Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Yunice raised her eyes again. “I didn’t come here to reminisce. If you won’t help Oscar, I will.”
Then she turned to Owen. “What did Elsie say to you before she died?”
Yunice knew Elsie well-she was always clear about her goals. If she knew she was dying, there was no way she wouldn’t leave a final message. If someone had harmed her, she would’ve told Owen.
Peggy frowned like she was trying to remember, then suddenly said loudly, “That’s right, Owen, didn’t you ask her? I remember hearing you ask!”
“So, who was it that killed Elsie?”
Elianna also looked at Owen. With all the online chatter around the case, she was curious like everyone else.
Owen frowned. “Elsie barely had the strength to speak. I couldn’t make out who she said.”
Yunice cut in sharply, “So you do know it wasn’t Oscar, right?”
Peggy was stunned. “But didn’t Owen just say he couldn’t hear clearly? He didn’t say it wasn’t Oscar-” If it wasn’t Oscar, that would mean he might come back to claim his share of the inheritance.
Yunice sneered and reminded Peggy, “The inheritance was written into my father’s will. Even if my brother ends up in prison, what’s his stays under his name.” The only way someone else could get the inheritance was by impersonating, like Elsie did.
Peggy’s face turned red with embarrassment, exposed by Yunice’s words.
Yunice turned calmly to Owen again, her tone mocking. “Oscar is the obvious first suspect. So when Elsie left her final words, we were all subconsciously inclined to interpret whatever name she said as ‘Oscar.’ If she had said Oscar-even if it was faint-you’d have recognized the sound. But you said you couldn’t make it out at all. That means the name she said sounded nothing like Oscar. Not even a single syllable matched.”
Peggy turned to Owen in surprise. Owen still frowned but didn’t refute Yunice’s deduction. Elianna looked like she was watching a juicy drama unfold.
At that moment, Yunice stood up. “Now that I know my brother’s not the one, I can rest easy.” She sneered as she added, “The Saunders family is already falling apart. I’m sure without my brother around, you all must be sleeping even better these days.”
With a cold laugh, Yunice walked out. Elianna quickly got up and followed.
Owen and Lily sat there, feeling deeply unsettled. There was a high chance Oscar had been wrongfully accused. His arrest hadn’t done the Saunders family any good. Should they help clear Oscar’s name?
Yunice drove Elianna away from the Saunders home. As soon as the front of their car pulled out, another vehicle’s headlights flashed directly at them, blinding Yunice through the windshield. She slowed down, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the glare. Only then did she roll down the window and glance outside.
A car was parked by the roadside, and someone was standing next to the door. It was Paul. His car was positioned sideways in the middle of the road, completely blocking Yunice’s path. So this was an ambush?
Yunice’s car slowed to a stop. Elianna caught on quickly and grabbed Yunice’s wrist. “Lock the doors! I’ll call Wyatt!”
“Paul’s crazy-he’s mentally unstable! If you get out now, he’ll kill you!”
What terrified Elianna the most was becoming collateral damage. What if Paul killed Yunice and then came for her!
Yunice didn’t get out recklessly. People like Paul were capable of anything. Without knowing the full situation, she wasn’t going to put herself in danger. Paul didn’t approach either. He just smirked and raised his phone to his ear. A moment later, Elianna’s phone started ringing.
She looked at the caller ID and broke out in goosebumps. “It’s Paul…”
“Pick up,” Yunice said calmly.
Gritting her teeth, Elianna answered. Paul’s lazy voice came through the speaker. “Let Yunice answer.”
Yunice reached out, took the phone from her hand, and said in a low voice, “What do you want?”
“Backing down already?” Paul chuckled darkly. “I thought hanging around Wyatt would’ve toughened you up.”
Yunice snapped, “Spit it out.”
“Come down. Let’s talk.”
She said nothing. As expected, after a few seconds, Paul dropped the games and got to the point. “Don’t you want to know more about your brother’s case?”
“You know something?” Yunice asked, baiting him.
Paul sneered. “Of course.”
“I won’t believe you unless you were personally involved.”
His eyebrows lifted unevenly. With a greasy grin, he said, “You could say I was.”
