Chapter Fifty-Seven
Ethan
The door wasn’t wedged shut anymore, so at least she hadn’t gone by herself through the tunnels. But as Ethan approached the
greenhouse, he remembered that finding Maggie was only half the battle. He had a lot of explaining to do, so he threw open
the door and didn’t waste a single breath.
“Maggie, I know how it looks—”
But Maggie was nowhere to be seen. There was just the narrow beam of the flashlight, shaking and jerking around the room,
as unsteady as the voice that said, “Go away.”
Ethan started around the row of tables, but stumbled to a stop when he saw her lying on the cold, hard floor. She was bleeding
and shaking and—
The flashlight was behind her back. Because her hands were tied behind her back. She was scooting away, a look of absolute terror in her eyes.
“Stay back. Stay back. Stay...” Her voice was rough, like she hadn’t used it in ages. Like that was where she stored her
tears and she was getting ready to make a whole new batch.
“Who did this to you?”
“Stay back!” she warned again, and Ethan swallowed down the bile that filled his throat.
He had to keep his voice calm. He had to make her see— “It’s okay. You’re safe now.” Even when she winced against the glare
of his flashlight. Even when he saw the blood on her temple and the crooked squint of her eyes like she had a concussion.
Because of course she had a concussion. Someone had hit her on the head and bound her hands and carried her there. Someone
was going to come back. “Don’t freak out. It’s me. Ethan.”
“That’s why I’m freaking out!” she shouted and in spite of everything Ethan bit back a grin because she was still the funniest, smartest,
most challenging woman he’d ever known. And he loved her.
Ethan had never used that word before. He’d never even thought it. But somehow, he’d always known that it was true. Just like,
right then, he knew he had to get her out of there.
“I’m going to untie you, okay?” She winced but looked away. “Please, sweetheart. Can you turn? Please?”
She’d scooted as far as she could and sat, huddled in a corner, on a bed of dirt and snow. Someone must have knocked the nightshade
plant off the table because it was lying on the ground beside her. The ribbon was gone, though. The ribbon was—
She turned, and he saw it.
The ribbon was wrapped around Maggie’s wrists and forearms—around and around like pointe shoes on a dancer’s legs. Was this
some kind of sick joke? Was she supposed to be some kind of present? Ethan didn’t know and he didn’t have time to find out,
so he searched the cabinet until he found a knife. He held it loosely in his hands as he inched toward her.
“I’m going to cut you free. Can you turn a little more for me?” She did. “Good girl.”
“Are you calling me a dog?”
“Not even a little bit.” He bit back a smile and, with a deft flick of his wrist, she was free.
The red ribbon fell away and she climbed to her feet, still a little too unsteady. Still bleeding. Still the most beautiful
thing he’d ever seen.
He bent down and picked up the wrinkled ribbon and shoved it in his pocket.
“If you make a joke about how I’m your present...” she started.
“Oh, I’m not in a joking mood.” Not with her scanning the room like she’d never been there before—looking at him like he was
a stranger. She was going into shock, but he had to know—
“What happened?”
“I played the video, that’s what happened! You were on the video,” she said, softer now. Like she was trying to do a puzzle
in her mind. She was trying to make the pieces fit.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“Really? Because it looks to me like you handed Eleanor Ashley a poisoned tea tray, then lied about it.”
“Well,” he had to concede, “when you put it that way, it’s exactly what it—”
She grabbed a long-handled trowel from a table and held it like a sword. “Stay back.”
“Okay.” He put his hands up. “But just so you know, you’re holding that...” She changed her grip and brandished it. “So
well. Seriously. Did you take a class or—”
“You lied,” Maggie said again, like that was the only thing that mattered, and maybe it was.
“I did. And I’m sorry. I know how it looks, but I didn’t poison anyone. I couldn’t sleep that night, so I was going to the
library and then I saw Eleanor. I handed her the tray just as it was. You know me, Maggie.”
“No, I don’t!” she snapped.
