She turned back to him. ‘Where am I?’
‘On my island in Greece.’
‘You’ve kidnapped me!’
‘Damn it all, Susan, I didn’t kidnap you.’ He stood stiffly, looking disconcerted.
She regarded him closely, sensing a shift in the power between them.
‘You smuggled me out of England against my wishes. You’re—’
‘You weren’t smuggled! Your passport was in your bag. We were accompanied by medical staff, and I explained to immigration officials that you would be recuperating on my island.’
How had she ended up with Susie’s passport? Leah remembered picking up a handbag from the table on her way out of the house. In her rush to leave, she must’ve taken Susie’s bag instead of her own.
Alex raised a hand and ran it through his hair in a gesture of frustration. ‘You should be grateful that George saved you from those men.’
‘You kidnap me and then expect me to be grateful?’
He let out a hiss of exasperation. ‘You’re here partly for your own safety.’
‘You don’t even like me! Don’t pretend you’re concerned about my safety.’
‘You’re safe here from the men who attacked you,’ he said slowly, as though he was reasoning with a child. ‘You can begin your drug rehabilitation away from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. That way the story won’t be picked up by the tabloids.’
Her blood boiled. ‘Would those be the same tabloids you were going to use to destroy my reputation?’
He cast her a disparaging look. ‘Your reputation doesn’t deserve protecting! If the media find out the truth, you have nobody to blame but yourself. I prevented those photos being printed.’ He took a few steps away from her, thrusting one hand into his trouser pocket.
‘You only did that so you’d have some dirt on me.’
‘I did it to protect Spiros.’
‘You wanted to show him the photos.’
He removed his hand from his pocket and pointed an accusing finger at her. ‘He has a right to know the real you.’
‘You can’t keep me a prisoner here!’
‘The last thing I want is to keep you anywhere — let alone at my home.’
‘Then, let me go.’
‘No. If you’re here, I can keep you away from my brother.’
‘But —’
‘I warned you. You weren’t to see Spiros again.’
‘You expect me to stay away just because you tell me to?’ She shook her head. ‘Don’t you care how your brother feels?’
‘Spiros loves Elena,’ he stated in a firm voice.
‘That’s not what he tells me.’
‘You know it, though. You felt him distancing himself from you. That’s why you lied to him, to make sure he’d marry you.’
She paused, growing more impatient by the second. ‘What are you talking about now?’
‘I know Spiros was starting to have doubts about your affair. He only agreed to elope because you told him that you’re pregnant with his child.’
Chapter 3
Pregnant? Her jaw dropped.
‘A blood test was ordered before we left London. If you’re pregnant, I’ll know very soon, and a simple DNA test will prove whether or not my brother is the father of your child.’
Susie was pregnant? Leah slumped back in her chair, wishing her sister had confided in her. Perhaps that was why she’d been so desperate and acting so out of character. Maybe it was her baby and Spiros’s love that was giving her the strength to change her self-destructive lifestyle.
Oh, dear Lord, what effects will Susie’s drug use have on her developing baby?
Leah prayed her unborn niece or nephew would be unharmed.
Alex closed the distance between them, his proximity to her as worrying as his words. ‘If you are pregnant with Spiros’s child, you won’t get a chance to raise the baby.’
She looked up at him in shock.
‘You’d insist on an abortion? Is that the reason you’re keeping me here?’
‘Theouli mou!’ His bronzed skin paled. ‘What sort of monster do you think I am?’ He let out a few words in Greek that sounded like expletives, then turned and took a few paces away before rounding on her again. ‘If this child is his, I’ll ensure he has sole custody. You can forget about marrying Spiros, or dragging his child into your depraved lifestyle.’
She closed her eyes on her emotional pain. She felt weighed down with her concerns for Susie. Trying to sort through all she had learnt about her sister was like navigating through a minefield — whichever way she went, she was faced with another explosion.
Alex turned and walked away from her.
Leah jumped up from the chair and reached out for him. ‘Please let me go.’ The rest of her plea stuck in her throat.
It happened again. Just touching him caused an electrical current between them. A charge zapped along her synapses. It activated a complex system of electrical pulses that stretched from her fingertips right through to her toes, and short-circuited at a place deep within her, giving her a series of little electric shocks.
Their eyes fused. The current locked them together. She was aware of his uneven breathing and felt his confusion mirror her own.
He wanted her. She saw the smoky desire in the dilation of his eyes.
A knock on the door brought them back to earth, breaking their connection.
Alex pushed away from her. ‘Come in.’
A middle-aged man of Greek appearance entered the room.
Alex cleared his throat. ‘Dr Karanikos is here to examine you to make sure the drugs used in your attack have not reacted with your drugs of addiction.’
Her brain reactivated. What would happen when her blood sample showed no trace of illicit substances? It was vital her deception wasn’t discovered until after Susie and Spiros had married. If they married now, they’d have a chance to provide a joint, secure and loving environment for their unborn child. It was what every child deserved.
‘Cooperate, Susan,’ Alex warned her. Then he turned to the doctor. ‘I’ll be in my study, awaiting your report.’
