A Billionaire In Disguise novel Chapter 164

The first thought that crossed Rome's mind was that if he was speaking with the puppets' master. But he kept silent about his curiosity and asked, "Is there a reason you want us to know each other?"

"Yes." The fellow said from the other side of the call. "Is it possible for us to meet and talk, let say this evening, by eight o'clock?"

Although there were so many questions roaming in Rome's head that he desperately wanted an answer to, he remained calm and said, "Sure. You know where I stay, right?"

The line suddenly became quiet for a moment, and Rome grew impatient by every second that went by in silence. Then he finally heard, "Yes. You stay at 'Hotel Plaza.' Is that where you want us to meet?"

"Yes. At the hotel restaurant." Rome said, striving to stop himself from asking the one question that he so desperately one to ask.

"Okay. I will meet you there then. Tonight at eight o'clock."

"I will be waiting."

There was a brief pause as Rome second-guessed his thoughts. Then he said, "What's your nam...?"

The call suddenly ended, and he slowly drew the phone away from his ear while trying to get his emotions under control.

"Take me back to the hotel," Rome calmly uttered.

"But boss, your flight leaves in less than an hour." Mr. Orlando mumbled, glancing in the v-mirror for a second before focusing on the road.

"I'm not leaving with that flight. I still have some unfinished business here."

"Okay, boss."

As the sky began to slowly lose its brightness and the sun started to go down, Catherine looked out the car window and thought with a smile on her lips, 'It's four o'clock. Rome should be on the plane by now.'

The excitement she felt only seemed to grow by the second, and she couldn't stop herself from admiring the beauty of the clouds as her smile widened.

Then her phone buzzed, and she looked away from the window and stared at its screen.

"I'm sorry, babe. But something came up, and I have to stay here a bit longer. After taking care of it, I will be back tomorrow." Catherine read with a dull look in her eyes.

Then she drew a deep breath and swayed her gaze back on the window, staring at the sky with a blank expression on her face.

A couple of minutes went by. Then Catherine's phone rang, and when she gazed at it and saw that it was Madam Rosey calling, she felt even more frustrated.

For a couple of minutes, she silently watched the phone ring until it stopped. But after two seconds passed, the word 'grandmother,' was blinking on her screen again.

Finally, Catherine got sick of the sound of her ringtone and answered the call.

Then she got a grip on her emotion and calmly intoned, "Good evening, grandmother."

"Since Rome isn't here, how about you come to the house and have dinner with the family?" Madam Rosey said from the other side of the line.

"I can't becau…"

"Do you want your grandmother to beg you?"

Even though the last thing she wanted was to be with her family when she wasn't in a good mood, Catherine knew Madam Rosey wasn't going to take 'no,' for an answer. So she softly sighed and said, "I'm on my way."

"Good. See you later." Madam Rosey's voice echoed into her ear before the call ended.

At five o'clock, Catherine walked into the living room of the Barlow mansion. Then when she saw that the entire family was there except Chloe, she immediately knew what was going on.

Frowning at her grandmother, Catherine took a deep breath and said, "You didn't call me here because you want me to have dinner with the family, right?"

"My daughter is missing! What did you do to her?" Elijah suddenly lashed out.

"Can you calm down! We don't know if Catherine had anything to do with Chloe going missing!"Mr. Barlow shouted at his son.

Like the others, he too thought that Catherine had involvement in Chloe going missing. But he didn't want to offend Catherine because he knew that meant enraging Rome.

"Dash, you called me this morning, and I have already told you that your wife and I went our separate ways yesterday, so what is all this!!!" Catherine firmly uttered in annoyance.

Scowling at him, Edward locked eyes with Dash and coldly uttered, "Why would you come here and say Chloe went missing and Catherine was the last person that saw her when you have clarified things with my daughter!"

"Well, what I said is the truth. The last time I called my wife, she texted me and said she was hanging out with Catherine in her office and they would be having dinner together later on." Dash calmly said, gazing away from Edward's cold eyes.

