Chapter 3

"Young Master, she's here..." The guard informed the young master about Alyssa's arrival in the mansion. There was no response and the guard left after a few moments.

The room was filled with darkness and finally, there was a little noise there, a sound of footsteps.

There was a standing figure in the darkroom, staring out of the window watching the entrance of the mansion.

A tear ran down that person's eyes as they finally saw her. Alyssa walked out of the car, wearing a purple dress and her hair put into a ponytail. There was a smile after so many years, as they saw her wearing the purple dress that they had once gifted to her.

They closed their eyes and remembered the incident from a few days ago.

"It's time for you to get married!" The madam said as she barged into the room without any notice. She looked angry and annoyed for some reason. But Elijah already knew what it was.

Elijah Anderson, the heir of the Anderson family, was still learning how to take over the business but there were still a lot of problems ahead.

Madam Clara was angry because the board members were once again creating a problem saying that Elijah was too young to take over the family business and wasn't capable enough.

What people didn't know about the Madam was that she was crazy about the power that her husband had left behind. However, she still didn't have full access to it cause the heir of the family could take over.

Albert was the head of the family because he was the eldest son so Clara thought that her son would automatically become the heir as well. Little did she know, Albert's younger brothers were going to cause a lot of issues in the future and to secure her power she'd have to take drastic steps. She ended up ruining two lives just to stay in power.

"We never agreed on me getting married..." Elijah said coldly as he looked away. They didn't want to talk to her.

"But now you need to, I need all the power and I don't care what it takes." The Madam said and Elijah gave her a disgusted look cause she sounded psychotic.

"But I don't want that!" Elijah almost shouted at her. They got out of the chair and moved towards the window.

"I don't have time for your tantrums, just do as I say!" The Madam shouted at them.

Clearly, she was getting paranoid about losing her power. She was going crazy and could do anything to get what she wanted. Elijah thought for a second and then thought of making a deal.

"You just want me to get married, right?" Elijah said after thinking for a minute. They were careful about not angering the Madam.

"That's exactly what I said just now!" The madam shouted at them cause she was losing her temper. She didn't want to lose her power and for that, she could do anything.

"Then let me marry Alyssa..."

It was a blind shot, Elijah had no idea how the Madam would react to it if she would even consider it. But at this point, they were sure that they just wanted to marry Alyssa and no one else.

After all these years of following the Madam's orders, it was the first time, Elijah had put forward any request or was sure about going against her.

The Madam thought for a second and then chuckled. Elijah just looked at her in surprise as they surely weren't expecting any reaction from her.

"You're still caught up on that poor girl?" The Madam laughed as she realized that the incident from 6 years ago had still not cooled down.

"You have no right to call her that!" Elijah glared at her in anger cause she was stepping on their nerves now.

"Fine I won't." The Madam said in sort of a taunting tone. She sat on the chair in front of her and was back into her bossy attitude.

"You know I won't marry anyone else except for Alyssa." Elijah stared at the madam and she could tell that they meant it. She knew very well that they loved Alyssa the most and could do anything for her.

"I know that very well..." The madam said as she sighed. She had tried her best to separate them but of no use cause they were still stuck in that love.

"The choice is yours, if you want the power let me marry her." Elijah threatened the Madam and she was a little scared now. They had threatened to kill themselves in that past as well when she tried to hurt Alyssa.

"Well considering that you never rebelled in the past, I think I can fulfill this one wish of yours." The Madam agreed to fulfill the one and only request that Elijah put forward after years of working for her.

Elijah didn't say much but they were the happiest from inside. They were finally going to be together with the love of their life. The day that they had waited for was finally going to happen.

"Thank you..." Elijah said in a low voice and a tear ran down their eye.

The Madam sighed as she saw them like that. She was a heartless woman but she did feel bad for using this person for so many years. This was the least freedom she could give them. She knew that their love was true but they both were born in the wrong place and in the wrong environment,

"You better not raise your voice against me. I'll not tolerate if this happens again!" The Madam said in a cold voice as she glared at them. She rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. She banged the door loudly as she left.

Elijah's assistant entered the room after the Madam left. He wore a black suit and his hair was neatly kept His name was Michael and he was around the same age as Edwin.

In front of the world, Edwin and Michael were good friends but only a few people knew that they both were dating in secret. Alyssa and Elijah both knew that very well as they had pretty much grown up with them and they both supported them.

