by Ashley Woods
Her wedding was only a little over a week away, and Kristen was feeling more affection for Anthony. But, she really didn’t know anything about the Fiore family, except for a few relatives she had met in Sicily, and her short visit with Marco in New York.
Kristen decided to look up Anthony on the internet. A slew of items instantly popped up about “Franco Fiore.” She knew that was his father. He had passed away a few years ago from cancer, but that is all she knew about him.
It also displayed information about Antonio Fiore, his grandfather. She made comments to herself as she read, “Wow! Both of them were notorious mobsters!”
She was relieved to see that there was no mention about her very own Antonio Gianni Fiore, except for his accomplishments in the legitimate business world, that she already was well aware of. It seemed that he took a different path from the rest of his family, and Kristen was very proud of that.
It worried her about his family being in the Mafia, and she planned to ask him about it. But, she knew she was about to marry a wonderful, and generous man, and was overjoyed that they were going to have some really great kids together.
Kristen kept browsing on the news site, and couldn’t help noticing today’s headline,
“New York Mob Continues Cleaning House.”
There was an article about another series of mob hits that had happened in the last week. She glanced at it briefly. There were some pretty brutal photos, “Yuk, no wonder why I don’t watch much news anymore.”
Kristen thought about Anthony and wondered why he wasn’t back from New York. He hadn’t called her in at least three days. His trip was supposed to only be for a day, and now it was stretching out. What was so important? He needed to get ready for the wedding!
Kristen didn’t have the time to keep researching him. She had several errands to run, including the second round of her wedding dress fitting. She also needed to pop in on her real estate agent and see how the search was going for her ocean manor.
So far, there were no oceanfront properties available on the northern part of the island. She didn’t like the houses facing the ocean, toward the middle of town, because people drove up and down the road all the time gawking at them.
Anthony’s current island mansion was beautiful, but she really needed that ocean view. Kristen’s house was still on the market. There had been a few offers over her asking price, and she was getting ready to accept one and move out, but not until that gold ring was on her finger.
Palm Beach was the only place that she would ever consider to live. There was no place like it! She had never seen water anywhere else, with such a beautiful blend of gentle blues that changed its mood and color at different times of the day, as the sun moved around.
Anthony even had his yacht moved up from Miami. It was now at the town’s docks on the Intracoastal, so that they could take it out whenever they wanted.
A few more days crawled by. Even though she was very busy preparing for the wedding, she was getting bored hanging out at Anthony’s house without him. She was sitting on the living room couch looking at a fashion article that she had written, when Anthony returned from his trip. She practically jumped into his arms.
“Hey! Whoa! How are you doing honey?” Anthony then kissed her like a soldier who had just returned from battle.
Kristen exclaimed, “I missed you so much! He put down his suitcase, “I am super hungry. Let’s go over to The Grill in West Palm and get some dinner.”
Kristen looked at him, and noticed his hand was completely bruised and wrapped in a bandage. She touched it softly, “What happened here? Did you punch someone?
She laughed, I hope you can still carry me over the threshold.”
Her fiancé looked worried, “No, nothing like that. I just got it slammed in a door. No big deal.”
He then said excitedly, “I think I am done with the trips to New York. The business is all straightened out.”
“That is great news!” Kristen smiled and hugged him. She ran upstairs to change her dress and heels. Anthony went outside and pulled his car up.
The restaurant was relatively quiet. They were seated right away and ordered without having drinks first. It was quite pleasurable to eat and not have the usual chatter all around them. They enjoyed their meal and decided to have fruit cups for dessert.
Kristen was looking down, carefully scooping around the melon balls, when she noticed Anthony was looking intently at someone standing behind her.
“Hello Kristen.” Kristen turned slowly around and looked straight into the eyes of Robert St. Germain. She didn’t say anything. She just squirmed and felt panicked.
Anthony sensed her fear and stood up,
“Can I do something for you?”
St. Germain replied, “No, I don’t think so. I have some business to take care of with Kristen. She knows what I want. He walked menacingly towards Kristen.
“I talked to Anne yesterday. She says she was not the one who turned me in.”
Anthony began to block him from his fiancée. He continued forward, until Robert started backing up and held up his hands in defense.
“Down boy, I don’t want to cause any trouble.” Robert was trying to laugh it off, “I guess I’ll be going.”
Anthony said with a firm tone “Yes, I guess you will be.”
St. Germain walked out the front door and through the parking lot. Anthony quickly walked out behind him. Kristen couldn’t see from the window what was going on.
Anthony was gone for ten minutes. When he came back in, he sat down perfectly calm and finished his dessert.
“Did you talk to him? Is he staying at that hotel over there?”
Anthony would not answer her question, “I assure you Kristen, that he will not be bothering you again, ever.”
He now ordered drinks for them, “Who exactly is that guy? How do you know him?”
Kristen knew her fiancé was not jealous. She could tell that it was important for him to have the truth. She told him the long story, including that she thought he tried to drug her. As she said that, he reached for her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.
