A Billionaire In Disguise

Chapter Twenty-Four

At six o'clock, Rome had just finished reviewing the last of the documents that he abandoned at the

meeting he left earlier that day.

Then he rested back in his seat, and at that moment, the office door opened, and when Rome saw

Catherine walking into the office, the tiredness he felt suddenly seemed to fade as a feeling of warmth

coursed through him.

"What are you doing here?" Rome asked, waking up from his seat.

Then he walked over to the front of his desk and sat at the edge before holding Catherine's hand and

pulling her towards him.

When she hit against his body, Rome held her waist, looked into her eyes, and faintly grinned.

Hesitating for a second, Catherine studied his mood, and then she said, "I came to take you on a

dinner date that… that your father invited us to, and he said it will be just the three of us."

'It's like he has forgotten my number.' Rome thought in annoyance.

By Seven o'clock, Rome and Catherine arrived in the private room of "Greenhouse restaurant," and Mr.

Ford focused his gaze on his son as both of them walked up to the table he was seated.

Then he stood and embraced Catherine as she reached him, and whispered, "Thank you for coming,

dear."

Afterward, he gazed at Rome, and when their eyes locked, Rome just knew that this was more than a

dinner date.

However, Mr. Ford only greeted him without saying anything else. But Rome didn't seem convinced at

the very least.

For a while, Mr. Ford, Catherine, and Rome had small talks while they had their meals, and everything

seemed peaceful until Catherine excused herself from the table when her phone rang.

The moment she stepped out of the room, Mr. Ford scowled at Rome and harshly said, "You are really

still playing stubborn about this!"

"I'm not acting stubborn. I'm trying to play smart," Rome mumbled in annoyance.

"Earl showed up at Catherine's workplace. He moved on your territory. That's a threat, and you are

going to sit back and talk about playing smart!?"

"I'm glad you know that it's mine territory and not yours!"

"Well, Catherine is mine daughter-in-law!"

"And she's my wife!"

Frowning, Mr. Ford clenched his fist as he tried to cage his anger. Then he sighed and said, "I know.

But I'm your father. I want to help you handle this and put an end to this mess."

"Thank you, dad," Rome said, pausing for a moment.

Then he looked Mr. Ford dead in his eyes and said, "But you can't go back on your promise. At this

moment, all you can do is wait until I find a plan to deal with everything."

Glaring at his son, Mr. Ford slowly tapped the table and mumbled, "Yes, I know. But…"

"Leave the 'but' out of that sentence."

"Are you really going to tie a rope around my wrists and put me on the sideline?!"

We both know the answer to that, father."

Both Rome and Mr. Ford didn't speak for a brief while. Then Rome suddenly asked, "If I asked you to

give me a number and names of your enemies, could you do it?"

Not even giving it that much thought, Mr. Ford's brows pulled together as he said, "No. There are too

many to count or remember."

"So it's like finding a needle in a haystack?" Rome mumbled, feeling a bit disappointed.

Without understanding what he meant, Mr. Ford muttered, "Something like that."

Then he paused, met Rome's eyes, and asked, "What do you mean? Who are you trying to find? Is the

something going on that I don't know about?!"

"You once told me that with great wealth comes a lifetime of enemies. How possible is it that I have

also inherited your foes after taking over from you?" Rome asked.

"I mean, that's quite possible. It only makes sense that something like that would happen since you are

my son, and they are my foes. But who's the needle that you are trying to find in the haystack of my

enemies?"

"I don't know."

A minute went by in silence. Then Rome said, "But what I do know is that someone or there could be

more that are out to get me."

Keeping quiet for a moment, Rome continued to stare at Mr. Ford's concerned expression, and after a

brief while, he finally said, "Chloe wore the same dress that Catherine had on at the party. Only

someone stupid will think that's a coincidence."

"Are you calling me stupid then?" Mr. Ford asked with a straight face.

Staring apologetically at his father, Rome hastily said, "Dad, I didn't mean it like that."

"Haha! I'm just messing with you." Mr. Ford laughed out, trying to ease the tension on Rome's face.

Chuckling faintly, Rome shook his head. But his father's joke helped him feel a bit better.

"Of course, I recognized that something was off about Catherine and Chloe wearing the same dress."

Mr. Ford mumbled. "Did you check with Jerry?"

"Already did, and he wasn't the one who sewed Chloe's dress or linked Catherine's gown to her," Rome Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

said. "I'm not stressing about the fact they wore the same dress, but how it happened."

Silent followed Rome's remark, and it lasted for a while before he said, "Someone is keeping track of

Catherine and me, and I need to know who and why?"

"Maybe it's Earl. He has the power and wealth to pull off a mess like that." Mr. Ford abruptly said,

feeling a rise of anger in him.

"It's not him."

"How do you know?!"

At that moment, Catherine's soft voice echoed, "Is everything okay?"

Staring away from each other, Rome and Mr. Ford gazed at her and then said almost in unison, "No,"

A frown swept across Catherine's face, knowing that they were both lying. Then she silently took her

seat and started cutting into her steak.

When eight-fifteen arrived, Catherine and Rome were already in his car heading home, and she

continued to remain quiet. But Rome let her be, even though he knew she was angry about what

happened back at the restaurant.

A while later, when Catherine and Rome arrived home, she headed into the house first, leaving him

behind.

But a few minutes later, Rome caught up to her in the hallway, and as she was about to head upstairs,

he calmly said, "Stopped right there."

Immediately, Catherine paused in her track, pressing her lips in a firm line as she squeezed her eyelids

shut.

"Slowly turn around," Rome uttered, staring at her back.

Hesitating for a moment, Catherine kept her eyes closed. Then she slowly turned around and opened

them, staring at Rome.

Pointing out his index finger, Rome wiggled it back and forth as he said, "Come here."

At first, Catherine frowned. Then she sighed and took steps towards Rome until she reached right in

front of him, then she stopped.

"What are you mad about?" Rome asked, staring at her as she pouted at him.

"I don't know," Catherine mumbled beneath her breath.

Then she gazed down at her toes and said, "It's the way you and father stopped talking when I walked

into the room. It made me feel…"

"Like I'm keeping things from you?" Rome calmly asked.

"Kind of."

"Okay then, ask me what you want to know, and I will give you an answer."

Slowly, Catherine raised her head and met his eyes, feeling tempted to give in to her desire.

Then she drew a deep breath and said, "Umm, no! I trust you."

A faint giggle escaped Rome's lip, and he mumbled, "Silly. Even if you don't ask, I still want to tell you.

After all, I was planning to talk to you about it after we get home."

"I didn't mean to make it seem like I don't trust you," Catherine mumbled with a look of remorse in her

eyes.

"Hey, it's fine, okay? I kept my identity from you for so long, and it only makes sense that you might

have some trust issues because of that."

"Yeah, but it doesn't feel right."

With tears beaming in Catherine's eyes, she tried to smile, but her lips rebelled against her, and in that

instant, Rome didn't hesitate to pull her into his arms, embracing her.

"Stop being so hard on yourself. I understand." Rome mumbled when he felt her hand wrapped around

his back, and her fingers grabbed tightly onto his coat.