Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Although Rome wanted to walk over to Catherine, he remained in his seat and patiently waited without
taking his sight off her.
After crying in silence for a while, she wiped her face, grabbed her purse, and approached Rome.
“Let's go,” Catherine said, softly sniffing.
"Are we not waiting for Mr. Jeffrey?" Rome asked, staring into her watery eyes.
“No,”
“What about the contract?”
“I didn't get it, okay! Can we just go home?”
Inside, Rome felt annoyed that Catherine was hurting, but he kept a calm expression and slightly
nodded his head.
Then he left his seat and both of them walked out of the hotel.
When they got to the car, Rome offered to drive, and even though Catherine felt skeptical, she allowed
him to.
They drove in silence the entire ride, and when they finally reached the Barlow mansion and the car
came to a stopped, Catherine suddenly covered her face with her hand and bent over.
“Grandma and grandpa are going to be so disappointed in me. I can never seem to do anything right
and keep messing up.” She cried, sobbing softly.
This was the first time a woman had cried in front of him, and Rome didn't know what to do for a while.
Then he rested his hand on her back.
“You did well.” Rome mumbled, gently patting her.
For the first time since they got married, Catherine felt her heart skip a beat because of him, and when
she lifted her head, her eyes met his worried gaze, and she faintly smiled.
“Let's go in,” Catherine mumbled beneath her breath.
“Okay,” Rome said, withdrawing his hand away from her.
A few minutes later, they entered the house, and the moment they walked into the living room, all eyes
were on them.
“Good evening,” Catherine said. Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
The cold gaze from everyone had her panicking inside, so she stared at the floor and held in her
breath.
“Save your greeting! How dare you abandon your meeting with Mr. Jeffrey, so you can go on a date
with your worthless husband.” Madame Rosey lashed out.
Suddenly, Catherine was not afraid anymore but confused and angry.
This was not the first time a situation like this had happened, and it was becoming too obvious for
Catherine to see it as anything other than one of her cousins doing.
Feeling enraged, she raised her head, stared at her grandmother, and said, “I didn't abandoned the
meeting with Mr. Jeffrey to go on a date with Rome. I was set up and given the wrong address.”
“How dare you talk back to me!” Madame Rosey shouted, swinging her hand towards Catherine's face,
but Rome pulled her aside and the slap hit his cheek.
The living room became quiet and shock took over the faces of everyone.
“How dare you stand in the way of me disciplining my grandchild!” Madame Rosey shouted, scowling at
Rome.
“Please forgive my wife. As her husband, I will bear her punishment. I'm useless to her, so this is the
least I can do.” Rome mumbled, bowing his head.
For some time he stood quietly, waiting for Madam Rosey to hit him or say something diminishing.
But she didn't. Instead, she frowned and sat back on the couch.
“How shameless! Catherine, I guess you married the right man. He is just as worthless to this family as
you are.” Elijah said, frowning when his gaze met Rome's eyes.
Anger crawled inside of him, and the tension Rome felt made it hard for him to breathe. Yet he
suppressed his rage and remained expressionless.
“How dare you speak of my daughter in such a manner and compare her to this loser!” Catherine's
father shouted, clutching his fists.
“Am I wrong, Edward? All your daughter has ever done is fail. If we can't trust her to handle signing a
contract. How can we entrust her with the inheritance?” Elijah intoned.
Silence fell in the room, and it dragged on for about a minute, then Andrew cleared his throat and said,
“Edward, I know Elijah's words may sound harsh, but it's the truth. Catherine can never seem to do
something right.”
“Yes, she is always messing up something and the family has to be the ones to suffer for it,” William
uttered, staring at their father.
Unable to keep himself out of the matter any longer, Mr. Barlow sighed deeply and said, “Catherine,
why can't you be more like your cousins? Why do you always have to be the one to humiliate the family
name?”
“Grandfather, I can fix this. Please give me another chance.” Catherine said, feeling her tears roll down
her cheeks.
“Do you know how ashamed I was when Mr. Jeffrey called me to tell me that my granddaughter didn't
meet with him because she was on a date with her husband?”
“I…”
“Enough, Catherine! Chloe will take over the project as she had been doing every time you fail.”
Staring at her gandfather, Catherine heart ached when she heard those words, but she didn't have the
guts to speak any further.
“And as for you, Rome, you should just stay home and do chores if you plan to be a distraction to my
granddaughter.” Mr. Barlow said with a frown.
“I'm sorry. Please let me continue working. I assure you that this is the last time something like this will
happen.” Rome mumbled.
A sigh escaped his lips as Mr. Barlow got up from his seat. Then he left the living room without uttering
a word.
When Catherine gazed at her cousins, she could see the mockery in their expression, and even though
they didn't utter a word, she could tell that they were celebrating inside.
“I couldn't be disappointed in you, Catherine.” Madame Rosey said, glaring at her granddaughter.
After a short silence, Catherine stared away from her grandmother's eyes and focused on her parents’
sad expression before she ran out of the living room and headed to upstairs.
Nothing about what had just happened felt right to Rome, yet he kept his peace and walked out of the
living room, and then walked out the front door and into the yard.
As the wind blew gently against his face, he pulled out his phone and made a call.
“Young master, what can I do for you?” Orlando's voice echoed into his ear.
“I need you to capture a man named Blake. He's Catherine's secretary.” Rome said, admiring the night
sky.
“Yes, young master. How do you want me to handle him?”
“Just capture Blake, and make sure you don't leave a mark on him because I need him intact for his
confession.”