Free Mistaken Identity by Alyssa J. Montgomery

but Soula hardly made eye contact with me this morning when she brought me my breakfast. I think she’s afraid she’ll turn to stone if she looks at me.’
    His lips twitched in amusement, but then he grew serious. ‘She’s worried about what you’re doing to Spiros.’
    ‘You told me you were capable of compassion. Please let me go,’ she pleaded.
    ‘Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I’ll organise a drug counsellor for you.’
    ‘I don’t need a counsellor.’ Tears of frustration spilled out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. ‘Oh, just get out!’
    ‘Sort yourself out, Susan.’
    When she pulled herself together and looked up, he was gone. She’d never felt lonelier, or more confused. He’d paid her sister’s debt, ending whatever danger Susie faced from the drug baron and making it harder for her to access her drugs. He was giving her every opportunity to sort her life out. Why? Was it just to get her to stay away from Spiros, or was there a more personal reason? His own attraction to Susie?
    A light tap on the door pulled her away from her thoughts.
    ‘Good morning, Miss Hamlin.’
    ‘Hello, Anna.’
    ‘I’ve come to do your observations. Then, if you’re up to it, I’ve been asked to show you around the villa and grounds.’
    ‘I’d like that,’ she replied. She really would go nuts if she didn’t find some way to occupy her time. It could be ages before Spiros and Susie figured out what had happened to her. Leah was thankful that her captor had thought to ask Anna to do this.
    The nurse checked her temperature. ‘How are you?’
    ‘You’ll find me as fit as a fiddle. These checks are a waste of time.’
    ‘I’m under instructions.’
    She raised her eyes heavenward. ‘Right. He who must be obeyed.’
    Anna smiled. ‘He’s a wonderful man. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him as worried as he was when he was waiting for you to regain consciousness.’
    ‘Not even when his wife was ill?’ The words burst from her lips unchecked.
    Anna looked uncomfortable as she wrapped the cuff of the blood pressure device around Leah’s arm. ‘No.’
    That surprised Leah. She really wanted to know more about Alex’s relationship with his wife.
    ‘I haven’t met Christina. Does she live in Athens?’
    Anna stopped and looked up. ‘No, Miss Hamlin. She died.’
    ‘Oh!’ A strange cocktail of emotions fizzed through her. She’d accused Alex of being unfaithful. Why hadn’t he told her that his wife was dead? Had he remarried?
    ‘How did she die?’
    ‘I wouldn’t normally talk about my patients, but everyone in Greece knows.’ Anna pumped the cuff full of air and refocused on her task, observing the readings as she let the air out.
    I don’t know , Leah wanted to shout. Tell me!
    ‘ Kiria Kristidis was an alcoholic.’
    Leah felt her eyes widen. The beautiful, sophisticated woman she pictured in her imagination was an alcoholic? She couldn’t imagine Alex falling for anyone less than perfect. It must’ve been an arranged marriage.
    ‘Did Alex know? I mean, of course he knew. I just can’t imagine him being married to an alcoholic.’
    ‘I think it came as a shock. From what I understand, he tried to help her, but she got really good at hiding it. He removed every bottle of alcohol from the house, so she started drinking vanilla essence.’
    ‘Vanilla essence?’
    ‘Mmm,’ she took Leah’s pulse. ‘It has a very high alcohol content but doesn’t leave you smelling of alcohol.’
    ‘I didn’t know.’
    ‘Neither did Kirie Kristidis. They found out only when it was too late. Eventually, her liver gave out. She drank herself to death.’
    ‘That’s horrible.’ Leah’s heart went out to Alex. He knew about the lethal effects of substance abuse, so it was no wonder he was going to such lengths to keep Spiros from marrying a drug addict. ‘He must’ve been devastated.’
    ‘I shouldn’t say for I really don’t know, but it was so hard on him and his wife that I think,