His Betrayals

By Jerry Payne

Like the hills of San Francisco where he made his name, businessman Kyle Stone will not be denied his destiny.

Orphaned at thirteen, a military officer at eighteen, married at twenty, he survived the perils of war and now faced the dishonesty of the boardroom.

Follow Kyle through a series of obstacles laced with corporate intrigue and three betrayals that will change the dynamics of his existence.

Loaded with the truth and courage, and despite his best efforts, Kyle is immersed in a world driven by lies, greed, and ruthlessness in this enthralling story of self-preservation among corruption and the mystery of dangerous love.

It is with the promise of endless dreams of success and his distinctive breed and spirit that helped him raise an empire despite all they did to break him. Will the innocent be set free and the guilty punished, and will redemption be in his future?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781633389526

Jerry Payne

Sarah Rose Kairn grew up in an affluent Connecticut neighborhood, the daughter of a successful construction engineer and well-respected, churchgoing pillar of the community. By all appearances, hers was the ideal American family. But a terrible secret lay within. Moonlight Shadows on the Winter Snow is Sarah's true account of her father's sexual molestation and her journey of healing.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Journey Begins

Kyle Stone started his young life as an orphan after tragedy hit his family. His family never had any money and shopped at the secondhand store. For his footwear, he was given used white nurse’s shoes and a top of a Tide box for the holes, smiling to himself. Kyle knew it would be up to him if he was going to amount to someone or somebody, and he was ready to fight for all he could get. Unfortunately, his path will take him down a tunnel full of lies, greed, and deceit. When one thinks it is over, that will be the beginning.

Kyle was still uneasy about allowing his vice president’s, David’s strange idea to come to fruition. Did they really have to go there this soon, and what would be the consequences? If it goes really bad, how do they stop it?

More questions than answers, Kyle pondered.

Could they not find another way to solve these dangerous circumstances? Problems, there seemed to be too many lately, and another one was wanted like the plague; however, it was here and very real. Time for all of them to face it head-on.

Kyle was now the president and chairman of a large financial company in San Francisco offering retirement programs for municipalities. He founded the company after many years of learning the trade and paying his dues by putting shoe leather to the street. He had now made it, name on the building. Success was on his doorstep. Could he relax and enjoy it, or was there betrayal in the air?

No would be the answer. They had just lost huge in court. They had done nothing wrong, but because of a crooked judge and a lying associate, the smell of ruthlessness and corporate corruption was very poignant in the air this day. With this loss, the court, in sixty days, was going to release the restraining order and allow Howard, the lying associate, and his people in Chicago, to proceed with their efforts to take over the budding empire that Kyle had built. Howard, ecstatic with the judge’s ruling, ran to report to his people in Chicago how they had beaten Kyle, and their plan for the takeover of his company was now in full gear. The gates were now open for those on the dark side to embrace their greed and destroy the lives of all in their path.

Howard, an older thin gray-haired man with a beard to match, had lied and pretended to want to purchase a franchise for the City of Chicago. Everyone was happy to see that Chicago wanted in on offering these plans to those in their city and were now being trained; all the while, he was secretly spying and using various deceitful means in his attempts to finding all the keys to the locks that would take down and take over Kyle’s empire—betrayal at its finest.

Howard was in the office early this Tuesday morning. He wanted to talk to Chicago before Kyle got in.

Howard said, Listen, Peter, all is going as planned here. I think we have Kyle on the ropes.

Peter looked out the window of his sixty-fifth floor office, overlooking the navy pier. Howard, you be careful. Kyle is pretty sharp. You be sure he does not find out what we are doing. It would really screw things up on this end.

Howard spoke softly so that Connie, Kyle’s loyal secretary, would not hear him, I know what you are saying, that is why I will be leaving here after this phone call. I do not want Kyle to see me here. As far as I know, he thinks we’re going to wait the full sixty days as the court order stipulates. However, we know that we will start taking people from him and secretly acquire his offices. I must admit, it is difficult to watch Kyle and his family and all who work here be so nice to me knowing I am going to financially ruin them all. Kyle had worked so hard in building this incredible company.

