This is chapter 2 of my Novella Letty Rose and the Mistaken Identity. Check out Chapter 1: The Stakeout here.

Chapter 2: The Counter Offer

She hammered the door three times. The pad of her hand landed right next to the number 2 in the 42. The drugs had numbed her enough that she couldn’t feel the impact.  

“What the hell?” A male voice shouted.   

“What is this?” a female voice asked. 

“Mikhi, have a business opportunity for you,” Letty called out. The darkness of 3 AM concealed her from the view of any onlookers. She was ready to get paid one way or the other and wrap this up. 

“I’m not looking for any business.” Letty heard a zipper or two as they put clothes on. Hopefully, that meant he was preparing to talk and not run. She scanned outside of the room. There weren’t many options for leaving other than through the front door in these hotel rooms. Of course, if he exploded through the door, the rusted, rickety railing would collapse, and they would fall to the ground a floor below. 

But the door didn’t open. 

“Fine. I guess. I’ll just go back to your wife and tell her I found you,” Letty called out. Usually, bringing up the wife made things happen when they found themselves at a stalemate— especially when there was another woman in the current bed.

“Wife?” the girl screamed. There was a thud behind the door. Letty smiled as she imagined the man getting slapped across the face twice. 

“Wait, just wait. I’m not married.”

“That’s what the last one said.” The deadbolt turned, and the petite girl threw open the door with force. The woman had thrown her dress on quickly. She pulled it by the hem to make it fit correctly. She held her high-heeled shoes in one hand as she sprinted on tipped toes out the door. She stopped and looked Letty in the eyes. For a moment, there was a look of apology, the girl, working or not, honestly didn’t know about the man’s relationship at home. The look quickly changed to anger, and she stormed off. 

“He’s all yours,” she tossed over her shoulder as she passed. 

Letty stepped into the motel room. It matched the exterior of the hotel. Everything looked cheap and unclear. A kingsized bed sat in the middle of the room, looking at an old-style TV that took up. 

She looked the man up and down. His pictures hadn’t done him justice, or maybe it was the chemicals in her bloodstream. His dark stubble acted as an outline on his strong jaw. It didn’t look like he had an ounce of body fat. His muscles made his skin taut. His green eyes neared a shade of yellow. She could get lost in those eyes if she lingered too long.

He stood there in only his jeans. She bit her lip reflexively. 

“What the hell!” He screamed at her. He pushed past her and after the woman. 

She reached out the door, grasped his bicep, and attempted to pull him back inside. He didn’t budge. Instead, he fixed her with a look. She shrugged and headed back into his room. She sat on the bed and waited.

He looked down the walkway. He weighed whether it was worth it to chase after her or not. Finally, he turned back to the room and saw Letty sitting on the bed. He smiled at her, forgetting the entire reason he found himself outside his motel room at three in the morning. 

“Who are you?” He asked. He sized her up. The tension in the air turned into something else. His tongue licked at the corner of his lips. It titillated her, but she kept her focus. 

“The name’s Letty Rose.” Letty looked him up and down, weighing all of her options. 

So often, in her line of work, she broke families apart. Most of the time, she didn’t care. People cheated, spouses took it to court, and someone would come out victorious. But, when there were kids involved, the kid always lost. The parents would turn on each other and sometimes the kid. The kids always paid the most. 

She could ignore everything and take the place of the girl that just left. She wanted to lay back on the bed and see where things took them. She could ignore everything and just ease her mind.

But the electric company would turn her power off in a week if she didn’t get paid. 

She needed money. So if she could find a way to profit off of this and save a child from a messy divorce, she would choose that route.

 “I don’t know why, but your wife said she wants you home – for your daughter’s sake. She promised to pay me a good sum of money to find you.”

His face twitched, but he said nothing. 

“I thought I’d offer you this one-time deal.” She smiled. She had a win, no matter what he chose. “I’ll forget that I ever found you if you do two things. Pay me more money than your wife and go home to your daughter.”

He smiled at her. “Why would you do that?”

She smiled back. “Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf, or maybe, I just don’t want a dirtbag like you to raise a little girl.”  

“Well, it’s not going to happen, lady,” he said, sitting on the bed. 

She shook her head. “That’s sad. Thinking only of yourself. What about your daughter?”

“That’s just the thing.” They locked eyes. “I’ve never been married, and I don’t have a daughter.”

Check out what happens next week in Chapter 3: Thoughts on the Way Home

You can also preorder the entire book at Amazon Kindle or Apple Books. The entire book will be out Friday, July 27!