The Beginning
BodyGuard Trilogy Series
Copyright 2019 © Red Tempest
All rights reserved
This book and or any portion of this book may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
I would like to thank my two fine editors,
Barny-R & Aerosick
, they helped to catch my mistakes. Any errors that are found are mine alone as I did do some revising.
The setting takes place in New York City in the early 1950's
Chapter 1
Kay Adams Corleone and her lawyer, Tom Hagen, were listening to the judge as he issued a verdict against her and her late husband Sonny. Kay had been married to Vito Sonny Corleone for just over four years. She was just in the process of getting a divorce from him, when he suddenly died.
"I can't believe this! I just can't!"
"Settled down Kay, it isn't over yet."
"It might as well be there is no way I can get out of this. I can't believe him! If he wasn't dead, I would kill him myself!"
"Easy now Kay, we don't want language like that, it could cause you some problems if the wrong person heard you."
"I know Tom, I couldn't help myself, it sort of just slipped out. It's just I can't believe he could cause me this much trouble."
******************
During their short marriage Kay's grandma passed away and Kay and her sister were her only living relative. Her sister was never mentioned in the will. She will never forget the day she went to the reading of the will. It was a very sizable estate, making Kay a very wealthy woman. She was so overwhelmed she couldn't speak. It took her awhile to settle down and get herself under control. She calmed down enough to call her husband's office, but he wasn't in. Kay thought it a little odd at that time of day. But he did have meetings now and again, so she never questioned him. Kay went back to her restaurant, but it was hard to concentrate on work after what occurred earlier in the day. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and left. She was leaving the restaurant in the capable hands of Holly, her hostess and number two in the chain of command. She was going crazy waiting for Sonny to get home. When he finally got home, she almost knocked him over when he came through the door.
"Sonny, Sonny!" she ran up to him jumping up into his arms. "I can't believe this! I just can't!"
"Whoa! Settle down Kay. What did your grandma do, leave you a million dollars or something?" he snickered.
Kay stood back with the biggest grin on her face.
Sonny looked at her speechless for a second. "Oh my God Kay, don't tell me?"
Kay was nodding her head.
"We're rich! We're rich!" and she jumped up into his arms again.
Sonny was shocked he had to see for himself.
"Let me see what the will says."
Kay showed him the document and he stood frozen looking at it. As he stood still Kay noticed he had lipstick on his shirt collar. She cleared her throat. This wasn't the first time he had cheated on her. She always looked the other way, like she didn't know, but she did.
"I think we should talk with an attorney for some advice to help us. This is a lot of money."
Sonny was just grinning, still staring at the document.
"You know what this means? I can retire. I can get what I want, go where I want..." he was lost in his thoughts.
Kay was listening to him. He kept saying I and not we.
"Did you hear what I said Vito?"
She would call him Vito when she was mad at him. He did not like being called Vito, he always went by Sonny.
He looked at her quickly, "Yeah, yeah something about a lawyer. I can get one."
"Vito it's we, not I." she glared at him.
She just had that feeling that she wasn't going to able to trust him with all this money at stake.
"Yeah right us."
But he wasn't listening to her. He was thinking, booze, drugs, gambling and women. He could pay off all the money owed to his bookies. He only married Kay because his parents were badgering him to get married and start a family. He was dating Kay and a couple of other women at that time. She was the best of the three and she had a restaurant that was doing very well. Her restaurant could be very useful, so he figured why not. He was at a dead-end sales job going nowhere and his parents refused to help him anymore. He had a lot of gambling debts he must cover. This money would get him out of the hole. But he had one little problem, Kay.
Kay thought he loved her in the beginning. The way he looked at her and treated her when they first got together. So, when he asked her to get married, she jumped at the chance. But a couple months after their marriage, she realized he really didn't love her. Not long after they were married, he started cheating on her. She wanted her marriage to work. She didn't want to be a failure like her younger sister Constanzia. Kay always called her by her nickname Zia. It was hard on her knowing Sonny was cheating on her, but she thought he needed time. So, she tried hard to keep things together. She would stick with him, through thick and thin. But things started getting worse. He started losing his temper more and more. He began slapping her around. He always apologized for it afterward. She kept telling herself she shouldn't ask so much of him. She knew he hated his job and working so many hours. She should be more understanding. She was working at her restaurant fourteen hours a day, five days a week herself, but she loved it. Inheriting this money would help them so much. She figured he wouldn't have to work all those hours and maybe the phone calls would stop. And maybe, just maybe, their relationship would get better. Little did she know how bad things would get?
"Okay Kay tomorrow I will go see a lawyer."
"We Sonny," she said.
Sonny stood there looking at her. He knew she was going to be trouble by the look on her face.
"Okay, we." He said flatly.
