As distasteful and graphic as the photos were, she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Her mind refused to accept the visual evidence in front of her.
After a few minutes, he prised the photographs from her bloodless fingers. ‘I bought these to protect Spiros. I don’t want his reputation destroyed by his association with you.’ He placed the photos on his desk. ‘But I will show them to him. He needs to know that he’s involved with a faithless, drug-addicted tart.’
‘I…’ What could she say? She was in shock.
‘You’re wasting your time lying to me about your drug habits and promiscuity. You’re definitely wasting your time pursuing Spiros.’
Several of the photos had revealed Susie engaged in sexual acts with different men. The rest showed her snorting cocaine.
Leah couldn’t meet his eyes. A mass of emotion clogged her throat. Overwhelmed by the shameful and graphic images, her vision swam with tears. How could she champion her sister now?
‘You’ll have no further contact with my brother. One of my security men will tail you to make sure you stay away from him.’
Now she understood why Alex disapproved of Susie’s relationship with Spiros. She raised her head and looked at him. She could see the determination in his clenched jaw, and just for a second she thought she saw something else in his eyes. Pity? Regret? Before she could identify it, his eyes hardened.
In response, outrage replaced her shame. ‘I’ll bet you had a photographer stalk…me to take these shots. That must be illegal!’
‘The photographer arrived at my office three days ago with these. If I hadn’t bought them, they’d be splashed all over the tabloids by now. They still will be if you see Spiros.’
Nausea clawed at her stomach as the atmosphere in the spacious room became suffocating. She turned and fled the room. She wasn’t aware of getting into the elevator or running from the building and climbing into the nearest taxi. All she wanted to do was put as much distance as she could between herself and the damning reality of those photos.
The evidence she’d seen of Susie’s illicit lifestyle was sickening. When had her sister begun to sink to such lows?
She and Susie had been separated at an early age, when their parents had divorced and moved to different towns. Susie went with their father and his second wife, making it impossible for the twins to see each other very often. As they grew up, they kept in touch via mail and phone calls, although their communication had become less frequent in the last couple of years because Susie had been so busy with her career.
Leah loved her sister. She’d idolised Susie’s flamboyant personality long before her sister had become famous, but Alex had just revealed a very different sister to her.
Alex. Her shock had temporarily suppressed her incredible attraction to him. Her heart rate accelerated as she pictured him in her mind’s eye. She crossed her arms and slid her hands up towards her shoulders, remembering how good it had felt to be held by him. She’d welcomed his kisses and caresses.
Her skin broke out in goose bumps, and shivers of longing raced up and down her spine.
Heart heavy, she couldn’t respond with anything more than detached politeness to the taxi driver’s cheery farewell. Each step toward the house, knowing she had to face her twin after all she’d learnt, added to the tension within her — she bit down on her lip until she tasted blood. Pausing at the door to reach into her handbag for her keys, the door was pulled open by Susie.
‘What happened? Did you pull it off?’ her sister asked, urging her inside.
As the door closed behind her, she regarded her twin as though they were meeting her for the first time. Susie looked dreadful. She was still pale and washed out from a bout of bronchitis, but how much of her ill health was actually a result of her drug use?
‘What did he say to you, Leah?’
Where do I start? ‘He told me he found you in his bed.’
Her sister’s head jerked back. ‘He’s lying!’
‘No, Susie. You’re lying!’ she stated angrily. The tears pooled in her eyes, then trickled down her cheeks. ‘I know about the drugs and how cheap you’ve become.’
‘How can you believe anything that bastard says? I told you — he hates me.’ Susie’s body jerked as she coughed.
‘He has photos,’ Leah told her in a flat voice.
Susie paled further and sank down into the closest couch. ‘Photos?’
‘Incriminating photos.’
‘He showed them to you?’
She nodded her head sadly. ‘What’s happened to you?’
Susie suddenly jumped up. She paced toward the door, then turned on Leah. ‘Don’t you judge me! You don’t know what it’s like to live in a goldfish bowl. It’s been absolute hell.’