“Which part did you help with? The assault? Drugging? The cover-up? Framing him?”
Paul snorted. “Get out of the car, and I’ll tell you.”
As soon as she heard that, Elianna grabbed Yunice again. “I know you care about your brother, but you can’t get out! If anything happens to you, Wyatt will blame me!”
“Yunice, don’t be stupid! Don’t drag me into this!”
Yunice glanced at her. Does she think I’m that dumb?
She looked through the windshield toward Paul with a mocking expression. Why should she get out! Did he think blocking her in would scare her?
He still underestimated her-just like always. Yunice’s face went cold. Her right hand pulled the handbrake as she said, “Buckle up.”
Elianna let out a surprised yelp. Before she could react, the car lunged forward, slamming her back against the seat as the front of the car shot straight toward Paul! She screamed, clinging to the grab handle like it was a lifeline.
Outside the windshield, Paul clearly hadn’t expected this move. He flinched and reflexively dove out of the way! Just before slamming into Paul’s car, Yunice yanked the steering wheel. The vehicle swerved, brushing past Paul and his car by mere inches before flying forward! Paul was clipped. Losing his balance, he toppled over and crashed into the roadside ditch with a thud.
Yunice brought the car to a stop. Next to her, Elianna was curled up, clutching her chest and breathing rapidly, her eyes wide in shock.
Then she heard a car door open. Startled, she whipped her head around, thinking Paul had dragged himself up and was about to wrench open the door. But it was Yunice who had pushed the door open and stepped out.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
The road was clear now-why wasn’t she leaving? Instead of checking on Paul, Yunice slowly crouched down and pulled a steel pipe from under the driver’s seat. Then she walked calmly to the side of the road and squatted down.
The streetlights were sparse here, and visibility was low. Paul, in the ditch, looked like some rat rummaging through a sewer. The ditch wasn’t deep. He quickly found footing and started pulling himself up by the tufts of grass.
That’s when he felt pressure-and pain-on the top of his head. His face darkened. He looked up.
A halo of light surrounded the figure above him. Within it, he saw the outline of a woman. A slender figure crouched at the edge, her wrist delicate, gripping one end of a long rod. One end was in her soft hand. The other was pressed against his skull, holding him in place.
“Shit…” Paul let out a low growl. This bitch actually dared to toy with me like this? He reached up, grabbing at the steel pipe, intending to yank Yunice into the ditch and strangle her right then and there. Let’s see who the real boss is. Wyatt wasn’t around. Who the hell did she think she was?
But before his fingers even grazed the pipe, it whipped through the air with a sharp gust-and smashed into his temple with a sickening crack.
Paul’s vision went black, and he fell straight back into the ditch. It took him more than ten seconds to come to. Clutching his head through gritted teeth, he slowly started to get up again. But just as he lifted his head, that same steel pipe pressed down on his skull once more.
Paul: His face turned a ghastly shade, and his teeth ground so hard they nearly cracked. He was furious-but no matter how angry he got, he didn’t dare move a muscle. He knew exactly what Yunice meant: if he so much as twitched, she’d strike again. The steel pipe felt like it was filled with lead. A hit in the wrong place could kill a man. Paul might be violent, but he wasn’t suicidal. Yunice found the whole scene hilarious. “That scowl’s fierce-real gangster-vibes. But your eyes? Why do they look so scared?” She tilted her head and grinned. “Paul, do you really think making faces like that gives you the same presence as Wyatt?” Then she burst out laughing. The pipe on Paul’s head slowly slid down, lifting his chin with a taunting touch, forcing him to look up at her. Yunice’s gaze swept across the changes in his skin. “Did you get work done to get rid of the letters on your face? Looks like it didn’t turn out too well.” Then she added, “You still haven’t told me-what did you do to piss my brother off so bad he carved your face?” Paul’s face flushed red, then turned green, then red again, teeth clenched so hard his jaw trembled. Seeing the shift in his expression, Yunice’s smile faded. Quietly, she pulled the pipe back from under his chin. Paul wasn’t a complete idiot. The change in her energy told him she was about to strike again, and he quickly said, “It was because of Wyatt!” “Wyatt told your brothers about me on purpose-he wanted to force them to take a side and turn against me. Sure, Oscar had carved his face and turned him into an enemy, but Owen hadn’t lifted a finger to defend Yunice. Yunice had guessed Oscar’s actions were somehow tied to her. She hadn’t expected Wyatt’s hand was in it, too. She pressed further. “So you held a grudge against my brother. You killed Elsie and framed him, thinking you could get back at both of us in one move.” Paul didn’t deny it right away. Instead, he let out a twisted laugh. The way he looked at Yunice-like she was some clueless clown-made her skin crawl. “I wasn’t the one who killed Elsie,” he said.
