The Invisible Daughter (Yunice Saunders) novel Chapter 180

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 you love me — but when you threw that vase, you didn’t aim it between Owen and Paul. You threw it at me. You 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 — I wasn’t even part of your 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.

Yunice couldn’t tell if Owen was crying for Lily or for her. She quietly moved her leg away, refusing to accept a meaningless gesture of compensation.

Owen’s hand, still holding the cotton swab, froze midair — like her avoidance had genuinely hurt him.

Yunice took a breath. “I’m not saying you never loved me; I’m saying that love changed. Time and fate moved it somewhere else. It’s just not with me anymore.”

“Maybe you did love me once — but we only spent three days together. Three days of motherly affection can’t compete with fifteen years by Elsie’s side. I only have one mom, but I’ve never been your only daughter. That ‘love’ you talk about? It feels more like duty — like something you’re supposed to give me just because you’re my mother. But do you really love me? Do you even know me at all? When you testified against me, you said Elsie was quiet and gentle — and I was wild and hyper, so it must’ve been me who caused the injury. But was I really wild and hyper? The scar on my hand — that was from shielding you from falling debris. Do you even remember that? What about the day I broke my finger? I was lying there in pain, asking if you were okay. Do you even remember what you said to me?”

Lily’s eyes went blank — she couldn’t recall.

But Yunice remembered perfectly. “You didn’t answer. You had your back to me. You were busy fussing over Elsie — checking to see if she was hurt.”