Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
“These are for you. I checked carefully – none of them are scratched.”
Yunice turned her head and saw that Gill had removed all the jewelry Yunice had given her, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and was holding it out.
Gill said, “I can take the clothes off and wash them before returning them to you.”
Yunice looked up. “Are you really going to treat me like a stranger?”
Gill said seriously, “But these things are so expensive…”
Yunice replied. “No matter how expensive, they’re meant to be used. I gave them to you – so take them.”
“Pavilion Hall isn’t my turf. I can’t bring you with me. The only things I can give you are these material items.”
If Yunice took Gill with her, Gill would only become her accessory – always revolving around her.
But Yunice understood clearly that she had no fixed goals. She was like the wind, never knowing where she’d land next. She didn’t want to delay Gill’s future.
Gill should have her own goals, her own world.
Yunice looked at Gill’s deli – business was booming. She’d even added two more food trucks and hired two employees.
Yunice said, “I think you can open a franchise. While I still have people backing me, now’s the time to grow the business.”
Gill looked confused. “I don’t have such big ambitions…”
Yunice turned to look at her. “That’s called building wealth. Don’t think of it as working for yourself – think of it as working for the two of us. If Wyatt ever dumps me, you’ll be my emergency food supply, got it?”
Gill stared, dumbfounded. After several seconds, she grabbed onto the side of Yunice’s scooter and said, “Damn, you really think ahead…”
Yunice pushed the handkerchief-wrapped jewelry back into her hands. “I’ll teach you how to manage the chain stores. Just go for it. At least for now, we can afford to lose.”
If she and Wyatt fell out, they might never get this kind of opportunity again.
Gill nodded hard. “Alright!”
As Yunice watched Gill get out of the car, her heart felt hollow.
She’d brought Gill back to the Saunders family today on purpose – to accelerate its collapse. It wouldn’t be long before Cloud Hospital was hers again.
But after taking down the Saunders family… then what?
What was she supposed to do?
She didn’t know. She couldn’t see that far ahead. So she just took what opportunities she could, whenever they came.
At that moment, Elsie was tangled up with Morgan again.
They had just finished going at it, and Morgan got out of bed without even glancing at the arm Elsie had scratched and was now bleeding.
“Don’t talk to me about your issues with Yunice,” Morgan said as he drank water. “You and I are having a secret fling – nothing public. Don’t expect me to back you up.”
Elsie sat behind him, twirling her hair flirtatiously. “But I heard your brother-in-law is Wyatt. And Wyatt dotes on you. He gives you whatever you want. So if you went to him in your sister’s name and asked him to teach Yunice a lesson, wouldn’t he be willing?”
Morgan paused mid-sip. Elsie noticed the hesitation and smiled secretly.
Got him.
Morgan was just like Owen and Paul – overconfident, thin-skinned, and incredibly easy to manipulate. Just say a few strategic things and they’d blow up and expose themselves.
Judging by Morgan’s reaction, it looked like she’d guessed right.
‘s Name
Morgan curled his lips into a sinister smile at Elsie. “You know about my sister?”
Elsie shrank back, startled by the look on his face. “T-that’s just something everybody knows.”
She didn’t even finish her sentence before she was thrown onto the bed.
Morgan lunged forward, grabbing her neck with one hand. His bloodshot eyes glinted with a cold sneer. “What did you say? Everybody knows about her, huh?”
How could Elsie have known that his sister was his one soft spot-the one thing no one ever dared to bring up in front of him?
And yet she had the nerve to go and poke the bear?
With one hand alone, Morgan had her gasping for air. Then both hands closed around her neck, squeezing even harder in his frenzy.
Elsie’s face turned purple as the veins in her temples bulged.
Her eyeballs looked like they were about to pop out, but Morgan still didn’t let go.
She kicked her legs a few times in a panic-then went limp.
Still, Morgan didn’t let go.
Only when heavy, urgent knocking came from the hotel room door did he snap out of it.
He glanced at the unmoving Elsie on the bed, still completely calm. Someone would deal with the mess.
He climbed off her, pulled out a wet wipe to clean his hands, then strolled toward the door and cracked it open just a sliver.
His eyes were cold and wary as he peeked through.
But before he could react, the door was shoved wide open from the other side.
“Morgan, it’s me.”
“M… Maine?” Morgan froze when he saw who it was. Guilt flashed across his face as he shifted to block her view inside the room.
But Maine wasn’t stupid. She caught his nervous energy immediately and pushed past him. “What did you do?”
She looked at the messy bed and let out a breath of relief when she saw a woman lying on it.
If it was just him playing with some girl, that wasn’t a big deal.
She strode forward. Morgan made a half-hearted attempt to stop her but quickly gave up.
Then Maine got a closer look and realized something was off. Her face changed. “Why isn’t she moving? Is she dead or high?”
Morgan shrugged. “I just choked her a little. Who knew she couldn’t handle it?”
Maine frowned. “I told you to stop playing those kinds of games!”
Morgan didn’t even flinch-completely unfazed.
Maine looked at the girl on the bed like a corpse and muttered, “Wyatt spoiled you rotten. If Nora wakes and sees what you’ve become… she’ll be so disappointed.”
Morgan’s face darkened, but he said nothing.
Maine went on talking to herself. “Whatever. First, deal with this before it turns into a bigger mess.”
Then she asked, “Does she have any family? Call them anonymously. Say she got messed up by someone-don’t mention who.”