Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
“You don’t-but Wyatt does!” Owen snapped. “You clearly talked him into making this happen!”
Paul sneered. “So that’s why you were cozying up to him on the terrace at the party-bumering him up to do your dirty work.”
Owen looked at Yunice with even more contempt. “Did you forget how Madam Linda cursed you out! Have some shame. Even if you’ve lost all self-respect, the Saunders family hasn’t.”
“If I have to shame, then what does that make Elsie?”
Paul cut in impatiently. “Stop comparing yourself to Elsie. I love her; we’re in a real relationship. You sold yourself. Just like the girls who work clubs and lounges-no, worse. At least they get paid. You give it away for free. Pathetic.”
His rage came out in a flood-not so much defending Elsie as it was exposing his own bitterness, his own broken pride.
“Watch your mouth, Paul!” Owen barked. Paul’s words had crossed a line even Owen couldn’t-
Yunice was still his sister. Only he had the right to scold her-Paul had no place talking to her like that.
“Yunice and Wyatt are engaged. So what if they’re a little close?” Owen said sharply. “It’s a hell of a lot better than certain people who shack up like they’re married, then pretend it never happened. Paul, anyone who betrays someone who truly loves them should swallow a thousand needles. Can you really say you’ve done right by Elsie?”
The Daughter in the Shadows
Paul’s face darkened. “We’re talking about her. Why drag me into this again? It’s Grandpa and Dad who won’t acknowledge Elsie, not me. I never said I wouldn’t take responsibility.”
Owen scoffed. “What use is a coward like you to her anyway? I might as well let Elsie marry into a decent family rather than watching you chase after your wealth.”
Yunice watched the two men tear into each other with a cold sneer. When people were rotten enough, you didn’t have to lift a finger. Just let their interests clash.
“What do you mean?” Paul picked up on the jab, visibly annoyed.
Owen jabbed him right in the ego. “It’s all over Silverbrough; the Powell family keeps getting crushed by Wyatt.”
“Isn’t that why you’re marrying Taylor? She’s rich and powerful; that’ll keep you living off a woman for the rest of your life!”
Paul’s face flushed bright red. He yanked his tie loose, furious. “Say that again, I’ll knock you so senseless you’ll be drinking from a straw the rest of your life!”
“I dare you. I’ll-“
“Go ahead, hit me! I’ve had it with your whole damn Powell family!” Owen raised his fist too.
Just as the two were about to come to blows-crash! Lily hurled a vase at the floor; it shattered loudly, sending shards flying and stopping the fight cold.
She cried out, voice raw and shaking, “What the heck are you two still fighting about? Isn’t Elsie’s hand more important right now?”
Stumbling toward Yunice, she dropped to her knees with a thud on the broken porcelain. Her voice rasped, “Yunny… it’s all my fault, every bit of it. Elsie’s innocent. Please, I’m begging you, give her a chance…”
Blood seeped from Lily’s knees where the sharp edges had cut into her skin.
Panicked, Owen shoved Paul aside and rushed forward to help her. But Lily refused to get up.
Her eyes locked onto Yunice, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded, “Your brother said if Elsie’s fingers don’t get treated within twelve hours, the swelling will deform them permanently. You studied medicine with your dad; you know I’m not lying…”
“I know you blame me-you think I pushed you out as a scapegoat in the Powell family. But you’re wrong. That evidence was flawed; it misled me. But I always believed in you. Even if you did do it, I knew someone must’ve forced your hand. I never stopped believing in you.”
“Thought the same thing. You really can’t blame Mom for that.”
“Trying to flip the script again?”
Yunice said coldly, “Was it really a mistake in the file-or did you smear your finger on it on purpose?”
The report had been rushed; the ink hadn’t dried completely. A simple swipe would’ve smudged it-Lily had done that deliberately to clear Elsie’s name.
That so-called belief in her was nothing more than guilt-her way of easing a guilty conscience. It was her way of pretending the damage had never happened, wiping the slate clean with a single line that claimed she had saved her too, as if that somehow canceled everything else out.
