"Congratulations on graduating!" Eliza cheered as she hugged her sister. Richard pulled Eliza away and grabbed Alisha as he spun her around, a huge smile painted on his face.
"Oh, how you've grown Alisha. I remember when you were… well just about this big and starting high school. We've changed so much, haven't we?" His frame was huge in comparison to Alisha's so she was squished by his hug.
Alisha looked around at the happy faces of her friends, each one smiling and cheering for her as she had graduated from her law degree. "Thank you all. I love you so very much!" She blushed as a tear managed to escape her eyes, she held her bachelors in her hand as she giggled. They all 'awwed' and hugged.
It had been two years since she had opened her eyes to the past and she no longer knew what the future held because everything had changed. With her own power, her own two, small, hands she had changed her fate. Two years of mining along with her business mind and knowledge of the future, she had amassed a wealth that had even caused her father to be impressed. She was the founder of the world's biggest jewellery company and held 70% of the shares too. Eliza had invested into her sister, thus she had 20% of the shares and Richard owned the final 10% of the shares.
Perhaps the fact that Eliza owned 20% was why James had left the company untouched. What Eliza and Richard were unaware of was the underground war that Alisha was beginning. For a year, now, she had been working under the alias 'Genevieve' and had managed to take control of the underground power her father's competitors had. The difference was that her power was a mixture of all of theirs which was more than her father's, thus making her the Queen of the Underworld. At least, that's what they dubbed Genevieve as. Alisha enjoyed the amount of power she had, a power that could no longer be unstabilised by her father, Bryan, or anyone else. She was the embodiment of power and no one knew.
How had she managed to take over the underworld society? She knew the resources that she had and under her fake alias she hired a tech genius - one Bryan had used in her last life, Rosetta was her name however she worked under the name Saint. Saint hacked into the prime databases of all of the biggest gangs - save James - and found out all of their secrets. Alisha wasn't equipped to fight - she wasn't Batman - however she knew how to use her money well.
Unlike all of the other people under her, winning Saint's loyalty took Alisha the year long delay. Alisha knew that Saint's home situation was terrible because her mother had been held hostage by her father. Her father was Joshua Martinez, one of the many rich children of the Martinez empire, an uncle to Bryan. He had hidden her mother from her so that he could keep her within his grasp. He didn't know about Rosetta being Saint, he was simply a possessive man. While Bryan had originally manipulated Saint to work for him after finding out her identity, Alisha decided to win Saint's loyalty rather than blackmailing her.
The world was finally within her grasp. Yet, a feeling of emptiness filled her soul. She had ended everything with Bryan a while ago and managed to overturn Maria Crew's sentence. Maria now worked for Alisha too, the two had garnered a close friendship. Bryan… he no longer was the person he had been in her past life. He was a father now, he had married Susanna in the last year. Perhaps she was his fated lover all along.
She collapsed on a couch, next to her sister, however she couldn't hear Eliza over her own thoughts. Eliza caught on quickly and turned to her sister. "What is it?" She asked as she poked Alisha's cheeks.
"I feel empty. Like I've achieved everything I had to and now there's nothing left for me to do."
"Haha!" Eliza giggled, making Alisha angry. "I know exactly what you need!"
"Oh really? What's that Miss Know-It-All?" Alisha rolled her eyes at her sister.
"You need a man! Someone to share your life with, duh!"
"A man?" Her heart quivered at the thought of loving someone again. It was scary, giving your heart to someone when they could destroy it in seconds.
"Go on some blind dates with the richest, hottest bachelors right now. Ooh! I know exactly who to set you up with!" Eliza gushed as she pulled out her phone. Alisha quickly grabbed the phone out of her sister's hands and sat on it.
"No! Let me be single for now. Set me up another time you meddlesome witch!" Eliza launched a counterattack and began tickling Alisha as she tried to tackle her phone back.
"Give… it… BACK~!" She happily giggled as she regained control of her phone.
"Hey, Eliza, I love you." Alisha smiled after the excitement had settled down. She grinned at her sister and felt the emptiness being filled with warmth as her sister's head leaned on her shoulder and their hands intertwined.
Two days later, Alisha held a glass of champagne as her eyes glimmered with excitement watching Eliza twirl around in a white dress. "What do you think of this one?" The halter neck was semi-transparent and had diamonds sewn into it. It was backless and dived down to the small of her back. From there it was a flowing dress, the silk seemed to glow as if it was lighting itself.