"Young master…" Michael said hesitantly as he looked at him standing in front of the window. "The Madam seemed to be pretty angry..."

In front of the window stood the prince of the Anderson family. They finally looked happy after such a long time and that sight put Michael at ease.

Brown hair, neatly styled, blue eyes becoming the most attractive feature on their fair skin and rose-red lips. A mole on the cheek and lashes long, perfectly complementing the eyes. A black suit maintaining the classiness of the gentleman.

"Let her be." Elijah finally spoke up after being lost in thoughts for a long time. "How is she….?" Elijah turned towards Michael and they were referring to Alyssa.

"She's doing fine. She's got so much prettier but still the same, kind and polite to everyone." Michael answered, a gentle expression on his face. "But are you sure about it…? What if the secret is exposed…? Madam might even kill you if her plan get's ruined" He asked hesitantly and was scared of the consequences that this love might result in.

"I'll be relieved if only Alyssa found out, she's my biggest strength; if only she knew about my situation." Elijah turned around and looked at the mirror, a painful expression took over their face as they saw their reflection in the mirror.

All they saw was a little girl, long blonde hair and blue eyes, a mole on her cheek, and a purple dress reaching up to her knees.

However, then the long hair was cut short and her real identity was hidden away. The Madam forced that little girl was forced to put on a facade and pretend to be someone else just so she could gain all the power to herself.

The girl was forced to play her brother's role in his absence and her real identity was declared dead in front of the world. She had no rights to herself and could do nothing without asking for the Madam's permission.

Who would have cared about an illegitimate child anyway? The moment the real prince returned the princess had to go away from the palace, away... away from them all.

Still...before all that happened, Diana wanted to make her one wish come true. While playing the role of the prince, she'd have been forced to marry someone either way so she persuaded the madam to let Alyssa be that girl.

She wasn't afraid of being exposed, instead, just wanted to spend some time with her first and only love. She did know how Alyssa felt towards her but had no idea if her feelings were still the same; she was unsure if she was still waiting for her or had moved on.

However, this was the last chance to be with her, love her, adore her and just protect her from this cruel world. She didn't want to let this chance go. She feared that if something went wrong, the Madam might even kill her.

"Fine, miss, then we'll start preparing for the wedding." After a really long time, someone addressed her with her real identity.

Michael smiled slightly as he looked at Diana who was left confused because of his words. She didn't see that coming but still, it did feel good to be addressed correctly after so long. He already knew that Diana loved Alyssa more than anything and he just wanted her to be happy.

"I wish you happiness, miss." Michael bowed as he said those words.

Diana smiled as she heard those words as they did make her smile a little. She had no idea about how Alyssa would react and if she'll even agree to the offer. Still, there was something in her heart that told her that she would agree.

She wished to get the love of her life back as she was starting to give up; she just wanted to rest as she had already fought for her life for so long. There was something telling her to just die but she didn't want that and wanted to meet Alyssa before that happened.

*

"How's everything going?" The madam asked her assistant. She was annoyed cause of what had happened and what she had just agreed to.

She knew that it definitely wasn't going to be public cause she was doing it just to gain power. Things were going to change completely once her real son returned.

"Mam, we can do the ceremony in a few days." The assistant replied as she checked her tab for some info.

"No need for any big ceremony, minimal guests, I don't want my real son to be tied with such a poor girl, she's worse than the maids in this house." The Madam said in a fed-up tone. The assistant flinched as she heard all that; she knew how much the Madam hated Alyssa and Diana. "I don't know what that bitch sees in her. I did so many efforts to stop them from being together, but even after 6 years they both still love each other." The madam was frustrated as all her plans had failed.

To gain more shares in the company, her "Son" needed to get married, it didn't matter who. She was ready to go to any extend to pave the way for her real son; it didn't matter how many lives she ruined.

"The media shouldn't know about the bride, just declare a different person's name no one should ever know about Diana and Alyssa" She ordered and the assistant nodded immediately.

It was the Andreson family, to the Madam it felt like a shame that such a poor girl was marrying in the family but she herself had no choice as Diana had threatened to run away if she didn't fulfill her one wish.

The whole situation was giving her a headache, she hated being in contact with poor people but now one of them was going to marry into the family, even that thought was making her dizzy.