“Then who was?” Yunice demanded. Paul held out a hand. “Pull me up, and I’ll tell you.” “Try that again, and I’ll beat you,” she warned flatly. “…” Paul still wouldn’t behave. He smirked and said mysteriously, “You should ask Wyatt instead. He knows better than I do…” Then, like a lightbulb had gone off, he added with a sly smile, “Oh-wait. Don’t tell me Wyatt didn’t say anything to you? Makes sense, I guess… after all, the one who framed your brother was his…” He deliberately stopped right at the most crucial moment and fell silent. Yunice’s lips pressed into a hard line. She stood up-and swung the pipe again! As Paul collapsed with a groan, she leapt down into the ditch after him in a fit of rage. From the roadside, Elianna let out a gasp. She was scared out of her mind, but still cursed under her breath and jumped out of the car to check on Yunice. The ditch was pitch black-just two shadows thrashing about. Elianna quickly turned on her phone flashlight and aimed it down. There was Yunice, standing tall, gripping the steel pipe like a nail driver, slamming it into Paul’s body again and again. Her arms weren’t strong enough to run the pipe through him, but the blows were more than enough to make Paul howl in pain and twist away. Elianna took two steps back in terror. Yunice-who always acted delicate and soft-had just revealed her real self. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. At some point, the pipe struck something sensitive-Paul coughed up blood on the spot. Yunice, like a woman possessed, didn’t stop. Paul couldn’t defend himself. He could only crawl backward, spitting up frothy blood, one hand raised in surrender. “It was Morgan!” “Morgan was the one who framed your brother!” Yunice froze. She slowly crouched down in front of him and asked, “How do you know it was Morgan?” “What do you mean how?” Paul snapped. “I saw it with my own eyes!” Yunice narrowed her eyes. “Why would you see it? You and Morgan don’t even talk. You expect me to believe he let you watch while he committed a crime? Paul snorted, laughing at her naivety. “You forgot Morgan stole my woman? You know what kind of freak he is.” Of course Yunice knew. Paul only acted crazy-Morgan was crazy. With his super-male gene, Morgan’s personality was inherently unstable. Him stealing Paul’s woman and then showing off just for spite made perfect sense. Yunice asked, “What proof do you have that it was him?”
“I don’t have proof,” Paul sneered, “but you-after I’ve told you the truth, why don’t you believe me? You scared this’ll mess things up between you and Wyatt?”
“On one side, you’ve got your own brother. On the other, the man Wyatt’s protecting. You’re afraid that once you know the truth, you’ll humiliate yourself, aren’t you?”
He smirked, voice mocking. “Guess you really are a coward. Elsie was killed by Morgan. Then he lured Oscar over to take the fall for him.”
“But if you used your brain for once, you’d figure it out-Morgan’s a psycho. You really think he’s smart enough to clean up all the evidence by himself? The reason the police haven’t found a second suspect is because someone powerful is pulling strings behind the scenes.”
Yunice gave a cold laugh. “So what you’re trying to say is, Wyatt helped Morgan but not me?”
Paul replied smoothly. “I get it. You want a good life with Wyatt. You rely on him, after all. And sure, maybe he helped Morgan walk free, but that doesn’t mean he won’t help you. Maybe he’ll even pull some strings and shave a few years off your brother’s sentence. You should be grateful.”
“Let’s just pretend tonight never happened. I never said Morgan was the one who did it, and you can keep pretending you don’t know. Go home, play the perfect couple with Wyatt. Let your brother do a few years in prison-it’s a small price to pay for a lifetime of security.”