Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
“Oh, come on. Drop the act. That chick cheated-Wyatt caught it.”
Jordan blinked, clearly surprised.
Bale continued, “I had a tile down on the table. She dropped the same tile in her hand. Where’d hers come from?”
There was only one answer: Yunice had swapped tiles. And since she was playing for Wyatt, her cheating reflected on him. Bale had no choice but to swallow the loss and keep quiet.
That wasn’t the shocking part, though. What really blew his mind was that Wyatt noticed-and said nothing.
“She cheated right in front of him,” Bale said, “and all he did was tap her hand like a warning. That’s not normal!”
Anyone else pulling tricks at Wyatt’s table would’ve lost a few fingers by now.
The more Bale thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. “Jordan, you’ve been with Wyatt the longest. So the rumor’s true, isn’t it?”
Jordan gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t jump to conclusions.”
But Bale raised a brow. If Jordan wasn’t denying it, then it had to be true.
By the time they returned to the game room, both Wyatt and Yunice were gone.
Inside Wyatt’s RV, Yunice stood beside the sofa, taking in the luxe interior. Wyatt settled into the seat, set his cane aside, then finally glanced her way. “You really tried cheating at my table? Not afraid of losing your hands?”
Yunice clutched her bag strap. “I just wanted to win you a round.”
Every time they met, she was either flattering someone or scheming something-thus, with a motive.
Yunice didn’t defend herself. Instead, she stepped forward and placed a bottle of pills on the table. “These are my modified Alphasirox pills. I’ve been testing them on myself for a week now. So far, no side effects. You can run a parallel trial if you want.”
Wyatt’s eyes changed. Human testing was no joke-new drugs were unpredictable, and the risks could be permanent, even fatal. In the pharmaceutical world, volunteers had to be paid big money to take that risk. For Yunice to try them herself, she was either overconfident or proving her loyalty.
Wyatt narrowed his eyes. “Risking this much?”
Yunice said evenly, “Wyatt, I cheated because I want a backer. Whether it’s you or Madam Johnson. I’m casting a wide net-someone’s bound to take me in, right?”
That was Yunice’s skill-she walked the line between clever and naive. Just smart enough but never too much. It gave the people in power the illusion that she was easy to control. The less they felt threatened, the less they kept their guard up. And cheating at the table? That had been a test-to see how much Wyatt would tolerate her.
Judging by the outcome, she had some value. And value meant survival.
Wyatt wasn’t surprised by her answer. Her ambition was practically written all over her face. He asked, “Why not go with Paul?”
Yunice replied, “Betray me once, I won’t trust you again. I’m not here to be someone’s pawn.” The Powell family had never wanted her. They’d made it clear she was disposable. So she had no reason to waste her time on them.
Wyatt raised an eyebrow, then made a decision. “Fine. From now on, you’re with me.”
Joy hit Yunice’s face. For the first time, she felt a flicker of belonging. It meant she wasn’t a stray anymore-no longer chasing dead-end favors.
She stood there frozen, until Wyatt reached out and pulled her down beside him. “You don’t understand what I meant…”
His eyes were sharp, predatory. Yunice stiffened under his gaze.
Then it clicked-he said she could follow him, not sleep with him. One word off, but a world of difference.
When a man tells a woman to follow him, it usually means courtship. Wyatt asked, “Have you ever kissed anyone?” Yunice instinctively backed away-but he pulled her down before she could escape. She stumbled, catching herself on the sofa-then his lips met hers. Warm breath brushed against her cheek. Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might burst through her chest. Wyatt held the back of her neck, deepening the kiss before finally letting her go.
“You’re not mine until I mark you.”
Yunice’s face flushed a deep, furious red. She stared at Wyatt, both angry and humiliated. She’d come to him with her skills-not to sell herself. Wyatt found her harmless fury amusing. “I’m a man, not a saint.” That hit her like cold water.
She’d only seen Wyatt a handful of times, but in those brief encounters, he’d somehow given her the illusion that he wasn’t as bad as the rumors made him out to be. At least, with her, he’d never crossed any lines. So she had let her guard down. She never even thought about things heading in that direction. She was plain, had spent three years wasting away in a psych ward, and had nothing particularly attractive about her. Wyatt was a man with no moral boundaries-maybe he just hadn’t met a woman like her before, and was curious. But this wasn’t what she wanted.
Yunice had come to build something of her own. She wanted to rise on her merit, find a mentor or benefactor, not become some man’s accessory. If she gave herself to Wyatt, even if it helped her escape the Saunders family, how would that be any different from jumping out of one fire pit and into another? She’d still be at someone else’s mercy.
Yunice reached for the pills she’d brought and said flatly, “I’m not working with you anymore.” Then she opened the door and stepped out. The moment her feet hit the ground, Wyatt’s RV rolled past her, so close it nearly brushed her back. A cold wind swept past, and Yunice’s heart sank halfway into her stomach. So this is what it feels like to fall from heaven to hell in a single breath.