"Well, I turned down your wife's offer to have dinner with me and went home! What she did or didn't do afterward, I have no idea because it's none of my business." Catherine angrily uttered, feeling vex within herself.

Giving his niece a dirty look, Elijah narrowed his eyes and said, "You could be lying! Only you and Chloe know what happened between you and her yesterday! Since she's not here, you are taking advantage of her absence to lie and cover your dirty deeds! You little lying bitc…"

"I will advice you not to be stupid enough to end that statement!" Edward shouted, clutching his fist.

Annoyed by his brother's tone, William frowned. Then he angrily said, "Just because your son-in-law has put you in a high position, you have forgotten your place in this family. Who do you think you are?!"

"I'm her father! Also, if you all think you will falsely accuse my child while I sit here and watch in silence, then you all are blinded by your stupidity!" Edward harshly said as he coldly stared at his brothers.

Unable to hold in her emotion, Catherine felt tears welling in her eyes as she softly smiled, staring in adoration at her father.

Keeping silent, Anthony gazed at his mother, then at his father. But when both of them didn't utter a word, he slightly shook his head in disappointment.

Then he looked at Edward and said, "No one is accusing your daughter. We all know that the have tension between Chloe and Catherine these few days. Now that they met yesterday, and Chloe suddenly disappeared, and her number is off, it's enough to raise suspicions and questions!"

Deciding that she had had enough of her family nonsense, Catherine glared at them and said, "What do all of you think I did to Chloe!?"

The living room fell silent, and nobody had anything to say for almost five minutes. Then Catherine drew a breath and loudly said, "I don't have the time or energy for this!"

Afterward, she turned to leave. But she stopped in her tracks when William suddenly said, "We can not tell you what you did to Chloe because only you know what you did since none of us was there!"

"Your uncle is right!" Elijah said, striving not to lose hold of his anger. "How about you tell us everything that happened between you and Chloe, and we can decide if you are being honest or not."

"No, I will not do that!" Catherine firmly uttered without thinking for a second.

"What!!"

"You guys are paranoid, and it would be foolish of me to stand here and waste my precious time explaining myself to you."

For a moment, Catherine remained standing still, trying to put herself together and suppress her urge to cry. Then she clutched onto her purse and walked away.

"Are you not going to stay for dinner, dear?" Madam Rosey gently called out.

"I just lost my appetite," Catherine said without stopping.

The sound of his alarm made Rome jump from his sleep and sit up in bed.

"It's seven-fifty already?" Rome mumbled, frowning at his phone before dismissing the alarm.

After giving himself a couple of seconds to fully awake, he got out the bed, took a couple of minutes to get dressed in casual clothes, and then he left the suite.

When he arrived in the hallway, K quietly followed after him. Then the both of them met Brook a few distances down the corridor, and he silently walked after Rome and K.

A couple of minutes later, they arrived in the hotel restaurant, and Rome approached an empty table and sat down.

"Boss, who are we waiting for?" K humbly asked after a few minutes had passed, and he saw that Rome was getting a bit restless.

"I don't know," Rome mumbled with a frown. "But I think he could be the puppets' master."

Staring wide-eyed at their boss, K and Brook felt speechless and full of questions, but they maintained their silence and became more alert.

The time drifted by naturally, and when eleven o'clock arrived, Rome had run out of patience.

After waiting for five more seconds, he suddenly stood to his feet with rage burning in his eyes.

"Since Blaze is standing watch outside, you two remained here and wait for him. If he is truly the puppets' master, he would know that you two are my men." Rome coldly uttered. "I'm heading back to my suite."

Without waiting for a reply from his men, Rome pushed his chair back, walked away, and headed for the elevator.

Then a while later, he arrived at his suite door, and after unlocking it, he entered and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Did something make my dear cousin-in-law angry?" Rome heard a voice he knew very well said.

Immediately, he switched on the lights and his face deepened into a scowled.

"Chloe, what the hell are you doing here?" Rome coldly uttered, hastily looking away from her. "And most importantly, where's your damn clothes!"