The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

by Ally Carter

Of course, I’m not offended that you’d accuse me of murder. I’m offended you’d think I’d be bad at it.

If she hid for thirty minutes, then waved at three more people on her way to the elevator, maybe no one would notice if she spent the rest of the party hiding in an empty room, reading her Purse Book and eating her Napkin Cheese.

When Ethan laughed, he got those little crinkles around his eyes that make hot guys even hotter and Maggie wished they were at the top of the stairs just so she could give him a push.

“I have you.” Maggie wanted to laugh. She was going to cry. Because, the truth was, no one had her and no one ever would.

She hated him because he was handsome and charming and they lived in a world where a man didn’t have to be anything else.

She hated him because life was graded on a curve and he was the kind of guy for whom a seventy-six would always be an A.

“You’re not no one. And I’m telling you I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Not tonight.” He took a slow step closer. “Not tomorrow.” Another step—another heartbeat, way too hard inside her chest. “Not ever.”

He raised a hand like he didn’t know what to do with it. It shook in the chilly air, and when she felt a warm finger brush across her cheek to wipe away a tear it almost broke her.

“There’s no way, no universe, no reality in which you aren’t the brightest star in the whole damn sky, and . . .” His cheeks flushed. His hand shook, and he looked away like, suddenly, he was the one who was embarrassed. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

There wasn’t a doubt in Maggie’s mind that Victoria, the Duchess of Stratford, was a world-class liar. There also wasn’t a doubt she was telling the truth. Probably because she wasn’t the type of person who would deny she’d committed a crime; she was the type who would laugh and say prove it.

“I’m not scared.” She tried the top step. It creaked beneath her weight but didn’t break. And then the look in her eyes slayed him. “I’m with you.”

Colin used to look at her like he could see through her, but Ethan looked at her like he had x-ray vision—like he could see right into the heart of her, like there was no use hiding anything. And, suddenly, it started getting hard to breathe.

She was definitely supposed to be moving, but her feet were like lead and her body was weightless in the presence of a man who had always had his own gravity.

If you were missing, I’d find you. I’d tear the house down stone by stone. I’d rip apart every room and scour every field and I wouldn’t stop. I would never stop.”

You were married to an Am I the Asshole Reddit come to life.

He sounded like a man making a to-do list. Buy light bulbs. Gas up car. Slay your enemies and salt their fields.

It was like finding their way up a mountain in the dark, feeling along, trying to determine where the boundaries were and then realizing there were no boundaries. It was like realizing you can fly.

“I know the world hasn’t given you a lot of reasons to believe this, but just so you know, if you were mine, I’d never make you park the car because my shoes are suede. If you were mine, I’d carry you through the storm. If you were mine, I’d fight the sky.”

But Ethan grew serious, thinking . . . remembering . . . deciding. “I thought you looked like forever.”

“You know, if mankind has one universal superpower, it’s gaslighting women into thinking they’re the problem.”

“Eat a scone. Drink some tea.”

her closer as the sun set on the far side of the sea. And when she leaned against him, she couldn’t help but feel like maybe there are some mysteries that are better left unsolved, some questions better left unanswered. Because sometimes it’s enough just to have been there for the most wonderful crime of the year.