Mistaken Identity (18 page)

A flush stole over his olive skin. ‘She turned my head.’ His hands moved in an agitated gesture. ‘It got out of hand. I was angry with Alex.’

‘Because he wouldn’t back the business you wanted to start up?’

‘That and other reasons. I want to start an agency and a recording studio. Alex wouldn’t lend me the money I needed.’ His fists clenched. ‘He’s always —’

‘You used Susie just as much as she used you.’ Leah didn’t want to listen to his excuses. ‘You were trying to score points against Alex.’

‘Susie said she’d sign a contract with me. I hoped others would follow suit if I could get her under contract.’

‘You took her to bed,’ she accused.

‘Hell, Leah, she didn’t need any convincing. If anything, it was the other way around. But I would’ve stuck by her if she’d been pregnant. I was prepared to marry her.’

‘Thank goodness you didn’t.’

‘Leah, your sister never loved me. She was using me. She’s got it bad for Alex, and he rejected her. She’s out of her head. I think she really would’ve married me if you didn’t have her passport.’

Leah buried her head in her hands. What a tangled deceit.

‘What about Elena, Spiros? She’s planning your wedding in less than a month. Didn’t you stop and think of her?’

He stood up. ‘For God’s sake, Leah. Don’t rub salt into the wounds. I know what I did was wrong, but I’m back to make things right.’

Her hand tightened around the bed sheet. ‘You make it sound so easy, but you and Susie have played with everyone else’s emotions. There are things that have happened that just can’t be put right.’

A look of horror spread across his features. His jaw slackened. ‘You and Alex! He’s been sleeping with you.’

‘He hasn’t been sleeping with me.’

‘But you’re in his bed, he…’ Spiros broke off. ‘Tell me tonight isn’t the first time.’

Her anger subsided as her own pain gripped her. Tears welled in her eyes again, making Alex’s brother blur in front of her.

He let out a long string of angry words in Greek. ‘I knew Alex was ruthless, but I never realised he’d go this far.’

She was missing something. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘A couple of nights ago I sent a fax to Alex. I told him to expect my arrival tonight.’

She frowned. It took her a few seconds before she understood, then her stomach twisted in despair. ‘You think he — ‘

He nodded. ‘Alex staged your seduction. He thought you were Susie and knew I’d be arriving tonight. I believe he planned it so that I’d find you two together. If I found her in bed with him, of course I’d lose interest in your sister.’

It was too much. Her head swam, and she thought she might pass out. Everything in her wanted to sink into oblivion rather than face the truth of Alex’s actions.

A potent cocktail of misery, shame and embarrassment coursed through her veins. Alex’s whole attitude toward her had changed in the last couple of days. After he’d received the fax from Spiros, they’d spent time together, had fostered a closeness. But that had turned out to be a lie and merely a prelude to her seduction. The most special time in her life —falling in love, giving herself heart and body — was fake. He’d abused her trust. He’d used and manipulated her.

It was impossible to stop her strangled sob of pain. Tears stung her eyes.

‘He’ll pay for this, Leah,’ Spiros vowed. ‘I promise you.’

‘No! Just let it go.’

‘You don’t want retribution for the way he’s shamed you?’

Closing her eyes tight, a teardrop spilled down on to each of her cheeks. The shame was partly hers. The moment she’d deliberately deceived Alex and agreed to go along with the lie of being Susie, she’d regretted her decision. The man was ruthless, but he couldn’t have realised she’d never have surrendered her virginity if she didn’t love him with her entire being.

‘Alex didn’t know who I was.’

‘Even if you’d been Susie, he still used you.’

‘Are you really championing me, or am I just another way you can score points against him?’ she asked accusingly.

He flushed as her words hit home.

Defeated and washed out, she told him, ‘Spiros, you and Susie both need to grow up.’

She watched his Adam’s apple move up and down as he swallowed hard. ‘I’ll wait outside and let you get dressed.’ He left.

Finally alone, she forced her heavy limbs to push herself up and out of Alex’s bed, fighting to suppress the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. Wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands, she acknowledged that if she allowed herself to cry for what might’ve been between her and Alex, the tears would be unstoppable. She would cry for an eternity.

