Drop Dead Beautiful
Jackie Collins
Dear Reader,
First and foremost, Thank You for reaching for this special promotional e-book edition of Drop Dead Beautiful. I always appreciate when new and old fans alike want to dive into the world of Lucky Santangelo. I know you’ll love her. And when you’re finished I hope you’ll take a few moments to read a chapter from my new book, Goddess of Vengeance. In Goddess of Vengeance Lucky comes up against the ruthless billionaire businessman Armand Jordan to protect her Las Vegas casino and hotel complex from his grasp. Whatever Armand wants, Armand gets, but not when it comes to Lucky. And so the battle for power begins, and nobody enjoys a battle more than Lucky, for she plays to win. Along with Lucky you will meet her hot son, Bobby Santangelo, his girlfriend—Deputy D.A. Denver Jones, and her irascible teenage daughter, Max. Together they are family and nobody messes with the Santangelos.
Goddess of Vengeance, already a number one bestseller in the UK, is full of power, passion and revenge in Las Vegas, with a healthy dose of family drama. Goddess of Vengeance brings readers the most exhilarating and mysterious Lucky Santangelo story yet. Dying to get your own copy? Goddess of Vengeance is available for preorder now and will be in bookstores everywhere on September 13th. Until then, catch updates from me on Facebook at facebook.com/jackiecollins and Twitter at twitter.com/jackiejcollins. Better yet, take advantage of the exclusive invitation you’ll find on the last page of this e-book to join my private fan club.
Happy Reading!
Best,
Jackie
More praise for
DROP DEAD BEAUTIFUL
“Collins’s classic can’t-put-it-down style and feisty drop-dead glamorous characters transport us to a beyond-fabulous world. Yet with Jackie as our guide, we feel right at home.”
—Glamour
“That goddess of vengeance, Lucky, strides again.”
—New York Daily News
“It’s so full of fun and vitality, glamour, bitchiness and murderous intent. Just when you think Jackie Collins must surely run out of puff, off she goes again.”
—The Mirror (5-star rating)
“Wry, cheeky, and outrageously entertaining.”
—Michelle Buonfiglio, Lifetime TV
“Nothing can make your summer sizzle better than a Jackie Collins novel. Her newest book is called Drop Dead Beautiful. And if history is any indication, it’s bound to be yet another best seller.”
—NBC’s “Today”
“Breathless.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Dysfunctional relationships, feuding families, and simmering vendettas, punctuated by lusty liaisons. One for fans of The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives.”
—The Telegraph
“The latest book in her continuing saga of Lucky Santangelo and her clan careens between Bel Air, Vegas and Mexico. Collins can still weave an entertaining spell as she visits the lives of the rich and infamous.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“In this big, splashy Hollywood-based novel, Collins resurrects one of her favorite characters, the hard-edged, rich, talented, and beautiful Lucky Santangelo … Collins’s fans, and fans of the genre, will be clamoring for this one.”
—Booklist
“Pure joy from beginning to end.”
—Daily Express
“Drop Dead Beautiful marks Collins’s 25th entry in a genre she helped to refine and raise to new heights. How fitting that this silver-anniversary publication celebrates her most popular character, a woman who lives by her wits but knows how to use her sexuality in equal measure. This is one author who knows her audience and doesn’t disappoint. Each storyline is equally engrossing, which is a rarity, and zips the reader along through the ins and outs of big money dealings and high-stakes showdowns. What more could one want from a summer read?”
—Bookreporter.com
…and for Jackie Collins’s fabulous
New York Times bestseller
LOVERS & PLAYERS
“Take one vindictive aging tycoon and three charismatic, ambitious sons; add one naïve heiress, one aspiring R&B diva, one British (titled, natch) lady of the house; throw in a dash of Russian mafia, kinky sex and a pinch of rap mogul, fabulous locations and a sprinkling of murders, and you have the ingredients for a fast-paced, glamour-heavy Collins extravaganza … the ever-stylin’ Collins manages to tie the scattered plot lines together into another page-turning tale packed with intrigue, revenge and romance for her St. Martin’s debut.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A decadent concoction sure to appeal … a fast-lane take on the lives of the rich and fabulous.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Vintage Collins here: Sex, love, betrayal, and deception. Her fans will certainly enjoy.”
—Booklist
“Scandal galore, a cast of beautiful people (with issues) and lively descriptions that are always fun to read … pure, unadulterated Collins.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“Collins is back with another sexy page-turner.”
—New York Post
“A smorgasbord of love, sex, power, and money.”
—Elle
“[Collins] seems to know every Hollywood player and just where to find their dirty laundry basket. She is a consummate observer, an outsider with an insider’s knowledge. That’s her signature trick. She is at once both intimate and detached.”
—Daily Mail
“A classic Collins fiasco. Love, murder, glamour, sex, and betrayal are all covered, natch.”
—OK! magazine
“A totally delicious read.”
—Complete Woman
“Escapism doesn’t come racier than Jackie Collins.”
—YOU magazine
“Power, money and sex in the lives of America’s beautiful people … bartender, pour us a dirty martini and keep them coming. This is vintage Jackie Collins and we’ll be here ’til closing.”