Peter said, Yes, that is the plan. We must talk to all his managers before he does and don’t go soft on us. This is huge, and the millions we can make will make up for destroying all of them, and don’t leave out the possibility of having to take someone out. Don’t give me your silence, Howard. Remember, this is business. Only the strong survive.

I got it and don’t want to talk about that, but I have been watching David, the VP and Kyle’s right-hand man. I think he is up to something.

You keep an eye on him. I don’t want to have any complications because of him.

I will. It is all good. I will take down Kyle, and it won’t take much longer, Howard said. In so doing, he could affect and divert all that was good from those who get a paycheck and just want to live with love and peace of mind. Could he be stopped, or was the inevitable going to happen?

A couple of anxious days went by, and happily, nothing more eventful had happened, and the candles still burned in the offices. There were foot-high candles that David suggested they put in the office, four black ones and one white candle. His idea of going after Howard as the court system had let them down. They were instructed very carefully by a witch that David had found where to put the four black candles, after writing thirteen bad things to happen, and where to put the white candle in Kyle’s office. It was with the purpose of the black candles to attract bad energy to absorb and be directed to the one who was preying on this company, their children and families.

Kyle remembered what Howard had said about stealing his company.

Kyle, you should be proud to have built a successful financial company, worthy of one to be stolen. That is a compliment to your business sense and hard work.

It wouldn’t make Kyle feel any better, and the anger he felt surprised him that he could think those kinds of things.

So now there were candles, the new corporate strategy to take care of cheating business associates. Black candles and corporate fraud, nothing can come out good from this mixture of bad energy. Kyle could not help but to keep thinking what was going to happen when this all started and the candles were lit. They talked about the present. What was going to happen in the future when one was stirring up all that was bad in one pot? This was foreign ground for Kyle, raised a Catholic, one who went to church regularly. It did not feel right. Kyle hoped he would not be sorry for unleashing things of which he had no control over.

The frustration of the loss in court, a loss that should have never happened, but the greed of men led to a crooked decision and now a serious problem that needed to be dealt with. Let the smell of a burning wick, which was embedded deep in the heart of darkness, fill the air, and may those whose efforts were to destroy a business and a family rot in hell!

Kyle had just gotten back from holding a training class about prospecting for new municipalities to those he had just hired for his company, which was expanding and franchising in other states. He had not had to hire anyone new in a while because of the success of the business, until of course, Howard was invited in and then decided to take it over. It was funny because when he ran an ad to fill one opening in sales, an ad called Opportunity Knocks, he was totally surprised who walked into his office. He spent all day on Monday interviewing prospective agents for the position, and to his surprise, when he said, Send in the next applicant, Connie, Yvonne Lang walked in.

She was a woman who owned a lingerie company. Oh my goodness, he said to himself as she walked in. She was wearing a white dress with blond hair to her shoulders. Hot was all he could say about her. If she was half as smart as she was beautiful, she would be a winner, he thought. Well, needless to say, Kyle hired her, and it became one of his better decisions. She would go on to be a true trusted business associate, a needed friend and more. He initially met her on a trip to his favorite lunch and cocktail hangout. This is where she had her lingerie company fashion show that she put on at different restaurants in the Bay Area.

It seemed like all Kyle spent his time doing these days was meeting with attorneys over the legal problems now beseeching his business. The training of new agents was given to Paul, the sales manager who enjoyed showing off to new employees and was always willing to take on anyone new. Howard and the Chicago bunch were busy contacting all the satellite offices, informing them that they would be taking over as managing partners and what all that entailed to them and their employees, all in violation of the court order. Kyle was busy contacting the same offices and seeing how many he could save under the new business climate they were in. Kyle was counting on his past relationships with his managers in convincing them to stay with his company and reminding them how he had always been upfront and honest in all their business dealings and not to forget all the money they had made with him. Normally, this would be enough for a company to expend all their energy on, but not for Kyle. It was so much more complicated and seemingly very difficult.