She told him that St. Germain had conned her, and that he had gone to jail, believing that she was the one who turned him in. She was now very afraid that he was going to try to hurt her, or even kill her. She left out the part about seeing him at the café, and what he said about making millions in Palm Beach.
Anthony became angrier as she spoke, and his face darkened. Again, Kristen had never seen this in him before. It began to terrify her, and she wished she had never told him anything. She felt very strongly that he was planning to do something horrible to Robert.
“Kristen, excuse me for one more minute please.” Anthony walked back outside and stood by the restaurant window talking on his cell phone.
Kristen couldn’t stand the fact that Anthony was brought in on this whole mess. She just wanted to leave this in the past and be done with it.
Anthony came back in and gently took her arm.
“Let’s go.” He protectively held her close as they went out to the front. The valet had already brought up the car. Her fiancé was very quiet during the ride home.
When they arrived at the house, he went off to his study and stayed in there. Kristen watched television for a while, and then went up to bed without him. She nodded right off into a dream…
Robert St. Germain was back in his hotel room, which was in fact, as Kristen thought, next to The Grill. It was very late. He carefully laid out his clothes on the bed and went in to take a shower.
When he came out of the bathroom, his room was strangely dark. He stumbled around for a light switch. As he turned toward the wall, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder.
He tried to yell, but another hand was clamped over his mouth.
“Sit down on the bed,” a stern voice said.
There were two very large men in the room with him. They were dressed in dark suits and built like bulls. One of the men held
a gun on St. Germain, while the other closed the drapes.
“Here, put these on.” His shirt, pants, and shoes were handed to him.”
One of the men checked around the room, and the closet. They grabbed his briefcase and suitcase and pushed him toward the door.
St. Germain’s legs buckled, as they half-carried him into the empty hallway, and down the service elevator. It led to a door off the back of the hotel. They shoved him in the back seat of a waiting car and got in on each side of him.
The driver turned around and gave St. Germain a chilling grin.
Robert started crying, “Please, I’ll give you money! Just look in my briefcase. There’s a ton of cash in there. Please! Please!”
The man next to him reached down, and put the briefcase on his lap, “Thanks for telling us.”
Robert spoke fast, “You guys are stopping me from carrying out the biggest heist ever in Palm Beach. We recently had a minor delay, but I promise you, it is still going to happen. I don’t know what your boss is paying you to mess with me, but I can get you millions. Just let me go, and you can partner up with me. Come on! You guys ever hear of the Whitestone?”
The driver turned around again, “Really, you are trying to pull off something like that?”
He then looked at his two accomplices and winked.
“Maybe, we should listen to him, I hear he knows his stuff. Let’s go to the boat and talk about it with our crew. We don’t need to let the big guy know about it. We get paid by him, either way.”
One of the men replied, “He’s probably just lying. He then slugged St. Germain in the face. It knocked him out.
He laughed, “This will give us some time to think without him jabbering in our ears. They continued toward the Palm Beach docks to an awaiting yacht. A short time later, the driver got on his cell phone and said,
“It’s all done boss…”
The phone was ringing loudly downstairs, and Kristen suddenly woke from her dream
“Who is calling this late?” She looked at the clock and saw it was 1:30 AM.
A few minutes later, Anthony came upstairs, and got into bed beside her. Kristen was very groggy and mumbled, “Anything wrong?”
Anthony snuggled into her neck and whispered,
“Everything is alright! We are going to have a beautiful life together baby. You are safe now.”
23 UNDER WATER
When Kristen woke up the next morning, a rose from the garden was lying on the pillow next to her. Anthony left her a note that he had to leave town again for business. It did not say where he was going. She figured it was New York again and thought, “Was he insane? He’s never going to have time to get ready for the wedding on Saturday!”
Kristen was overwhelmed by everything she still had to do. She took her pillow, covered her head, and went back for more sleep. She was awakened a few hours later, when she heard knocking on the front door.
She looked out the bedroom window, and all she could see was the head of a tall man that was standing below. She quickly brushed her hair back and threw on a summer cocktail dress. She felt a sense of excitement and ran down the stairs barefoot. She thought she had an idea who it was and glanced nervously at the mirror to the side of the door. All was good. Kristen closed her eyes and slowly turned the door handle.
She then opened them wide and was now looking through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old. It was Michael! She felt like she couldn’t breathe when she saw him standing there and smiling at her.
He reached out for her, taking both her hands. She felt faint, as he slowly pulled her into his arms for a light embrace.
“It is so wonderful to see you again. So, you’re getting married in a few days. How exciting is that?”
Kristen beckoned to him, “Come on into the house.”
Michael looked at the exterior and the imported hand-sculpted Italian statues near the door. He kept nodding his head, “Wow, this is pretty impressive.”
He followed Kristen into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and handed him a Heineken. Michael sipped at his beer and apologized to her for his surprise visit.
“My cell phone signal isn’t strong enough here. I couldn’t get in a call to you.”
