When Avery typed Sloane Delaney into the search bar, there were immediately hundreds result pulled up.
Sloane Delaney Youngest Business Man Of The Generation.
Sloane Delaney's Accessify Helping Millions Of Lives.
Sloane Delaney Involved In A Ghastly Accident.
Emilia Knight Announces Break-up With Sloane Delaney.
Avery clicked on this link: Emilia Knight, a renowned singer popularly known as Knightingale and singed under Pluse Entertainment.Co, she's the last child of the prestigious Knight family and had been romantically involved with Sloane for seven years — they had been engaged for two years— and there had been talks of marriage. Shortly after Sloane's accident, Emilia announced their breakup— reasons unknown.
A few people had called Emilia out for breaking up with Sloane immediately after the accident that disfigured him; but Emilia had clarified that the reason for their breakup was personal, along with the threat of filing for defamation and Sloane's silence; everyone believed her and the reason for their breakup remained a mystery.
Accessify Has Been Acquired By Aurum Group.
Aurum Group is a conglomerate owned by the Russell family; Avery frowned in thought and found out there had indeed been a mention of Dylan buying a small Tech company in the original plot.
After the accident, all Sloane's social media accounts had been deactivated and there were no images of him on his company website either. The only images available online were that of a car— mangled and wrecked — and a blurry photo of a man wrapped in bandages in an hospital.
Sloane Delaney had founded Acessify during his university days — a company that created apps to help people with limited or no education— Sloane's company grew quickly, and he amassed awards; he was a man who stood on his own, he had not depended on his grandmother's legacy but had built his own empire— unfortunately it crumbled.
********
20 minutes late.
Marvellous.
Avery's brow pinched together in annoyance; his earlier nervousness had quickly turned to irritation.
The private room was ambient and luxurious, the slow music had started to annoy him.
Avery darted another glance at the time; 21 minutes late. Good. He had made up his mind to leave if nine minutes passed and Sloane still didn't show up.
The door to the private room opens gently to reveal two people; Avery barely spares a glance at the sharply dressed female, his eyes locked on the man whose presence sucks all attention — Sloane Delaney
Sloane Delaney shared Amara's aura— a commanding presence that drew attention— but while Amara's was bold and confident, Sloane's was dark and chilling— an oppressive force that caused a person to tremble with fear.
His maroon coloured hair— deeper than Amara's fiery red— was style perfectly to reveal chiseled and elegant features; a half-faced white mask shielded the scarred part of his left face, while the right side— captivating and refined— seemed to have been kissed by a demon — Sloane was handsome in a way that was dark and sinful.
His piercing hazel eyes— a mix of green, gold and brown— were captivating and oddly empty— dark and broken— those eyes caused Avery to feel chills down his spine.
He was dressed impeccably in a black suit that was tailored to perfect. Despite being in a wheelchair; Sloane's posture was confident and haughty— like a king on his throne. Despite his disability, Sloane carried himself with a confidence and charisma that made him shine.
Avery's eyes lingered for a second on his left leg; despite the long trouser it was easy to see that it was empty from the knee below— Sloane's gaze sharpened, he had caught Avery staring and certainly didn't like it.
For a second the room remained silent, a lingering tension descending swiftly.
"You're late." Sloane blinked in surprise, clearly he had not been anticipating Avery's first words.
"I am sorry, the flower bouquet I ordered got messed up, so we had to rectify it." Avery took a second to get used to Sloane's tone— smooth and rich.
"Flower bouquet?" It took Avery an embarrassingly long minute to get out of the effect of Sloane's voice— this man was a walking sin— maybe Tamara was right about his interest in men; he had after all caught himself staring at Alaric from the gym a little too long.
"Miss Honey." Only then did Avery remember that there was a second person in the room.
Miss Honey was a beautiful woman— sharp and refined— with honey coloured skin that glowed richly; her dark tresses cascaded down her back, light brown eyes— calm and assessing— her bold red lipstick matched her red dress that clung to her hourglass figure.
