A Billionaire In Disguise
Chapter Twenty-Two

Even though Catherine's mind was disturbed about her meeting with Earl and Chairman Herman, she tried to look focused as she discussed with a foreign woman who wanted to cooperate with Dream Team.

However, although she looked focused, she wasn't paying attention to her until the lady finally asked in a harsh tone, "Mrs. Ford, did you get what I said, or have you become deaf?! I'm speaking, and you are barely replying!"

"I'm sorry, miss Dola, can you please repeat what you had said?" Catherine gently intoned, feeling a bit embarrassed and annoyed about Dola's tone with her.

A frown crossed Dola's face, and as she was about to speak, the office door suddenly opened.

Looking away from Dola, Catherine gazed ahead of her and saw Rome walking into the office.

At first, a faint smile crept on her lips. But when she gazed deeper into Rome's eyes, she guessed that something was off, and her expression quickly got serious.

"Miss Dola, if it's possible, can you please spare me a few minutes to speak with my husband. I will get back to you shortly. And while you wait, what would you like my secretary to serve you?" Catherine softly uttered.

A bitter and brief laugh escaped Dola's lips as she narrowed her eyes at Catherine before rudely uttering, "You must be delusional if you think I'm going to spare you a second of my time if you dare walk out of here!"

Speechless from the anger she felt because of how Dola spoke to her, Catherine took a moment to get her emotions under control and stay calm.

"Your so-called husband can wait until after you get done here. Even if this meeting lasts for an hour, he will have to wait. After all, you need my money, and it's not the other way around." Dola roughly said.

"Actually, I don't need your money. So you can leave my office, go learn some manners, and come back with a better attitude." Catherine boldly stated, deciding that she had had enough of Dola misbehavior.

Holding in his laugh, Rome tried to keep a straight face and said, "My wife is right. You really need some lessons or two about speaking properly."

Looking back at Rome, Dola scowled as she thought, 'If I didn't get instructed by my parents to come here and successfully established a cooperation with Dream Team, I would have left already.'

Then she gazed at Catherine and mumbled, "Even though this is my first time coming back to the country after my studies, I'm sure that there are other companies way better than you, so stop acting cocky."

"Miss Dola, can you please leave. I need to speak with my husband." Catherine casually said.

At first, Dola looked angry, then a trace of nervousness took over her expression, and she paused for a moment, lightly biting on her bottom lip.

"I will head out then," Dola mumbled, standing to her feet. "Can you... please, can you tell your secretary to escort me to the waiting room? Also, ask her to please serve me tea and a slice of cake."

Smiling at Dola, Catherine nodded and said, "Of course, I can."

A few minutes later, after Dola had left and Catherine had informed her secretary about Dola's demands, she walked from behind her desk and moved to the front.

"It's just the two of us now. What's on your mind to say?" Catherine asked, looking at Rome.

But he was so stunned that she could read his expression so well that he forgot for a moment about the lie he wanted to tell her.

"I was just stopping by to check up on you," Rome mumbled, not even believing his own words.

"Hon, we both have companies to run and are super busy at this hour, and you want me to believe that you drove a mile to check up on me?" Catherine asked, raising a brow.

Then her gaze unintentionally rested on her phone, and she said, "Also, you could have simply done that over the phone."

"But then I won't see your beautiful face," Rome said, still trying to replace an escape route.

"We could have FaceTime if that was the case. So what's actually going on?"

It fell silent between them for a couple of minutes as Rome second-guessed his thoughts. Then he finally said, "Earl visited you."

"Rome," Catherine uttered, sounding disappointed.

For a while, Rome hadn't heard Catherine call him by his first name like that, and he just knew that she had already put two to two together in her head and found out how he knew about Mr. Earl's visit.

"Seriously, you are keeping tabs on me?!" Catherine mumbled in frustration.

Hesitating for a moment, Rome gazed into her eyes and then said, "Yes. But it's not in the way you think."

"Honey, we both talked about this. I told you, I need my space and to feel independent, and you promised that you were going to give me that." Catherine said, frowning slightly.

"I know, I know what I promise, and I want to give you that. But....." "There's no but, hon. I spent most of my life in my cousins' shadow, never feeling like I was good enough. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in your shadow too, or else I'm always going to think of myself less."

It grew silent as Rome felt an ache in his chest as he watched the sadness on Catherine's face deepened.

Then he walked over to her, met her eyes, and said, "I know it must have been traumatizing for you to get criticized and measured with your cousins in that mansion. But I need you to read my lips."

Looking away from Rome's eyes, Catherine's gaze fell upon Rome's lips as he said, "Your star is glowing too bright for you to be in me or anyone shadow. You are your own person, and your success is yours to own. Don't ever give such high credit to anyone else but you, okay?"

"Alright," Catherine mumbled beneath her breath, smiling faintly.

Without giving it a second thought, Rome held Catherine by her waist, lifted her, and sat her at the edge of the desk.

"I'm sorry that I broke my promise," Rome mumbled. "But, you don't know how much it killed me not to know if you are safe at work."

"Do you worry that much?" Catherine softly asked, not breaking eye contact with him.

"Well..." Rome said, studying her face for a moment. "With the family you have and my father's lifestyle, I'm always worried about your safety."

"If that's the case, then I understand why you do what you do." Catherine calmly uttered.

Resting his palms flat on the desk and placing Catherine in between his hands, Rome caressed her cheek, leaned over, and passionately kissed her neck, causing a moan to escape her lips.

Then he rested his cheek against hers and whispered into her ear, "Do you forgive me?"

"Yes," Catherine mumbled as her lips pulled upward in a smile.

At that moment, her eyes locked with his, and she said, "Mr. Earl was here with Chairman Herman because he wants to do business with Dream Team."

Then she frowned and mumbled, "I guess he was serious about what he said at the party. But I turned his offer down because I'm not planning on doing business with such a man."

"That's good." Rome asked with a straight face. "Well, what was his response when you turned him down?"

"Well, he said nothing really. Is something wrong?"

"No. Not at all. You should get back to Miss Dola, and I should head back to the company."

Even though Catherine saw in Rome's expression that the was more he wasn't telling her, she asked no further questions and said, "Okay."

A couple of minutes later, when Rome arrived back in the backseat of his

Mercedes, the first thing he did was dial Scar's number.

A few seconds went by, then Scar's voice echoed from the phone speaker, "Hello,

boss."

"What information have you gathered on Earl?" Rome asked.

"So far, nothing."

"He's clean?"

"Nah, he can't be. His records are way too well polished for him to be. It's almost

like he's putting in lots of effort to keep something from resurfacing."

"Well, I need you to replace out what that is and unburied it soon because Earl is not coming for me. He's going after Catherine."