A Billionaire In Disguise

Chapter Thirty-Six

Tightening his grip on Earl's hand, Rome knocked him to the ground before angrily punching him

countless times in the face.

The pressure that Rome put on Earl's body had him unable to break loose or defend himself as Rome's

fist slammed into his jaw, causing him to taste a surge of blood on his tongue.

'He's not going to do it, right?' Catherine thought, staring at the blood on Rome's knuckle as it slammed

into Earl's face.

Without talking, K looked at Brook with a hint of worry in his eyes. But he maintained his silence, even

though he knew K's stared meant, "Should we intervene?"

After receiving another punch from Rome, Earl struggled, lifted his hands, and grabbed him by the

collar.

But Rome held his wrists and yanked his hands away from him, ignoring the fact that the snitches in his

palm had ripped, and he was bleeding from the cut.

Then he met Earl's eyes before his fist cluttered on Earl's face, and then he put a hole in his stomach.

"Don’t kill me, don’t kill me… I was stu-pid for mak...ing su..re a sta-rt!” Earl cried in pain.

Although Rome could hear the fear in Earl's voice and saw that he was hurt badly, he didn't hesitate to

strike him in the already bleeding nose as he angrily said, "You want me to give you the mercy you

never showed to any of your victims!!"

Then his face hardened as he firmly asked, "If you had had the chance to leave here with my wife

tonight, would you have shown her mercy if she would have cry and beg you for it!!"

The moment Rome saw a touch of hesitation on Earl's face, he lost it totally, and raised Earl's by his

collar and then violently threw him against the table.

A sharp pain surged through Earl's spine when his back slammed into the edge of the table.

Ignoring the agonizing pain tearing through him from the stabbed wound on his side and his bleeding

hand, Rome moved for Earl, and with fear glowing in his eyes, Earl tried to escape. But he was too

injured to take a step.

Still fueled with rage, Rome grabbed Earl's neck and pinpoint him against the table, staring dead into

his red and puffy eyes.

"I'm not the enemy here, Rome!" Earl cried as he tried to catch his breath.

"I have absolutely no patience for useless chit-chat!" Rome coldly uttered, hesitating to tighten his grip

on Earl's neck.

Struggling to inhale and exhale, Earl pleadingly stared at Rome and hastily cried, "There's someone

who wants your downfall more than me! He…or she knows about things that they shouldn't know."

Then when he felt Rome's grip loosen around his neck a bit, he quickly said, "They are the reason I got

entangled with your wife's useless cousin and got involved in this mess with you."

'The puppets' master,' Rome subconsciouly thought as his face deepened into a frown.

After a brief pause, he then focused on Earl's bloody face and asked, "You said, 'he or she…' Does that

mean you don't know who this person is?"

Noticing a hint of concern in Rome's eyes, Earl took it as his chance of escape and cunningly said,

"Take your hands from around my neck. You don't want me to die knowing such an important

information, do you?"

Annoyed by the cockiness in Earl's tone, Rome slowly let go of his neck. Then he took a few steps

back and turned away from him for a second before suddenly turning around and slamming his fist into

Earl's temple.

Instantly, Earl's blackout and dropped to the floor, losing consciousness.

'I was right. There's a puppet master, and if I want some idea on what or who I'm dealing with, this loser

needs to keep breathing.' Rome thought, frowning at Earl.

Then he swayed his gaze on Catherine, and at that moment, she lifted her head and her eyes rested

on his.

Without saying anything, Rome walked up to Catherine, and when he was only a foot away from her,

he entangled his fingers with her, and said, "Let go home."

Unable to decide from Rome's expression if he was angry or not, Catherine obediently followed him.

But as they were about to walk past the table, she softly intoned, "My phone."

Then when Rome stopped and gazed at her, she said, "I have Earl's confession on it."

Letting go of her hand, Rome sighed and mumbled, "Go get it."

A few minutes later, he and Catherine were seated in the backseat of his car, and even though Mr.

Orlando had been driving for quite a while, she and Rome had said nothing to each other.

But when she suddenly looked down at her hand and noticed the bloodstain he left on her palm, she let

out a shaky breath, feeling angry at herself that everything that had happened was because of her.

“All this is my fault.” Catherine finally mumbled, tearing up as she gazed at his knuckles.

At first, Rome felt too angry to speak. But then he heard her soft sob, and he squeezed his eyes shut

for a second before gazing into Catherine's wet eyes.

Although he wanted to comfort her, he couldn't bring himself to stop thinking about how differently the

night was going to go if Scar wasn't smart enough to call him or get Tony and the other involved, and

those thoughts made him keep silent and stare back at the windshield.

A while late when they got home, Rome headed straight for the bathroom to attend to his wounds,

leaving Catherine in the bedroom.

But she followed him, and when she arrived in the bathroom, Rome was slowly removing the bandage

from his hand.

"Can I help with anything?" Catherine mumbled beneath her breath.

When Rome didn't answer and kept unwrapping his bandage, a look of remorse spiked in her eyes as

she pitifully stared at him and thought, ‘He's really angry.’

Then she locked eyes with him and sadly intoned, "I shouldn't have taken such a risk."

“Do you know what you did to my heart today?” Rome firmly said, maintaining stable eye contact with

her.

Unable to look away from his angry eyes, Catherine softly whispered as tears rolled down her face, "I'm

so sorry."

Not replying, Rome took off the stained bandage and fiercely threw it into the trash bin before attending

to his cut, and as Catherine watched, she couldn't help but mumble, "Shouldn't you be getting that

check at the hospital?"

"After living through a childhood of fights and bruises, I'm capable of attending to the wounds that I

sustain," Rome mumbled, wasting alcohol on his wound without even flicking.

While watching him wrap a new bandage on his wound, Catherine's eyes bore anger in them as she

screwed her face into a frown and said, "You shouldn't have beat up Earl, especially in your current

state."

"And allow him to think that he can slap my woman and go free? I will pass." Rome calmly intoned.

Speechless from shock, Catherine blankly stared at Rome, and when he felt her gaze on him, he met

her eyes and said, "I saw the red fingerprints mark on your cheek."

Then he frowned and casually said, "And if you really cared about me not beating Earl up, you should

have stayed away from him as I asked."

“There were other ways you could have dealt with Earl, instead of getting yourself hurt in the process!”

“No, Catherine! There weren't! So much is going on here that you don't understand, and all I asked of

you is to listen to me!”

“Maybe I will listen if you had allowed me to help when I asked you! But all you did was shut me down!

Why can't you trust that I want to be there for you as you are for me!!"

Pausing for a moment, Rome saw the look of raw frustration on her face, and then he said, "Because

I'm afraid, babe."NôvelDrama.Org holds text © rights.