CHAPTER 4

More than twenty four hours later, somewhere in the city, Carlo's multimillion dollar mansion was sitting magnificently.

After the incident, he had not been able to get the image of Sloane off his thoughts. He descended through the staircase with a glass of wine in his left hand.

“Sloane Wentworth," he muttered her name slowly and calmly.

Then, a rippled smile crossed his lips. He had just entered the city for the first time in ages and was checking out the newly acquired properties while waiting for his driver to come and pick up. But somehow, one thing led to another and Sloane approached him with a charm that he was not able to resist.

He got to one of the couches and sat down. Shortly after that, a car drove into the premises and parked just outside the house.

Carlo sat there when his friend, Dave, made his way into the living room with a magazine in his hand.

“Hello, man," Carlo said and readjusted his position. "What should I get you?”

Dave chuckled and collapsed into the opposite couch.

"Carlo, you are one crazy person. You barely got into the city after so many years and you are already asking me to run errands for you. Who's this girl, by the way?”

Carlo grinned broadly. "Did you get any information on her?”

Dave nodded his head. He reached out to the center table and slid the magazine towards Carlo. He watched a smile cross his friend's lips and wondered who the woman was to him.

“Everyone in the city knows a few things about the Wentworths. What is it particularly that you would want with the black sheep of the family?”

Carlo glanced at him while paying attention to the magazine.

"There is no need to be so blunt, Dave,” Carlo said.

Dave got up. "But your stay here is short-lived. You are simply here to launch your father's new projects. What's your interest in that family?”

Carlo was mute for a while. Then, he chuckled and gulped at his wine.

“Well, you see, Dave, this family you speak so little about happens to be my in-laws and Sloane Wentworth is my legally married wife."

The statement breezed in and out of Dave's ears. He could not believe his ears.

“What?" Dave queried him. “I didn't hear you clearly."

“Yes, you did, my friend," Carlo replied with a smile.

Somehow, he loved the shock on Dave's face.

“Come on, man. You are not making any sense. Make this make sense. What do you mean by that? They are your in-laws." He laughed. “You are definitely kidding me right now."

Carlo shook his head and reclined on the couch.

“I wish I was. But I'm obviously not kidding you. You should know that."

Dave sat down with a confused look on his face.

"Wait a minute, friend. You mean to tell me that you are now married. To Sloane Wentworth? And I am just hearing about this. Cut the crap, Carlo. It's not even funny.”

Carlo grinned knowingly. “Hang in there. I will be back briefly."

He got up and disappeared from the room. After a short while, he returned with a document in his hand.

“Here it is. Take a look."

He passed the document to Dave. Dave didn't need to go through everything to know Carlo was actually saying the truth.

“What have you done, Carlo? How did this happen?"

Carlo leaned forward and went on to narrate every bit of the adventure to his friend. When he was done, Dave was stunned and was standing.

“This is crazy. How could you push through with this? Does she know who you are?"

Carlo shook his head. “No, she doesn't. And I intend to keep it that way for the time being.”

Dave cocked his head and sat down.

"Carlo, you are the third generation grandson of your luxurious household and heir to the Golden Gates empire. Do you know what that means? How long do you think you can hide your identity for?”

Carlo thought about it. Maybe not for long.

“Well, we will certainly see how long it will take. But you see, Dave, I don't know how to explain this. But Sloane is my kind of woman.”

Dave stroked his cheek. "It had to be the black sheep of the family.”

"If she's with me, she can be the golden sheep. Don't you think so? “

Dave could see there was no way he would be able to talk Carlo out of this.

"What about Bella? What are you going to do about her?“

Bella was his girlfriend. It was an arranged relationship. But then, she was too sassy for him to keep.

“I will have to end things with her."

"Do you think Bella will let go easily?”

Carlo chuckled. "I am already married to Sloane, man. You have the certificate with you. Bella will give up, eventually.”

Dave couldn't believe his ears. “And your dad? What do you think will happen if he finds out about this?"

Carlo stroked his jawline slowly. His dad would not be pleased, obviously. But Carlo had no intention to back away from his adventure now.

“When I get to that bridge, I will cross it. But at the moment, Dave, I should pay a visit to the Wentworth family."

★★★★★

At the Wentworth mansion, the whole family were in the living room trying to come to a conclusion on how to handle the situation Sloane put them into.

"She dragged us into this mess in the first place,” John pressed on. "Let her handle it. In fact, I don't see any reason for us to actually drool over this matter. Throw her to Bradley and end this madness.”

"We both know that's not possible,” Jacob cut in. "How do you expect the marriage to be registered when she is legally signed with someone else?”

Sharon looked at her mom with a pitiful expression.

"Mom, does this mean we will go down?”

John slammed his hand on the table. "Damn it! I will have this bitch killed before I go down.”

Ms Barbara cleared her throat and silenced the atmosphere.

"Sloane, any word yet on your mystery husband?”

Sloane shook her head. There was nothing yet.

“No news on that yet," she replied.

Ms Barbara's countenance fell deeply. “How could you have been so silly? You should at least have a name or something. You didn't get married to a freaking ghost!"

She still recalled the name she saw when they signed the marriage.

“Carlo Alistair,” Sloane replied. "That should be his name.”

The moment she mentioned the name, the look on everyone's face changed.

"Are you saying you are married to the heir of the multi trillion dollar enterprise, Golden Gates?” Ms Barbara asked.

Sloane looked confused. The person she had seen earlier looked too lost to match the profile Ms Barbara had given.

She shook her head. "I don't think it's the same person we are talking about.”

Sharon quickly ran an online search for the heir of Golden Gates. But there was no image there. Nothing to show for it.

"No images online,” Sharon said. "There is no way Sloane just hit the jackpot.”

For a moment, there was a clean trace of excitement in the room. But it didn't last for long.

One of the security persons walked in and greeted them.

“Someone is here for Ms Sloane. He claims to be married to her."

When Carlo walked in, the excitement in the room faded completely. He looked too common in his very low quality clothes to be who they thought him to be.

“Who let this riffraff in here?" Ms Barbara queried.

“You…" Sloane stuttered while staring at Carlo.