The police officer in charge of recording the interview could not help looking up at Joanna. He frowned and reproached, "Your son has been missing for so long, and you still wouldn't report it to the police? Don't you think you're being too reckless as the parents? Thank god the child was clever enough to report it to the police himself! Although we still haven't figured out where he is, we've caught the suspected kidnapper, so the situation might not end up so serious after all."
Joanna nodded repeatedly, "You're right, Officer. We, as adults, have certainly been too neglectful."
But in her head, she silently thought, 'I wonder which unlucky guys had to deal with Adie this time. They should count their blessings if they didn't end up getting sold into a human trafficking ring by him!'
Adie had run away on his own many times before, so it was inevitable that he would encounter bad guys with sinister motives against him, but each time it always ended with the kidnappers calling the police for help themselves after realizing that they could not deal with the true menace that was Aiden Pierce!
"The suspect has confessed to the crime," said the officer in charge, "but she refused to reveal the child's whereabouts. Instead, she asserted that she intended to harm your child because she has a personal grudge against you. She has made a request to talk to you alone."
"Personal grudge?" Joanna suddenly tensed up and seemed slightly more concerned now.
She had indeed made quite a few enemies by that point, and she knew that those who would hold grudges against her were certainly no saints. If it was true that Adie had fallen into their hands, then perhaps her son was in much more of a bind than she thought.
Joanna clenched her hands and promptly asked, "Where is she? Let her come and talk to me!'
"Okay," replied the police officer. He then spoke into the intercom, "Bring her in."
Soon, the door to the interrogation room opened, and in came a woman whose hands were bound by handcuffs that glinted under the light. It was Alice. Her face was stony and lifeless, but as soon as she saw Joanna, it was as if she was splashed with a bucket of ice-cold water. She seemed to be reanimated in an instant. With a cruel smirk on her face, she said, "Why did you have to hurry over here so quickly, Joanna Pierce? You should've just wait a little longer. Someone would've gone to you and told you what became of your poor Adie!"
Joanna tried her best to restrain herself from killing Alice right then and there. She coldly said, "You should've come straight to me if you hold any grudges against me. Why did you have to lay your filthy hands on an innocent child? Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"
"So now you're talking about going straight to you instead of an innocent child, huh? Why didn't you think of that when you killed my baby and caused me to lose the chance to ever be a mother again?!"
Alice was now so agitated that she acted like a rabid dog, lunging toward Joanna and screeched, "You're the reason why my baby died! Because of that, I'll never give your son a chance to live a good life. God is so kind to you, isn't he? He's given you such an adorable son! I do like the boy myself, but it's too bad that he has your dirty blood in his veins. For that, I'll do anything to make sure he suffers a fate worse than death!"
"Soon enough, you'll find out what happened to your poor child. By then, I wish that you'll live the rest of your life plagued by guilt and shame, because you're the reason he had to suffer!"
The police officer quickly subdued her and sternly warned her, "That's enough! Don't force our hands or we'll have to use a tougher measure to contain you!"
"Go ahead!" Alice sneered sinisterly even as her head was pinned onto the table till her face was smooshed out of shape, putting her in a humiliating position. "I'm not scared! Just do whatever tough measure you want on me! I don't care anymore because I've got what I wanted. That boy is ruined now! You will suffer for the rest of your life, Joanna Pierce! Even if I die now, I'll die happy and in peace!"
Carmine Pawnshop was an infamous place in the underground market where anyone who stepped through its doors would have no chance of turning back. Their boss, Mr. Q, was known to be Ace Moran's deadliest enemy. It was not hard to guess at all what kind of painful fate would befall Adie, with him being Ace's son.
After all, if Alice was going to attack Joanna, she had better attack her where it would hurt the most, and what would hurt a mother more than seeing her own child suffer?
Joanna was so enraged that she trembled, but she still managed to keep herself under control. With a perfectly calm demeanor, she asked the police officer, "Could you please leave this room for a while? I'd like to talk to her alone.
After considering Joanna's request, the police officers agreed to leave the room. Only Joanna and Alice were left in the interrogation room, even though in truth, their every word and their every move were monitored by the police.
Although she was handcuffed, Alice still appeared proud and arrogant. She chuckled menacingly and asked, "Did you think that I'd tell you where your son is just because you chased them away?"
