'Just look at how unabashed this man is acting! This is ridiculous!' Joanna thought. She had always viewed Ace as someone who was morally sound and would never commit adultery.
In the end… the very same man she thought so highly of, dropped a nuclear bomb on her. Not only did he intend on marrying his mistress, but they were expecting as well.
This was the last push that Joanna needed to move on completely. The tinge of sadness in her heart had completely vanished.
"So this means you were cheating on me, right?"
Before Ace could respond, Alice hurriedly placed herself between them. Teary-eyed, she said, "Miss Pierce, it's all my fault! If it makes you feel better, you can punish me however you want…"
'Does this woman think this is some soap opera? She'd make a great actress, honestly.'
"Really now?" Joanna raised her hand up high as if she was about to deliver a slap.
As soon as she realized what was going to happen, Alice squealed and darted behind Ace.
"Didn't you say I can punish you however I want? Why are you hiding?" Joanna put up a fake smile as she ran her fingers through her hair, brushing them over her ear.
"Don't be so dramatic, I'm no brute. I'm not going to beat you up like they normally do in the movies."
"If you are truly in love with each other, I'd be more than happy to walk away from this relationship!"
"Wh… What?"
Alice was left dumbfounded by her words. She initially prepared to play the victim, but it turned out she didn't have to play that card at all.
'Looks like the rumors were true, Moran and Pierce really were just in a contractual marriage. Why else would she be so kind to her husband's mistress?'
Joanna continued speaking. "Since you cheated on me, it's only fair that we make a few adjustments to our settlement."
Hearing that Joanna wanted a change in her compensation, Alice was so agitated that she dropped her facade.
"Ace already said he'd give you 100 million dollars, along with a whole villa! He's being generous enough as is! Besides, the Moran household put in a lot of effort to clean up the mess your family made. How shameless of you…"
Joanna nearly burst out laughing when she saw Alice break character.
"Aww, we're not even legally divorced yet, and little Miss Mistress already has a say in his finances already? Are you scared that your man would lose all his money to this divorce? Who's actually the greedy one here, hmm?"
Upon hearing the response, all color drained from Alice's face.
"T-that's not what I meant…"
Ace remained calm and collected throughout the interaction. Staring at Joanna with an intimidating aura, he uttered "Continue."
Joanna took on his pressuring gaze head-on and listed out her new terms. "I don't want your money, nor the villa. Just hand over your law firm to me."
"By law firm, you're referring to Morans & Co.?" Ace narrowed his eyes as he juggled his memory.
Being the top of the eight most powerful families in Beach City, the Morans were involved in all sorts of businesses. A single law firm was not significant enough to occupy Ace's memory.
However, he did somewhat remember its existence, as it was in charge of handling all of the Morans' legal affairs. He merely viewed it as a charity organization, since the employees were earning high salaries without much work to handle.
The firm simply had no economic value to the Morans.
'This woman decides to turn down the 100 million dollars, and instead asks for such a worthless asset? What is she thinking?'
Suddenly, he started seeing Joanna in a new light. Although it had only been a few days, she seemed… like a completely different person.
"Well, that's my only condition. I'll send you an amended copy of the documents soon… It's getting late, so if you'll excuse me!"
"Oh, and I wish you a fruitful life with your little lover."
Joanna lifted her chin and revealed a satisfied grin as if she had just scored herself a phenomenal business deal. Sadly, her cool demeanor only lasted for a second.
Her head began to spin and she blacked out seconds later.