Alisha wondered if she had been drunk the night before. No, loneliness is more dangerous than alcohol, she thought to herself. Next time, she would call Richard and have a fun time drinking with him.
She stared at the face of the man hugging her so aggressively, his long black eye-lashes and short curly hair, his strong jaw and perfect nose. He had signs of a beard growing but he kept himself shaved clean. His tan skin made his entire being glow healthily. What a man, she thought as she tried to move his arm off her body. However, he didn't budge, even slightly. Instead his hold on her tightened as if someone was taking his favourite toy away from him.
Suddenly, a loud sound came from her phone as her alarm blared at the couple in bed. "Ugh,,," He whimpered as his eyes fluttered open. She could finally move and leaned over him to turn it off. The time was 6 am on a Monday.
"Rise and shine, beautiful." She laughed as she tried to get up. His hand slung itself around her body and pulled her back into his grasp.
"Who wakes up this early? Like damn… Wake up at 7 like the rest of us, you fool." He leaned into her and stole a kiss from her lips. "Well, at least now I have an hour to continue the events of last night…" He smirked before he plowed her with kisses.
"Half an hour tops, we have to be out by 7:30 if we want to reach on time." She ordered as she flipped him over. "I'll take control…"
An hour and a half later, both were dressed and ready to go. "How come you have clothes in my size?" He asked as he spun around in the suit she happened to have.
"My best friend Richard sometimes spends the night over and needs clothes for the next day so I bought a wardrobe for him here." She answered smoothly as she smiled at the memory of their chick-flick binge that ended with him crying for three hours about why it wasn't fair that the world was so cruel to him.
"I'm surprised he didn't take your first time." Senator Rodrigo joked as he elbowed her lightly.
"Eww. God… not all men think with their d!cks. God!" She wrinkled her nose at him and sashayed away. "Let's go."
The Grand Orchid was now an establishment, one of many, that Alisha owned. She had enough money so she bought various hotels and casinos - all of which she profited out of greatly. Her income wasn't at all small. The room for the meeting was of course the best one in the hotel and the most secure.
Their plan was somewhat simple - half of it was to use propaganda on social media through ads that would be spread about other politicians for various weeks and the other half was to highlight charity and good deeds as well as serving the greater American community by Rodrigo. The social media plan required them to use the algorithm to power the leftist ideology through the masses as well as convince rightists that their candidate was completely wrong - and leftist.
Once the propaganda was spread they would capitalize on the fact that he served both ideological beliefs and was the prime candidate for the Presidency regardless of political belief. He was in the leftist party, however he also did agree with some middle-ground ideas. Through social media they could cover all bases - however for the older more traditional population they would use newspapers and television as well as word of mouth to spread their propaganda.
The main reason they would succeed was because of her resources, regardless of the competitor she had dirt on them or could fabricate something so solid even his opponents would start believing it. Genevieve's power was terrifying for the world because there was nothing she couldn't do - once it was announced that Genevieve was supporting Rodrigo - businesses would have no choice but to follow unless they wanted trouble on their hands.
Alisha needed political power for one reason, it would be the final straw to over-taking James. She had no intention of undoing Annabelle's work, however Annabelle no longer worked for James Richards. Instead she was the main person working behind the scenes for Alisha and was a secret shareholder. Alisha held 60% whilst Annabelle held 10%. 10% was more than enough considering the huge benefits Annabelle reaped from the business simply given to her because of her brilliance. James had had a huge fight with her when she wanted to make a drastic decision and had kicked her from his company, Alisha scorned at her father's idiocy but was delighted to let her cousin enter her company instead. James' plan had failed and he had asked for Annabelle's forgiveness, however she ignored him. She was more than willing to join Alisha.
"So, what do you think?" Alisha asked, already knowing his answer.
"I'm glad I'm not your enemy." Rodrigo laughed as he leapt up and rolled his arm around her. She found it rather natural now for him to be overbearing and didn't even notice his arm. She continued explaining the timeline for executing their plans and he agreed with her steps. The plan had been formulated with Annabelle and Saint so that she knew exactly how far they could go with the plan. She would be funding his campaign - since she was the richer of the two - and he would allow her political freedom as his vice once they were elected.
"Saint will be hacking into various mainframes without alerting their security in order for your videos to be available more than they would otherwise - and so that I can save some money." Alisha grinned as she saw that the time was nearing 10 O'Clock and rose up. "Well, Chris, I guess that's a wrap on the meeting. I'll see you at our next meeting on Thursday." Senator Rodrigo nodded and rose next to her.