It was early the same evening, and Alex stood at the window of his study, staring out at the garden. He couldn’t settle into his work. Susan’s presence disturbed the peace he usually felt while staying at his island home. She threw his equilibrium out.
He walked over to a small bar by the wall and poured himself a scotch. He’d been acting out of character ever since Susan’s visit the previous day. He’d resorted to bringing her here to keep her away from Spiros, and he knew that his actions amounted to kidnapping, but what option did he have?
Yesterday, Dimitri had phoned, explaining that George was badly injured, and that Susan was unconscious from the attack. Alex’s immediate concern was for their wellbeing. He’d instructed Dimitri to take them both to his home in London, and called his doctor. The doctor advised him that Susan would be okay, but that she could be out cold for several hours. It was then he’d decided to transport her here to his island home. That seemed a perfect way of keeping her away from his brother.
The decision would work also work in her favour, he justified. Under his protection, the men who attacked her would not be able to reach her. The drug rehabilitation process could start immediately on the privacy of his island.
Why did he care so much about her fate?
He drained the contents of his glass in one motion. Susan may be a promiscuous drug addict, but she could be carrying Spiros’s child. He was almost certain she was lying, but he would protect her until he knew the truth.
His ringing cell phone alerted him to an incoming call from his head of security.
‘Kristidis.’
‘Kirie, we can’t locate Spiros,’ Dimitri told him. ‘He left to meet Miss Hamlin yesterday afternoon, and he hasn’t returned.’
Alex’s grip on the phone tightened. More than likely his brother was out licking his wounds because Susan hadn’t turned up for their
arranged meeting. But given the attack, he couldn’t take that chance. Spiros hadn’t been seen for over twenty-four hours. ‘Find him! Put all your men on it, and hire extra help if you need to.’
As Dimitri disconnected, Alex cursed Susan again. If her relationship with his brother had put him in danger…
His attention turned to his fax machine as it whirred into action. He strode around the desk to the machine, his eyes glued to the paper as it emerged. Just a few more seconds and he’d have an answer to one of his questions. Was Susan really pregnant?
Results: Negative
Alex felt relief flood through him. Well, that was one less complication to deal with. All he had to do now was locate Spiros and expose Susan’s lie. That should be the final nail in the coffin of their relationship.
He considered his brother’s reaction and felt his gut wrench. In his youth, he’d been just as gullible as Spiros. Not once had he contemplated Christina’s pregnancy being a lie. Never had he suspected that she’d been more interested in marrying into the Kristidis wealth than loving him. His father knew, but Alex had refused to listen. He’d married against his father’s wishes, infatuated by Christina’s beauty. He’d been determined to do the right thing and give his child the Kristidis name. Even when his father had demanded that they have a pregnancy test, he’d refused to subject Christina to that dishonour.
And he’d paid the price for his blind trust.
He pushed those memories back, down into the dark recesses of his brain, and made his way into the corridor. Now it was time to demand answers from Susan. He had to find out if she knew where his brother was.
Leah paced the bedroom with weary steps, trying to get her head around Alex’s shocking revelation. Susie’s pregnancy must be the reason the couple were marrying in such haste, but it hurt that they had wanted her help yet hadn’t confided in her.
She bit her lower lip. Could Alex be right? Would Susie lie about something so serious? Leah wasn’t sure anymore. But if her sister was expecting Spiros’s baby, it was crucial they marry before Alex could interfere. It was one more reason she had to continue pretending to be Susie.
She sat down on the bed, her exhausted brain screaming for answers.
What is Susie mixed up in?
All of her questions could be answered if she could only get to a telephone. Susie may have left a message on the answering machine at home, and if so, that message could be retrieved with one simple call.
Still dressed in nothing but knickers and an oversized bathrobe, she inched furtively out of the bedroom and along a tiled passageway.
She reached the first room. Leaning forward, she listened for any noise suggesting the room was occupied. Apprehension made the blood thrum past her ears, making it impossible to hear anything else. Her nerves were rioting. She cast a nervous look over her shoulder, then opened the door.
Wow. This must be the master bedroom. Very male with its dark colours, and lack of clutter. Very Alex.
Her eyes were drawn to the black covers on his king-sized bed. Her heart did an unfamiliar little jump against her ribs as she imagined Alex there. Refusing to let her imagination run riot, she dragged her gaze away to scan the rest of the room. A pair of gold cuff links and a gold watch lay on the tallboy, but very little else was left lying around. There were no photos. No portraits. Nothing to give any hint of the man himself.
A phone!
Remembering her mission, she sprang into action and made the call. With each ring of the phone, her nerves stretched tighter. She hoped to be connected before she was discovered. There was a risk that someone could pick up an extension and listen in.
‘You’ve reached the home of Carla and Leah…’
She entered her code.
‘You have one new message. To listen to the message, press one.’
Her finger tapped the first digit.
‘Message received today at 10 a.m. Leah, where the hell are you?’ She flinched at the disdain in her sister’s voice, still hurt at the way Susie was treating her. ‘You took my handbag. My passport was in it. It’s my only form of I.D., and we can’t get married without it. Call me on my mobile as soon as you get in.’
