A Billionaire In Disguise

Chapter 8

Early that morning as the Barlow family sat at the dining table, having breakfast, Roland remained

standing like always.

He wasn't allowed to eat with them since Madame Rosey considered him to be a worthless son-in-law

that didn't deserve to eat expensive meals that he had not work for.

“Catherine,” Mr. Barlow said, gently laying his fork down on the plate.

“Yes, grandfather,” Catherine mumbled, looking away from her food and focusing on his eyes.

“Take your husband to the company and find something useful for him to do. It will diminish the Barlow

family reputation if people find out that your husband is nothing but a house help.”

“Yes, grandfather.”

Suddenly, madam Rosey put down her fork and glared at Rome before she calmly stared at her

husband.

“Do you think it's wise to have him meddling in the company? He's a fool with no educational

background. It will be troublesome if he goes there and becomes a burden.” Madame Rosey said,

sounding annoyed.

“What can we do? He can't keep on doing house chores for the rest of his life. We have to make him

worth something to this family.” Mr. Barlow said, sighing heavily.

Hearing them speak about him in such a manner had Roland desperately wanting to laugh, yet he kept

a straight face and listen.

“Grandmother, don't stress yourself. We will make sure to keep our dear brother-in-law in check, right

Charles, Jeff, and Richard?” Chloe said, smirking at her cousins.

‘Why is she getting us involved?’ The three of them thought, staring at her with a frown on their faces.

“Well, Chloe, darling, that's so thoughtful of you. Grandma can feel a bit at ease now.” Madame Rosey

said.

Suddenly, Charles put his meat on the plate and said, “Grandmother, you don't have to worry. I will

make sure that Rome does not cause any trouble for the company.”

“Me too, grandma. You can count on me to keep Rome in order.” Jeff hastily uttered, setting his teacup

down.

“Yes, grandmother. I will make certain that the company's reputation remains intact.” Richard mumbled,

eyeing his cousins.

“Well, that's great.” Madame Rosey said.

Then her gaze swayed towards Rome and she scowled at him.

“Don't you dare make trouble for this family again!” Madame Rosey lashed out.

“I won't dare,” Rome mumbled, hanging his head low.

After breakfast was over, the family dismissed, and Rome and Catherine got into her car and she drove

out of the fence.

Then she stopped at a nearby cafe and headed inside.

A few minutes later, she returned to the car with a box of donuts and handed it to Rome along with a

cup of coffee.

“You should eat something. Knowing Chloe, Charles, and Jeff, they are not going to make today easy

for you. So don't let them get to you and make you cause trouble for both of us.” Catherine mumbled.

“I wouldn't,” Rome said, smiling at her.

But she rolled her eyes at him and stepped on the accelerator, driving off.

When they arrived at the company and entered the building, Rome and Catherine met her cousins in

the lobby.

For a moment, Charles, Jeff, and Richard gazed at Rome and then they turned their focus on Chloe.

“Cowards,” she mumbled, glaring at them.

Then she walked over to Catherine, and Rome with a smirk on her lips.

“Catherine, you don't have any use for your husband, right?” Chloe said, smiling with her eyes.

“No, why?” Catherine asked with a calmness in her expression.

“Well then, can you lend him to me? I am having a meeting and need an extra set of hands in the

conference room.”

“Sure.”

For a moment, Catherine hesitated as she stared at Rome. Then she walked away, leaving him with

her cousins.

The entire six hours, Rome spent it serving tea to Chloe and her colleagues, printing several papers for

Charles, getting lunch for Jeff and every one of his employees, carrying documents back and forth from

Richard's office to different departments in the company.

After being their errands boy for half of the day, they finally sent him back to Catherine and when she

saw him, her heart sank.

“What happened to your coat?” Catherine asked, staring at the dark stain on Rome's jacket.

“Oh, Chloe said that I made her coffee too hot, so she spilled it on me,” Rome mumbled.

“Oh my, are you okay? Did you sustain any burns?”

“No. But my only coat is ruin. I hope when I dry clean it the stain will be removed.”

Noticing the bandages around all ten of Rome's fingers, Catherine let out a soft sigh.

“What happened to your hands?” She asked.

“Umm… Charles made me remove all the staple pins off the papers after I had already clipped them

together. Then he asked me to staple them again.” Rome said, rubbing his neck as he faintly smiled at

her.

A look of disbelief crossed Catherine's face, then she shut her eyes and took in a deep breath.

At that moment, Blake, her secretary, walked into the office.

“Boss, I just spoke with Mr. Jeffrey, and he said that you should meet him at Oscar's restaurant at

seven o'clock to sign the contract.” He said.

“Thank you, Blake,” Catherine replied, faintly smiling at him.

After he left the room, she stared at her watch and sigh heavily.

“It's six already. We should get going. Getting this contract will help me win points with grandma and

grandfather.” Catherine mumbled.

“Is this project that important to you?” Roland asked, noticing the sadness in her eyes.

“Yes. Now let's leave before we arrive late.”

“Okay.”

A while later, Catherine and Rome arrived at Oscar hotel, and he sat at a separate table while she took

a seat at table seven.

The waiter approached her and said, “welcome, Miss Catherine, how can I assist you tonight.”

“Give me a glass of water, and please ask the man at table ten what he will be taking. Whatever his

order is, I will pay.” Catherine said, eyeing Rome.

“Gosh, you are so generous to your employees?”

“He's my husband.”

“Oh, my bad. Judging from the way he's dressed, I thought… My humble apologies. Excuse me.”

After the waiter left and approached Rome, Catherine softly sighed while staring at her husband. She

still couldn't believe that she had married such a pitiful man.

“Good for you, marrying the beautiful lady Catherine. What trick did you use?” The waiter said, giving

Rome a dirty look.

Ignoring his remark, Rome took his sight of Catherine and coldly stared at him.

“I will have what she's having.” He said without breaking eye contact with the Waiter.

‘What such a dominant aroma he has. If I haven't heard the rumors that Lady Catherine married a

nobody, I would think that he's someone influential.’ The waiter thought, avoiding Rome’s stare.

Then he gazed at the tiles and hastily walked away.

After Catherine got served her glass of water, she noticed that Rome was served the same, and she

frowned.

“He barely has anything to eat at home, so why is he being headstrong?” Catherine mumbled, staring

at Rome drinking his water with an unbothered expression.

Time flew by and after waiting for hours without seeing Mr. Jeffrey, she took out her phone and made a

call to him.

“Hello, Miss Catherine. You dare to call me after you stood me up?” Mr. Jeffrey's angry voice flowed

into her ear.

“What? I am at the Oscar hotel.” Catherine said as panic rose through her.

“I see. I told your secretary that I was going to be waiting for you at the Refine restaurant, and he told

me that you had a date with your husband at Oscar hotel, but he was going to pass the information

onto you.”

“Huh?”

The colors drained from Catherine's face, and she felt speechless from shock.

“After begging me to hand this project to you, you chose your loser husband over my contract. Well

then, I don't think you deserve such an opportunity.” Mr. Jeffrey's voice echoed from the phone

speaker, sounding enraged.

“Th-at not tru…” Catherine mumbled, struggling to get the words out as tears settled in her eyes.

“Goodbye and have a nice date, Miss Catherine. I hope it was worth it.”

“But…”

The call got canceled, and Catherine laid her head on the table and shut her eyes while sobbing

silently. Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“What's wrong with her?” Roland mumbled, staring at Catherine with worry in his eyes.