Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Seeing that Yunice was about to dig up all the dirty laundry, Owen shot her a warning glare. “You think I haven’t figured it out? Ever since that Elsie showed up, your whole family’s been ganging up on Yunny!”
“That’s not true!” Lily fired back instantly. Her eyes were red, her voice shaky with emotion. Elsie hung her head, silently weeping, looking like she blamed herself for causing all this drama.
“You really think I don’t know anything?” Carl was getting heated. “Save your tears-I’m not some soft-hearted fool!”
He gave Owen a sharp look, then laid it all out one by one. “You say you haven’t mistreated Yunny? Then tell me how the heck did her name end up on that little brat’s records?”
Owen couldn’t sit still. “Mr. Carl, there’s no need to insult anyone!”
“You get this fired up just because I called her a little brat, but you haven’t heard a thing about what people are saying about Yunny out there?”
Owen tried to defend himself. “I’ve said it already-Elsie only used Yunice’s name to protect her reputation. Technically speaking, Yunice should be grateful to Elsie for preserving her status…”
Carl cut him off. “And now that Yunny’s back, how come none of you have given her name back?”
Owen stood his ground. “Because changing someone’s identity isn’t easy. Elsie’s been using Yunice’s name for years-her connections and social ties are already established. It’s not something you can undo overnight. Yunice has already caused a huge stir over this; she’s practically blown the house up. Haven’t I given in enough?”
Carl let out a cold laugh. “You people are really full of it. Fine, say you can’t switch it back-what then? Yunny’s wedding is coming up. What identity is she supposed to show up with? As the daughter of some human trafficker from the mountains?”
Carl jabbed a finger at Owen’s nose, yelling, “This is beyond ridiculous! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Don’t you care how badly you’re disgracing your father’s memory? Who’s your real sister here? And who’s the one that tore your family apart? Use your damn brain for once!”
“Ahh!” Lily suddenly let out a piercing scream, clutching her ears like she was losing it. “Can you all just stop? Don’t bring up that brat again…”
Owen rushed to cover Lily’s ears. His face twisted in resentment, and he turned to Carl. “Mr. Carl, I’ve respected you because you’re a senior to me, but that doesn’t give you the right to hurt my family! My mother suffered severe trauma during the fifteen years she was taken. Please don’t provoke her-if anything happens to her, you won’t be able to live with the consequences!”
Elsie watched Lily in pain, then stood up, dazed and shaken, her tear-streaked face full of guilt.
She murmured, “It’s not Mom’s fault… it’s mine… If I weren’t such a burden, no one would bring up memories that hurt her… Mom, I’m sorry. I failed you.”
She gave Lily one last longing glance, then lifted her dress and ran out the door.
Yunice saw it and immediately shouted, “Freya, shut the door!”
Freya snapped to attention, but she was a beat too late-Elsie shoved her aside and bolted out. As Elsie rushed away, Owen was the first to chase after her. “Elsie, don’t do anything stupid!”
A long time passed, and neither Owen nor Elsie came back. It looked like he hadn’t caught up to her. Lily, looking worried, stood up and called weakly for Elsie-but the emotional strain was too much; she suddenly collapsed onto the table.
That was when Carl realized things were getting serious. Freya caught Lily and frowned. “Boss, she’s passed out. Should we get her to a hospital?”
If anything happened to Lily, Carl would have a hard time explaining it. He didn’t hesitate. “Take her to the hospital.”
Yunice figured Lily was faking it, but she couldn’t risk looking too cold in front of Carl-otherwise, she’d just be playing into Lily’s hands. So she followed Carl and helped get Lily into the car.
On the way to the hospital, Carl sat with a deep frown. “That girl’s pretty intense. You don’t think she’s really going to do something drastic, do you?”
Yunice glanced at him, then lowered her eyes. Elsie was a master manipulator, and ruthless with herself too. She’d used this same trick plenty of times before. Every time someone mentioned she was the daughter of traffickers, she’d threaten to kill herself. No one wanted to be blamed for driving someone to suicide, so eventually, people just stopped bringing it up. Now even Carl had fallen for it.
Yunice said quietly, “Mr. Carl, maybe just let it go.”
Carl didn’t catch it. “What?”
She looked up, her tear-bright eyes calm as she said, “You don’t have to fight for me anymore. So what if I don’t have a name or an identity? I’m still my dad’s daughter. No matter what anyone else says, that’ll never change.”
