No Way Back by Anna Mac
No Way Back By Anna Mac Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Abandoned In A Fire

A fire broke out, and it quickly spread across the entire room.

Jane Fowler collapsed to the ground, motionless, her body racked by coughing fits from inhaling thethick smoke. Her eyes welled up with tears as she fought for air.

The ash that covered her face and her disheveled hair was not enough to hide the natural andunspoiled beauty of her features.

She was under the influence of something because she was paralyzed and couldn’t move a musclewhile wondering when exactly she was drugged.

“Jane, gosh, you look disastrous,” Madelyn Fowler said as she approached, wearing a gas mask.

She was kneeling next to Jane, and from her white dress and gentle tone, she seemed like a sweet,innocent little girl.

Or at least, that was Jane’s long–held belief.

“Did you drug me, Madelyn?” Jane cried out, her expression one of shock and disbelief.

Jane just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that her sweet, innocent sister could be capable ofsuch vile acts.

“It’s just a test, Jane,” Madelyn replied, removing her gas mask to reveal a sly grin. “I’m interested tosee if our family would believe more in you or me when they see this.”

Madelyn then placed her gas mask on Jane’s face and smeared a bit of ash on her own cheeks.

Then, with a gloved hand, she pulled a small knife from her pocket and deliberately sliced open herown arm. The wound was gushing with blood.

Madelyn tossed the knife aside and took off her gloves, which she then slid onto Jane’s paralyzedhands. After that, Madelyn clenched her injured arm and yelled at the top of her lungs, portraying anexpression of pure terror.

Madelyn yelled, “Help! Daddy, Mommy! Help me! Janie has gone crazy!”

“Maddie!” A man yelled while he kicked the door open.

As her parents and seven brothers rushed to Madelyn’s aid, Jane watched in horror.

Madelyn continued to yell, “Daddy, Mommy! My wound hurts so much… Janie is crazy! She started thefire out of the blue and said she wanted to die with me. Then she cut me with a knife and told me Iwasn’t good enough to be a Folwer daughter!”

After taking in Madelyn’s blood and her terrified, deer–like eyes, Jack Fowler glanced over at Jane,who was lying on the floor with a bloody knife and gloves on her hands.

Jack kicked Jane hard in the stomach, growling, “I don’t know how I managed to have such a viciousdaughter!”

The force of the kick nearly twisted Jane’s intestines.

However, the suffering in her heart far outweighed the physical pain she was experiencing.

It was as if it were being torn in two.

Jane had once taken a bullet for Jack.

Jane and Madelyn were with him when Jack attended a business event, and he brought them along.

A psychopath broke into the event, brought a gun with him, and attempted to kill Jack.

It was Jane who had bravely stepped in to block the bullet, while Jack and Madelyn had fled the scene,leaving Jane lying on the ground, bleeding.

The police took Jane to the hospital, where she was rushed to intensive care, but she miraculouslysurvived

her wounds.

The Fowlers didn’t come to see Jane in the hospital until a few days had passed, and they’d had achance to

think about it.

Jack took an hour away from Madelyn to visit Jane.

Jack was embarrassed and only said a few words, but he did explain that Madelyn is an adopteddaughter, and he hoped Jane would be more accepting of her situation. Madelyn had always fearedthat the family’s love and respect would shift away from her after the family found their biologicaldaughter.

A scant hour later, Madelyn called to say she had an emergency, so the Fowlers left Jane in the wardfor Madelyn as quickly as possible.

Those unfamiliar with their family history might assume that Madelyn was their biological daughter andthat Jane was adopted.

However, Jane believed Jack at his word because he was her father and the family she had spent somuch time and energy seeking. Blood, as they say, is thicker than water, so she had faith that theFlowers wouldn’t

abandon her.

So, Jane always gave in to almost everything Madelyn asked for.

No matter what Madelyn wanted, Jane always gave it to her.

Madelyn selected all the gifts first, choosing the best ones and leaving Jane with the remainder.

Jane hoped that the Fowlers would feel touched by her gesture and that she would be accepted as a“real daughter” at last.

The whole thing was just a joke, a stupid joke, now that Jane thought about it.

She saw the Fowler family cram Madelyn into their arms and rush her out of the fire, leaving her behindlike discarded garbage.

As the flames engulfed her body and the intense pain consumed her senses, Jane could smell theburning.

She blinked back the tear running down her cheek and let out a heavy sigh as she closed her eyes.

She now felt glad that everything was coming to an end.

She paid her debt to the Fowler family and let go of her obsession with familial love,

If there was a next life, she wished she’d never meet these people again.

That night, the local news reported on the sudden fire at an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts ofStormton City.

It was reported that firefighters could only pull one burned body out of the blaze.

Unfortunately, the body vanished without a trace after being brought to the hospital for an autopsy.

The following day, the Fowler Corporation released a statement. They made it official that they severedall ties with Jane Fowler, the biological daughter they had just recently found, and acknowledged onlyMadelyn as their legitimate child in the family.

Whatever Jane did after that, whether she lived or died, had nothing to do with the Fowlers.

Like the sudden revelation of the Fowler family’s search for their true daughter, the name “Jane Fowler”became a hot topic of gossip.

Yet a few days later, as other newsworthy events came out, it faded away.