No Way Out by Fern Michaels (great books for teens .TXT) 📗

Books by Fern Michaels

Fearless

Spirit of the Season

Deep Harbor

Fate & Fortune

Sweet Vengeance

Holly and Ivy

Fancy Dancer

No Safe Secret

Wishes for Christmas

About Face

Perfect Match

A Family Affair

Forget Me Not

The Blossom Sisters

Balancing Act

Tuesday’s Child

Betrayal

Southern Comfort

To Taste the Wine

Sins of the Flesh

Sins of Omission

Return to Sender

Mr. and Miss Anonymous

Up Close and Personal

Fool Me Once

Picture Perfect

The Future Scrolls

Kentucky Sunrise

Kentucky Heat

Kentucky Rich

Plain Jane

Charming Lily

What You Wish For

The Guest List

Listen to Your Heart

Celebration

Yesterday

Finders Keepers

Annie’s Rainbow

Sara’s Song

Vegas Sunrise

Vegas Heat

Vegas Rich

Whitefire

Wish List

Dear Emily

Christmas at Timberwoods

The Sisterhood Novels:

Bitter Pill

Truth and Justice

Cut and Run

Safe and Sound

Need to Know

Crash and Burn

Point Blank

In Plain Sight

Eyes Only

Kiss and Tell

Blindsided

Gotcha!

Home Free

Déjà Vu

Cross Roads

Game Over

Deadly Deals

Vanishing Act

Razor Sharp

Under the Radar

Final Justice

Collateral Damage

Fast Track

Hokus Pokus

Hide and Seek

Free Fall

Lethal Justice

Sweet Revenge

The Jury

Vendetta

Payback

Weekend Warriors

The Men of the Sisterhood Novels:

Hot Shot

Truth or Dare

High Stakes

Fast and Loose

Double Down

The Godmothers Series:

Far and Away

Classified

Breaking News

Deadline

Late Edition

Exclusive

The Scoop

E-Book Exclusives:

Desperate Measures

Seasons of Her Life

To Have and To Hold

Serendipity

Captive Innocence

Captive Embraces

Captive Passions

Captive Secrets

Captive Splendors

Cinders to Satin

For All Their Lives

Texas Heat

Texas Rich

Texas Fury

Texas Sunrise

Anthologies:

Home Sweet Home

A Snowy Little Christmas

Coming Home for

Christmas

A Season to Celebrate

Mistletoe Magic

Winter Wishes

The Most Wonderful Time

When the Snow Falls

Secret Santa

A Winter Wonderland

I’ll Be Home for Christmas

Making Spirits Bright

Holiday Magic

Snow Angels

Silver Bells

Comfort and Joy

Sugar and Spice

Let it Snow

A Gift of Joy

Five Golden Rings

Deck the Halls

Jingle All the Way

FERN MICHAELS

NO WAY OUT

www.kensingtonbooks.com

All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

Table of Contents

Also by

Title Page

Copyright Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty-three

Epilogue

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

Kensington Publishing Corp.

119 West 40th Street

New York, NY 10018

Copyright © 2021 by Fern Michaels.

Fern Michaels is a registered trademark of KAP 5, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

The K logo is a trademark of Kensington Publishing Corp.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945439

ISBN: 978-1-4967-3118-0

First Kensington Hardcover Edition: April 2021

ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-3120-3 (ebook)

ISBN-10: 1-4967-3120-4 (ebook)

Chapter One

Ellie Bowman knew that there were murmurs from the neighbors and cruel jokes from the kids on the next block, but it didn’t matter. It had been two years since the thirty-four-year-old had moved into the cottage at the end of Birchwood Lane. She was happy that it was located where it was—as far away from the rest of the houses on the block as possible. With each house sitting on a full acre, there was a comfortable distance between them. The homes were modest ranch-style houses built in the fifties.

Thank goodness for Hector, her gardener, assistant, and friend. Without him, she would not have been able to look outside her window and see beautiful flowers. Without him, she wouldn’t have groceries, either. He knew the rules and respected her wishes. The only access he had to the house was to the rear porch, where he would deliver her packages and pick up her trash.

The other thing she was grateful for was his willingness to clean up after Buddy, the black Labrador retriever she had rescued from the local shelter when she had moved to Hibbing.

The fenced-in yard made it easy for Ellie to let him go out through his doggie doors to do his business and chase the squirrels around. Percy, her cat, couldn’t care less about going outdoors, which was a good thing. Ellie wouldn’t have let him out even if he wanted to go. Her seclusion was a comfort. It was better than the alternative.

* * *

Colleen Haywood lived down the street from Ellie with her eight-year-old son, Jackson. She was excited when she learned another woman was moving onto their street but was disappointed never to have met her. It had been two years, and the woman appeared to be a hermit. A total recluse.

She had tried numerous times to get Ellie to come over for tea. She didn’t have Ellie’s phone number, so she would leave notes in her mailbox. In turn, Colleen would get a note back in her mailbox politely declining, saying she had a headache or was on a deadline.

One afternoon, Colleen thought a personal invitation might do the trick, so she walked over to Ellie’s and rang the doorbell. Colleen was about to leave when she caught a glimpse of Ellie’s face as she moved across the living room. From the brief peek, Colleen saw that Ellie was pretty, with big