Mistaken Identity (3 page)

Leah rubbed her temples, trying to ease the pain from the tension headache she knew was coming. As complicated as everything was becoming, the photos didn’t lie. She couldn’t condemn Alex for wanting to break up the relationship. If Spiros was using drugs and being promiscuous, he’d hardly be someone Leah approved of for Susie. But, if her sister was serious about getting her life together and Spiros was the key to that happiness, then Susie deserved that chance and Leah felt bound to support her.

‘Spiros wants to elope. We could go tonight.’ Susie’s urgent tone broke into her thoughts.

‘You’re not well enough. Anyway, you can’t marry him like this. You have to sort out your own life before you make a lifelong commitment to him.’

‘He wants to marry me.’

‘Alex thinks you’re using Spiros to get back at him for rejecting you.’

‘Just because he’s incapable of loving a woman, he wants to deny his only sibling a chance at true love. He’d rather see Spiros get married at a cold-blooded, arranged wedding. I won’t let that happen.’

Leah frowned. ‘Does Spiros use drugs?’

‘No.’

Her tone sounded truthful.

‘What about the photos of you with other guys? Are you as serious as you say you are about Spiros?’

‘They must have been taken before I met him.’

‘I hope so.’ Leah wasn’t able to keep the disapproval out of her tone. She may not have understood what her sister had been through, but she couldn’t condone her behaviour either.

‘Those photos give us all the more reason to hurry and marry. Once we’re married, Alex won’t carry out his threats. He’d never tarnish the Kristidis name.’

‘Seriously, Susie, you can’t elope.’ Leah began pacing. ‘You have to grow up and face your problems. Maybe you and Spiros should stand together publicly. You can confess that your life has taken a wrong turn and that you‘re working to get things back on track.’

‘The recording company would dump me!’

‘What’s the problem with that? You said you’re not happy with this life. You and Spiros can start fresh.’

‘I knew you wouldn’t get it. Everything is so black and white in your protected little world. You’ve never lived, Leah. You don’t know how the real world works — especially the world I live in.’

Leah was happy she lived in a world different to her sister’s. But then again, she’d had her mother to make sure she was protected. Janice had hardly been an ideal role model for Susie, and her father had been weak. ‘You can’t elope anyway; Alex put a tail on me. He’d find out about your plans and stop you before you married.’

Susie went to the window and looked out at the quiet, suburban street. She let out a crude profanity. ‘You’re right. There’s a man out there in a car, and he’s looking straight at the house.’

‘Go public.’

‘Oh God, you’re so naive at times.’ Her sister paced the room like a caged tiger.

Leah tried not to let the accusing tone hurt her. Susie was acting like a spoiled child As a pampered pop star, she was used to being the centre of attention and having everybody else take care of her problems. It was time she grew up and took responsibility for her actions.

‘Hey, that’s it!’ Susie exclaimed. ‘All you have to do is keep pretending to be me. Leave the house, then I can get away and meet Spiros. I think you owe me that much.’

‘I owe you? Hang on…’

‘I paid your bills for years. You got to be with Mum, and I got Dad and Janice.’ She screwed up her nose.

‘You’re trying to manipulate me.’

‘I can’t go on without Spiros’s support. Please say you’ll do your part to help me.’

She shook her head. ‘There has to be another way.’

‘There isn’t any other way. Listen, Alex is ruthless. He’ll find a way to blackmail his own brother to stop us from being together. I need Spiros.’

Leah chewed at her lower lip.

‘Don’t just do it for me, Leah. Think of Mum and Dad. Since Dad separated from Janice, Mum and Dad are getting closer. There’s every chance they’ll re-marry, and you know that’s what you’ve always wanted. If those photos reach the news’ stands, Mum will blame Dad, and they’ll never get back together.’

Susie knew how to pull all the right strings. It was true that Leah had always cherished the dream of her parents reuniting. She’d always yearned for a happy family. Her mother still loved her father, and despite her father being a weak man, Leah couldn’t help loving him. Now, just when her parents were rekindling their close connection, her sister’s crisis could blow them apart.

‘It’s not like you’ll have to face Alex again,’ Susie pleaded.

