Shameless In Stilettos Book: When A Desperate Mom Turns Into Dominatrix

Anant ‘f***ing’ Reddy is dead. A simple suicide is ruled a murder when the coroner finds something sharp embedded in his eye. His business tycoon father wants answers, so Inspector Meenakshi Rao has been ordered not to sleep, eat or drink till she finds the killer. Her suspects – 3 women who live in the complex where his mangled body was found. A desperate mother turned dominatrix. A woman with baby fever whose husband can’t get a rise without masturbating. A devout Christian and closeted lesbian with a voyeur fetish. With her own marriage in shambles, all that Meenakshi wants is to get stoned so that she can communicate with her dead son. Can she find the killer?

Shameless in Stilettos (Tara Press) by an award-winning author Ell P (Lakshmi Priya) is a gripping crime novel that weaves together suspense, intricate characters, and emotional depth. Readers who enjoy Big Little Lies and Fifty Shades of Grey will be captivated by its unexpected twists, intense tension, and daring erotic elements. 

Here's an excerpt from Shameless in Stilettos 

“You know your profile picture on Tinder doesn’t do you any justice,” he said, holding his beer glass up. He wore a cocky smirk, one that probably made those sitting around him believe he would get to nail his date tonight.

Let’s see, Mia thought.

She’d been single for two years, since the day she had found out about Manu’s affair. Sure, they had tried to make it work. Manu had made a gazillion promises to leave that ‘wretched woman’ and come back to his lawfully wedded wife. It had taken Mia a whole six months to catch up to the fact that none of those promises meant jack shit to Manu. Especially considering that now, the ‘wretched woman’ was Manu’s lawfully wedded wife, and it was Mia who was the other woman who kept calling Manu to pay Dhruv’s school fees, to attend his class assembly, to take him on trips, to be a father to his son.

“Thank you,” she looked up. Try as she might, she just couldn’t match the spark in his eyes. From the unbuttoned top of his formal white shirt – a size too small at that – peeped out a tuft of ‘manly’ salt and pepper hair. It was an effort for Mia to not grimace visibly. She knew women who loved men with body hair – generous amounts of body hair – but for Mia, at the cost of being terribly vain, it was a deal breaker; and surprisingly, all successful startup founders on Tinder seemed to be men blessed with a mop of ‘manly’ hair. She wondered if there was a consortium of incubators that was dedicated to funding startup ideas based on the grizzliness of its founders.

The effortless grace with which he leaned on his chair and stared at her... if they hadn’t been in a public place, he might have gobbled her whole, Mia thought.

The thought excited her – not the thought of being gobbled up by a veritable bear, but the thought of being so fervidly desired that she had total power in the game.

“Look at the time!” It was past eleven. “I should be off now. I need to pick up my son from my parents’ place.” But then again, Mia’s parents weren’t expecting her to pick up Dhruv before ten in the morning next day, not something the man was aware of.

“Oh, but things are just getting interesting now, aren’t they?” he protested.

“I know,” she said, leaning forward, so that her cleavage was tantalisingly visible. She put her hand on his, her fingers brushing against his coarse skin. “I would love to see you again next week. I promise, I will make more time for you,” she added, breathless.

She could see him catch his breath, she wasn’t surprised; the low cut red dress she had worn almost always had that effect on men.

“Would you like me to pay for our drinks here?” she asked, fishing out her card.

“Oh no! I will take care of it,” he said. The promise of a next time was enough to loosen his wallet. Might as well, Mia thought. It wasn’t even the end of the month, and all she had left in her bank account was 3,000 bucks.

“Thank you,” she gave him a feather peck on his cheek. She pulled back just in time to avoid touching his lips as he turned his head around for a deeper kiss.

“Bye, love,” she said and breezed out of the pub with the haste of a mother rushing to pick up her child.

She trotted to her old Chevrolet, with the red flaky paint, broken air conditioner, and tires that should have been changed five years ago, and drove home. She fished out her phone, opened Tinder, and unmatched with the guy before she could even start her car.

She checked Kink messenger; half past midnight was when she was expected. Slave4u had messaged again, along with a confirmed photograph of their booking at a five-star hotel’s emperor suite, paid in full by cash. He needed reassurance that she would keep their appointment.

Mia replied. I already told you I will come. Don’t be pathetic!

A second later, Slave4u messaged.

Sorry for doubting you, Mistress Monique. I am very anxious about our meeting today. I am sorry.

She ignored him. Mistress handbook rule 33, don’t respond to every single message by your slave. In fact, it is better if after every 20 messages, you bestow the slave with a one-line response.

Mia’s hands shivered as she dialed Reena, “Babe,” she said as soon as Reena picked up the phone.

“Did you meet him already? All okay? Are you alright?” Reena threw a torpedo of questions at Mia.

“Not yet. He has booked a room in a five-star, the emperor suite,” Mia replied as she parked her car and ran to her sixth-floor flat in Green Meadows.

“How do you know that?” Reena asked, incredulous.

Mia pulled out her keys, just as a glint caught Mia’s glasses. She turned in time to see the binoculars disappear into the darkness beyond an open window across the compound. Some part of her brain wondered why the binoculars were pointed at her floor, but she shrugged it off as she opened the door. Hugs, her little pug, came wagging his tail. She picked Hugs up as she spoke to her best friend on the phone, “Reena, he sent me a picture of the booking confirmation, a physical copy of the bill, paid upfront.”

“Oh my, he must be rich.” “I hope so,” Mia threw her purse on the sofa and squeezed

out of the red dress.

“I really need this, Reena. How often do you get 70,000 bucks for just walking on a guy in high heels?” she said while pulling out the black leather bodysuit that Slave4u had delivered to a PO Box.

His request was straightforward – Mistress Monique, please wear this tribute when we meet for the first time.

Thirty minutes later, Mistress Monique entered the hotel in a leather bodysuit under a trench coat and thigh-high stiletto boots, her hair pulled back in a tight, high ponytail. Mia felt awkward wearing large sunglasses as she walked to suite 1009, but she knew she would replace them with a mask as she neared the door.

She felt as if bricks had taken permanent residence within her innards as she walked across the polished marble lobby and did not notice when the staff that manned the hotel paused between their strides to stare at the mysterious woman in sunglasses walking in at midnight.

“Reena… are you still there?” Mia asked into her Bluetooth headset. Her hands were shivering and her stomach felt like an empty pit. She wished she hadn’t had that Long Island Iced Tea during the date.

“Always. Are you at the door, yet?”

“Almost… I need to go. If I don’t text you back in the next two hours, you know what to do, right?” Mia whispered.

“Don’t worry, Mia. You will be fine, Dhruv will be fine, and this will be fine. I love you, bestie,” Reena’s voice almost croaked with emotions.

“I love you too,” and Mia hung up.

Extracted with permission from Ell P (Lakshmi Priya) Shameless in Stilettos; published by Tara Press