She offered him the world and a rich husband’s fortune, but the perfect crime always has a hidden cost.
The Ride to the Edge
Lyle Warren wanted only two things out of life: a woman who’d follow him to the ends of the earth, and the money to take her on that ride. He had neither, nor did he have any prospects to get either one until Sonya Motani walked through the door.
She looked like she walked off a page out of Glamour and carried an attitude wrapped in a voice that made Lyle’s knees feel weak. She said, “I need a real man who’s got the guts to get rid of my rich hubby. You do that, and the world is ours. Half his estate, and me.”
Lyle swallowed hard, looking from her blood-red lipstick to the heavy manila envelope she dropped onto the counter. Inside were blueprints of a coastal estate, security schedules, and a stack of clean, unsequential hundred-dollar bills. It was the catalyst he’d waited for his entire miserable life.
Three nights later, Lyle stood in the shadows of Arthur Motani’s private study. The house was dead silent, just as Sonya promised. The safe was open, papers scattered to simulate a robbery gone wrong. He held the heavy iron statuette, his knuckles white, waiting for the footsteps approaching down the hall.
The door creaked open. A shadow lengthened across the Persian rug. Lyle raised the weapon, his heart hammering against his ribs. But as the figure stepped into the moonlight, the silver hair and frail frame matched the photos—yet the eyes held no surprise. Instead, the old man smiled calmly, looked past Lyle toward the open window, and whispered, “She told you the alarm was off, didn’t she?”
A distant siren began to wail in the dark.
How does Lyle’s gamble end? Does he strike the blow, realize he’s the fall guy, or find a new alliance? Write the final twist and finish the story.
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