Leah’s heart flipped in her chest at the mention of his name.

‘You’re on summer break from your job,‘ Susie reasoned, ‘so you wouldn’t be letting down the students at that posh London school you teach at. And you told me your social life has been non-existent since you and Kyle broke up.’

She felt so torn. ‘You
promise
me you’ll give up the drugs?’

‘I swear it! Please, Leah?’

‘You’re telling me the truth — that you really love Spiros and you’re sure he feels the same way about you?’

‘Yes. Yes!’

Leah took a huge breath and closed her eyes tight. ‘Okay, I’ll do it,’ she agreed, still reluctant, but unable to see any other way of being supportive.

Susie ran over and hugged her tightly. ‘You won’t regret this.’

But Leah couldn’t help worrying.

I can do this
, she thought, trying to convince herself.
Everything will be okay
.

So why couldn’t she get the image of Alex out of her brain? Why were her muscles so tense she felt like they’d snap?

Chapter 2

Snap!
The lead pencil broke into two pieces in Alex’s hand. Every muscle in his body was tense, every nerve ending fully alert.

‘He told you what?’ he ground out into the mouthpiece of the telephone.

A deluge of hysterical emotion burst down the telephone line, causing him to hold the handset away from his ear.

‘Never mind!’ he said, interrupting his young cousin. ‘I heard you the first time, Sophia.’ The question uppermost in his mind was how he was going to act on the information he’d just been given. ‘You did the right thing phoning me. Don’t repeat this to anyone else. I’ll deal with it.’

Damn Susan Hamlin!
He slammed the telephone receiver back into its cradle and hurled the broken pencil pieces at the waste paper bin in the corner of the room.

He’d misread Susan. She’d paled when he’d shown her those photos, so he’d been certain she’d stay away from Spiros rather than risk them being released to the media. How had she seen through his bluff?

Despising the gutter tabloids as he did, there was no way he’d feed them any more despicable material. He’d bought the shots to protect his brother and to give him a reality check. It was imperative he see that Susan was entirely unsuitable for him, and for the family.

‘This time you’ve gone too far, Susan,’ he muttered to his empty office.

But how was he going to stop her?

According to Sophia, Spiros was planning to meet Susan in a couple of hours so they could leave the country and elope. He glanced at his watch, his sense of urgency heightening. In less than ten minutes, he was due at a crucial meeting. There he and an Arab Sheikh would finalise a deal that would result in the first Kristidis Hotel in the Middle East. That didn’t give him much time to take action.

He jabbed the intercom button, and his secretary immediately responded.

‘Yes, Mr Kristidis?’

‘Find Dimitri. Get him to call me urgently.’

‘Yes, sir.’

He clicked the intercom off. Still disgusted with himself for the way he’d responded to her, he didn’t want to think about Susan.

A decade ago when she’d been naked in his hotel suite, he hadn’t felt a twitch of arousal. Barely a year ago, they’d met again at a party. She’d thrown herself at him on both occasions, using every feminine wile in her extensive repertoire to draw him in. Far from being attracted to her, he had been repulsed by everything about her. The kiss he’d initiated today had been aimed to shoot holes in her claim that she loved his brother. How could Susan say she loved Spiros if she was attracted to Alex? Well, he’d proven his point, but he hadn’t counted on his own response to her. Worse still, she’d picked up on it. It made no sense that he suddenly found her so desirable.

The buzz of the intercom was a welcome interruption to his thoughts.

‘Mr Kristidis, Dimitri is on line one,’ his secretary informed him.

He picked up the phone and pressed a button. ‘Dimitri, have Susan Hamlin picked up and bring her to me.’

‘Yes,
Kirie
,’ Dimitri answered. ‘But what if she doesn’t want to come?’

‘She’ll come.’ She wouldn’t pass up the opportunity of meeting with him again. Getting his attention was her motivation; Spiros was just a pawn in her selfish game.

‘Okay. I’ll get right on it.’

Alex put down the phone, then checked his watch. Five more minutes until his scheduled appointment. When it was over, he would deal with Susan. He’d do everything in his power to make sure she didn’t ruin Spiros’s life with her self-serving lies.

