A Billionaire In Disguise novel Chapter 163

With a look of hesitation on Brook's face, he stood silently at the door for a couple of minutes, and then after waiting a few more seconds, he stared at the time on his watch and then knocked.

"It is open. Come in," Rome's said with his focus on his phone.

The door immediately opened, and Brook walked into the suite, shutting it gently behind him.

Then he approached Rome with a folder in his hand, and when he reached him, he rested the folder on the table.

After glancing at the folder for a moment, Rome stared back at his phone and mumbled, "What's in it?

"As you wanted, I investigated all the employees of 'Customers and Board Protection authorities of Archenland,' and there's one person who has connections with Earl," Brook said.

"What is their name?" Rome asked, still staring at his phone.

"Toby. Apparently, he and Earl's personal assistant had a brief meeting recently. These are photos from CCTV cameras showing them at a cafe."

"What was the agenda of the meeting?"

"That information, I don't know, boss."

"It's fine. Whatever it was, we will find out today. Hopefully, it won't lead to another mess."

Keeping silent, Brook stared at Rome for a brief while. Then unable to hold in his curiosity, he asked, "Are you waiting for an important call, boss?"

"No. I'm waiting to make a call, but Catherine is in a different time zone, so it's still early on her end. I will have to wait a little bit before calling her." Rome said, taking one last look at the time.

Then he dropped his phone on the blanket and mumbled, "I should hit the shower and get ready for us to leave for the port."

When the light of dawn hit Catherine's face, she refused to raise her lashes, knowing that Rome wouldn't be beside her like she wished.

But her alarm didn't care about her feelings, and it started buzzing until she got frustrated with the noise and opened her eyes, frowning deeply.

Then she shoved the bedsheets off her, got out of bed, and dragged her feet one after the other as she headed to the bathroom.

When Catherine was only a few feet away from the bathroom door, her ringtone got her attention, and immediately she stopped in her tracks.

Guessing who it was, Catherine hurriedly turned around, rushed for the nightstand, and picked up her phone.

Then she took a moment to calm her racing heartbeat and answered the call, smiling widely as Rome's face showed up on her phone.

"Morning, hon." Catherine cheerfully intoned, unable to hide her excitement.

"Someone looked very lively this morning," Rome said while staring at her passionately.

Lowering her gaze, Catherine hesitated for a second and then mumbled, "It's because I miss you like crazy that's why I'm this excited because you call."

"I miss you too. But the good news is, I'm on my way to the port. Once I'm done there, and things are settled, I will be on the next flight back to you." Rome said.

As Catherine was about to reply, an incoming call disrupted her and Rome's video chat.

Seeing that it was Dash calling, Catherine grew slightly annoyed as she watched his number blink on her screen.

Then without giving it a second thought, Catherine canceled his call, and then she focused back on Rome when he asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Dash was calling me." Catherine calmly uttered, unable to stop thinking about why he was calling her because he had never done that before.

For a moment, Rome said nothing since he too was baffled by the fact that Dash called her, but he brushed it off and said, "Okay, babe. I got a few calls to make, so let me call you back later."

"Alright, see you later," Catherine said with a coy smile on her lips.

After Rome ended the call, she gazed at the phone screen and realized Dash had sent her a text.

"Did Chloe sleepover at your place?" Catherine read out loud, glaring at her phone.

Then she mumbled as she typed in her inbox, "Why would your wife be at my place? We are not that close!"

"Because Chloe didn't return home last night after claiming that she was at your office."

"Well, she was. But we went our separate ways afterward."

"Okay. Do you have any idea of where your cousin might have gone to or something?"

"You asked the right question, but to the wrong person."

After sending her message, Catherine waited for a couple of seconds, and when Dash didn't reply, she tossed her phone on the bed.

"Could Chloe really be missing?" Catherine mumbled with a hint of worry in her eyes.

Then she faintly chuckled even though she was still worried and said, "It can't be."

