Hollywood Husbands (71 page)

“
Drop Dead Beautiful
” was published in 2007. Lucky is back, bolder and more beautiful than ever. In “
Drop Dead Beautiful
” Lucky meets old friends and enemies, and deals with her wild teenage daughter, Max, who is as stubborn and strong as her mom. Lucky plans to return to Las Vegas and build an amazing billion-dollar hotel complex. But when she does… the trouble really begins… Next came “
Married Lovers
,” a powerful look at the ins and outs of marriage in L.A. It’s also the story of an under-age Russian girl who becomes involved in the sex trade, and eventually arrives in Hollywood and causes major trouble.

“
Poor Little Bitch Girl
” was another
New York Times
bestseller. The story of three very different women who all went to high school together. Denver Jones — a twenty-five-year-old kick-ass associate lawyer in L.A. Carolyn Henderson — assistant to a powerful married Senator in Washington. And Annabelle Maestro — daughter of movie star parents, who has carved out a niche for herself as a much-in-demand New York madame running call girls. And then there is Bobby Santangelo — Lucky’s Kennedyesque hot sexy son, with mucho style, great looks and plenty of money. Everyone wants Bobby… Throw into this mix a raunchy agent, a sixteen-year-old gangbanger’s girlfriend, an older superstar on the prowl, a lethal murder… and “
Poor Little Bitch Girl
” becomes a guilty pleasure for everyone to enjoy.

Jackie’s next novel “
Goddess of Vengeance
” is the continuing adventures of Lucky Santangelo — much beloved by Jackie’s legion of readers — who makes a triumphant return in this story of lust, power and revenge set between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
The Daily Mail
called “
Goddess of Vengeance
” “The book of the year.” Also returning in “
Goddess of Vengeance
” are Lucky’s sexy son, Bobby, with his girlfriend Denver, and Max, Lucky’s wild little teenage daughter. Along for the thrilling ride is Armand Jordan, and to quote Jackie — “Armand is the nastiest villain I have ever created. But he was fun to write!”

And then comes the sexy sun-drenched thriller, “
The Power Trip
,” set on a state of the art luxury yacht off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. A tropical getaway with a cast of global power brokers and celebrities. In “
The Power Trip
” you will meet Aleksandr Kasianenko, a billionaire Russian oligarch, as he sets sail on
The Bianca
with his sexy supermodel girlfriend, whom
The Bianca
is named after. Also five dynamic, powerful and famous couples invited on the yacht’s maiden voyage: Hammond Patterson, a driven Senator, and his lovely but unhappy wife, Sierra. Cliff Baxter, a charming, never-married movie star, and his ex-waitress girlfriend, Lori. Taye Sherwin, a famous black UK footballer and his interior designer wife, Ashley. Luca Perez, a male Latin singing sensation with his older decadent English boyfriend, Jeromy. And Flynn, a maverick journalist with his Asian renegade female friend, Xuan. You will also meet Russian mobster, Sergei Zukov, a man with a grudge against Aleksandr. And Sergei’s Mexican beauty queen girlfriend, Ina, whose brother, Cruz, is a master pirate with orders to hold
The Bianca
and its illustrious rota of guests for ransom. “
The Power Trip
” explores the decadent playgrounds of the super rich… and leaves you hungry for more. Take it if you dare…

After “
The Power Trip
” came “
Confessions of a Wild Child
” — the super adventures of Lucky Santangelo as a wild, out-of-control teenager with aspirations to follow in the footsteps of her father, the notorious Gino Santangelo. In “
Confessions of a Wild Child
” Lucky explores the world of boys, sex, rock n’ roll, and becoming the strong and sexy woman she is today.

“
The Lucky Santangelo Cookbook
,” out now, is a different kind of cookbook, that Jackie describes as “decadent and delicious!” Full of mouth-watering recipes and lethal drinks, plus special exclusive scenes between the Santangelo family, great food photos, and original illustrations of Lucky.

Jackie’s latest novel, “
The Santangelos
,” was just released in June. An epic saga about the entire Santangelo family — Lucky still rules. In this 9th book about the family, Lucky is dealing with a powerful enemy, a drug-obsessed Colombian, her teenage daughter, Max, who is in Europe becoming the new “It” girl, and her son, Bobby — who gets set up for a murder he didn’t commit. Passion, revenge, sex and power… it’s all happening!