She’d almost believed she had found stable work, a reliable income, a direction. Now she was back to square one. But instead of breaking down, she took a deep breath. Wyatt’s not the only powerful person in Silverbrough. There have to be decent ones out there.
From a distance, she saw the iron gates tightly shut. She called out at the gate, but no one responded from the guard booth. With no other option, she called Bobby, the driver.
“Ms. Yunice? The madam left on a trip. Didn’t she tell you?”
“She went traveling?”
“Yeah,” Bobby replied. “She said all the bad press around Ms. Elsie was too much, so she’s taking her out to unwind.”
Yunice was quiet for a few seconds. “Then… could you come back and unlock the gate for me?”
Bobby hesitated. “She gave me extended leave-I’m back in my hometown now.” Then, as if remembering something, he added, “She probably left you some money, right? Maybe you can stay at a hotel for a few days?”
Another pause from Yunice. “Thank you, Bobby.”
After hanging up, Bobby couldn’t shake his unease. She must’ve left her daughter some money, right? Still worried, he decided to transfer some money to Yunice. But when he entered the account number, he realized-Elsie had taken over that account. Yunice wouldn’t receive anything. So he gave up.
Yunice stood outside the ornate iron gates of her own home. The wind bit into her, but she didn’t feel cold. She’d been through worse in the psych ward-starving, freezing, locked in cages and blasted with ice water hoses during winter. This… this didn’t compare. What hurt more than the cold was being shut out of her own home.
She knew exactly what this was, Lily’s way of punishing her. Retaliation for not handing over the ancient texts. With a few small moves, they could strip her of even the right to come home. They wanted her sleeping on the streets. Once she’d suffered enough, they expected her to learn her lesson and come crawling back obediently.
Yunice stood there for half an hour. Through the narrow gap in the gates, she stared into the courtyard like an outsider. Only when the wind had numbed her to the bone did she finally turn and leave the Saunders family. She’d remember this humiliation.
Gill handed Yunice a steaming bowl of ginger soup. “Drink up. Warm yourself.”
“This family… they’re monsters, every last one of them!” Gill fumed.
“If I make that call to complain, they’ll just say I’m stirring up trouble. Ruining family harmony. Everyone knows I’m being mistreated, but the moment I speak up, I’m the one who’s ‘being difficult.'”
Gill was so angry she nearly cried. “She’s your real mother, and she takes Elsie on vacation to relax while leaving you locked outside the house? What kind of mother does that!”
Yunice suddenly remembered what Lily once said: “If only you had been the one born in the mountains.” How much must she hate me to say something like that?
Yunice clutched the bowl of ginger soup. The bowl was hot, but her heart felt cold. She still remembered when Lily had first returned to their lives-how they had once shared a long, heartfelt conversation.
Lily had sat at the edge of her bed and told her how she was kidnapped and trafficked into the mountains, how she was beaten and abused, how she’d barely survived childbirth. How Elsie had become her only reason to live.
She told Yunice that Elsie, born a girl and unwanted by her father, went unnamed for half a month. Lily had looked at the bright, full moon overhead and given her the name Elsie.
Lily said Elsie was her hope-her anchor. That it was Elsie who gave her the strength to escape the mountains and return to her family. That’s why she hoped Yunice, Oscar, and Owen would treat Elsie like a precious gem-because it was the Saunders family that owed Elsie a debt. Without Elsie, there wouldn’t be a reunited family.
At the time, Yunice had felt something wasn’t quite right with that logic. Elsie may have been Lily’s emotional lifeline-but weren’t she and her brothers also Lily’s children? If Lily could cling to hope for Elsie, why had she never once missed her other children? Why hadn’t she lived for them too? Elsie was pitiful, yes-but Yunice and her brothers were innocent. They had grown up without a drop of motherly love. So how did they end up owing Elsie something?
But back then, both Oscar and Owen had already gone soft for Elsie. Yunice didn’t dare say any of that out loud. Instead, she tried harder-more obedient, more sensible, more quiet. She thought maybe that way she could hold on to the love of her brothers. But in the end, she was the one who didn’t belong.
She blew gently on the ginger soup. Still too hot to sip. Just as she lifted the bowl to try, a knock sounded at the door. It was fast, impatient.
Gill frowned. Who would be knocking at this hour?
Yunice checked the security monitor-and nearly spilled the soup. On the screen stood Wyatt, dressed in black, leaning on his cane with a tight, anxious expression. When no one answered, he grew impatient and motioned for his men to pick the lock.
Gill looked at her, confused but trusting. She opened it.
Wyatt spotted Yunice instantly. She had already set the bowl down and slung her canvas bag over her shoulder. She jogged over. “Let’s go!”
“Wyatt hadn’t even had time to explain why he came.”