Laurie, puzzled, asked, “What are you doing?”
“Psychological triggers can activate a patient’s survival instinct,” Yunice replied calmly.
If Owen saw Elsie like this, what were the odds he’d find the will to live?
From there, Laurie brought her to another room and handed her a sealed medication box.
“We already tested this antigen on Elsie. It works-but it’s neurotoxic. Attacks the nervous system.”
“What kind of side effects?” Yunice asked, frowning.
Laurie shook her head. “We haven’t had enough time. Clinical symptoms haven’t even fully emerged yet. I can’t guarantee what it’ll do long term-or if the damage is reversible.”
Yunice took the box. “Doesn’t matter. We save him now. Everything else can wait.”
As she turned to go, Laurie called after her. “You need to be careful. We’ve skipped standard procedure. If they survive… they might turn on you.”
Yunice scoffed. “Turn on me? With what proof? Who can say Elsie was ever at Wellinges Pharma?”
Could Owen even admit his own role in all this?
She left the facility with Wyatt.
He didn’t trust the situation, so he sent one of his most loyal men to discreetly accompany Yunice. The closer they got to success, the more vigilant they had to be.
Back in the hospital, Yunice returned to Owen’s room with the medicine case.
Every patient room was under 24-hour surveillance.
To inject Owen unnoticed, she needed to disable that first.
Luckily, that was one of her specialties. She quickly disrupted the signal and blacked out the room’s monitoring feed.