Currently Jackie is working on a new novel, bringing back Flynn from “
The Power Trip
.” She is also writing her autobiography — “
Reform School or Hollywood
,” and a coffee table photo book filled with celebrity photos she has taken over the years.

Jackie has three daughters and lives in L.A. She refers to herself as a popular culture junkie and TV addict. Her hobbies are music — everything from soul to rap, taking photographs and visiting exotic locations so that she can write about them later.

Jackie has always believed that truth is much stranger than fiction.

DEDICATION

To my many loyal and wonderful readers

who have faithfully followed The Santangelo Family for years.

I wish you nothing but love and peace.

Oh yes, and remember—

Never fuck with a Santangelo!

Prologue

The King of Akramshar—a small but wealthy Middle Eastern country located between Syria and Lebanon—ruled his oil-rich country with an iron fist. And although King Emir Amin Mohamed Jordan embraced many old-fashioned values and traditions, he also implemented his own rules and they were harsh.

The king had countless wives and over thirty children. In his mind they were all useless. Women were only good for two things—giving birth and being at his sexual beck and call. As for his offspring—some of them grown men—they were all disappointments. The only son who’d given him any pleasure at all was his dear departed son, Armand—a worthy successor to the king’s coveted crown. And Armand was gone. Murdered by the American infidels. A bullet to the head in a degenerate American city called Las Vegas.

The king’s fury was boundless. How could this have happened? And why?

King Emir had given Armand a royal funeral fit for his favorite son. His people had lined the streets, heads bowed, showing their respect as so they should. Several of his many sons carried the solid gold casket on their shoulders. Peggy, Armand’s American mother, his widow, Soraya, and Armand’s four children walked solemnly behind. The women, including Peggy, wore traditional robes covering their entire bodies. While the king rode on a white stallion, resplendent in a gold trimmed uniform, waving to his people.

King Emir was a man who believed in revenge. And who exactly was to blame for the unfortunate demise of his favorite son, shot to death like a dog?

King Emir had his own ideas. Armand had been trying to buy the very hotel he was murdered in—The Keys—a hotel owned by a woman. That a woman could actually own a hotel was ridiculous, but even more ridiculous—according to Peggy—the woman had refused to sell her property to Armand, and on top of that she had insulted him to his face, and the king had no doubt that it was she who had arranged for Armand’s brutal murder.

King Emir simmered with fury, while dark thoughts of revenge filled his head. Justice had to be done.

But how?

Kill the woman? Take her life exactly as she had taken Armand’s?

No. That was not punishment enough. The woman had to suffer, her family had to suffer.

This was a given.

For almost a year, King Emir had been busy putting plans in place—for his rage would rain down on the offensive American mongrels. And they too would feel the pain of a terrible loss.

CHAPTER ONE

LUCKY

The Keys
was Lucky Santangelo Golden’s dream hotel, but sometimes one can dream bigger, and Lucky had decided that she should create something even more special. She was at a place in her life where she felt ready for a new challenge. Everything was running smoothly, her kids were all doing well. Bobby, with his chain of successful clubs. Max, busy making a name for herself in London as an up and coming model. Young Gino junior and Leo (Lennie’s son she’d adopted) were ensconced in summer camp, while her father, Gino, was happily living out his days in Palm Springs with his fourth wife, Paige.

So Lucky had decided it was time to shake things up and she’d come up with the idea of building a hotel/casino/apartment complex plus a movie studio. This was something nobody had done before. Why not? It was a brilliant idea.

When she’d told her film-maker husband, Lennie, he’d thought it was a crazy concept, although certainly do-able. The movie community would love it. Everything in one place. And it wasn’t as if Lucky was a newcomer to making movies, she’d owned and run Panther Studios for several years. She
was
the Lady Boss. Lucky Santangelo could do anything she chose to do.

Today she was lunching with a team of architects that she was considering hiring. One of her favorite moves was testing people, observing their strengths and weaknesses, deciding if working with them would be calm or stressful.

Danny, her trusty assistant, accompanied her on the way to
The Asian
, an elegant Chinese restaurant located in her hotel.

Danny was one of the few privy to the fact that she was plotting and planning on building yet another fantastic Vegas complex. Danny got it—he understood that
The Keys
—a truly amazing combination of grand hotel, luxurious apartments and one of the best casinos in Vegas, was simply not enough for her. As usual his dynamic boss wanted more.