Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Owen spun toward Oscar, furious. “You too? You’re blaming me now? What have you ever done for the Saunders family? I run the hospital, I take care of the family, I take care of our mother and sister-every little thing falls on me! I carry everyone’s emotions, but who’s ever cared about mine? All of you just dump the blame on me!”
Then he turned on Wyatt. “Yes, we confronted Paul. So what? Oscar held a scalpel to Paul’s throat-of course he’d say whatever Oscar wanted him to say. That doesn’t prove Paul never touched Yunice. They grew up together, spent all their time together-how could they resist temptation? You think someone like Yunice could’ve stopped him?”
In their eyes, Yunice had always been someone fragile and easy to push around. Paul, hot-blooded and strong, could’ve done whatever he wanted with her.
Yunice almost admired Owen’s pathetic stubbornness.
She laughed lightly. “Childhood sweethearts? And yet he still cheated on me with Elsie?”
Owen snapped, “Elsie and Paul were in a real relationship! You and Paul had already broken off the engagement!”
Yunice replied calmly, “They were already sleeping together in the Saunders house while we were still engaged. Want me to show you the footage?”
Owen was immediately stunned. That couldn’t be true.
Elsie had always acted well-behaved and proper. She had always looked ashamed while dating Paul and avoided getting close to him before the engagement was officially broken.
But judging by Yunice’s tone, she might really have the proof.
Yunice smirked. “You call me shameless-what does that make Elsie?”
Elsie’s face turned bright red. She wanted to protest, but she was afraid Yunice really had evidence.
After all, she’d already admitted to installing pinhole cameras. Who knew what else she’d caught?
Carl’s eyes sharpened. He looked straight at Elsie. “Why aren’t you denying it? Did she hit a nerve?”
“I…” Elsie faltered, unsure how to defend herself.
Owen stared at her in disbelief, watching her expression fall apart.
Carl scoffed and turned to Owen. “This is your idea of managing a household? A complete mess-snakes and rats under one roof. One sister sleeping with the other’s fianc?, and you think that’s fine? You enable it. Great. Just great.”
Owen was too humiliated to speak. He could only glance at Elsie with shame and disappointment.
Elsie looked like she was being boiled alive. She stammered, “Owen, I swear, I didn’t mean for this to happen, Paul forced me…”
Carl barked, “He was engaged and still forced you? Then why didn’t you report it, like Yunice did?”
“I… I didn’t want to ruin Yunice’s future happiness. So I kept it in, for her sake…”
“Oh please,” Carl snapped. “If he was forcing you, what happiness could there possibly be? Sounds like you were enjoying every stolen moment.”
“I…” Elsie had nothing left to say. Tears welled in her eyes, and she suddenly bolted for the door, clearly planning to play the suicide card again.
Carl shouted, “Stop her! Tie her to a chair. If she wants to die, let her bite her tongue right here. I’ll take full responsibility!”
The Saunders family was stunned.
Owen and Lily rushed forward to help Elsie, but they were no match for the Crawford family’s well-trained staff.
Owen shouted, “Mr. Carl, if you’re mad, take it out on me! Elsie just got beaten up, her organs are injured -she can’t take rough treatment!”
Yunice said calmly, “She’s not injured. Tie her tighter.”
Owen snapped, “You’re making things up again! Elsie has an official medical report. You think you can lie your way through this?”
“She’s faking it,” Yunice replied. “People can fake psychiatric records-why not medical ones? I know enough medicine to see it. Just looking at her, it’s obvious she’s fine.”
To prove it, Carl gave a signal to his staff.
The maids left immediately to bring in someone to medically assess Elsie.
Owen, now furious, fired back, “Since we’re laying everything on the table, Mr. Carl, I’ve got something to say about Yunice too!”
He pulled out Lily’s recorded video and cast it to the television. “This is proof of Yunice bullying us in the Saunders house. She and Peggy forced my mother to drink chili oil-nearly burned her throat shut! Peggy dragged Elsie into the kitchen and beat her in the stomach. Yunice blocked the door and made us slap each other a hundred times before letting us in!”
Carl turned his gaze to the screen.
Owen, standing with his back to the TV, didn’t see what was actually playing.
When several seconds passed in silence, he realized something was wrong.
He turned-and saw that what was being displayed wasn’t a video at all.
It was just a slideshow of still images.
The photo on the screen captured Owen kissing Peggy’s cheek as she smiled sweetly at the camera, holding up her phone. The two looked affectionate-like a couple deeply in love.
Owen’s face instantly turned green.
Lily quickly cried out, “Owen, that’s the wrong video! Change it, quick!”
Owen scrambled to stop the screen mirroring and began digging through his phone for the video of Yunice’s so-called bullying. But after searching for a long time, he realized the video had vanished. He threw his phone aside and suddenly remembered Lily’s.
“Mom, do you still have the video?”
Lily checked her phone and only then noticed-it was gone from hers too.
Seeing Lily’s expression, Owen suddenly understood. He spun around, furious, and pointed at Yunice. “It was you! You hacked my phone!”
“No… not you,” he muttered, then pointed at Wyatt. “It was him! He helped you!”
Yunice simply shook her head with an expression of pity, like he was beyond saving.
Carl barked, “Enough! If you have no evidence, then shut up! Are you not embarrassed yet?”
Owen protested, “Mr. Carl, I’m telling the truth! Yunice is lying to you!”
Carl shot him a cold look. “You’re only making yourself look worse. You’ve got more excuses than lies.”
Owen floundered, then grabbed at the last thread he could find. “Then check Elsie’s injuries! That’ll prove I’m telling the truth. Just check her, and you’ll see I’m not lying…”
Carl didn’t hesitate. “Fine. Check her.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Elsie’s face turned pale. She wasn’t injured at all. In the kitchen, Peggy hadn’t touched her. She had gone to the hospital and pressured the doctor into forging a report, just to stir up conflict between Yunice and Owen. She never expected Carl to be this thorough-to actually bring in medical professionals.
Now what?
Admit it? Deny it? Either way, she was cornered. Her face turned from white to red and back again. And being tied to the chair, she couldn’t even pull her usual drama of trying to harm herself.
Yunice, calm and unbothered, sipped her tea, watching them fall into their own trap. She had tampered with Owen and Lily’s phones. All she’d done was plant a small virus that deleted the incriminating videos. Simple. Lily had been careless enough to record it where Yunice could spot it.
Soon, the sound of a siren echoed outside. Two doctors rolled in a portable ultrasound machine and entered the Crawford family living room. Without a word, they lowered Elsie-chair and all-onto her back, lifted her shirt, and began a public abdominal scan.
Elsie panicked and screamed. “Owen! Owen! Help me!”
Owen shouted, horrified, “Mr. Carl, this is humiliating! Elsie’s a girl-how can you let this happen to her in front of everyone?”
No one responded. No one even looked at him. Only Lily’s sobs filled the room. She tried to rush over to cover Elsie’s body, but two maids held her firmly in place.
Elsie’s stomach, exposed, revealed some faint bruises. But they were old-scars from previous lab treatments. Annoyed by her noise, a maid stuffed a cloth into her mouth.