When Yunice refused to let it go, Lily looked wronged. “Fine. Say I did it. I’m admitting it. I’ll even kneel to you if that’s what it takes!”
True to her word, Lily bent at the waist and lowered her forehead toward the sharp shards on the floor, clearly ready to bloody herself to win some sympathy.
Owen caught her just in time, arms tight around her; he wasn’t about to let her do that.
Paul, who’d had enough, snapped, “Yunice, no matter what she did, Madam Lily is still mother. You’re really gonna let her beg and kneel to you like this? Aren’t you afraid you’ll shave years off your own life?”
Yunice shot back, “Did I ask her to beg me?”
“Well, you forced her into it!”
This whole performance-the tears, the blood, the kneeling-Elsie always used. Whoever looked more pitiful got to be ‘right.’
“If emotional blackmail’s your game, that’s fine by me.”
At Yunice’s words, Lily’s eyes lit up with hope.
But Yunice’s voice stayed ice-cold. “Is it really so hard to admit you don’t love me? I’d rather you spell out what you want than keep using fake motherly love to guilt me into doing things.”
Lily choked up again. “That’s not true.”
“What now-gonna say I’m overthinking it? That I’m the one with a black mark on my soul?” Yunice laughed bitterly and tugged up the hem of her pants. “Take a look.”
She was wearing light beige pants, the kind that stained easily and showed everything. Blood had already seeped through the fabric for quite some time, but no one had noticed.
Not until she pointed it out and lifted her leg did they finally see the cut on her ankle.
Lily stared at Yunice’s expression and froze. Owen turned away and began rummaging through the medical kit.
Yunice met Lily’s gaze and said steadily, “You don’t love me. Stop forcing yourself to pretend you do.”
Lily’s lips trembled; tears slid silently down her cheeks. No one could say how much of it was genuine.
Yunice let her pant leg fall and said softly, “You say you care about me, that when you threw that vase, you didn’t aim it between Owen and Paul. You threw it at me. You love me but didn’t want the shards to hit Elsie, so you stood protectively in front of her bed.”
Lily shook her head and rushed to explain, “That’s not it; I was just so angry I lost control. I didn’t mean to hurt you…”
“Maybe you didn’t mean to hurt me. But that’s the thing-calculations. You thought about everyone else’s safety but mine.”
Paul frowned. “You’re blowing this way out of proportion. Madam Lily just didn’t think that far.”
“Shut up,” Yunice snapped. “You’re an only child. You’ll never understand what it’s like to grow up in a family with more than one kid.”
“You really think your grandfather didn’t favor your dad over Wyatt? You don’t know the answer to that?”
Paul fired back, “Wyatt’s a bastard. Of course, it’s different.”
But the moment the words left his mouth, Lily’s face went pale, like she’d been stabbed right through the heart.
Realizing what he’d said, Paul stiffened awkwardly. “Madam Lily, I didn’t mean it like that…”
Elsie was born from a kidnapping-technically a child of sin. She wasn’t any different from Wyatt.
Lily closed her eyes, then opened them slowly. Her voice trembled, scattered. “I loved all of you the same. How could I not? When they first took me into those mountains, I was terrified and hopeless, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You were only four days old. Every day, I cried and cried, wondering if a baby that tiny-who couldn’t move or speak-was screaming from hunger. Was anyone feeding you without me there? I still had milk, but I was so scared and anxious it nearly dried up. And I thought, no-I have to hold on. What if I’m rescued? I need to be able to feed you. So I forced myself. I did everything I could to keep the milk flowing. Eventually, I started bleeding. Do you have any idea how painful that is? Do you know what it feels like to have mastitis?”
Tears streamed down Lily’s face as she clutched her chest. “I got a fever from the infection. I was… a bastard rolled me up in a mat and left me there to die. I could barely breathe, but even then, I kept repeating your names. It was the thought of you three that kept me alive. Do you understand that?”
Even Paul was moved by the pain in her story. He looked over at Yunice, frowning in disapproval. She had tears in her eyes, too-but her face remained distant, unreadable. Even after all that, she stood like a block of stone.
“No heart,” Paul muttered under his breath.