She closed her eyes in despair. ‘Susie, I don’t have your new mobile number,’ she muttered, her heart sinking.
Her eyelids flew up as she heard the door open.
Alex strode into the room.
She felt herself flush with the guilt of being caught red-handed in his bedroom, the handset still held to her chest.
‘You have no more messages.’ She could just make out the recorded voice, although she was sure Alex couldn’t hear it.
He closed the distance between them and reached out for the phone. Handing it to him, she watched as he placed the receiver to his ear, listened, and promptly hung up.
‘Who were you phoning?’
The determination in his voice made the fine hairs on the nape of her neck stand to attention. ‘Even a prisoner is entitled to one phone call,’ she told him defiantly.
Jaw clenched, he picked up the phone and punched in a series of numbers.
‘Dimitri, Susan just made a call. Find out who she was phoning and monitor all future calls to and from this house.’
He hung up and crossed his arms over his chest. ‘You may as well tell me. I’m going to find out who you were calling.’
She lifted her head in defiance. ‘Go to hell!’
‘I’ve been there, Susan, and I’m not going back. More importantly, I’m going to make sure you don’t drag Spiros down there with you.’
‘You’ll rot in jail before you burn in hell if you don’t let me go.’
‘And what about you? What price will you pay for your sins?’
She ignored him. ‘If you let me go now, I won’t report this kidnapping to the police.’
‘You’re in no position to make demands.’
‘Thanks to you!’
‘I’m not going to waste time arguing with you. My brother hasn’t returned home since he left to meet with you. Where would he be?’
‘I don’t know.’
He weighed up her denial, then took one step toward her. ‘I think you know more than you’re admitting.’
She gulped, and shook her head.
‘The trouble you’re mixed up in — are the men who came after you likely to try to harm Spiros?’
She considered his question. Susie had called that morning. Spiros must be with her and they must both be safe.
‘Answer me, Susan!’
‘I don’t know!’
‘I suggest you think hard.’
Her mouth clamped tight. She wasn’t just protecting Susie and Spiros anymore. ‘I have to think of the baby.’ She wasn’t aware she’d spoken the words until he was beside her. His hands grasped her shoulders, shaking her.
‘There is no baby,’ he ground out.
Confusion set in. ‘What?’
‘The pathology results came back. I know you’re not pregnant.’
She almost smiled in relief. Of course the test had come back negative. He’d tested her blood, and Leah wasn’t pregnant.
‘As soon as he’s located, Spiros will know the truth. He’ll know you lied about being pregnant to trick him into marriage. Then he’ll come to his senses. He’ll marry Elena.’
‘The girl you’ve chosen for him?’
‘The young woman he’s always loved.’
‘You’re so sure?’
‘I know my brother.’
‘Do you? Or are you trying to convince yourself that he loves her? I’m surprised you’d care one way or another about his feelings. The way I hear it, you stand to gain a lot from his marriage.’
He looked at her blankly.
‘I know you have a business connection with Elena’s father,’ she continued.
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Your brother told me. You’re trying to manipulate him so you can have a family alliance with Elena’s
mega-rich father.’
‘That’s rubbish,’ Alex scoffed.
‘Which part? That you stand to gain millions from their marriage, or that her father is mega-rich?’
‘You’re trying to divert attention away from your lies, and it won’t work.’
‘You’re not so perfect! You threatened to cut Spiros out of the family business if he didn’t marry Elena.’
‘That’s a lie!’ Alex’s hand slashed through the air in a dismissive gesture. ‘If you’re thinking you can get your hands on Spiros’s fortune, you can forget it. The hotel business is mine.’
‘You think that’s Sus…my motivation?’ God, he’s a cynic. ‘I have enough money. Just because you’re driven by your business deals, doesn’t mean money’s that important to everyone else.’
She watched as he paled, then reddened. ‘You’re trying to give me advice?’ His voice was full of scorn. ‘I suggest you concentrate on your rehabilitation.’
‘You can’t keep me here!’ she wailed.
‘Get used to it. You’re going to be here until Spiros returns and marries Elena.’
An hour later, Alex’s cell phone rang.
‘Kristidis.’
‘I’ve checked up on that phone call,’ Dimitri told him. ‘It’s a number in England, listed under the name Carla Bristow.’
‘And?’
‘She’s a single mother, who lives there with her daughter, Leah.’
‘How old is the daughter?’
‘We’re still checking up on the daughter. We may have to wait until the morning for information from the neighbours. But the address is interesting.’
‘Go on.’
‘Susan went straight to Carla Bristow’s home when she left your office. George tailed her from Carla’s place to the train station.’
Alex’s eyebrows rose. Susie had felt threatened after her encounter with him, and she’d headed straight for this Carla Bristow’s house. Was the woman a confidant, or perhaps a drug dealer?
‘Have the house watched in case Spiros turns up there. Find out if the Bristow woman’s a drug dealer.’
Mistaken Identity Page 4
