All the members of the Barlow family got an emergency text from Madam Rosey, and within less than an hour, the living room got crowded with every one of them.
They all took turns staring at the paper, and Mr. Barlow was the last one to hold it.
Then the room became silent as everyone waited for him to say something.
In the household, two individuals held all the power, and that was Madam Rosey and her husband, Mr. Barlow.
Everyone else was in a power struggle among themselves, and it was a vicious circle with Cathrine and her parents at the bottom of the survival chain.
Mr. Barlow cleared his throat, and everyone's faces became serious except for Rome. He kept staring at Mr. Miller, but his father bore no expression on his face.
“This is my father’s signature, and the Barlow family stamp on this paper is real. My last granddaughter got promised to get wed to Mr. Miller's grandson once she turns eighteen." Mr. Barlow loudly declared.
"But..." Catherine father mumbled.
"The contract got signed between my father and Mr. Miller, and I shall honor it. Catherine is to get married to Rome within four weeks, and that is final. From today onward, Rome Miller is the son-in-law of this family.”
Upon hearing her father-in-law's words, Cathrine’s mother let out a loud cry of disappointment as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Control yourself, woman! How dare you behave in such a manner before father!” Cathrine’s father lashed out in anger.
Mr. Barlow's face hardened as he clenched his fist while glaring at his son.
Suddenly, he stood to his feet and said, “Handle your wife, and let this be the last time she disgraced this family with such a behavior!”
With pity in her eyes, Cathrine stared at her father while he bowed his head in shame. Then she gazed at her mother's grieving face as her heart ached in pain.
After waiting patiently for her husband to leave, it was Madam Rosey's turn to speak, and everyone else maintained their silence. She calmly stared around the room until her sight landed on Rome. Then with absolutely no respect in her tone, she asked, “What quality are you bring into the Barlow family?”
Rome was about to answer when Mr. Miller dropped to his knees, rested his forehead against the floor, and cried, “It is my fault! I did not give him a better life. So please do not hold it against him.”
The was a faint chuckling sound echoing in the room.
When Rome looked to his right, he could see a young lady with dark violet hair struggling to hold back her laughter.
At that moment, he desperately wanted to drag his father out of there. But he knew that it was not what Mr. Miller wanted, so he restrained his anger and maintained a calm expression.
“How annoying! You can’t afford to support your son, so you decided to make him a burden to our family. What a scamming old man you are.” Madam Rosey straightforwardly said as she stood to her feet.
“I beg for pardon,” Miller mumbled.
“Your lack of shame is just disgusting. Stand to your feet. I don’t want rumors spreading that I bully a poor man.”
“Thank you.”
Rome felt like a sore loser as he watched Mr. Miller get off the ground and sat back on the couch.
When madam Rosey's gaze fell on him, she sized up Rome for a while and firmly said, “I don’t like worthless people, so try to make yourself useful while living here. Oh, and Cathrine, since he will be your soon-to-be husband, he’s your problem. Make sure you keep him out of trouble.”
The living room was silent for a moment as Madam Rosey left the room.
Once the sound of her footsteps faded down the hall, a noise rose in every corner of the room.
“Honey, our daughter can’t marry a loser. She is our only child. We can not hand her over to a nobody, especially at such a time.” Cathrine’s mother cried out to her husband.
He then held her in the comfort of his arm and whispered, “Don’t you worry. I will speak to my father. I am sure he too will agree that giving his granddaughter to a valueless man is a terrible decision.”
As her lips curved into a smirk, Chloe approached Catherine, and the moment she saw her cousin walking to her, Catherine’s face darkened, knowing that whatever her cousin had to say was going to be unpleasant.
“So, an underdog for a husband. How ironic! As the saying goes, 'like mother, like daughter.” Chloe teased in a low voice, making sure that only Cathrine could hear those words.
However, Rome was onto her, and even though he didn’t understand what she had said, Cathrine’s sad expression was all he needed to know that Chloe had bad-mouthed her.
“My work here is done.” Mr. Miller said, and those words drew Rome's attention away from the two cousins and onto his father.
“Are you joking? I am not staying here.” Rome mumbled with the utmost seriousness in his voice.
“Stop being stubborn, son. I am in debt, I can’t take care of you. Plus, Mr. Orlando has threatened your life." Mr. Miller firmly said.
"Dad,"
"Becoming the son-in-law to one of the wealthiest families in the country is the only way you can survive. Count it as luck and stop being proud.”
After letting out a deep sigh, Mr. Miller stood to his feet and walked out of the room, leaving Rome staring behind him.
Hey, you! Let’s go.” Catherine called out, angrily staring at Rome.
It took a second for Rome to snap out of his thoughts and realize that she was speaking to him.
When he noticed that everyone was gazing at him in disgust, he quietly stood to his feet and followed Catherine.
When they arrived in an enormous and elegantly decorated bedroom, Rome shut the door behind him since he was the last to enter before staring at Catherine's cold expression.
“How much will it cost for you to tell my grandfather that your father lied and that the marriage contract is fake?” Catherine boldly asked.
