Free ROMANTIC SUSPENSE : DEATH WHISPERED SOFTLY by Oliver Anderson, Maddie Grace Page B

with these two crazy killers! Why the hell did I become so greedy for their damn money!”  Steve was furious and could have kicked himself. He was bitterly regretting having come to New York to do this job. He had no idea Ricardo would turn out to be such a vicious cold-hearted killer. But If Ricardo’s ruthlessness surprised Steve it was his partner, that loon Gustav Nilsson who had really stunned him. “That bastard is totally demented! He belongs in a freaking nuthouse and not in society!”
    Even though the past years that he had spent with members of his gang had toughened him considerably, the thought of murdering an innocent twenty-five year old unarmed woman troubled him enormously. But was it his conscience that was troubling him or was he developing cold feet about doing the job? He wondered uneasily.  He wanted to know the answer.
    Sitting alone in his hotel room Steve did some intense thinking and soul-searching “Am I scared? Am I a coward, a spineless man?” he asked himself, even as he deeply probed his heart. But he soon discovered it was not fear that was bothering him. So what’s biting me? He wondered.
    It didn’t take Steve long to discover that it was not fear that was troubling him; rather it was guilt which was gnawing at his conscience. In a moment of illumination, his mind wrestled with him, “What has this girl done to me that I should take her life, a girl who’s suffering in bereavement and grief?” What could be more shameful than that?
    What the hell was I thinking when I decided to come to New York and get mixed up with an unknown dangerous man? ” he chided himself.  A plethora of thoughts went through his tormented mind.
    “Should I back the hell out of this? No! I can’t back out now. That’s not an option I have anymore. This was an extremely toxic situation.”
    But Steve knew it was too late to back out of it. If he were to pull out now, Ricardo would surely come after him with all he had. And he most certainly had the means, considering he was so close to that demented millionaire Gustav Nilsson. He would leave no stone unturned until he gets me , Steve thought bitterly .  And even if I were to pull this off, I would be a fugitive for the rest of my life, running away from cops, hiding whenever I hear a siren. My heart will stop at the sight of a police officer, and my conscious would sting me every damn day! What the hell have I got myself into? If I succeed in killing this, this innocent girl, I will have the cops on my case for the rest of my life. And if they catch me I am cooked and will have to spend the rest of my life in prison, or worse be on death row! And If I back out now and run away, I will surely have Nilsson and Ricardo gunning for me for the rest of my days and they won’t rest till they nail me. Steve realized that either way this turned out, he would be a loser! This realization hit Steve as hard as a champion boxer’s knockout punch. Suddenly he didn’t want to do this anymore. He didn’t want to kill an innocent individual even if it meant giving up on his dream of a new life. “Oh what a fool I was to have ever accepted this job!” Steve cried out, livid at himself.
    Was there some way I could wiggle out of this , he thought, even as he feverishly searched for a way out of this mess.  But no solution came to him. And after hours and hours of desperate cogitating he threw his arms up and gave up. With a shock, it dawned on Steve that there was no solution!   He felt like a trapped animal. Never before in his life had he felt as stranded and vulnerable as he did now. There was no one he could talk to, not even to his buddy Carlo. Steve knew that whoever he would talk to would surely be dragged into deep peril and he didn’t want to do that.
    Why did I give-in to this mad greed? What was I thinking? Damn it! Steve thought, furious with himself.
    He felt trapped, defeated, and desolate. He felt his world crashing in front of his eyes, and there