What a mess. What a horrible, tangled mess.

She was furious with Susie. It had to be the effect of the drugs; Spiros had confirmed that Susie was still using. Leah knew her sister could possibly be suicidal; despair and anxiety replaced her fury. Finding Susie and booking her into a rehabilitation facility was now her main priority. It was only with professional support that she could help her sister get back to normal.

Sadness filled her heart. All the deception had been nothing. No new start for Susie. No happy-ever-after ending. Susie had never loved Spiros in the first place. It’d all been about Alex.

Alex. The man she’d deceived. Betrayed. A man whose trust had already been left in tatters by the actions of his wife and mother. Now she’d eroded that trust even further.

Had he really planned her seduction so cold-bloodedly?

‘I didn’t mean to go this far, but I can’t stop.’
Those were the words he’d uttered before they’d made love. Maybe he’d planned to have her in bed so Spiros could find them together, but he’d never intended to seduce her completely.

He’d made love to her. Even in her inexperience, she was sure he’d felt the magic between them. That hadn’t been a mechanical act, performed just for his own physical satisfaction. She replayed their lovemaking in her memory. He’d cared about her responses, had almost worshipped her with his body. Was he really such a good actor that he could forget the tenderness he’d displayed?

‘This time, I promise, it’ll be even better for you.’

Despite not wanting to, he still cared. Of course, his initial reaction was to be furious now that he knew he’d been duped, but he’d made love to her — to Leah, not to Susie. The rapport they’d established had come from a meeting of their minds as much as from the physical attraction between them.

As fast as she could, she picked up her clothes scattered over Alex’s bedroom floor and put them on. Throughout the whole masquerade she’d fought against her own desires and her own sense of what was right, for Susie’s happiness. Her conscience screamed at her to find her sister fast now she was at her most vulnerable, but before she did, it was time to make a last stand for her own happiness.

There’d be no helicopter flight off the island until she’d spoken to Alex again. She had to make him understand why she’d taken part in the deception. She needed to tell him how much she loved him and see whether he truly reciprocated her love.

Whether there could be a chance for them.

Leah couldn’t leave him knowing he believed she was just like his wife.

Pride was a terribly destructive emotion, and Alex had it in spades. It was the reason he was shutting her out of his life so ruthlessly and completely. Well, not if she could help it. It was time to face him and know the truth, even if exposing her heart destroyed her.

Leah found Alex sitting by the swimming pool, staring into the water.

‘Alex.’ She said his name hesitantly.

His eyes hardened as he looked at her. ‘Why are you still here?’

‘We need to talk.’

He stood up, towering over her. ‘I told you to leave.’

She swallowed down her nerves and straightened her spine. Everything was riding on this. ‘I heard what you said, but I’m not sure you really meant it.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘I meant every word.’

‘What we shared this afternoon was real for me Alex, not contrived.’

‘You’re wasting your time, Leah.’

‘You were my first lover. Doesn’t that prove to you how much you mean to me? How much I wanted you?’

‘It proves you’re prepared to do anything to get your hands on my wealth.’

‘I don’t give a damn about your money. Alex, I want you.’ He was hurting. She had to make him see how different she was from the picture he had in his mind.

‘I’m not listening to anymore of your lies.’ He started turning away from her, but she reached out and held his arm.

‘Why wouldn’t I want you? I know you acted out of love for Spiros. I respect that.’

‘I don’t respect you!’ He pulled away from her touch and started walking away.

‘You were starting to respect me,’ she called after him. ‘I don’t believe you’d take me to bed without caring for me.’

‘Believe it!’ He kept walking.

Her legs propelled her forward. She wouldn’t let him leave her. This was her last chance to make him listen.

‘You wanted me, Alex, and not just on a physical level.’ He picked up his pace. ‘As inexperienced as I am, I know it was more than that.’

Damn it all! Why wouldn’t he stop and listen? She moved faster. Got in front of him.
I will make him listen.

She searched his face for a sign that she was penetrating the barriers he’d erected. His face may as well have been carved out of stone. His features were hard and unyielding like granite.