“My father is not a liar. So you can keep your money,” Rome replied, hiding his anger behind his calm eyes. A long sigh came from Catherine's lip as she crossed her arms, shrugged her shoulders, and looked the other way. As his hand tightened around his bag ropes, Rome subconsciously gazed around the room. Then a baby photo of Catherine caught his eyes. Then he faintly giggled and said, “cute.” His comment drew her attention to where he was looking. She looked at the photo for a brief while before staring at Rome, then Cathrine furrowed her eyebrows and rolled her eyes at him. “We may get married. However, I don’t see you as my husband. You can sleep in my room, but not on my bed. Put your belongings in the left closet since I have no use for that space. Also, if you can’t help me, then do not meddle in my business.” Catherine harshly said. However, Rome made no reply since her remark annoyed him. Instead, he walked past her, approached the le
Four weeks went by naturally, and it was finally Rome and Catherine's wedding day. As Rome stood before the mirror, staring at his reflection, he felt like the past weeks had been the worst days of his life.The Barlow family had turned him into their personal slave and had belittled him so much that even the servant had control over him.As Rome stared at his reflection, thinking about the hard labor he had done for them, he balled his hand into a fist and swung it at the mirror, stopping his punch only an inch away from the glass.“I can't break my promise to my father,” Rome mumbled, staring at his veins bulging on his neck.Suddenly his room door opened, and Charles walked inside.When his gaze met with Rome's angry eyes, he smirked and shut the door behind him before walking towards Rome.“This old thing suits you,” Charles said, pulling the tail of Rome’s coat.“What do
When Rome regained consciousness, he kept his eyes closed for a minute and waited for the headache to subside before raising his eyelids. “Where am I?” Rome mumbled, staring around the room, then his sight rested on an elderly-looking man with smoky-grey hair and a whitegoatee. With calmness in his eyes, he smiled at Rome and said, “You are at myhouse.I'm Mr.Ford by theway.” “Mr… Fo-rd. I…” “It's okay, kid. You don't have to fearme.” Doubt clouded Rome’s f
The car was silent as Orlando drove Rome back to the Barlow mansion.A few distances away from the fence, Rome tapped Orlando on his shoulder, and he jumped in fear.“How can I help you, young master?” Orlando shouted, hunching his shoulders.“Stop me here,” Rome mumbled, leaning back on his seat.Without any hesitation, Orlando stepped on the brake and turned the car off.When Rome got down, Orlando pushed the car door open and rushed out. Then he got down on both knees and rested his forehead against the ground.“Young master, forgive me. I was stupid for attacking you in the past. This humble servant needs to be punished!” Orlando cried out loud.“Punch me and we can call it even,” Rome said, staring down at him.When Orlando lifted his head and saw in Rome's expression that he wasn't kidding, he felt even more afraid.“Young master, I can never lay a hand on you.
Early that morning as the Barlow family sat at the dining table, having breakfast, Roland remained standing likealways.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 workfor.“Catherine,” Mr. Barlow said, gently laying his fork down on the plate.“Yes, grandfather,” Catherine mumbled, looking away from her food and focusing on hiseyes.“Take your husband to the company and find something useful for him todo.It will diminish the Barlow family reputation if people find out that your husband is nothing but a househelp.”“Yes,g
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 w
The morning breeze blew the leaves of the sidewalk as Blake walked to the bus stop. The moment he sat down on the bench, three black Limousines drove towards the bus stop and stopped in front of him. Then Mr. Orlando got out of one of the first cars and approached him. “You are Blake, right?” He asked, sitting down on the bench. “Yes, is there a problem? Did I offend Mr. Ford?” Blake mumbled, hugging his bag tightly. “Why would you think that?” “Because there are rumors that say, ‘if Mr. Orlando visits you then you are in trouble with Mr. Ford.” “Well, that's true. But I am not here because of my master.” “Huh?” The color drained from his face as he stared wide-eyed at Mr. Orlando and saw that he had a smirk on his lips. “My young master wants a word with you.” Mr. Orlando said, with a straight face. “Who? Mr. Ford has a son?” Blake asked, sounding more afraid than shocked. “Y
When Mr. Orlando, Blake, and Rome arrived at Mr. Jeffrey's office, his secretary gazed away from the computer and stared at them with an unbothered expression.“Mr. Jeffrey is busy. So expect you have an appointment, you guys should come another time.” He said, placing his focus back on the keyboard.Anger settled on Mr. Orlando's face, but when he gazed at Rome calm expression, he knew not to act without an order for his young master, so he kept silent.“Hi, I know we don't have an appointment with Mr. Jeffrey, but I have something urgent to tell him. So can you inform him that Lady Catherine's husband is here to see him?” Rome said with a half-smile.“Seriously, I'm not going to repeat myself. So you guys should leave.” The secretary said, typing aggressively on the keyboard without staring at Rome.A soft sigh escaped Rome's lips as he gazed at Mr. Orlando and slightly nodded his head.“Excuse me,