Carl was taken aback, then slowly furrowed his brow again. Seeing how calm and resigned Yunice was made his blood boil. “Your identity came from your father-if he never gave it up, no one else has any right to touch it. And Elsie? What even is she? The Saunders family fed her, housed her-she should be thankful she had a roof over her head. What right does she have to steal what’s yours? That little leech is living in your place like she belongs. She’s the one who should be ashamed, not you!”
He was cursing her out, but in his heart, something else hit him. For a second there, he had actually felt sorry for Elsie. No one got to choose where they came from. If she had a choice, Elsie probably wouldn’t have wanted to be born into a trafficker’s family either.
When Carl saw Elsie run out, his first thought was that the traffickers were to blame-but not Elsie. Hearing Yunice now accepting her fate suddenly snapped him out of it. Elsie might be innocent, but Yunice was even more so. He had been Will’s best friend. The one he was supposed to protect was Will’s daughter-not Elsie.
With his stance now firm, Carl felt a pang of guilt for that fleeting moment of hesitation earlier. Freya added fuel to the fire. “If someone really wants to die, you can’t stop them; if you can stop them, then they never really meant it.” Women understood women best-and every trick Elsie had pulled, Freya had seen before.
Yunice looked at Freya in surprise. She’d assumed their pool game the other day had turned them into rivals; she didn’t expect Freya to take her side. Freya raised a brow and said, “I work for the boss; if he’s protecting you, what sense would it make for me to go against him?”
Yunice looked at her with a curious, amused expression; she’d been wanting to ask about Freya and Carl’s relationship for a while. It was obvious Freya had feelings for Carl-but Carl’s attitude was harder to read. At that moment, the two locked eyes. Just as Yunice was about to test the waters and ask something, the whole car jolted violently.
Yunice, seated in the back with too much empty space around her, was flung straight into Freya’s arms from the force. Freya caught her, and Yunice ended up smacking right into her soft chest. Before they could even feel awkward about it, the car jolted again. Carl reached out to steady Lily, who nearly rolled off her seat. Freya turned her head back; her expression dimmed, just for a second.
Up front, the driver fought to steady the wheel, then glanced back to report, “Boss, I think there was a pileup behind us. We got clipped.” Freya rolled down the window. Yunice looked out at the chaos outside. A mess of cars had crashed into one another; several were piled on the emergency lane, smoking from crumpled hoods. Carl’s car slowly steadied again.
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Carl looked at her. But Yunice had already stepped out. “Mr. Carl, you go ahead to the hospital first. I’ll wait for Wyatt; we’ll come find you together.” Carl opened his mouth to speak, but Yunice went on, “Rainier Arc Street isn’t safe. I won’t feel right until I see him.”
Carl hesitated, then said nothing. Freya stood up. “I’ll stay with you.” “I’ll be fine,” Yunice said. “You’re needed more at the hospital. You should stay with Mr. Carl.” With that, she waved and shut the door behind her.
She stood by the roadside, waiting. Freya looked back at Carl, wanting to speak, but held back. Carl seemed deep in thought. After a moment, he raised a hand. “Let’s go.” Freya’s face was tight with worry. She turned to look out the window, watching Yunice’s figure get farther and farther away.
Riverston Street was relatively safe. Things should…be fine, right? Yunice kept checking the time. Five minutes had passed, and still no sign of Wyatt or his so-called backup.
A little more time passed, but she not only failed to see Wyatt’s car, she noticed the road leading to Riverston Street had been blocked off. Meanwhile, back at the Powell mansion, the birthday banquet still hadn’t ended. Jackson’s face was flushed with drink; his joy clearly genuine. Taylor, clinging to Paul’s arm, received a message from Alan. There had been a car crash on Rainier Arc Street, but the identities of those involved were still unknown.
Taylor asked Paul if he knew anything; she asked several times before Paul finally looked at her. “What?” Seeing how out of it he looked, Taylor instantly lost all patience. Useless.
At that moment, Jensen, looking sharp in his suit, walked up to Jackson and bent down to whisper something in his ear. After Jensen finished, Jackson’s gaze darkened; his face showed neither delight nor anger, just a calm remark- “Since it’s already done, take care of that Saunders girl too.”
“Which one from the Saunders family?”
Jackson snapped, “Elsie.” That idiot gave him a headache-better to deal with her now and be done with it. Jensen gave a short nod, then turned and left to carry out the order.
“Dad!” Jensen turned his head and saw Paul rushing over. Even now, Paul couldn’t calm down. He asked, “Dad, is Wyatt really going to die this time?” Jensen shot him a glance. “Why are you panicking?”