‘I met you on every level, Alex — mind, body, and soul. I gave you my heart right along with my body. There was no other motivation to make love to you except that I wanted to. I wanted you.’

‘What we had was sex. Nothing more.’

His words were like razors ripping into her heart, but she couldn’t stop herself from continuing.

‘Spiros thinks you took me to bed knowing that he’d arrive and find us together.’

She saw a guilty flush touch his face, and her heart fell. She knew Spiros had been right. She swallowed back her tears. ‘I see,’ she said, her voice very soft. She began to turn away from him to conceal her hurt, but she stopped and turned back to face him again. She met his dark eyes. ‘I masqueraded as Susie because I wanted to help her. I didn’t know what else to do.’

‘You made your choice. You made a conscious decision to lie to me.’

‘That wasn’t easy for me!’

‘And yet you kept lying!’

‘I didn’t know she was using drugs until you showed me those photos in your office. It was an enormous shock for me. Then she told me she thought could beat her addiction with Spiros’s help. I’d have done anything to help her.’

‘She lied about her pregnancy.’

‘I know that now, but I didn’t know it then. I believed she and Spiros were in love. They both begged me to keep up the pretence.’

‘And you did.’ He turned away from her, and began walking in a different direction. ‘Congratulations. You gave an Academy Award winning performance,’ he said sarcastically. ‘The lengths you went to, sacrificing yourself for your sister — just incredible.’

‘Don’t you see? Susie was threatening to kill herself. You were threatening to release those awful photos to the newspapers.’

He turned back. ‘I would never have done that.’

‘I didn’t know that. I couldn’t take that risk. Releasing those photos wouldn’t have just destroyed Susie’s career, it would’ve hurt my parents.’

‘Parents who have done a fine job raising two children who are adept at lying and scheming.’

‘They have no idea what’s going on,’ she said, defending them.

He shook his head. ‘Either way, I don’t really care.’

‘Your parents weren’t happy together, Alex. That would’ve impacted on your childhood, just the same way my parents’ divorce hurt me.’

He raised a finger at her, like a parent scolding a naughty child. ‘You think coming from a broken home excuses your behaviour?’

‘No! I know it doesn’t. But I’ve prayed all my life that Mum and Dad would get back together again.’

‘I don’t want to hear about your childhood fantasies.’

‘You don’t understand.’

‘I don’t want to understand.’ He started turning away from her again.

‘Dad’s divorced his second wife.’ The words rushed out of her mouth. She knew that she was running out of time. ‘My parents are getting closer again. They could re-marry. But if you’d released those photos to the media, they’d find out about Susie’s addiction. Mum would blame Dad, and it would blow them apart.

His eyes were hard. ‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘Because I want you to understand why I pretended to be Susie. I did it because I love my sister and my parents, and I wanted to protect them.’

‘You claim that your sister’s lied to you. Manipulated you. How can you love her?’

‘She has, but that’s not what she’s normally like. That’s just what the drug use has done to her. I can’t stop loving her.’ She paused. ‘Love isn’t an emotion you can just turn off. Walk away from.’

She’d stopped breathing. He stilled.

Please understand
. Her future was balanced on the brink of a precipice.

‘What about
my
family? The damage to Spiros’s happiness if your sister had married him? I know first-hand what it’s like to be trapped in a loveless marriage. It would’ve destroyed Spiros to find out that Susan’s pregnancy was a lie. I also know what he would’ve suffered as a result of her drug addiction.’

‘Exactly. Don’t you see? We’ve both done things we wouldn’t normally do for the same reason. We acted out of love for our siblings. You broke the law. You kidnapped me and held me against my will out of love for your brother. We’re not so different.’

‘I didn’t lie.’

‘You lied to customs.’

‘I told them you weren’t well, that you were coming to my island to recover.’

‘Against my wishes.’

‘I brought you here for your own protection. I saved you from Comelli. I paid off your debts and was prepared to pay for your rehabilitation.’ He shook his head in frustration and corrected himself, ‘Susan’s rehabilitation.’

‘‘You brought me here to keep Susie away from Spiros. Everything else was secondary.’

‘
Susan
would’ve benefited from the arrangement.’