"The Reynolds Pamphlet." Angelica burst in the house with bags in her hand and papers

Eliza looked up at her in confusion

"What are you doing here, Angelica?" Eliza inquired

Angelica read a couple of lines again to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She looked at Eliza with tears of pity in her eyes.

Angelica's hands shook with anger, "Have you read this?"

"No, let me see it please." Eliza asked politely

She grabbed the paper. If you looked at Eliza, you could tell she aged a lot more, only because of stress. She's been defending her husband from adultery accusations and raising her children alone as usual

"The charge against me is a connection with one James Reynolds, for purposes of improper speculation," Eliza stops

"What's wrong with this, Angie?"

"Keep reading." Angelica was holding back from punching a wall

"My real crime is an amorous connection—w-with his...wife...?" Eliza kept reading but stopped abruptly her eyes widened in shock and she gasped

Angelica grabbed the paper "For a considerable time, with his knowing consent! I had frequent meetings with her most of them in my own house."

Eliza asked "At his own house?"

Angelica responded "At his own house..."

Damn

Angelica kept reading "Mrs. Hamilton, My sister in law, and our children being absent on a visit to her father..."

Eliza gasped and shook "No..."

"Eliza I want to comfort you, but right now, I have to find Alexander. He will regret ever stepping foot in your direction, you have my word."

With that, Angelica dropped her bags inside and went to the square, leaving Eliza alone and heartbroken

———meanwhile———

"Well he's never going to be president now!" Jefferson yells as he stand atop a table in the square

"Never going to be President now!" Madison and Aaron Burr, his long term enemy, said at the same time. The three gentleman laughed as Hamilton got red in the face from the public scrutiny he brought unto himself

"I came as soon as I heard..."

"Whaaaaaat!" Thomas Jefferson yelled as he saw his friend standing in front of his eyes

"Angelica?" Alexander questioned

"All the way from London? Damn." Burr and Madison agreed

"Angelica, thank the lord. Someone who understands what I'm struggling here to do." He grabbed her hands and tried to kiss them

She snatched them away and grabbed his collar

"I'm not here for you" She sneered

"Ooooo" a crowd gathered out of curiosity

"W-What?"

"I know my sister like I know my own mind, you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind. How dare you! You abuse her kindness? Her good nature? Her trust? My trust? You disgust me."

"Angelica, please—"

He was caught off by a loud slap on his cheek by Angelica

"Put what we had aside. I'm on my sister's side. If this is what you wanted, then fine. God, I hope you're satisfied!" She yelled at him and started to cry as she ran out of the square

She heard him calling her and she ran faster and faster till she could no longer hear him. Finally, she collapsed on the boardwalk of Manhattan. After running for so long, she leaned on a barrel as she put her head in her knees and cried.

But she felt selfish

She wasn't crying for what Alexander did, she wasn't crying for what was happening to her nieces and nephews

She was crying for herself

She was crying because she sacrificed her happiness for Eliza just so he could turn around and break Eliza's heart.

"Angelica."

She looked up to find the last man she wanted to see

"Alexander."

"Angelica, please. Hear me out. I wish to speak with you—"

"No. You hear me out. I have had it with you. It's bad enough you've been flirting with me for that past 19 years, but now you cheat on my sister? I knew you didn't love her."

"Angelica, I do love her! I love Eliza, she's everything I could ever dream of! She's just not you..."

"Oh, but that other woman was me?"

"No, she looked a lot like you, too much like you. I couldn't have the real Angelica so I pretended..."

"You pretended she was me? Alright, so you're also a pervert." Angelica responded

"No! Angelica listen to me, I love you, and you know this. I just- I just wish it was you. This entire thing has been a mess and I let my desire for you blind me. Was it a mistake? Absolutely. Would I do it again? No. But if it was you? I'd sell my soul just for one night with you." Alexander got on his knees and grabbed Angelica's dress, the man was begging for forgiveness

"I'm so sorry, I beg of you...forgive me..."

"It's not my forgiveness you should beg for." Angelica told him bluntly

Angelica kicked him off of her

"Get up. You're ruining my shoes."

She started to walk away

"Wait! Why were you crying?" Alexander asked her

There was a double meaning behind her words, one being she wished it was her heart being broken and the other wishing she had the affair instead.

Angelica stopped and turned around to face him

"I just wish it were me."

Alexander was about to go after her again but he stopped

———time skip———

Eliza sat in the garden and looked up to the sky. She clasped her hands, got on her knees, and prayed

"God, why has this happened? Does Alexander not love me? I place my faith in you, and I pray that you have the answers. I pray that you have a plan for this family. Father, help us. Help Alexander, even if he does not deserve it. In Jesus name, amen."

"Eliza?" Angelica called her sister

Eliza turned around with tear streaks down her face to see Angelica calling her

"Angelica..."

She got up, the two sisters ran to each other and held one another in understanding

"I'm so sorry, Eliza. He doesn't deserve you, shhhh...it's alright. Everything will be alright. I'm here."

Eliza continued sniffling into her sister's shoulder. Angelica looked down at her

"You have married an Icarus, he has flown too close to the sun..." Eliza clung onto every word her sister said like a lifeline

Alexander watched from the shadows and realized he had truly made a mistake

He and Angelica made eye contact

Angelica's eyes widened and she glared at him

"Eliza, I'll be right back." Angelica told her sister, a voice laced with venom

Alexander saw this and went to office, knowing if he didn't, he would've died right then and there.

He held his face in his hands

Angelica opened the door with a look of sympathy in her face

The sympathy wasn't for him though

She smacked a piece of paper on his desk

"You have really done it this time. My sister is crying in a garden, praying to God that he will help you, even though you don't deserve it. You truly didn't think this through, did you? How stupid.

Let's review, you took a rumor a few maybe two people knew, and no one believed them. They told, but no one believed them because they didn't think you were capable of such a thing. I begged you to take a break you refused to.

You're so scared of what your enemies will do to you, but you're the only enemy you ever seem to lose to. You know why Jefferson gets away with his actions in Congress? He doesn't dignify schoolyard taunts with a response!"

"Angelica, please..."

"You've redefined you're legacy."

Angelica walked towards the door and was about to leave

"It was an act of political sacrifice!"

She stopped

"Sacrifice?"

Angelica was angrier now

"You know what? I spent the last 19-20 years of my life in London in a loveless marriage, and your letters were the only things keeping me sane. I see you and Eliza and I ask why couldn't it be me instead, but that doesn't wipe the tears of the years away. I'm back in the city and I'm here to stay, you know exactly what I'm here to do."

"Angelica, I'm sorry, just listen—"

"Do you know what Eliza said, when she saw you at the ball? She said, "this one's mine." So I stood by. Do you know why?"

"You're overreacting, I'll make it better—"

"I LOVE MY SISTER MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THIS LIFE. I WILL CHOOSE HER HAPPINESS OVER MINE EVERY TIME! ELIZA IS THE BEST THING IN OUR LIVES. SO NEVER, EVER, LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH THE BEST WIFE!"

"Eliza..." He said quietly

"THAT'S RIGHT! ELIZA. FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, EVERY SACRIFICE YOU MAKE IS FOR MY SISTER GIVE HER THE BEST LIFE!"

She got in his face, so that they were nose to nose. Alexander wanted to badly to kiss her, but he didn't

"." Angelica said calmly, backed away, and slammed the door

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Love,

Kennedy Brown❤️