Avery's eyes lingered on the flower bouquet clutched in her hand; an expensive looking bouquet of fresh orchids.
"For you Mr Ford." Miss Honey placed the bouquet gently on the table, a black bag— that shone as though it was made from diamonds— was placed beside it; the words Ombre was written on it with an exquisite gold font that one could feel the expensiveness just by looking at it.
"You brought gifts?" Avery suddenly felt lacking from coming empty-handed.
"It didn't seem right to come on a date without bringing anything." Perhaps Sloane felt the weight of Avery' judgemental glare. "It's alright if you didn't bring one though, I don't mind."
"Thank you." From the rich aroma coming from the bag, Avery assumed it was a perfume.
"No problem." Sloane picks up the menu. "Let's order." Avery nodded.
Avery's eyes— traitorous things they are— kept straying to Sloane; who was browsing through the menu with such deep concentration one would wonder if he was just choosing dinner or picking his life choices.
Avery had expected Amara's grandson to be attractive— he had seen the woman— but this was too much— was it legal for one person to look this sinfully tempting?
Suddenly Sloane looked up and caught Avery's staring ; it would be weirder to look away, so Avery continued staring.
"You have beautiful eyes." Avery could feel the fire in his cheeks at Sloane's casual compliment. He thinks my eyes are beautiful.
"I....uhh..thank you." Avery stuttered. "You are beautiful too...no... wait...I mean your eyes are beautiful." Sloane's lips seemed to curl slightly, before it smoothened back into a thin line— suddenly Avery was filled with a need to make this man smile, such coldness did not suit him.
When Avery tried to bring up a conversation, it would immediately be fizzled out by Sloane's dry and one worded reply; they didn't have much in common and with Sloane's clear lack of co-operation, Avery ran out of things to say quickly.
They ate in silence—quiet and slightly awkward— but not uncomfortable.
"Why do you want to marry me?" Avery nearly choked on water— Sloane couldn't have chosen a better time to spring shocking questions on him— "I am aware of how I look." You look fine. Avery wanted to say, but he held his tongue.
"Because I have no other choice but marriage." Avery sighed. " My father had asked me to look for a husband in a month or he will force me into marrying someone of his choice, and frankly I don't want that marry someone of his choice."
"Why don't you want to marry someone of your father's choosing?" Avery laughed, as though the question was ridiculous.
"A person like my father who has chained me all my life, will only marry me off to someone who can chain me even tighter." Avery'a grip on his cutleries tightened. " I want my freedom, I want to own my legal guardian rights."
"You're honest, I like that." Sloane had been on a couple of dates— courtesy of Amara— and he had grown sick of hearing the love declarations when he could see the pity in their eyes, the barely disguised disgust and hate when they stared at his missing leg or his mask.
"So I take it that you're over Dylan Russell?" Avery felt a rush of heat to his cheeks— embarrassed that Sloane knew about Dylan— of course he knew, the previous Avery had not be subtle about his interest in Dylan— stalking, drugging, creating chaotic scenes whenever he saw Ian and Dylan together, bold love confessions and almost jumping off a building just to get Dylan's attention— Dylan had been a drug, an obsession, a madness that the previous Avery had become addicted to.
"I am." Dylan was Ian's and Avery had no time for dramatic love triangles.
"I don't need love." The weight of Sloane's words settled into Avery. "I need partner who can stand with me, fight with me and rule with me, someone who can represent the Delaney family." Sloane said. "I will fulfill my duties as a husband to the best of my capacity, but unfortunately I may not be temporarily able to attend to your physical needs owing to some dysfunctions caused by my injury, you can use suppressants and I don't mind sexual toys if you—"
"It's fine." Avery blushed. "I have a heart defect, and the pills I am taking aren't exactly libido boosters." Most of the time Avery felt dead below— but Amanda had assured him, that with proper guidance he could enjoy a normal sex life like everybody else.
"Then it's settled, let's get married."