She chuckled. "You're too naive! The only reason why I attacked your son is that I wanted to take revenge on you. Now that I see how much you suffer, there's no way that I'd back down!"
'Suffer?" Joanna nonchalantly leaned back against the chair with a cool and carefree sneer on her face. "What makes you think that I'm suffering? I know how smart my son can be, and I'm confident that he'll find his way out of trouble in no time. As for you… as soon as I insist on bringing on the charges against you, there's no other outcome for you but to spend the rest of your life rotting in jail. I do feel sorry for you, you know."
'I'll admit that your son did seem a little clever, but if you think that he'll be able to outsmart the guy that now possesses him, then you're nothing but an idiot! I think you'd better just wake up from your daydream and face reality!"
Alice noticed how Joanna's face was turning pale from anger and she felt as proud and satiated as a bloodthirsty demon who was finally able to get a taste of fresh and delicious blood.
She was fully aware that the interrogation room was monitored, so she walked up to Joanna and whispered in her ear, "I suggest that you go home early and stop wasting your time here with me. You
won't get anything from me, so why don't you use the time that you have to order a child's coffin instead? You want to send him off properly, don't you?"
'Shut up!"
Those heinous words proved too much for Joanna. She was utterly incensed. She shot up to her feet and reached out her long arms before enclosing her fingers around the Alice's neck. Her beautiful eyes were gleaming with a chilling light.
"If you want to die so badly, then I'll grant your wish right now!"
Alice could not breathe. Her face was flushed red, but even so, she cackled maniacally and egged Joanna on, "Go ahead! Do it! This is exactly what I want! If you kill me now, then your life will be ruined too. Ace will never forgive you, and he will never let you go unpunished for this. Then I will live on in his heart forever! Perfect!"
Joanna's frozen eyes suddenly betrayed some slight perturbations.
"Ace Moran?" she brusquely replied. "He's nothing but a dead man now. There's no use in bringing him up now. You're just making a fool of yourself!"
"W-What did you say?"
Alice, who had seemed arrogant the whole time, seemed to be hit by a bolt from the blue at the moment. She was staggering on her feet, hardly able to keep herself from falling.
"You heard me right," Joanna snapped back in a biting voice. She could tell that Alice probably had no idea about Ace's death yet. She focused her icy gaze on the woman and added, "The man you've always depended on is now gone forever! There'll be no one else to rescue you now! If you agree to cough up Adie's real whereabouts right now, I might consider not going further with the charges against you and I'll pretend that none of this ever happened."
"Impossible!" Alice had a complete breakdown. With tears streaming down the corners of her eyes, she yelled, "You're lying to me! Ace is invincible! He's the most powerful man in the City! How could he just die? Did you think that you could intimidate me into telling you where your son is by lying to me like that? You should've made up something more believable! Save your breath! I don't believe you!"
"I don't care if you believe me or not," said Joanna, releasing the fingers that had been pressing on the veins on Alice's neck. She had lost all patience with Alice, and could now only bother to coldly tell her, "I gave you a chance, but you just tossed it away, so don't regret it later."
The police officers had been guarding the door and were ready to charge into the interrogation room at any moment. But then they saw Joanna walking out of the door, and they collectively sighed in relief.
"How did it go?" an officer asked. "Did you get any useful clues from her?"
Joanna smiled faintly at the police officers, but no one could tell what kind of emotions were on that lovely face of hers.
"I just had a heart-to-heart chat with Ms. Alice just now, and found out that this is all just a misunderstanding. If there's nothing else going on, please release her as soon as possible."
The police officers quickly exchanged looks in confusion when they heard her.
"Ms. Pierce, was that a joke? The suspect kidnapped your son and you're asking us to release her?"
Joanna raised her brows, and her smile broadened. In an apologetic voice, she replied, "My son has been a really naughty boy. He knew that Ms.Alice and I don't get along, so he decided to call the police on her, hoping that the police officers would take away the person that had been mean to me. I've found out where he is now, so I must deeply apologize for all the trouble we've caused you. I will make a 150,000-dollar donation to the construction funds for this police station as compensation. Please forgive us for this mistake."
"But…"
The police officers there were all dumbfounded.