He clenched his fist and suppressed the urge to smash something with it. He’d experienced enough lying females to last him a couple of lifetimes. His mother. His wife. Self-centred women who didn’t give a damn how their lies tore others apart.

He’d been just a bit older than Spiros when he’d married Christina. He’d believed her lies, defied his father, and had made the biggest mistake of his life. In return, she’d thrown his love for her in his face, had used him, and then made a fool out of him. There was no way he was going to allow Spiros to make the same mistake.

Leah’s footsteps echoed eerily through the deserted underground railway station. Her nerves were stretched tight. The butterflies in her stomach had turned into giant moths, beating against her abdominal wall for release.

She felt ridiculous in Susie’s high-heeled shoes. Afraid she’d topple over in them. Susie had the personality to carry off the trendy gear, whereas Leah’s conservative clothes were more befitting her role as a high school teacher. Sensible shoes. Modest hem and necklines. The only thing she felt comfortable with was the handbag, but that was hers. Their mother’s last Christmas gift to both girls had been identical handbags, and the bag was the only part of her sister’s outfit that wasn’t too trendy or revealing.

A voice nagged at her.
Maybe that was why your relationship with Kyle didn’t last.
She
was
too conservative. Too unwilling to abandon her principles and take risks. Perhaps that was why she felt so uncomfortable with the role she was playing now.

She glanced over her shoulder and confirmed that she was still being followed by the man Alex had tailing her. Further behind him, two other men got onto the escalator.

I’m only under surveillance, not the target of a hit man
.
Stay calm.

The words were like a mantra, yet they weren’t calming her down. Her emotions were on the hairpin turn of a roller coaster ride, overshooting the track and being jerked one way, then another, as she absorbed the reality of Susie’s life. It didn’t help that her conscience was still troubled by her masquerade. She was also worried that by helping Susie she was allowing her wayward sister to take the easy way out, that it may have been better to stand firm and make her sister face up to her problems.

The noise of a suburban train approaching made her pick up her pace. By the time she was sitting in a movie theatre in central London, Susie would be with Spiros. A couple of days later they’d be husband and wife. Then they’d travel together to Greece to face Spiros’s family.

Whoosh
. A cold gust of air buffeted her as the train pulled into the station, the chill of it seeping into her bones. She registered the empty carriages as the train slowed.
Just my luck!
The line was normally quiet, even at peak hour, but a completely empty train seemed eerie to her, like a ghost train.

Hiss.
The carriage doors opened. She jumped backward. The sound was like a rifle shot, tearing through her frayed nerves.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she stepped onto the train and sat on the closest seat to the door. The man who was tailing her entered the same carriage, followed closely by the two other men.

As the train moved off, her fingernails dug painfully into her palms. She prayed she was doing the right thing. Acting as a decoy was tough.

In a lengthy telephone call an hour earlier, Spiros had assured Leah that he would marry Susie. He’d also promised to support her every step of the way in her battle with drugs. The man had seemed sincere. He’d then urged her to continue masquerading as Susie so they could marry without his brother’s interference.

It seemed fair to try to let the couple sort out their problems their way. Leah couldn’t let the tyrannical Alex stand in the way of her sister’s happiness. She
wouldn’t
let him ruin Susie’s attempt to change her lifestyle and overcome her addiction. Her loyalty to her sister demanded that she do everything in her power to give Susie a chance. She’d never forgive herself if Susie became suicidal and she hadn’t helped her.

Heat rose to her cheeks again as she thought of kissing Alex. How could she have responded so ardently to someone she’d just met? She’d never responded like that to Kyle.

Alex’s kiss had caught her by surprise when she’d already been on edge, that was all. She hadn’t been thinking straight, and she’d allowed his sophistication to overpower her inexperience.

A set of chimes was followed by an announcement that the train was nearing its first stop. She stayed seated. So did Alex’s man. The other two men got up from their seats.

As the men drew alongside her, they stopped.

One of them was holding a gun.

She gasped aloud, looking up at them in blind panic. Her heart skipped several beats. Her brain screamed in denial.

This can’t be happening.

‘Get up, Susan!’ one of the men told her, quietly but firmly. ‘This is your stop.’