A Billionaire In Disguise

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Keeping his eyes on Catherine's worried face, Rome lifted his hand and said, “Do you see this cut,”

“Yeah,” Catherine softly intoned, focusing solely on the bandage on his palm.

Without uttering another word, Rome pulled his shirt off his body, tossed it to the floor, and said, "And

this, do you see it?"

At first, Catherine felt hesitant as she stared at the bandage on his side, but before she could realize it,

the tip of her fingers was gently caressing against his skin, and she whispered, "Yes,"

"They will both heal. But do you know what will never heal if it got wounded?" Rome calmly uttered.

Although Catherine already knew the answer, she stayed silent as she stared solely into his eyes with a

hint of sadness in hers.

Then her lashes flickered when she felt Rome hold her hand and bring it towards his chest.

"My heart. It's never going to heal if something happens to you." Rome said, resting her palm flat

against the left side of his bare chest.

Feeling every single beat his heart made, Catherine pouted and mumbled beneath her breath, "I only

wanted to help."

"I know, and I appreciate you so much for having such a thought. But your family, Earl, and everyone

else that I have fought with, they are foes that I know, and I took them on with a clear vision." Rome

wholeheartedly intoned.

Then he rested his palms on Catherine's arms and said with the utmost seriousness, "But there is an

enemy out there who I'm in a battle with that I have not the slightest bit of idea about. I'm fighting

blindfolded here. Do you know how hard that is?"

Keeping silent, Catherine gently shook her head without looking away from Rome.

When he noticed her gave a despairing little shrug, he paused for a moment, realizing how much his

words were weighing on her.

But then again, Rome didn't want tonight to repeat itself, so he maintained eye contact with Catherine

and continued, "It was safe when I was just Rome Miller, the useless live-in son-in-law of the Barlow

family, and people looked down on me."

A frown flashed across Catherine's face, and Rome faintly chuckled and said, "That's the truth. It was

much easier back then. But now, I'm Rome Ford, and my last name is like a magnet for enemies and a

red dot on my chest."

Then he silently gave her a long stare before gently uttering, "That's why I need you to stand behind

me. Not in front of me or beside me, but behind me, so you wouldn't get hurt. Got it?"

Overwhelmed with emotion, all Catherine could do was nod because her words kept getting stuck in

her throat as she choked back her cry.

"Good," Rome softly said, resting his palm against her cheek. "You should head back inside, and I will

join you in a little while, after changing this."

For a moment, Catherine looked at his side, wondering how bad it was going to hurt him to take that

bandage off. Then she gave him a quick smile before leaving the bathroom.

A couple of minutes later, Rome walked into the bedroom and stared at Catherine. Then his gaze

swayed towards her phone, and he mumbled, "So, what evidence do you have on Earl?"

For a moment, Catherine's eyes lit up a bit as she picked her phone off the bed. But then she suddenly

froze with it in her hand and mumbled, "Ummm…"

"What is it?" Rome asked, walking over to the bed.

Lowering her gaze to the floor, Catherine gently rubbed her neck and mumbled, "Well, I said some

awful things to make Earl talk."

"Okay, like what?" Rome casually asked.

A minute when by quietly. Then Catherine glanced up at Rome before handing her phone over to him

and nervously saying, "You play it. I don't think I can."

At first, Rome did nothing as he stared at her phone in his hand. But after a couple of seconds of

hesitation, he unlocked the screen and went to the audio recording icon.

For a few minutes he and Catherine listened to the audio in silence until she heard, "Also, just because

Rome beat up a scumbag for me, that doesn't mean he's not one."

"I didn't mean that!" Catherine hastily said, fixing her eyes on Rome.

But his face remained calm as he listened to the rest of the audio, and even though she tried, she

couldn't guess from his expression the entire time what he was thinking.

After the audio ended, Rome looked at Catherine with a straight face and said, "You got nerve, woman,

calling your husband a scumbag and flirting with Earl like that."

Instantly, Catherine's entire face became pale, and she softly intoned, "I didn't mean what I said, and I

wasn't flirting with Earl. I was jus… I just wanted to get the information out of him!"

"Oh really," Rome calmly asked.

With a blank expression on his face, he took a step towards Catherine, and she was so perplexed that

she dropped back on the bed and squeezed her eyes shut as she hastily said, "I honestly don't think

you are a scumbag."

Then a couple of seconds later, Catherine felt Rome's weight above her, and she slowly raised her

lashes, staring into his eyes.

As his face hardened, Rome drew towards her, pressed her flat against the bed, and locked both of her

wrists in his grips.

“How could you say such a thing about me, and you didn't even acknowledge me as your husband the

entire time?” Rome said, looking deep into her eyes.

“I'm so sorry,” Catherine whispered, unable to look away from him.

Although Rome was trying so hard not to, he couldn't help it, and he suddenly burst into laughter,

giggling loudly as he watched a look of confusion settle on her face.

"I'm sorry, but you are just so cute when you are nervous, and it made me want to tease you more."

Rome said, striving to stop himself from giggling.

Feeling annoyed and relieved at the same time, Catherine hit him in his chest and mumbled, "That

wasn't funny."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Rome said, still unable to stop himself from chuckling.

Watching him struggling to hold in his laugh, a smile crept on Catherine's lips, and she mumbled, "You

know revenge is a thing, right? Enjoy now because I will get you back, good."

Locking eyes with her, Rome finally quiet down. Then within less than a minute, the space between

their faces got smaller, and without a second thought, Rome claimed her bottom lip, and the deeper he

kissed her, his grip on her wrist slowly weakened.

For a while, Catherine allowed her thoughts to get buried into the moment as she drowned in the

feeling of pleasure she felt.

But the instant she and Rome's mouth part, she took a second to breathe and mumbled, "So, do you

think the audio is enough to get Earl behind bars?”

"Yeah, with the recording and the testimonies of his other victims, we have a strong chance of locking

him up for a couple of years," Rome said.

Then a thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he subconsciously mumbled, "I should call Scar and

find out how things are going on their end."

After getting ahold of his phone a couple of minutes later, Rome dialed Scar's number and waited

patiently with his gaze on Catherine's curious eyes.

The moment his call got answered, he said, "I just got a hold of the recording Catherine made from her

meeting with Earl, and I need you to use it and get Earl arrested and make sure that he doesn't leave

the hospital room tonight."

"Yes, boss." Scar said from the other end of the call.

Then the line went quiet for a couple of seconds before Scar's voice echoed, "Boss, we were planning

to tell you about this tomorrow. But since you already called, I want you to know that Earl is in a coma

due to an overdose of pentobarbital."

"No. Wait, what?!" Rome firmly uttered in disbelief.

"We left him in the doctor's care for a couple an hours, and afterward, we got informed that he went into

shock. The troubling part is, no one knows how it happened, and his phone is missing."

"He was attacked?"

"I'm not sure. But it seems like it, and the doctors claimed that there's a fifty-fifty chance he might come

out of the coma fine. But right now, they are not sure about much."

"Damn it!!"

A look of worry crossed Catherine's face as she watched Rome pace back and forth.

A minute passed, then Scar asked, "What should we do now, boss?"

Stopping in his track, Rome frowned as he wondered in his head for a while, and then he deeply sighed

and stared away from Catherine.

"Still make the arrest. At least that will stop his father from having the access to fly him out of the

country for now, and I need men at the hospital twenty-four hours. We can figure out the rest later."

Rome firmly said, feeling a bit overwhelmed with stress.