The quiet afternoon went by, and it seemed strange that he had not seen or heard from David, his vice president, which caused him to wonder what had happened to him. They had taken their wives to a party up the street from Kyle’s house last night. His doctor friend was having some of the couples in the neighborhood over, and Kyle had invited David and his wife Linda to join them. He was sure he would hear from him soon.

Kyle, feeling hunger pains, thought it would now be a good time to go to his favorite restaurant, which was just around the corner from his office. He had his own table at the restaurant, which was reserved for him and his party at any time. The sound of businesspeople taking time off to relax before enduring another four hours of work filled the bar. After ordering his favorite drink, he noticed David coming over to sit at the table.

David said, Hi, Kyle, how are you this sunny afternoon?

Kyle, looking up at him, said, I am doing fine. I was wondering what happened to you this morning. I did not get any message about you not being in.

I am sorry. The wife was in the mood this morning, and I did not want to not take advantage of her loving, especially when she was so excited.

Not a problem.

She did want me to thank you for such a good time she had last night. David said that he had never seen Linda so thankful for being invited to Bill’s and made it clear that she would love to go back there. Kyle smiled, and he said that he had a good time also and what an escape it was from all that was going on with the company. They had another drink and some lunch. Kyle always had the English muffin cheeseburger, and David always went with the pastrami. Today’s lunch was a little more special because they had a lingerie company come in for some sexy entertainment. There was this fox that owned the company, Yvonne Lang, who went by YL, and Kyle always loved to buy raffle tickets as they watched the pretty young girls with beautiful legs leading up to gorgeous lingerie. Kyle and YL had an agreement after he had hired her, and that was she would go to the shows she had already booked, and then she would give Kyle’s business all her attention. Yvonne seemed not to notice Kyle at the time; she was busy with the girls and putting on the fashion show. She seemed to be surrounded all the time by other guys trying to get to know her or get noticed, it seemed. Kyle would be patient, knowing that she would come by and say hello when she had time.

Kyle told David that he had something to share with him at the office and so to come on in when they got back.

David said, What is it now?

Kyle said, No, nothing like that, just silly. I thought you might get a kick out of it, knowing he was setting David up. David said okay, and they finished their lunch. David had no idea what Kyle was going to do to him and how he was going to get the revenge he had promised.

Kyle was still fuming over the sexual assault and attempted rape accusations from his neighbor John and his wife Karen. This all took place after Kyle invited David to a cocktail party at his neighbor’s house. David must pay and must pay big for what he did was all Kyle knew. What Kyle did not know was how David would react to his punishment. He had done so much for his family and paid him very nicely with a company Cadillac, and he badly disrespected him, his friends, and triggered emotional damage to Karen and her family. This problem with David was taking up a lot of Kyle’s time, and he needed to finish it, and finish it he did! It was time.

David, let’s talk!

With all the agents now out in the field, the office was quiet except for the sound of admin doing their daily tasks that kept the company running smooth. Kyle had time to go over monthly reports that had been piling up as he had been distracted with all the drama. At about that time, his door slammed open, and David came in with a face convoluted in hate.

Kyle, what is the matter with you? Somebody did something to you? David asked.

Yeah, Kyle said as David approached the desk.