"It's so beautiful Liza…" Alisha couldn't describe how astounded she was. Unfortunately, she had had the same reaction for all of the dresses her sister had donned. Her agape mouth wasn't helping Eliza at all.
"I… I think I'll choose this one. It just feels right." Though it looked simple, on Eliza the dress seemed to have its own life. "Lisha, I need to talk to you about my wedding. Obviously, you're my best maid but dad will walk me down the aisle. I know you haven't talked to him in two years, but maybe you could talk to him now. For me?"
Alisha laughed before she touched her sister's cheek. "It's not a matter of doing it for someone Liza. He's not my father. You don't know what I've been through, you don't know how shitty he is. He saved me from hell and then left me alone to deal with my wounds. Anyways, let's buy the dress and get going. We need to check flowers and cake since we have time. I'll call the vendors." Alisha kissed her sister's cheek and made the calls she had to have everything ready.
Eliza wondered whether her sister would ever let her in. She was twenty-one now and Alisha twenty-two yet Alisha seemed much older. She was colder than she had been once, more openly cold at least. Why are you always so sad? She wondered as she stared at her beautiful sister.
Alisha found herself rather bored that evening. The party had been held by one of the Senators for the leftist party. She found herself huddled around the buffet, alone. Eliza was on date night and all of her friends were at another party. She had to attend this one, with a mask on to conceal her identity, because she was Genevieve. She had been invited by an unknown politician who had used a burner phone to contact her.
Suddenly, an arm found its way around her waist. "Genevieve, darling, won't you follow me to my room?" His voice was warm, it tickled her neck in a way that made it blush. However, her composure wasn't shaken so easily anymore.
"Of course, honey. Lead the way~" She giggled shyly and wove her arm around his waist. No one noticed the couple leave and with them left a few men, slowly and unnoticeably. "I didn't know Mr Senator wanted to meet me. You should have just called me like everyone else. Why all of the force?"
"I needed Genevieve herself to come rather than someone else. I didn't think Alisha Richards would be Genevieve." His arm around her waist tightened as he spoke so that she couldn't escape. She wanted to escape but his grip was so tight it almost hurt. "Don't you escape now, Richards." He laughed as she struggled.
"What do you want?" She hissed as his free hand opened a door and he leaned into it as it scanned his eye.
"You, of course." He laughed heartily as she was pushed onto a soft couch and he loosened his tie. He was the youngest Senator in the world of any country, he was only turning twenty-five years old this year. "You're rather ruthless Alisha. You've managed to gain an overwhelming amount of control over the Underworld, I wonder how James would react if he knew you were Genevieve." He laughed devilishly and Alisha sighed angrily. Why were all of the men around her so stupidly good-looking? It was well known that their Senator was a hottie. There were various fan-fictions of y/n x Senator Rodrigo… all of which were R18+. There were videos of him reading some of them and looking shocked. He was well loved by the public.
"Which is why he'll never know. What do you want from Genevieve?" She glared at him as he flopped next to her, a glass of whiskey in his hand. She grabbed it from his hand before he could sip from it and gave him a 'what?' look. He shook his head and chortled before pouring himself another drink whilst leaning over her. She groaned as fumbled around and placed his hand on her thigh. He laughed and sat back down with a drink in one hand and his other rested on her thigh. Her dress had long sleeves and a short skirt paired with a low V-neck that dropped to her navel with weavings that held it together. His hand squeezed her thigh and she knew what she wanted, she had to think of ways to reject him. Before she could do anything, he began speaking.
"I want you to work for me. You don't need money but I can give you political power. I was originally going to use your greedy father but Genevieve blew his power down. The next election is in one year and I'm running for President. I can make you vice or something similar if you work to promote me and guarantee your support. What do you say?" His face was rather close to hers, however she didn't notice because she was in deep thought. His hand travelled higher up her thigh, it tickled her slightly and she raised her eyebrow.
"Did you mean first lady by 'something similar'?" She asked snarkily as her hand prodded his one on her leg.
"I guess you'll have to find out~" He laughed as he leaned into her lips. One night stand with the future President sure sounds promising, she thought as she kissed him back. She had lost her virginity once, to Bryan, so in this life it didn't matter who she gave it to. She had never prioritised it but she did think it mattered a bit in her last life. She had forgotten that she was a virgin.
"Wait." She stopped him as he began undressing her. "I'll help you. Make me Vice. Give me your number tomorrow morning." She told him before pulling off her dress.