‘I didn’t know you felt like this.’
‘Why would you? You have a secure home with Mum. I’ve been moving from hotel to hotel, with no friends and no one to talk to.’
‘But Dad was with you,’ Leah protested.
‘Was he? Dad was supposed to be my manager, but our delightful stepmother Janice monopolised his time. She’s always been jealous of me.’
‘You never gave me any indication you were unhappy. I’m sure Mum didn’t know.’
‘I pretended to be happy, but I was lonely. I was terrified of having to go out on stage in front of all those fans. All of them yelling and screaming at me, wanting to touch me...’ She stopped. Her throat worked up and down, her lips moved to form words, but she could only manage a quiet sob. A few seconds later she drew a deep breath, and her mouth tightened. ‘Don’t judge me.’
‘We all thought you were thriving because of your success.’
‘Well, I wasn’t.’ Susie banged her fist down on a nearby table. ‘Only Spiros understands. He knows what it’s like to have to perform to meet your family’s expectations.’
‘Our expectations?’ Leah was stunned. Where was all her sister’s rage coming from? Raising her hands in a helpless gesture, she refuted Susie’s claim. ‘You weren’t pushed by us to pursue stardom.’
‘That’s not true. Janice saw the dollar signs when I was offered my first contract. By the time I saw past the dream, it was too late. I’d signed and started earning heaps of money. Dad had quit his job to be my manager.’ She shrugged. ‘I couldn’t leave.’
‘Suze, I didn’t know.’
‘No, you didn’t, because you didn’t ask.’ Susie pointed a finger at her, started coughing again, and let her body drop back on the sofa as if her legs simply didn’t have the strength to support her weight. ‘You just assumed.’
‘That’s unfair. You were enthusiastic about your concerts, all your fan mail, and the famous people you met at parties. Of course Mum and I assumed you were happy.’
‘It suited you to think I was basking in all the attention, because my income funded your university education,’ Susie declared in a bitter tone.
‘I’ve never regarded your career that way!’
‘Yeah, well it was my income that paid the bills in this family.’
‘Oh, Susie…’ She trailed off, her voice heavy with emotion. ‘Couldn’t you have talked to Dad? Told him how you felt?’
‘Get real! You know he was always ruled by whatever Janice decided.’
‘You don’t need drugs, Susie.’
‘You don’t know what I need. Anyway, since I’ve met Spiros my life’s started to turn around.’ She reached out for Leah’s hands. ‘He’s my lifeline, Leah. He’s helping me cope without drugs, and I’m using less.’ Susie started sobbing. ‘I won’t make it without him. I don’t want to live if I can’t be with him.’
Suicide? Was that what her sister was suggesting? Susie had a current top ten hit. If anyone had suggested a few hours ago that her twin was suicidal, Leah would’ve thought they were crazy. Now, she had real concerns about her sister’s state of mind.
Leah’s own mind was reeling. She hugged her sister. ‘Somehow we’re going to get through this.’
&nbs
p; ‘I can’t do it without Spiros.’
‘Suze, Alex is planning to release the photos he has of you to the media if you continue to see his brother.’
‘No! What am I going to do?’ She jumped up from the couch and paced the floor, chewing on her long painted fingernails. ‘You promised you’d get Alex to back off. You were supposed to be providing a solution.’
The venom in Susie’s voice stunned Leah. This was all a side of Susie she’d never seen. ‘Hang on! You pleaded with me to pretend to be you, and I spent all of yesterday afternoon changing my appearance so I’d look identical to you. Despite feeling the deception was really wrong, I went in to defend you, but I didn’t know the truth. I think you owe me an apology.’
Her sister ignored her words. ‘You know Alex’s obsessed with breaking Spiros and me up. I told you he’s pressuring Spiros to marry this other girl, Elena, because he wants a family alliance with her mega-rich father.’
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.’
Mistaken Identity Page 2