Kay smiled sweetly and quickly plucked the document from his hand before he could stop her.
"I will put this someplace safe."
Sonny cleared his throat, "Don't you trust your own husband Kay?"
She took a quick look at his collar. "Sonny trust has nothing to do with it."
"Okay, Okay, put it someplace safe." He said to just shut her up.
Sonny figured she was too dumb to realize he was up to something. He let her have her way, for now. Neither of them could sleep that night. Both were excited. They talked a little bit about what they were going to do. Kay would say we, Sonny would say I. In the morning they both got up and ready. They were looking through the yellow pages for a law firm. Kay knew she had to protect herself. Something she saw in Sonny's eyes frightened her. She had to keep strong through this. She kept telling herself to keep calm.
"Who do you think we should see Sonny?"
They were both looking over lawyer's names.
"Hyman Roth," Sonny said to quickly.
"I don't think so, he is listed under criminal law and that's not what we need."
Sonny started getting angry, but he had to contain himself. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he could get rid of Kay.
"Okay who do you think?" he said between gritted teeth.
"How about Tom Hagen? He helped me with my finances when my parents died. He was very professional. He got things done quickly and he might give us a break. He loves dining at my restaurant." She looked at him hoping he would agree.
Sonny rolled his eyes. "Fine Kay. Tom, it is."
Kay smiled. "Well let's see if we can see him."
Kay called Tom's office and the secretary told her he was book for the morning, but she had a 2:00 pm. available. Kay told her she would take the 2:00 pm. appointment time.
At noon, Sonny said, "Let's go it will probably take over an hour to get there and find a parking spot."
Chapter 2
With help from Tom, Kay and Sonny setup an account with an investment firm and had the money deposit there. They were advised to buy some stock and make investments. Kay followed the advice, but Sonny spent his share of the money as quickly as it became available to him. Soon threatening phone calls started again. Sonny became more abusive. Kay feared for her life at times. The look on his face at times gave her the chills. He seemed to become more hateful towards her. Kay couldn't take it anymore. She finally filed for divorce when she caught him in their bed with a strange woman. She had enough. A month later, Sonny was killed in an accident. But he seemed to owe just about everybody money, and now Kay was accountable to pay off those debts. Since they still were married, and the divorce wasn't final yet, she was responsible for them. Sitting in the courtroom was very unnerving.
The judgment finally came in and Kay almost fainted when she found out, she would be almost broke. She would probably have cash in all her investments to cover the judgment. But it looked like her house and restaurant might be saved. All of this because of Sonny.
"I'm so sorry Kay, I did everything I could." Tom said.
Tom helped Kay with her will and finances after her parents had died. Tom also knew that Sonny her husband was mixed up in the criminal world. Why she ever married Sonny was beyond him.
"I know you have Tom, I just can't believe one man could owe this much money."
She couldn't imagine where Sonny spent it all, somehow things just didn't add up.
"Guys like Sonny seemed to go through money. I could almost see it coming, but I think we should be able to save your restaurant and house."
"I sure hope so Tom. I wish I could have seen this coming. But I wanted our marriage to work."
"You're a strong person Kay. You will pull through." He smiled at her trying to give her hope.
What Kay didn't know was there were two types of judgments against her. One adjudicated by the courts and one decided by the criminals that Sonny owed money to.
************
When Kay got home, she looked around. Everything might have to go, tears built up in her eyes. But she held on to the thought about keeping her business. She was in the kitchen getting a drink of water when the doorbell rang. She went and answered the door and got a surprise!
"Kay Corleone?"
"Yes."
There were two big burly men standing there. Kay suddenly got nervous. The men pushed their way in and closed the door. Everything happened so fast it made her dizzy.
"We here to collect money owed our boss." One of them growled.
"Money? What money? I have no more money." She cried.
She saw one of the men pull out a gun, and she began to panic!
"Sonny owes our boss a cool half a million. And he wants it now."
"Sonny's dead!" She gasped.
"We know he is dead. But you are his wife and you're still alive, for now. And the boss wants his money!"
Kay's head was spinning. She didn't know what was going to happen. She couldn't think straight. Then she felt the gun jam into her side.
"You get the idea?"
"I...I don't have any money. Sonny spent his share of the inheritance. What's left is mine and it is all invested." She choked out.
"Well find a way to get it. You have a week and we will be back. And next time we won't be so nice."
One of the men knocked her down to the floor and kicked her once.
"Don't get any ideas," and he pointed the gun at her.
Kay was in fear as she watched the men leave. She sat for a long time and finally got her
wits about her and got up. She ran to the door and locked it. She quickly called her lawyer.
"Tom!" she shouted into the phone all out of breath.
"Kay?"
"I need to sell everything now!"
"Hold on, you should be able to keep the house and business?"