“Yes, you—”
“I know the guy in the leather jacket.”
Ethan didn’t think it was possible for it to get even colder, but it did. The moon had disappeared behind the clouds and snow
fell through broken panes of glass. But none of it mattered. Nothing except—
“You do know me.” He had to make her believe him. He had to make her see. “You know...” And then he remembered. “Someone
shot at us!”
“I never saw a shooter.” She was shaking her head. “I heard a bang.”
“How did I set fire to the greenhouse, then? I wasn’t even in the country. When did I sabotage the stairs?”
“That’s not... no.”
“You know all this, Maggie. But right now, you’re going into shock and I need to get you out of here. Someone brought you
out here for a reason. Someone kept you alive for a reason.”
“I... I don’t know.”
She did know. And given time and a warm blanket and maybe some mystery chocolate, she’d understand. But at the moment, Maggie
was cold and shaking and her hair was full of snow and blood.
“Please, Maggie. What did I have to gain? You said it yourself: Eleanor hasn’t chosen a successor yet.”
“I was wrong.” Even in the dim light he could see her enlarged pupils and too-white skin. She was in the middle of a nightmare
and a flashback and a concussion all wrapped up in a literal bow and Ethan was going to do murder.
“Maggie—”
“I was wrong. I’m always wrong.”
It was the always that broke him.
“Listen to me.” He had to make her see. “ I’m not him. I’m not going to cheat on you. Or steal from you. Or—”
“Hit me on the head and tie me up? Or poison me? Because, right now, I’m more concerned about the poison.”
“Which is valid. But I’m not going to do that either.” Her face was changing in the shadows, anger fading and fatigue taking
over. She was so tired of that battle. She’d been fighting it for years, and the only thing Ethan wanted was to finish it
for her. “It’s okay if you don’t trust me, Maggie. I get it. You weren’t married to a man. You were married to an Am I the Asshole Reddit come to life. Just know—just please believe me. I’m not him.”
He watched her struggling to think, to reason. Blood trickled down her forehead and into her eyes and Ethan saw red for lots
of reasons. “Sweetheart, I need to get you out of here. I need to get you someplace safe.”
“You lied,” she said again. “And don’t say lying by omission isn’t lying because—”
“I did. I lied because I knew that, no matter what, my fingerprints were going to be on that tray, and the best way to clear
my name was to find whoever did this. And I knew that to do that...”
“You’d need my help,” she filled in.
“No. I knew I’d need you .” He inched closer because he couldn’t stay away. “I’m better when I’m with you, Maggie. Everything is better when I’m with
you.”
She was wavering, teetering. And he wanted nothing more than to kiss her tears and kill her demons. He’d kill every last one
if she’d only let him.
“Is this the part where you say I should trust you?” Her voice broke, and Ethan shook his head.
“No. It’s the part where I say you should trust yourself.”
The trowel clanged to the floor and her eyes closed. It was like someone had just taken a thousand pounds off her shoulders
and she was going to stumble because she’d gotten so used to the weight.
“I’m not crazy.” Her voice was faint and frail and breaking.
“I know.” And then she was in his arms and all Ethan wanted to do was hold her, but—
A streak of light caught his eye—another flashlight and a dim silhouette beyond the frosty glass, and he knew. He knew but
he rushed for the door anyway, pressing and cursing when it didn’t move.
“Maggie, watch—”
A shatter cut off the words. Glass rained down as the smell of gasoline filled the air. Gasoline. And fire.
Flames leapt across the floor and up the tables, but the sprinklers overhead did nothing. Maybe they’d been tampered with.
Or maybe they just didn’t work when the power was out. He didn’t know, and it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered
was Maggie, who stood between Ethan and the flames that were spreading across the tables, racing toward the cold, dead plants.
“Ethan!”
Do you know what happens when poisonous plants burn?
They turn into poisonous smoke.
Ethan forgot about the door and dove, crawling to the place where Maggie was already clawing at the floor, pulling up the
trapdoor, and disappearing into the dark.