The Devil's Intended-Love & Evil In Palm Beach

by Pamela Southwood

Kristen looked at her watch “I really have to go and I will e-mail you the information. Let me know if things change.”

   The next day, Kristen thought back to her conversation with Michael on the phone and she kept wondering why he seemed concerned when she said Anthony’s name. Her wedding was only a little over a week away and she really didn’t know anything about the Fiore family except for the relatives she had met in Sicily and her short visit with Marco in New York.

   Kristen decided to take a look on the internet and look up Anthony. A slew of items instantly popped up about “Franco Fiore”. She assumed this was his father. There were pages of references dating way back.

   She knew his father 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. Oh well. So what? That doesn’t bother me.” She was relieved to see that there was no mention about her very own Antonio Gianni Fiore except his accomplishments in the legitimate business world that she was well aware of. He certainly took a different path from the rest of his family and Kristen was very proud of that.

   She knew she was about to marry a very accomplished and wonderful, generous man. She was overjoyed that they were going to have some really great kids together. She was also very proud that she felt better about herself, and the fact that she now deserved this knight in shining armor. She felt very worthy. He was lucky to have found her.

   Kristen kept browsing. She always liked to read the gossip in the New York papers. While turning to that section, she 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. She said “Yuk, no wonder why I don’t watch the 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, 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 surfing. 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 in the area that she wanted to be in on the northern part of the island. She didn’t like the houses facing the ocean towards the middle of town because people drove up and down the road all the time gawking at them.

   It was pretty insensitive and a bit crude, but her agent said there were a few elderly residents in the area who were failing in health. Kristen was having her keep her ears open about any possibilities. She really wanted her special place and would do anything to get it. What she didn’t have was patience.

   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 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. She never understood why people thought the Gulf was so great looking. It was flat with no waves, and it had a greenish-gray tint to it whenever she saw it.

   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 when Anthony returned from his trip and came through the front door. 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 and said “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 and said “What happened here? Did you punch someone? She laughed, I hope you can still carry me over the threshold.” Her fiancé looked worried and answered “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, even for a Monday. They were seated right away and ordered without having drinks first. It was quite pleasurable not having the usual chatter all around them. They enjoyed their meal and decided to have a drink and 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. It’s been a long time.” 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 saying, “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.” Anthony approached him in order to block him from his fiancée. He continued forward until Robert started backing up and held up his hands in defense. “Oh, I don’t want to cause any trouble.” He 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 drink. Kristen said “Did you talk to him? Is he staying at that hotel over there?” Anthony would not answer her question, but assured her that the man would not be bothering her again. He now ordered more drinks for them and asked her who exactly the man was and how did she 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 then told him that St. Germain had conned her out of money, that he had gone to jail, and that she felt that he had mental issues and that he was going to try to hurt her or even kill her.

   Anthony became angrier as she talked. 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.

   Anthony excused himself and walked back outside. He stood by the restaurant window talking on his cell phone. She 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. “What in the world was Robert St. Germain really doing in Palm Beach? Was it just because of her?” Anthony came back in and gently took her arm. “Let’s go” he said helping her up. 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…

   

  Robert St. Germain was back in his hotel room, which was in fact, as Kristen thought, next to The Grill. It was 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 to look for a light switch. As he turned towards the
wall, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. He tried to yell, but another hand appeared and 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 towards the door.

   

  His 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!”

   

  One of the men slugged him in the face. It knocked him out. They drove east towards the ocean.  A short time later, the driver got on his cell phone and said “It’s all done boss…”

   

   Kristen suddenly woke from her dream when she heard the phone ring