Seeing how things were unfolding, Maria was freaking out even more.

"Enough!" Charlotte snapped, annoyed. "I'm trying to find a way out, aren't I?" "Lottie, Lottie, aren't you scared?"

"Of course, I'm scared." But what else could she do?

All her life, she had to fend for herself. No one was ever there to help her survive.

The fire was spreading fast, and the thick smoke had already made its way to the second floor. Charlotte, clutching her head, thought hard for a few minutes, then dragged Maria up to the attic. Before going in, she remembered there was a small, ventilating window there.

It was tiny, about fifty centimeters across, and it had a round grid shape.

Such a small and complex window shape probably didn't have bulletproof glass.

Standing on a cabinet, she reached for the skylight and hammered it hard. Sure enough, the glass shattered with a loud crack, breaking the iron frame and revealing a small gap.

"Get up there!" Charlotte jumped down from the cabinet, pushing Maria to climb.

Maria was in shock, barely able to move without Charlotte's directions.

She climbed up shakily, perhaps because the cabinet was too high, and immediately crouched down again. "I can't do this, Lottie, it's too high!"

"You'd rather die here?" Charlotte, feeling dizzy and barely holding on, touched her forehead, which was burning up.

If they delayed any longer, even if they weren't burned, she might pass out from the fever.

"Get up there, quick!" Charlotte urged.

Maria still hesitated, squatting on the cabinet for a long time until the flames reached the attic, and she felt the heat under her feet. Only then did she shakily stand up and try to climb through. But the gap was too small, and she was too big to fit.

"Lottie, what do we do?"

Charlotte let out a heavy breath, "Get down."

Maria scrambled down and helped Charlotte up.

Charlotte, fighting off dizziness, hammered the wall desperately, trying to make a hole big enough for Maria to squeeze through.

But the wall was too hard and thick. She put all her strength into hammering but only managed to make a shallow dent.

By then, the fire had reached them.

"Lottie, forget about me, you have to get out." The smoke was choking, and Maria, her face crinkled in distress, pushed Charlotte's legs. "Stop hammering! You need to go!"

"I won't leave you!" Charlotte roared, hammering the wall nearly mad with desperation.

The fire was intense, and in a few minutes, the wooden cabinet they stood on would catch fire, and then neither of them would be able to escape.

Maria glanced back at the approaching flames, gritted her teeth, grabbed a chair, stood on it, and hoisted Charlotte's legs up with all her might. Charlotte was shocked, "What are you doing?!"

"Go!"

Charlotte looked down and saw tears in Maria's eyes, her face marked by hard work and age, yet filled with determination.

"Go," Maria yelled at her. "Just go!"

"I can't..." Charlotte finally couldn't hold back her tears. "I won't leave."

They both understood that staying meant certain death.

Maria gritted her teeth and hoisted Charlotte up, but she couldn't reach. So, she took a big step onto the cabinet like she was powered by some super strength. Maria had a secret nobody knew.

She was afraid of heights.

On the plane, it was her younger daughter who gave her the strength to endure.

Now, it was her older daughter giving her that strength.

"Go!" After a roar, Maria stood on the cabinet and with all her might, hoisted Charlotte through the skylight.

"Mom! Mom!" Charlotte hadn't liked calling Maria 'mom' as she grew up; she felt Maria hadn't done what a mother should, not even the basic task of protecting her child. But now, she screamed hoarsely, begging Maria to stop.

"Mom! Get out!"

Charlotte was pushed out by Maria, clinging to the roof, desperately pounding on the wall, trying to save Maria. Maria wiped away her tears, pulling a pained smile. "Sorry, My Lottie. I shouldn't have lied to you, I've hurt you."

Just a heads up: is the only place to read the complete version of this book for free. Don't miss out on the next chapter-visit us now and continue your journey!

"No... it's not..." Charlotte cried until she had no strength left, no voice, just desperately clinging to Maria's hand, afraid that letting go would mean losing her.

"My Lottie." Maria caressed her face, her eyes filled with deep reluctance. "My Lottie."

The fire was upon them, Maria could feel the flames scorching her feet.

The thick smoke surged toward the skylight, their only exit.

Watching her daughter choke and unable to open her eyes, Maria bit her lip and with a heavy heart, let go, pushing her down.

"Mom!!!" Charlotte's hoarse screams went unanswered.

She fell from the roof but was caught.

"Miss Perry, are you alright? What happened? The fire started so suddenly, we couldn't get in..."

"Please, save my mom!"

Charlotte, drained, clawed at the grass, inching forward, her voice hoarse, unable to see through the blur in her eyes.

She could only listen.

Maria's voice, both tender and unyielding, floated through the air, "Don't be frightened, Lottie, momma's just fine." holds this content.

Maria was always 'fine.'

As a child, when Robert beat Maria and she was covered in wounds, she and Annie cried in terror, but Maria held them, soothing, saying she was fine.

Later, when she argued with Robert and he hit her, Maria covered her with her body, protecting her, saying she was fine.

Mom was always 'fine.'

How could she?

How could she?

The fire burned the skin, pus oozed out, then burned to the flesh...

"Ah!!!" Charlotte's grief overwhelmed her, her breath stopped, and she fainted before the raging fire.

"Miss Perry? Miss Perry!" The urgency in the call brought Charlotte back from the brink of oblivion, the thick smoke around her creating an almost otherworldly haze.

Just a heads up: is the only place to read the complete version of this book for free. Don't miss out on the next chapter-visit us now and continue your journey! "Where am I?"

She sat up, bewildered, and turned to see the burned-out shell of what used to be a villa.

"This is Annie's place, the pink villa," Charlotte mumbled, trying to piece things together. "Mom said Annie loved pink."

Suddenly, as if remembering something urgent, she scrambled to her feet and started walking towards the ruins.

"Where's Mom? Where's my mom?" she kept asking.

With each step on the scorched earth, a searing pain clawed at her feet, reigniting flashes of memory.

Charlotte's pace slowed as the reality of her surroundings took hold, each step heavier than the last.

She came to a halt in front of a still-smoldering timber, lifting her eyes towards the direction of the loft, tears breaking free from their constraints.

"My mother... she's gone," Charlotte whispered, her voice barely audible.

Gone by the lakeside.

Gone just a stone's throw from Annie's place.

Gone in a horrific blaze right before Charlotte's eyes.

Gasping for breath, she found none, asphyxiating on the thick air, her heart and lungs in agony.

Here, she had lost the two pillars of her world.

Trembling uncontrollably, Charlotte's strength deserted her, and she collapsed.

The bodyguards rushed to her aid with swift concern. "Miss Perry, the house is inaccessible, there's not a soul in sight for miles, and even the hotel has barred its doors, offering no sanctuary. The firefighters... they're nowhere to be found..." It was a perfect storm of tragedy.

One guard, his voice laden with empathy, said, "This isn't on you. We saw how desperately you tried to save her..."

"But I couldn't," Charlotte's eyes glazed over in shock, her fingers clawing at her chest as if to physically tear away the unbearable pain and overwhelming grief within.

"I couldn't save her! I let her perish in those flames! Ahh!!!" Her screams of anguish tore through the silence until her voice was nothing but a hoarse whisper, and fever overtook her consciousness once more.

The bodyguards exchanged a look of shared helplessness over the unconscious figure.

"Still no word from Mr. Parker? What about Henry?"