You, you son of a bitch, I will kill you! With that, David lunged over Kyle’s desk, knocking the coffee cup over and all the reports and files on the floor. Now Kyle’s chair backed up to the window on the twelfth floor that happened to be open, and as the two men struggled, David tried to push Kyle out of his chair and out the window. With the chair now on the floor, David had Kyle halfway out the window, making it easier to throw him out. As Kyle looked down, he could see the people on the sidewalk who had heard screams and wondered what was going on up there, and they could see two people, hanging halfway out the window. David had his hands on his throat, making it difficult for Kyle to scream for help. It was not looking good. Kyle could not believe that his friend was trying to kill him. What the hell had gotten into him that made him have no boundaries? Kyle kept trying to come up with a scream, hoping to be heard from those in his office or below. It was getting desperate for Kyle. He was slipping farther out the window, sweat rolling down his face, and was staring at the hard sidewalk twelve stories below. Fighting, hoping, and praying were all happening so fast. Fortunately for Kyle, he was very strong, and his arms and legs were able to keep him from falling twelve stories to his death. Well, his prayers were answered. One of the guys he had just hired was in the office turning in his paperwork, and he had played professional football, a big guy.

Kyle screamed, Get him off me! as he struggled not to let David get any closer to pushing him out the window. Kyle could see the people walking down below and looking up and yelling at him, as he hung upside down, praying he did not come any closer to the sidewalk he was staring at. They were busy fighting in the windowsill, grabbing David, trying to pull him back so that Kyle could get in, but he was big and strong. With all them working against David, Kyle started to get worried.

Grab his legs, and take them away from me! Hurry up! I am just about all the way out the damn window. Get him the hell off me!

Keep a hold of the windowsill! Don’t let go. We just about got him.

David, red in the face, said, I am going to kill you. Let go of me, you bastards!

The three of them pulled hard, hitting David’s head on the window, and he rolled back over the desk and into the couch, knocking it over and crushing the coffee table, pieces everywhere. David got up off the floor, his shirt about torn off and his tie to the side, and he started for the door, while the others were still lying on the floor in exhaustion.

He turned around and said to Kyle, You better watch your back. I will be coming after you and your family. He then reached for one of the black candles right outside of Kyle’s office, grabbed it, and threw it at him, like a lit missile on fire, and then started running for the stairs. With the hot candle being lit, it exploded, spewing hot wax and flame on to the carpet in the hallway, causing the baseboard and carpet to start to catch fire. There was a scramble for water to put it out. By the time the flames were out, it had burned up the wall but stayed in the office and did not go to the inside of the wall, but the smell of smoke filled the air. However, it was obvious that they would not be able to stay in the office due to the damage.

Kyle, very shook up and shaken, looked over at his secretary. Go ahead and call the police. We will need a police report for the insurance company.

About a half hour later, the new agents came back, and Yvonne Lang was with them, wearing a white blouse with a checkered red-and-black skirt. She came into Kyle’s office to find him shaken badly with a torn shirt.

She asked him with a concerned voice, What happened to you? You look like you just saw a ghost.

Kyle looked at her blue eyes with her soft, flowing blond hair and said, You won’t believe it. I am still shaking. I was sitting at my desk when David came in and, without notice, came after me over my desk. Yes, he jumped on my desk, on top of my files and coffee cup. I was shocked, watching and not believing he came over my desk. It seems it was his intent to kill me by throwing me out my window.

Yvonne, now with a very concerned, shocked expression on her face, came closer to him. Are you kidding me? You okay?

Yes, but look, he threw a lit candle at me, starting a fire. Continuing to tell Yvonne what had happened, he said, He wanted to kill me and for me to worry about him coming after my family.

Yvonne said, Oh my god, Kyle, I am scared for you.

Kyle looked into her eyes. Don’t worry. I can take care of myself. I must meet with the police, and then I am going home, just in case David shows up there.

What are you going to do?

Now you know, Yvonne, one does not mess with another man’s family! That is when all boundaries become blurred, and you will do anything to make sure your family is safe, and that is what I intend to do.

Yvonne said, Kyle, I can’t believe all this is going on.

I can hear your concern, Yvonne. I want you to know that this is not how things are done around here. We are God-fearing people who all have played by the rules and done the best we could in taking care of our families. Yvonne, you have come aboard at a difficult time for our company, but I promise you that there is so much opportunity for one to succeed with all that this company offers and without any more distractions from those who would like to do us harm. While I take care of eliminating the negatives, you go out and multiply the positives.

