The Daughter in the Shadows (by Una Norris) novel Chapter 39

Chapter 39 The Stakes Are Bloody

Someone nearby cursed under their breath, yelling at the guy to hurry up.

Yunice looked around and figured this was probably some kind of upscale gambling den.

Finished

They walked all the way to the back. Jordan pulled back a curtain and stepped through first. Just as Yunice was about to follow, someone suddenly tumbled out at her feet.

The man was curled up on the floor, screaming in pain, clutching his thumb–which was gone, and gushing blood

Yunice didn’t even flinch. She hated being hit, but blood and gore didn’t scare her.

She calmly stepped over the injured man and stood behind Wyatt alongside Jordan, careful to avoid standing dead center and drawing attention.

As her slight frame passed by, Wyatt–seated at the card table–glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He twirled a domino between his fingers, then set it aside and leaned back, finally looking at the man bleeding on the floor.

Someone crouched down and yanked the guy’s hair to force his head up. “You knew the pill had side effects, and you still pushed Wyatt to sign off on it in bulk? How much did the Powell family pay you?”

Yunice’s fingers clenched. She instinctively glanced at Wyatt. Am I even supposed to be hearing this?

Wyatt didn’t say a word–just watched, entertained.

He couldn’t stand up, let alone beat anyone himself. Stuff like this, he never got directly involved in.

The guy on the ground sobbed and pleaded. “No, Wyatt, I swear–there’s no way I knew the Alphasirox pills had side effects

Before he could finish, there was a flash of metal. He let out another blood–curdling scream–he was no longer clutching just his thumb, but his entire hand.

Four fingers had been chopped clean off.

And it wasn’t over. The bald man with the knife grabbed the guy’s other hand, clearly ready to do the same.

The man broke down./”It was Jensen! Jensen gave me ten million!”

The bald man pressed a foot down on the guy’s one good hand, waiting for more.

The man’s face was ashen. He kept gasping, licking his lips between each word. “Jensen told me to cover up the side effects… Once the drug hit the market, Wyatt would be hit with massive lawsuits, Huaxin’s reputation would crash, and the old man would never acknowledge him as part of the Powell family…”

Yunice looked at Wyatt again. So he’s the old man’s illegitimate son–and Jensen’s biggest threat.

Jensen was pushing forty with a mediocre career, so of course he saw Wyatt as a thorn in his side.

And Wyatt–while sharp in business–was constantly backstabbed by his own people. He didn’t know medicine, so he had to trust whatever the department heads told him. That’s how he’d almost walked straight into a trap.

Once the guy had confessed, he was useless.

The young man across from him grinned. “Oh ho, Wyatt’s had rotten luck all morning–finally switching it up for some lucky hands, huh?”

Another guy pulled up a chair for Yunice right beside Wyatt.

When it was her turn to draw, she hesitated a moment, then picked two tiles and placed them face–down on the table..

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