"I'll see you then." He grinned at her and nodded at his team as a 'let's go' signal. Alisha turned to her team and asked them to pack up the venue. She had a lunch party to attend.
"Bryan, Susanna, happy anniversary!" She congratulated them as she gave them a bottle of wine and entered their mansion.
"Thanks Alisha, please come in." Bryan led her to their interior and pointed her to where everyone else was. Susanna stayed with her and joined the circle of their friends.
"Hey Alisha!" Richard welcomed her as he hugged her and left his arm slung around her. Eliza and George greeted too and Annabelle and Bruce walked in around that time. Annabelle had a small baby in her hands and Alisha and Richard naturally took the baby from her.
"Hello my lovely baby girl!" Alisha cooed as Richard played peek-a-boo with the child. "Who's Aunty Alisha's favourite niece? You are! That's right!" She held her niece in her arms and swung her around as Richard enviously glared at her.
"I'm taking Ari now, get your claws off my child." Richard stole Arianna from her hands and began playing with her. However his fun was short lived as Bruce took her from Richard and placed her in her pram.
"Ari needs to sleep you two!" Richard resumed his place next to Alisha, his arm around her shoulders, as they walked to the balcony.
"I love balconies." Alisha told him as she grabbed some wine from a waiter. "They're so calming."
"You're not wrong." Richard chortled as he sipped some of his wine. Suddenly, a hand pulled Alisha away from Richard and Richard heard his patient best friend groan as if she was seeing someone she despised. "Senator Rodrigo, what a pleasure to meet you!" Richard gushed as Alisha pushed away the Senator.
"The pleasure is all mine, Richard?" He questioned even though he knew he was correct.
"That's right! How did you know?"
"You're the only person Ms Richards would let hold her so comfortably." He answered as his grip around her tightened.
"You're not wrong." Richard commented as he easily swept Alisha back to his side. "There's a reason for it too." Alisha grinned at her friend whilst flipping off the Senator and continued downing her wine.
"What brings you here, Chris?" She asked as her eyes squinted at him accusingly. "Also, don't touch me so easily in public." She added with a hiss.
"I'm good friends with a lot of people Bryan knows and so they invited me. A small bird told me that you'd be here too… naturally I couldn't stop myself." He laughed heartily whilst Alisha stared at him silently. Richard began laughing too and Alisha couldn't stop her smile.
"Oh God. Senat- No, Chris? I can call you Chris right? Of course I can since Alisha can! Chris, you're such a hoot! You should spend every minute of your time with my friend Freddy over there, can you see him with his partner? He's a hoot too! You two will be like two peas in a pod! Don't let us hold you back, you have our blessing!" He overdramatically ushered the Senator over to Fred and left him there in awe with a "ba-bye" before returning to Alisha. "Um… What have I been left out of?"
"He's hired Genevieve and I accidentally gave my virginity to him… and then called him over again last night. I was just feeling lonely…" She looked down ashamed and heard Richard chuckle.
"You idiot, call me over next time but it's your body. You can do whoever you want honey… plus he's hot!" Richard gushed. He hugged her from the side and kissed her forehead. "Don't apologise to me about something like that my cute Alisha." She leaned into his chest and felt at peace. Her inner turmoil rested and she felt comfortable with her decisions.
"You really left him with Freddy… the poor man will be sucked into a conversational debate for the next few hours now." She giggled as she watched the two men heatedly discuss a topic, both very passionate about their opinions. Unfortunately for them, the entertainment was stopped by the sound of a spoon hitting a wine glass.
Bryan grasped everyone's attention as Susanna rose next to him. "Everyone, we have a wonderful announcement to make," Susanna began, her rosy smile directed at her husband, "I'm pregnant!" She squealed as Bryan swooped into her lips. Everyone cheered and gushed over to them as her friends stared at her in awe.
Alisha felt a pain in her heart as she remembered her child with Bryan. Her beautiful child. Nonetheless, she knew that her future was different and that she had chosen this path. She approached the couple and congratulated them happily as she hugged her friend and ex. "I bet it'll be a beautiful baby!" She complimented as Susanna touched her stomach.
"Yes it will." Bryan grinned as his arm squeezed Susanna. His eyes lingered on Alisha longingly for a second but he loved his wife and his gaze returned to her. Two people noticed his gaze, one being Alisha. She knew why he looked at her in such a way but she turned it away as she had done before and left him behind in the dust.