Yvonne, with a smile on her face, said, Thank you for saying all that. I guess I needed a pep talk after all that has happened. I am with you, Kyle. I have seen the opportunity, and I plan to take advantage of it as long as you let me.

I am here for you, and any questions you might have, don’t hesitate to ask, and in the meantime, concentrate on what we have taught you, and go out there and get those sales. I will take care of things here. I promise, again.

Kyle had so much on his mind on the way home that evening. On one hand, he was still selling the positives of his business, and in the other, he was going home to protect his family from being shot by a disgruntled employee. He was not at all sure what was going to happen with David’s threat. He was concerned enough about it and the safety of his family that he was prompted to call the police when he arrived home. He explained to the desk sergeant what had happened and the threat against his life and his family, and to his surprise, he was told that there was nothing that the police could do without a crime taking place.

Great, Kyle thought. Shots have to be fired for the cops to get involved.

It became clear that it was up to him to protect his family. Out to the garage he went to the gun cabinet that he kept locked and away from his kids. He pulled out two shotguns and loaded them with his shells and also took out a Glock 19 pistol for good measure as he checked the magazine and then loaded into the Glock. He told his family to go over to Sharon’s house, a friend of the family who lived down by the creek, and he would tell them when they could come home. His wife did not want to leave their house and wanted to argue with him.

Suzette said with a bad attitude, I am not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on. You are not going to force me to leave my house.

Kyle was annoyed but understood that he told her already, but okay, she needed more, but he did not have much time. Kyle said, Listen, this is not the time for attitude, Suzette. I want you guys to be safe if something happens. I am hoping that nothing happens, and you and the kids come right back, and remember, I already told you that there was some problems at work, and David has made some threats. I am favoring the cautious side, so please just take the kids and go to Sharon’s house, and do it quickly before David gets here.

Suzette just stared back at him and then went to get her stuff and the children.

With the family finally gone and out of the line of fire, he waited by the front door where he could see if anyone was coming up the street, and it did not take long until he saw David’s car turning the corner and approaching his house before making the turn into his driveway. Kyle opened the door a crack and took aim at the front bumper of David’s car with his shotgun. As he looked carefully, he could see a rifle barrel sticking out through David’s car window. Kyle was shocked to see that David still wanted to hurt him and his family, and that just made it very real. He thought that he would be over his anger and come to his senses. They had shared a lot together. When one man threatens another man’s family, there is real pain to pay, while the boundaries become blurred. Kyle, with his shotgun cold in his hands, took aim and squeezed off two rounds. Bam, bam! This scared the hell out of David who put the car into reverse and backed on to the street. The sound of spinning wheels and burnt rubber were left on the street.

Kyle kept a sharp eye on David. He could see the shiny barrel again coming into sight. He closed the door just in time as a bullet exploded at the top of the door frame, ripping the wood away. Kyle grabbed his Glock as David drove back to his driveway so that he could get a better shot. With David now on his property, Kyle fired four rounds into the fender and the door of David’s car, sounding like the start of duck season. Crack, crack, crack! The smell of gunfire was now in the air. He heard a yell from the car, thinking that he must have shot him in the leg. That was enough for David as Kyle watched him back up and speed down the street. With his rifle still smoking, he wondered what David wanted. Maybe he wanted to talk.

Oh well, he should not have threatened me, Kyle thought. And you don’t show up with a rifle sticking out of your car window, if you want to work things out.

The loss of a friendship is painful for those who have had to feel the despair and emptiness that is left in one’s heart. Especially when one’s friend actually tries to kill you, the emotion is overwhelming and raw. You only want to sit down and cry your eyes out. However, with the sound of bullets being shot in the neighborhood, it did not leave much time to dwell on the pain but to make sure all were safe.

It was a low day for Kyle—trouble with