Hollywood Underworld
Lindy S. Hudis
(A Hollywood Series)
Publication date: August 8th 2021
Genres: Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Nick Savage was supposed to be the next sexy Hollywood heartthrob, until he turned up dead!
His personal manager, Dani Foxx, is a seductive former actress with spunk, guts and a take-no-prisoners attitude. She lives in the Woodland Hills section of the San Fernando Valley with her teenage daughter. They must survive and protect each other in the world’s most glamorous and sin-filled city. Then an unidentified body discovered under the Santa Monica pier is found to belong to the up and coming young actor.
Dani’s partner, the dashing and charismatic A.J. Tarentella, is the son of a mob boss, raised in a ruthless crime family. He now is the proud owner of the Tarantella Agency, a Private Investigation Company located in the heart of Beverly Hills. He used his father’s work ethic, connections and family ties to build his powerful business empire, and now he is always there to help those in need.
When another gorgeous nubile actress on the brink of getting her breakout role mysteriously vanishes as the body of a beautiful young girl is discovered in Runyon Canyon park in the Hollywood Hills, Dani realizes this is no coincidence. Who is targeting young Hollywood stars? And more importantly, how can Dani stop them before the next body surfaces?
Together, A..J. and Dani find themselves tangled in a web of organized crime, Hollywood secrets, and a vengeful faded movie star with a lethal vendetta.
Los Angeles, California
Spring
“Kill her.” The irate and imposing male voice bellowed into the phone.
“Who?” The nervous - and not too bright - hitman swallowed hard and butted out his cigarette. “Who do you think, moron?”
“Uhm…. I don’t….”
“Dani Foxx.”
“Oh, of course…Whatever you need, boss, I’m all over…”
“And I want it taken care of today, do you understand me?”
“I understand.”
“Don’t screw it up again, I want this problem solved.”
“Don’t worry, boss. The bitch is as good as dead.”
“She better be!”
“I’m on it, boss.” He reached for his shoulder holster and checked his gun. “Then get on it. Now!” The angry boss slammed down the phone.
“Yes, boss.” The hitman pulled on his coat and dashed out of his North Hollywood apartment.
Chapter One
Dani Foxx sat at her computer in her small yet meticulous office on Ventura Boulevard diligently checking her day-planner. It was still early on this late-spring Friday morning, but the humid San Fernando Valley was already sticky and blistering-hot, a preview of the triple-digit summer sure to come. The air conditioner in her ship-shape Studio City office was running full blast, and the stack of papers, pictures and letters on her cluttered desk seemed to never get smaller. The temptation to procrastinate on Facebook and Twitter was overbearing, and she quickly closed them out.
“Gotta work today!” She murmured to herself as she began to get her space in order, taking advantage of some time alone. Dani was thirty-seven years old, and lived just a few miles to the north, off Coldwater Canyon near Magnolia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter, Dale, who attended Grant High School. She had started her talent management company from the ground up without any help from anybody, not unlike her life. She raised her daughter by herself, as well as running a household and business. She was smart, independent and subtly beautiful, with waist-length blonde hair and a figure as sexy and voluptuous as any starlet or supermodel.
Her ex-husband, a part-time actor and stand-up comedian, had abandoned the family when Dale was two. Dani knew instinctively how to take care of herself and her child, and Dale’s father was long forgotten. Neither Dale nor Dani missed him, and they had made a wonderful and loving life for themselves.
Sighing, she checked her to-do list of meetings that day. She was to see several actors that morning, had phone calls and breakdowns in the afternoon, and she was running late due to an early-morning argument with her loving, yet typically rebellious teenage daughter. Barbara Thomas, one of the most powerful and respected casting directors in Hollywood, was currently casting a new feature film, and Dani was going to submit her best talent for the various roles. She was also seeking new clients, thus the many interviews she had scheduled for herself. Needless to say, this was going to be a busy day, and she was glad it was Friday, as a much needed and relaxing weekend was definitely in order.
Her office landline phone rang for the first time that morning, and Dani was swift to jump and answer it.
“Foxx Management.” She spoke professionally into the phone, while continuing to scan her computer screen. Her cell phone vibrated at that very moment, and she let her personal voice mail answer. Her life was a never-ending array of telephone rings, actor drop-ins and pulsating cell phones. However, the ambitious and hard-working Dani would not have it any other way.
“Hi Ms. Foxx, it’s Nick Savage. We met at the Actors Space Theater.” The cheery yet deep male voice said.
“Oh, hello Nick, of course I remember you. How could I forget your incredible performance in The Glass Menagerie?”
“I certainly appreciate that, Ms. Foxx. I just wanted to confirm our appointment for this morning.”
“Lemme check….” Dani clicked on the calendar icon at the top of her screen and skimmed the page when the document opened. “I see you have a ten-thirty with me.”
“Yes, I do, and I am looking forward to meeting you again, Ms. Foxx.”
“Likewise, Nick, and please call me Dani. Ms. Foxx is my mom.” Dani said with a friendly laugh.
“Okay Ms.…err, Dani. See you at ten-thirty. Is there anything you need me to bring? My demo reel? My new headshots? A Frappuccino from Starbucks?”
“No thank you, Nick. Just bring yourself and we’ll work out the details of what you need later.”
“Thank you, Dani. See you later.”
“Great, see you then.” Dani smiled as the placed the phone back on the multi-line console. She remembered her acting and modeling days. She knew all too well the treachery and frustration of the entertainment business. The many pitfalls, vulnerabilities and precarious situations made life for the aspiring entertainer difficult, so Dani made it a point to be friendly, approachable and super protective of her clients.
She gingerly thumbed through the stack of actors' headshots and sorted them according to the order in which she was going to meet with them. Slurping her caramel latte, she eyed the pictures, one after the other. All of them beautiful, all of them with hopes and dreams in their flawless, white-toothed smiles. Nick Savage, the young man to whom she had briefly spoken on the phone less than a minute ago, was performing in a play that one of her clients was in. The Actors’ Space Theater Company in Burbank was bursting with phenomenal new talent, and she frequented there often with her faithful assistant, Doug. However, this particular morning, Doug was running late, which was not unusual. The traffic in Los Angeles was becoming a joke, and one would have to leave home nearly two hours early to get to work on time. Friday mornings especially, it seemed, the freeways were like parking lots and everybody was always running late– which was why Dani, in her impeccably efficient manner, always made sure to live within a few miles of her office.
Author Bio:
Lindy S. Hudis is an award winning filmmaker, author and actress. Lindy is a graduate of New York University, where she studied drama at Tisch School of the Arts. She also performed in a number of Off-Off Broadway theater productions while living in New York City.
She is the author of several titles, including her romance suspense novel, Weekends, her “Hollywood” story City of Toys, and her crime novel, Crashers. Her latest release, “Hollywood Underworld – A Hollywood Series” is the first installment of a crime, mystery series.
In addition, she has written several erotic short stories, including “The S&M Club”, “The Backstage Pass”, “Guitar God”, “The Guitarist”, and “The Mile High Club”.
Her short film “The Lesson”, which she wrote, produced and directed, has won numerous awards, including ‘Best Short Film’ at the Paris International Film Festival, The Beverly Hills Arthouse Film Festival and the San Fransisco International Film Festival.
She is also an actress, having appeared in the indie film Expressionism, the television daytime drama “Sunset Beach”, also “Married with Children” , “Beverly Hills 90210” and the feature film “Indecent Proposal” . She and her husband, Hollywood stuntman Stephen Hudis, have formed their own production company called Impact Motion Pictures, and have several projects and screenplays in development. She lives in California with her husband and two children.
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