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JosephAmiel.com
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: Lambent Publishing LLC
ISBN-10: 0985314478
Type: Fiction
Pages: 519
Copyright: 2013
ISBN-13: 9780985314460
Price: $4.95 (eBook)
DEEDS is the story of wealthy, charismatic NYC real-estate developer Ralph Behr and independent-minded women's activist Gail Benedict, who hates everything he stands for. Dark secrets in their families' pasts force them into a marriage neither wants that will make her $100 million richer.
Wealthy, charismatic Ralph Behr is driven to build the tallest most imposing skyscrapers in Manhattan. Gail Benedict is the opposite of Ralph in every way. His passion is to make money and immortalize his family’s name. Hers is to remake the world, and she despises everything Ralph stands for. They have not set eyes on each other since childhood. But dark secrets buried deep in their families' pasts force them into a wedding neither wants—a wedding that will make her $100 million richer.
But DEEDS is more that than the story of Ralph and Gail’s unlikely union. Their lives entangle and clash with a wide assortment of unforgettable characters. For all of them, deeds comes in many forms: deception and passion, betrayal and true love, and Joseph Amiel’s novel encompasses them all, as well as riveting suspense when the blame for a deadly catastrophe at the project falls on Ralph.
DEEDS is a gripping story that spans three generations, rich in ideas, complex in feeling and rivetingly told, and that it will hold the reader enthralled from the very first page.
Excerpt
The Behrs were gathered at the side of the blue room. Other people sat in rows facing each other across a center aisle leading to the closed chapel door. Ralph held a small bouquet of purple violets, tied with long, pale purple ribbons. He recognized Dan Ahern and nodded resignedly. His plan had been to fade into the barely differentiable public moving through the marriage process and then issue an announcement later. Moreover, having the wedding performed here by a city clerk simplified matters. Ralph’s wife-to-be was Jewish, and he had been raised as a Protestant, although he had little interest in religious matters.
“You’re getting married?” Ahern hazarded.
Ralph’s nod lacked its usual enthusiasm.
Ahern pressed on. “What’s her name?”
“She’s very shy, not used to crowds and publicity.”
“Come on, Ralph, I’m only asking her name.”
“Gail Benedict,” Ralph admitted. In the car his father had told him that she went by her husband’s last name.
“Gail Benedict! The Gail Benedict!” Ahern could not restrain the whistle. “Not used to crowds? If we’re talking about the same Gail Benedict, she manufactures crowds.”
At that moment a young woman and an older man entered the room. Henry Behr moved toward them. Ralph scarcely recognized Abe Weintraub from his childhood: The older man’s face was gaunt and his complexion a pale gray, whether from prison or illness Ralph could not tell. Weintraub walked haltingly and looked far older than his father. Only the man’s eyes appeared vital; they stared at Henry Behr with hatred. For that and for the blackmail he had concocted to rob the Behrs of what was rightfully theirs, Ralph hated the man with an equal intensity.
Ralph’s gaze shifted to the young woman.
Gail was shorter than average height with long chestnut-brown hair plaited into a single braid. Her eyes were large and gray under eyebrows drawn together in anger. Her nose was straight and pert, though oddly out of character with the stormy expression in her eyes. Her mouth was wider than he would have liked. Ralph decided she was nice-enough looking and might even have been passably attractive if the entire impression she seemed at pains to make was not so jarring and annoying. She had returned from the Caribbean with her divorce decree yesterday afternoon in plenty of time to dress presentably for the wedding, which any normal woman would have the good sense to do. Instead, she had chosen to wear faded jeans and a cheap cotton blouse.
All in all, he decided, little about her would have attracted him if they had met socially. And then his heart sank, as he finally understood Dan Ahern’s remark. He recognized her from a TV news report he had seen a few months back. Caustic and belligerent, she had been leading a demonstration and haranguing public officials. They had appeared to detest her. Yet, he was marrying her. Shit!
“Dan, could my bride and I have a moment alone?” he asked in what he hoped passed for groom-like passion.
The reporters telephoned their newsrooms to summon photographers. Ralph turned his back to block them from the conversation. His father was quietly introducing Gail to the rest of his family and reacquainting them with Abe.
“I’m Ralph Behr,” Ralph said directly to the young woman. “We met when we were kids,”
He kept his tone pleasant, hoping to establish an amicable relationship so the next two years would pass as painlessly as possible.
She nodded. “I saw your name glittering on your limousine’s license plates. I’m surprised you didn’t put posters with it on the sides, like a city bus.”
“Look, this marriage is costing me a hundred million dollars. I like it even less than you do.”
She fixed him with a cold stare. “Let’s just get it over with.”
“One thing, this room is loaded with reporters.”
“Trust you to make your wedding a media event.”
“While they’re watching, try not to show your animosity.”
“You’re asking for the impossible.”
“Force yourself. You have a hundred million reasons.”
He shoved the bouquet at her and slipped his arm through hers. The smile he flashed at onlookers felt like it was dripping from his face like wax.
A friendly judge had waived the waiting period, and the City Clerk’s office had expedited the arrangements. A waiting clerk took the papers and Ralph’s ten dollars and handed him the license.
As the wedding party moved into the adjacent room, where the ceremony would take place, Lowery called out to his journalist colleagues, “They’re getting married here!”
The other reporters hurried to join him.
Ralph concentrated on Gail as they moved past Lowery. “My angel!”
Her answering smile looked lethal. “My pet!”
Ralph took his place beside Gail in front of the clerk.
“The ring?” the man asked.
Ralph stared at him, uncomprehending.
The man recognized Ralph and grew nervous. “The ring for the . . . umm . . . bride.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“Well, it’s traditional.”
“We’re very modern.”
Henry leaned forward and handed his son a spectacular diamond wedding band he had bought that morning. Two circles of pear-shaped diamonds formed a herring-bone pattern. It was a lavish peace offering.
Instead, appalled by the ring’s extravagance, Gail glared at Ralph as he placed it on her finger.
The disconcerted clerk asked Ralph, “Are . . . are you going to wear a ring?”
Ralph replied, “You’ve got to be kidding.”
The clerk swallowed hard, looked over at the bride, who was also glowering at him, and then back at the groom. Ralph gestured impatiently. The clerk performed the service hundreds of times a week, but he was now so nervous that he forgot the opening phrase and, once he got going, rushed through the ceremony, stammering and stumbling over words he had spoken innumerable times. He turned to Gail when speaking to the groom and Ralph when speaking to the bride.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” he concluded with a great sigh of relief. “You may kiss the bride.”
“Thanks,” Ralph said and shook the man’s hand.
“The bride,” the man repeated, “you may kiss her.”
“Right,” Ralph said. He took a deep breath and turned to her at an angle that would shield her hostility from the reporters at the doorway craning for a better view.
“Darling,” he pronounced.
“Dearest,” she responded. Her voice rang out like an alarm.
At that moment Ralph knew exactly what it must be like to kiss dry ice. Two years! he moaned silently.
As he lifted his head, he found his mother’s arms around them both.
“Congratulations,” Rosalie sobbed. “I’m so happy for both of you.”
Ralph looked over at his father, whose expression indicated he had taken his usual course, which was to keep his wife in the dark.
A lot of hand-shaking and well-wishing followed, mostly from the reporters.
“Where’s the honeymoon going to be?” Ahern asked.
“Paradise!” Gail uttered in a loud sigh and rolled her eyes dreamily toward Ralph.
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