Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Victor mused, “Other than those two, is there really anyone else?”
Yunice stared at the notebook for a long while. Then, with a sardonic curve of her lips, she added a third name.
Victor was visibly shocked. “Owen?”
Half-siblings-same mother, different fathers. Could something like that really happen?
“It’s just a bold theory,” Yunice muttered. “People wear masks. Who knows what they’re really like in private?”
Her suspicion wasn’t groundless. Elsie had suffered a miscarriage early on. But Paul was infertile, and Morgan had the XYY “supermale” gene-genetically incapable of producing offspring. So who had gotten her pregnant? There had to be someone else. But only Elsie knew who it was.
“It doesn’t matter who she slept with,” Yunice said as she set the pen down. “I just want to know how Oscar got dragged into this mess.”
Victor gave her a long look, then silently picked the pen back up and added another name. He slid the notebook across to her. “Assumptions are the enemy of deduction.”
Yunice looked down and saw it: Oscar.
Oscar, thirty years old. Ten years abroad. For a decade, he hadn’t spoken to a single family member. Did they really know who he was? This was the same man who’d carved letters into Paul’s face with a scalpel-an extreme act by any standard. And what would Oscar truly think of Elsie, who had become the face of the Saunders family?
Yunice’s expression grew grim. She couldn’t dismiss Victor’s theory.
Victor placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “Whoever made the choice-it’s on them. Not on you.” Yunice nodded silently. But something felt off. She instinctively turned-and froze.
Victor felt the shift under his hand and looked up too. Wyatt stood at the door, jacket in hand, eyes dark with mockery.
Yunice stood quickly, hand behind her back, casually flipping the notebook shut. “You came to pick me up?”
“Yeah,” Wyatt replied, stepping into the room. He placed his hand firmly on her shoulder-right where Victor’s hand had just been-and gave a deliberate squeeze. “Let’s go. I haven’t slept in almost two days.”
Yunice gave a quiet nod. She turned slightly to bid Victor farewell, but Wyatt gently steered her away, blocking her view. “Let’s go.”
Behind them, Victor smirked. Jealous, are we?
Outside the Crawford estate, with no one else around, Yunice spoke up. “I’m not Elsie.” She wasn’t the type to catch feelings for a brother. Carl was her godfather. She and Victor had boundaries.
Wyatt didn’t dodge her meaning. “You’re not Elsie,” he said evenly, “but that doesn’t mean Victor isn’t Owen.” He added coldly, “Pity is always the first step toward something more.” Then, sharper still, “How do you know Victor doesn’t have feelings for you?”
Feeling Wyatt’s possessiveness, Yunice suddenly felt a rebellious urge.
He could flirt with Nora, leave Yunice to be called a homewrecker, let everyone think her marriage was a joke.
But the moment Victor casually put an arm around her shoulders, Wyatt jumped to conclusions.
Turning to look at him, Yunice said, “Even if he had something in mind, I’m not that kind of person. I don’t accept love from just anyone.”
She continued, “You seem to understand people’s psychology so well-was it because the first time you saw Nora, you felt sorry for her? You were afraid if you didn’t take her in, her family would punish her, right?”
Wyatt wasn’t a saint. He didn’t just soften because someone begged a little or cried a few tears.
Yunice still remembered the first time she ran into him in that black market alley. His face had been full of disgust.
And later, when Paul tried to drag her away from the club, she had pleaded with Wyatt-again and again-not to let Paul take her. It took a long time before he stepped in.
But with Nora, he wasn’t like that at all.
Wyatt’s gaze shifted across Yunice’s face. After a few seconds, he asked curiously, “Why are you so worked up? Why are you bringing up Nora?”
The storm of jealousy raging in Yunice’s chest instantly quieted at Wyatt’s calm question.
She realized she had lost control. Quickly changing the subject, she said, “Aren’t you the one spreading fake rumors about me?”
Without waiting for a reply, she climbed into the car with an annoyed look.
When Wyatt got in after her, Yunice immediately scooted over.
She had been sitting in the middle. The moment he climbed in, she slid over to the window seat-clearly throwing a tantrum.
Wyatt reached out to pull her back, but Yunice yanked her arm away.
Jordan, gripping the steering wheel up front, quickly averted his eyes and pretended not to see anything. Wyatt shot Jordan a look, then leaned closer to Yunice and said quietly, “I’m sorry.”
Yunice turned her body to face the window.
Wyatt sighed. “Give me a break.”
Yunice turned to look at him, her face expressionless, as if to say, What makes you think your pride is worth so much?
“Wyatt,” Jordan suddenly turned around and said, “I’m gonna get some cigarettes.”
And he really did get out of the car.
Once the door closed, Wyatt placed his hand on the back of the front seat, effectively trapping Yunice in the corner.
“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Wyatt asked.
“I’m just sick of how suffocating you are,” Yunice snapped. “I say a few words to Quinton and you glare at him. Victor puts a hand on my shoulder and you act all sarcastic like a gossiping housewife. So just because I married you, I’m not allowed to have a single male friend? Because I married you, I gave up basic rights and freedom? But what about you? It’s not like you don’t have women around-Maine, Elianna…”
“Because I love you,” Wyatt cut her off mid-rant.
Yunice suddenly found herself unable to meet his gaze, locked in by the intensity of his eyes.
Frowning, she deliberately looked away.
“You’re my wife,” Wyatt continued. “You can control me too. You tell me not to see someone, I won’t. How’s that?”
Yunice lifted her head, a bit defiant. “You think I won’t say it?”
Did he think she was too easygoing to ever make such an unreasonable demand?
She said on purpose, “Then I want you to stop seeing Nora. And stop protecting Morgan and Mary. I can’t stand them. Can you do that?”
Almost before she finished speaking, Wyatt answered, “I can.”
Yunice was stunned.
She stared at him, her gaze heavy, and suddenly it all felt pointless.
Wyatt could go wherever he wanted, see whoever he liked. It wasn’t like she could really stop him.
Turning away, she sat up straight. “Do whatever you want. Don’t listen to me.”
Sometimes she felt conflicted-unsure of where she really stood. At times she felt guilty, like she had taken something that didn’t belong to her, like a thief.
But other times, she felt justified. She was Wyatt’s wife. She had every right to speak up.
Still, making demands like that-it was cruel. It wasn’t fair to Nora.
Wyatt looked at Yunice’s glum expression and turned away in frustration.
Catching a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, Yunice thought, He’s probably sick of trying to cheer me up. He probably doesn’t want to talk to me either.
She shut her eyes, unwilling to engage.