He kidded her, “I came a day early to work on my tan so I can wear shorts again. It is still pretty cold back at home.” He stuck out his arm, “I’m pasty!”
She gave him a big smile, “Well, I am very glad to see you. Every time I ran into you, I never had the chance to get a good look at you.”
She laughed, “You seemed to have ripened very nicely.” He was still very muscular, and even more handsome. His blue eyes were so trusting and sweet. They both gazed at each other. Michael came closer to her, and Kristen felt her heart pounding against her chest!
The phone in Anthony’s study suddenly rang. Kristen looked in that direction, “I am sorry, I have to go see who that is.” She was pretty sure who it was, it was like there was a camera on her.
She was gone for five minutes. When she came back, she looked apologetic, “I am sorry to cut this visit short Michael. That was Anthony, and he needs me to go into town and do some bank business for him right away. Is it alright if you stop by again later this week? Maybe you can meet him then. I forgot to tell him you were here.”
“Of course, Kristen. I need to get over to a golf game I set up anyway. I will give you a call.”
He then lightly brushed her cheek with a kiss and went out to his rental car. She was sad to see him go.
The wedding week flew by. Just one more day! All the guests started trickling into town. The rehearsal dinner was coming up in a few hours, and Anthony was still not back from New York with his two brothers. His sisters and mother had already called to say they were poolside at The Colony, with a pitcher of Margaritas, and a bunch of cousins.
Kristen was thinking of joining them, but still had too many things to do, and alcohol wouldn’t help with that. It was nice that Anthony had so many relatives.
Kristen’s sisters were not coming, because they were off on a trip to South Africa together with their husbands. They were a bit annoyed that Kristen didn’t plan her wedding more in advance.
Kristen didn’t even worry about her brother John, she had no clue where he was since she saw him on the island, and she didn’t really care. He knew she was getting married and made no attempt to contact her about it. Kristen had no other immediate relatives. Her Godfather, who now lived in Naples, and was well into his eighties, would be walking her down the aisle.
It was Kristen’s best girlfriends that were her real family. Her three bridesmaids and Suzie, who was her Maid of Honor, were ready to go. Melanie was also flying in from the West Coast.
Kristen spent the rest of Friday in meetings with her make-up and hair stylist. Anthony finally called her from the airport, and said that they had just landed, and that he would see her over at the rehearsal. He was headed over to The Colony first, to meet up with his relatives. Kristen said she would pop over as soon as she was able.
She made one more call before getting ready. It was to Michael. He was still over at the Breakers and had just finished playing tennis. He was walking off the courts when he answered her call.
Kristen was pacing her living room, and straightening it up, while half-holding her cell to her ear.
“Michael, I hope you are enjoying the island. I am sorry I haven’t had the time to get back to you. It doesn’t look like there is going to be any time to meet Anthony. He just flew back into town and we have to go to our rehearsal soon.”
Michael laughed, “Don’t worry Kristen. I know you are probably swamped.” Kristen was happy that he was so understanding.
“Kristen, I am going to come over and see you today, because I know you will be too busy for good-byes tomorrow. I need to talk to you. Are you going to be at the house?”
“Yes, for a little while, so please come by now. Then I have to get over to the church. I will see you soon. Bye!”
Sh
e put down the phone and was excited about seeing him again. She was glad they could be alone.
She waited for him out on the front walk. A half-hour later, the rental pulled up. Michael pulled his 6’3-foot frame out of the tiny sports car. He looked fantastic and was fully dressed in a dark business suit. He was carrying a bouquet of flowers. He walked up to her, then kneeled down to present them to her.
“Only the best for such a beautiful woman.” He rose and placed them into her hands.
Kristen giggled, “Thank you, sir! How lovely.”
He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and his cologne was heavenly.
Michael looked around, “Is Tony here?”
“No. He is meeting me at the rehearsal. He is busy rounding up his family.”
Michael looked relieved, “Great! Can we drive over to the beach?”
Kristen smiled, “That will be nice.”
He opened the door of the car for her, and held her hand to guide her in. As he climbed in next to her, Michael gave a long look into her eyes. Kristen gazed back at him for a moment, and then cocked her head curiously, before pulling her eyes away. She was starting to feel a little warm.
Michael started the car up, drove past the beach that was by the house, and kept going. Kristen watched the side of his face and thought about how chiseled his profile looked. He kept driving until he reached the stretch of road, that offered the finest views of the ocean that Palm Beach had to offer.
He backed the car into a parking spot across the street. With the excitement of a child, Kristen asked, “Do you want to walk along the shore? We can’t access any beach here.”
She pointed, “I know of a little pathway off the side down there.”
“I’m game,” and stood up outside the car taking off his suit coat. He reached down and untied his shoes. Kristen got out and walked around the hood. She put a hand on his back, while she steadied herself removing her sandals.
Walking carefully over the hot cement, Michael helped her down a small incline which led to a very narrow, long strip of sand. They were now hidden from the street above.