Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
But Mr. Terrance raised his hand to stop them, chuckling coldly. “Let her hit them. I want to see how long she can keep it up.”
What happened to the Saunders family was none of his concern. The more chaos, the better.
Suddenly, Lily let out a piercing scream, clutching her arm as she collapsed to the floor. Everyone paused and turned. Her pale silk dress was now stained red on the arm. Blood quickly spread through the fabric. Gasps erupted. “Yunice, how could you?! That’s your mother! You’re inhuman!”
Yunice stepped closer. “I’m just a mental patient. Mental patients can’t tell who their mother is. A mental patient only knows that when a child is being beaten, a mother should shield them with her own body.”
Looking down coldly at Lily’s ashen face, she asked, “When I was being beaten, did you ever protect me the way you’re protecting him now?”
Gill’s face was flushed with fury. She shouted, “Even I, a servant, couldn’t bear to watch when my Miss was being whipped. And you, her own mother, just stood there like a heartless stone!”
Lily lay on the floor, pain stealing her voice. She frowned at the blood seeping through her fingers and thought, How can it hurt this much!
Yunice didn’t die back then? With pain like this she really was born to curse this family.
Yunice tilted her head toward Elsie. “Your mom just got hit. Aren’t you going to stop me?”
Wasn’t she always playing the doting daughter? Always the martyr? What, too scared now?
Elsie’s eyes were dark with malice, but in the end, she didn’t take a single step forward.
The circumstances were no longer the same. Back then, her performances were all for something-to steal their mother’s love, to win her brother’s affection, later to steal Paul’s heart. Every pitiful act had a purpose, and came with a reward.
But at the end of the day, she was still made of flesh and blood. Over the years, she’d been stabbed, smoked out, forced to take all kinds of drugs to keep up appearances, had her fingers twisted, her lips sewn shut, taken a knife for Owen, and later got infected with a virus, treated like an experiment. Her body had long since broken down, her immune system short.
Last time she jumped into a pool for a scene in front of Paul, she only swallowed a few gulps of water-yet ended up with pneumonia.
The doctor had told her plainly: she had virtually no immune system left. Even a common cold could kill her.
She glanced at the blood-dripping whip in Yunice’s hand, then looked at the crowd of yokels standing by the door. These people weren’t worth sacrificing her health for.
Yunice saw Elsie’s cowardice and was quite pleased. She turned to Lily. “See? The daughter you protected won’t even stand up for you.”
Elsie lowered her head in humiliation. Owen, sweating in pain, still crouched behind Lily.
But Lily, hearing Yunice’s words, gave a bitter laugh before raising her eyes with a gentle look. “As a mother, I only ever wished for my daughter’s happiness. Even if she never gave me anything in return, I’d give her everything. Because when I gave birth to her, I was happy.”
Yunice stared at her in a daze, unmoving for a long while.
She saw the cold smirk hidden behind Lily’s eyes. She knew-Lily was killing her spiritually.
What Yunice cared about was familial love. Lily’s unspoken revenge was to ensure Yunice would never have it.
She wanted Yunice to watch, to see that even if Elsie did nothing, even if Elsie was born to a criminal, she would still be the one Lily loved-and Yunice, the one Lily hated.
Elsie was born with hope. Yunice had ruined Lily’s body and face, made her fat and ugly, and because of that, Carl had rejected her.
She hated Yunice, wished Yunice had never been born.
Seeing Yunice fall silent, like her heart had been pierced, Gill couldn’t hold it in and cursed, “You’re a sick freak! You love your little criminal daughter so much? Why didn’t you pop out a whole litter in some mountain village? You’re the one who should be locked in a mental hospital and studied!”
Owen fired back, “Watch your damn mouth!”
“Oh! So you agree with her? No wonder you’re a rapist-your whole family must be sharing one brain cell!”
“Who the hell are you calling a rapist?” Owen exploded and lunged to strangle Gill.
Then, crack-a sharp sound cut through the room, followed by a scream from Elsie so loud it rang through the ceiling, making everyone flinch.
Owen froze and whipped around. Elsie had collapsed on the floor, a vivid red gash torn across her back, horrifying to look at.
Yunice held the whip, blood pooling at her feet.
“You hit her?!” Owen roared. “You’re dead!”
His adrenaline surged-he forgot his pain entirely and charged at Yunice.
Gill and Peggy tried to hold him back from both sides but were flung aside. A man’s brute force showed itself in full.
Yunice raised the whip, but Owen didn’t dodge. He grabbed the other end, and the two of them tugged back and forth.
Yunice wasn’t as strong. With one yank, Owen tore the whip from her hands.
“Miss!”
Everyone thought Owen would swing the whip at her. But instead, he lifted it high-then smashed it down.
It split cleanly in two. The barbs even scattered across the floor.
Yunice looked up, her expression cold as she stared at Owen.
His eyes were bloodshot. He ground out through clenched teeth. “Happy now? You’ve put on a real show.”
This family tearing itself apart-who did it benefit?
To Owen, Yunice looked like a fool, dragging their family through the mud just to get attention.
But Yunice calmly asked. “Are you confused about something? Who invited all these people?”
It was Owen and Lily.
They were the ones who’d called in the audience.
Yunice said. “You think I’m just venting? I’m only taking back what was owed to the girl I was.” She turned and walked up to Elsie again. Instinctively, Elsie shrank back, eyes wary.
She didn’t understand why Owen hadn’t hit back. Why was he trying to reason with Yunice?
But Yunice didn’t strike her again. She simply asked, “Back when you gave Owen that whip for his birthday, did it ever cross your mind that one day it’d be used on you?”
Gill was so furious that tears welled in her eyes. She glared at Elsie. “Who gives someone a whip as a gift? You vicious woman! You gave that thing hoping Owen would use it to beat our Miss!”
Owen’s face went pale. Truth be told, after the first time he’d used that whip on Yunice, he’d realized the problem.
He couldn’t face how cruel he’d been, so he’d put the whip away and never took it out again.
He admitted that Elsie had her little schemes, but every time he noticed them, it was too late.
He’d thought about holding her accountable, but whenever he tried, he realized he had no leg to stand on.
All Elsie had done was give him a whip. She hadn’t told him to use it on Yunice. He had chosen to do that himself. What did that have to do with her?
It had always been like this-whenever he tried to push the blame away, he couldn’t find a justification.
Because the actual harm? He had done that.
The choice? He’d made that.
No one had forced him.
Now, all he wanted was to make peace, but Yunice refused.
She had to blow the whole thing up until it got even worse.