—Heat magazine
Lucky Santangelo Novels by Jackie Collins
Dangerous Kiss
Vendetta: Lucky’s Revenge
Lady Boss
Lucky
Chances
Also by Jackie Collins
Lovers & Players
Hollywood Divorces
Deadly Embrace
Hollywood Wives—The New Generation
Lethal Seduction
L.A. Connections—Power, Obsession, Murder, Revenge
Thrill!
Hollywood Kids
American Star
Rock Star
Hollywood Husbands
Lovers & Gamblers
Hollywood Wives
The World Is Full of Divorced Women
The Love Killers
Sinners
The Bitch
The Stud
The World Is Full of Married Men
DROP DEAD
Beautiful
Jackie
Collins
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DROP DEAD BEAUTIFUL
Copyright © 2007 by Chances, Inc.
Include Goddess of Vengeance
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address
St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2007009831
ISBN: 0-312-93709-1
EAN: 978-0312-93709-6
Printed in the United States of Am
erica
St. Martin’s Press hardcover edition / June 2007
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / June 2008
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my family, who are a constant
source of love and encouragement
And
For my friends, whom I often write about,
only I change the names to protect the
not so innocent!
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Epilogue
Preview
PROLOGUE
The house in Pasadena was grand by anyone’s standards. Large and imposing. An impressive Colonial mansion that reeked of money, nothing flashy.
Penelope Whitfield-Simmons and her son, Henry, lived in the mansion. Penelope was the widow of the powerful newspaper magnate Logan Whitfield-Simmons, who died at the age of seventy-two from a massive heart attack while out on a fishing trip with his only son. Henry, twenty-two at the time of his father’s death, was now thirty, but he still lived at home, because in Logan’s will, Henry received nothing until the death of his mother, and Penelope—a healthy seventy— had no intention of going anywhere.
Henry had no drive, no ambition. When he was younger he’d decided he wanted to be an actor. “Acting is for pansies,” his father had roared. “ Your place is in the newspaper business with me.”
Henry had appealed to his mother. “Listen to your father,” Penelope had said. “Everyone knows that people in the film business are all drug addicts, sexual deviants, and perverts. Not our kind, dear.”
Ha! Henry had thought. As if she would know.
Behind their backs he tried his best. He’d secretly taken acting classes and found himself an agent.
One day a fellow student in his acting class mentioned that Alex Woods, the renowned Oscar-winning director, was auditioning young actors for the lead role opposite the very famous Venus Maria in his new movie, Seduction.
Henry was excited. He set about finding out everything he could regarding the upcoming film, even going so far as to bribe his agent’s assistant to get him a copy of the script. He studied the script religiously, practicing his dialogue and moves in front of a mirror. When he considered himself fully prepared, he instructed his agent to get him in for an audition.
His agent had looked at him as if he were a mental case, and informed him that getting an audition for an Alex Woods film was virtually impossible for an actor who had no prior experience.
Henry came from a world of extreme wealth and privilege. At an early age he’d learned from his father that in their world nothing was impossible.
With a great deal of manipulating he’d arranged to get himself in for an audition.
The day he arrived for his appointment there were fifteen other young actors sitting around in the cramped waiting room. Henry proceeded to stare them down. They might be good, but Henry was confident that he was better.
The Asian girl behind the desk handed him sides.
Sitting, fidgeting, waiting, he’d imagined his future. He would land the role, tell his parents, and there would be nothing they could do about it.
He, Henry Whitfield-Simmons, was about to become a famous movie star, with or without their approval.
It never happened.
And why not?
Because of one woman.
Her name was Lucky Santangelo.
Chapter 1
Drop Dead Beautiful. The three little words were scrawled on the Cartier card Lucky Santangelo had just opened. Hand-delivered, the note had been brought up to the house in Bel Air by Philippe, her houseman, who’d discovered it in the mailbox at the end of the driveway.
Drop Dead Beautiful. No signature, no return address.
Was it an invitation to an upcoming event too clever for its own good?
Whatever. One quick glance at the card, and Lucky tossed it in the trash.
Lucky Santangelo. A dangerously seductive woman with blacker-than-night eyes, full sensuous lips, a tangle of long jet-black hair, deep olive skin, and a lithe body. Wherever she went, Lucky still brought a room to a standstill, for not only was she wildly beautiful, she was also a powerhouse— a woman to be reckoned with, a force of nature. Street-smart and forever savvy—Lucky Santangelo had it all.
In her past, she’d built hotels in Vegas, owned a major movie studio, and been married three times. She’d also survived much heartache. Her mother, Maria, had been murdered when she was five years old. Her brother, Dario, was shot to death and tossed from a moving car. Then finally her fiancé, Marco, was gunned down in the parking lot of her Vegas hotel.
Eventually Lucky had found out that the man who’d ordered the brutal killings was her godfather, Enzio Bonnatti, a man she had always respected and trusted. The information devastated her. Filled with vengeance, she’d lured Enzio into a carefully planned trap at his home, and shot him dead with his own gun, claiming that he’d tried to rape her. It was deemed a clear-cut case of self-defense.