Paul didn’t dare admit it was because this was the first time he was involved in something that might get someone killed. His conscience and sense of morality were at war. But if he didn’t kill Wyatt, Wyatt would kill him. Watt pushed me into this.
Jensen’s eyes were full of cold fury. “There’s no way he’s getting out of this.” Paul, still uneasy, searched for something else to ask. “Then what’s grandpa going to do with…?”
If Wyatt died, Yunice would become a dead piece on the board. Jensen said, “Your grandfather didn’t say.” Which meant she was no longer worth considering. Of course, Jensen never mentioned what he planned to do with Elsie. Paul inexplicably felt a small wave of relief. Nervously, he stepped aside.
On Rainier Arc Street, a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle was set up by the window of a tall building. Only the black muzzle poked through the gap in the curtains. The shot hit its target. The black Vertex jolted to the side, but somehow kept moving forward. Behind the curtain, the man clenched a cigarette between his teeth, sharp eyes narrowing. That car’s bulletproofing is solid.
He looked through the scope again, tracking the Vertex and waiting for his next clean shot. Inside the Vertex, Jordan wrestled with the steering wheel. The windshield in front of him already had several impact craters, spiderweb cracks radiating out from each point. Cars all around were trying to force them in; all he could do was swerve hard enough for the tires to screech sparks against the asphalt.
From Riverston Street’s direction, a black cloud rolled in, blotting out the sun. Within seconds, raindrops started pelting the windows. Then came the downpour-fierce and fast. Jordan flipped on the wipers. They swished back and forth in rhythm, each pass clearing the windshield just long enough for the view to blur again with the next rush of rain.
At the same time, Yunice’s car was also pushing forward along Rainier Arc Street, struggling against the storm… Owen was also driving, having entered Rainier Arc Street. He had barely managed to catch up to Elsie and persuade her to come back. But once they got back on the road, there were barricades everywhere; the only way through was Rainier Arc Street.
The rain was pouring. On the roadside barriers, several vehicles with flashing emergency lights were parked. Ahead, dark clouds pressed low, the heavy rain washed everything into a blur. Elsie said nervously, “Owen, slow down-visibility’s awful here.” No sooner had she said it than-bang!
Normally, a rear-ended car would stop and demand an explanation-but the vehicle in front just kept driving like nothing had happened. Owen, confused, had no choice but to keep going. Yunice drove through the rain; someone had just hit her from behind, but she had no time to argue about it. One hand on the wheel, she kept trying to call Wyatt, but no one picked up. With no better option, she drove toward where the gunshots had come from earlier, relying purely on instinct.
In the tall building, the voice in the sniper’s earpiece crackled, “Still no hit?” The man gripping the McMillan replied darkly, “That bastard’s got nine lives. Even the heavens are on his side.” The rain made shooting much harder. The voice snapped, “I don’t care; Wyatt must die today!”
“You’re so damn annoying,” the man muttered, yanking out his Bluetooth earpiece and tossing it straight out the window. He flicked the burnt-out cigarette to the floor, tilted his head back to the scope, and realigned his shot on the target. Just then, he noticed two more vehicles approaching the sniper zone.
One of the cars had a license plate that matched the second assassination target for today-Elsie. She was just a small fry. The man didn’t even think she was worth wasting a bullet on. He aimed at Wyatt’s car and pulled the trigger. The massive impact made Jordan lose control of the steering wheel; the vehicle suddenly veered to the side.
Owen, driving straight toward them, couldn’t swerve in time. His car scraped against Wyatt’s, spun out again, and slammed right into Yunice’s car. In the pouring rain, Yunice had just rolled down her window to wave at Wyatt when she saw Owen’s car barreling toward her. The distance between them closed fast. Owen’s eyes widened-he saw her too!
A deafening crash. Yunice’s car was flipped on impact; Owen’s speed had been too high. After flipping her car, he crashed into several more before finally slamming into a guardrail. As soon as his car stopped, Owen whipped around to check on Yunice. He saw her car rolling violently after the hit, then hurling her out as it tumbled.
Yunice hit the ground hard, rolled twice, and finally landed on the asphalt, soaked by the pounding rain. “Yunny!” Owen kicked open the crumpled car door and jumped out. “Owen…” Just then, Elsie’s weak voice called out behind him. “Owen, don’t leave me here alone… I’m in so much pain…”
In the storm, Owen turned to look-Elsie was slumped in her seat, her injuries unclear, but she looked like she was barely hanging on. Tears slid down from the corners of her eyes as she whispered, “Owen, you should go… They’re after us. If you leave me here, they won’t chase you anymore…”