Lost in his thoughts, Rome didn't hear Mr. Orlando the first time he said, "Boss, we have arrived at the port."

But when he said it for the fourth time, Rome snapped out of his head and realized that K had opened the back door and was waiting on him to get out.

"We are here, boss." Mr. Orlando humbly uttered, gazing into the v-mirror.

Without saying a word, Rome got down from the car and then stared at Blaze, K, and Brook before mumbling, "Let's get this over with."

Then he faced ahead of him and saw four men approaching him from the opposite direction.

When they reached Rome, a tall and slender fellow extended his right hand towards him and said, "Hello, Mr. Ford. We are members of the Customers and Board Protection authorities. We want to welcome you to Archenland. Also, we are sorry for troubling you to come all this way."

"It's fine, and I'm glad to comply with you guys since I have nothing to hide." Rome calmly uttered.

A slightly-built guy from in the group gave Rome a cocky smirk and said, "Well, we will be there one to determine that after doing our search. After all, you rich folks can never stay clean of shady business."

Immediately, the other men stared at him, but the look of arrogance on his face didn't fade.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" K lashed out in annoyance.

Keeping a calm expression, Rome swayed his gaze to the left, loured at K, and said, "Stand down!"

Then he looked back with calmness in his eyes, gazed at the guy's name tag, and coldly uttered, "I'm sure that if you guys search my cargoes, you will not find anything illegal. How about you, Toby?"

"What do you mean?" Toby asked, feeling a bit sweaty and the hair on his neck stood when he and Rome's eyes met.

"If I was to investigate you now, can you also say without a doubt that you are not involved in dirty deeds? Do you think I will find something that will make you lose your job or get you a worse punishment than that if I did?!"

"Well… Umm.."

Seeing how pale Toby's face had become, Rome made a stead eye contact with him and coldly said, "Cat got your tongue, or you do have something to hide?!"

A sudden sense of fear ceased Toby's heart. Then he felt paralyzed as he thought, 'Although Mr. Earl paid me to implant some illegal substance inside one of the containers, I don't have to do it, right? I mean, he's in a coma. Should I be messing with the man who put him there?'

Even though Toby felt afraid when he thought of not doing the job after eating Earl's money, he took a long look at Rome and thought, 'I'm not about to mess with this guy. Earl and I can settle things when he wakes up.'

Then he lowered his gaze to the ground and said, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for being quick to judge you, Mr. Ford."

Ignoring his apology, Rome looked at the slender fellow and said, "Wellbury, can we start? I'm a very busy person."

"Right! Please follow me. The rest of the team are awaiting at the containers." Mr. Wellbury hastily said.

Then he glowered at Toby before walking off with Rome and the others following closely behind him.

The search when on for hours, and with each passing second, all Rome could do was wait even though he was slowly getting impatient and a bit worried.

By the afternoon hours, Mr. Wellbury approached Rome. Then he looked at him for a couple of minutes, blew out his cheeks, and softly said, "You were right, Mr. Ford. Your cargoes are clean. We found nothing illegal in them. Our agency sincerely apologize."

Swaying his gaze off Mr. Wellbury, Rome stared at Toby.

The instant their gaze settled on each other and Rome gave him a smug smile, Toby lowered his head, feeling relieved that he didn't go through with his plan.

"I'm just glad that everything when smoothly, and there weren't any issues with my goods." Rome calmly uttered, looking back at Mr. Wellbury. "So, can my employees have access to my shipments now?"

"Yes. Of course, Mr. Ford. We are truly sorry again for the misunderstanding."

"Since that's the case, my men and I will take our leave."

A while later, Rome was seated in the backseat of his car when he suddenly got a call from an unknown number.

At first, he was hesitant to answer. But after he got a fourth call from the same number, he felt a bit annoyed and concerned, so he answered.

"Is this Rome Ford," A fellow voice echoed into his ear.

"It depends. Who am I speaking with?" Rome firmly said.

The line went silent for a moment, and then he heard, "I know you, and yet you don't know me. But I want that to change today."