CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

After reviewing the last document on his desk, Rome sluggishly dropped the pen on the files and rested

back in his seat.

Then he let out a sigh as he slightly loosened his tie, feeling a bit of tension in his neck.

A couple of minutes when by in silence. Then his office door suddenly opened and K walked in with

Scar.

Remaining in his current position, Rome shut his eyes and asked, "What is it?"

"Well, I found out where Grey Is." Scar said.

It took a moment. Then Rome woke from his seat, grabbed his coat off the rack, and wore it.

After shoving his phone into his coat pocket, he walked from behind his desk and marched out of the

room, and without hesitating, Scar and K followed him out.

At eight o'clock the front door of the "Dark glow" bar opened and Rome walked in with K and Scar.

The moment his sight rested on a built guy he remembered clearly from the hospital CCTV footage, he

marched over to the stool beside him and sat down.

Then he looked at the bartender when he asked, "What would you like?"

"I didn't come for the alcohol, but to chat with my little friend here." Rome calmly uttered, staring at

Grey.

Sensing Rome's eyes on him, Grey picked up his shot glass and drank the rest of his drink, slamming

the glass on the table afterward.

Then he tossed a bill on the counter and said, "Keep the change."

As he tried to wake from the stool, Rome suddenly grabbed his shoulder, pressing him back on the

chair.

Frowning, Grey glared at Rome, recognizing him immediately. But he pretended not to know Rome and

harshly asked, "What's your problem, buddy?!" Têxt © .

"What? You are going to act like you don't know me after playing dress-up and pretending to be me?"

Rome coldly uttered, staring directly into his eyes.

A nervous look settled on Grey's face for a couple of seconds. Then he sneered and mockingly said,

"Someone isn't drunk yet, and he's already talking nonsense!"

"Haha," Rome chuckled with a deadpan expression.

Then he looked Grey dead in his eyes and coldly uttered, "This meeting can go two ways, with you

bruised up, and I have the information, or you can keep drinking, and I leave here with the information

that I need."

"We have a no-fighting policy here, so I need you guys to take this meeting somewhere else." The

bartender calmly intoned, avoiding K and Scar's cold gaze.

Hardening his face, Rome focused on Grey darting eyes and casually uttered, "Should we take this

conversation elsewhere, pal?"

For a moment, Grey stared at Rome with a look of hesitation in his eyes. Then he glance back, and

fear ceased his heart as he stared at K and Scar.

"What is it going to be, uh?" Rome asked.

The loud music in the bar took over the conversation for a while as Grey held back his words, knowing

that he had only two choices to make and yet both ended with his demise.

"Fill me up," Grey said, raising the empty shot glass at the bartender.

After getting his whiskey pulled into the glass, he drank it in one go, hit the glass on the table, and

asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Who instructed you to drug Earl?" Rome asked, studying his face.

"I don't know."

"My patience is not something you would like to test."

Raising his hands halfway in the air, Earl hastily said, "I'm not messing with you. What I said was the

truth."

When Rome threw him a doubtful stare, he calmly uttered, "I got contacted and the instructions were

sent to me through message!"

Then he pulled out his phone and scrolled through it for a couple of seconds before resting the phone

on the table.

"Take a look for yourself," Grey said, silently pushing the phone toward Rome.

Picking up the phone from the counter, Rome took a look at its screen, stared at the number, and then

thought, "It's not the same contact!"

"I don't know who that person is, but it feels like they know me because the things they texted me and

the pictures that I received made me believe them hundred percent," Grey mumbled.

Swaying his gaze off the phone screen, Rome gazed at Earl and asked, "You are in a serious

relationship with one of Earl's women?"

"Yeah. Her name is, 'Celia.' She's one of Earl's favorite women. But the moment I laid my eyes on her, I

fell for her instantly, and we have been dating in secret for years. But…"

"But what?"

"If Earl finds out, he will have my life for that because he will see it as betrayal and as me challenging

him. So when this number message me, ordering me to drugged him, I had no choice because it was

my life or his."

A look of disappointment crossed Rome's face and anger spiked in his eyes as he realized that he had

hit another dead end.

"How did you get the exact outfit that it was wearing?" Rome asked, striving to be hopeful.

"It arrived on my doorstep the day before I got the message instructing me to finish Earl," Grey said,

lowering his head. "Someone rang the bell, and after I opened the door, only the box I saw."

It fell silent between both men as Rome tried not to lose control of his emotions.

Then he looked at the bartender and said, "Pull me a glass of something strong."

With a look of concern on Scar's face, he humbly uttered, "Boss, we can check out Grey's home

security an…"

"Not now, Scar!"

"Right, boss."

The bartender rolled a glass towards Rome, and said, “That's a classic French wine.”

“Thanks,” Rome half-heartedly muttered, grabbing the drink.

After emptying the glass, he hit it on the counter, stared at Grey, and said, “What did you do to Earl's

phone?"

A couple of seconds went by with Grey nervously staring at Rome. Then he mumbled, "I smashed it."

Ignoring Grey's remark, Rome stared at the bartender and said, "Another!"

After emptying his second glass, Rome stood to his feet and rested his credit card on the counter.

A few minutes later the bartender handed it back to him. Then Rome walked away with K and Scar and

left the bar.

"Ten o'clock," Catherine whispered, pouting slightly as she continued to stare at the wall clock.

Then her gaze instantly swayed towards the door as it opened and Rome walked into the room.

Seeing the look of devastation on his face, Catherine said nothing as she watched him walk up to her.

After reaching the couch, Rome sluggishly sat down beside her. Then he laid his head on her lap and

shut his eyes.

"Is everything okay?" Catherine mumbled, running her tender fingers through his hair.

"No," Rome whispered, "We are back to square one, and I'm losing faith that I will ever find out who

this so call puppets' master is."