"You?"
Shocked was written all over Joanna's face..
He was an unwelcome guest!
"Am I not welcomed here?" Vernom asked with his hand shoved inside his pocket. His charming face, hidden under his cap, gave off a mysterious vibe to him.
"I don't think we're that familiar with each other," Joanna replied coldly.
She didn't know why a hacker like him was here, and she was instantly wary and on guard at his presence.
"Not familiar?" Vernom repeated and laughed sarcastically. "We're a great team in the hacker world. Although we've never met each other, we've worked together online multiple times before. We should be old friends, right, Cyber Queen?" When Joanna heard this, she smiled helplessly. As expected, he purposely let her win that day at Moran Group cause he had long known her identity.
It didn't matter anyway since she wanted to meet him too, and he came on his own today, so it was perfect.
"Hi, I'm Cyber Queen. You can call me Joanna," she said, extending her hand to the man.
"Hi, I'm Vernom. You can call me Josh Gray."
The man felt that his wish had finally come true when he held her hand.
He waited many years for this moment.
Since Cyber Queen won during the hacker competition for the first time by a small margin from him, he was determined to find her. He originally thought Cyber Queen was an old man, as rumored.
He didn't expect that Cyber Queen was a beautiful woman whose husband had cheated on her! The differences between her in real life and online identity were so massive that it was hard to believe!
"Josh Gray?"
Josh wasn't a common surname. Joanna frowned and asked cautiously, "Pardon me, but what is your relationship with the famous Austin Gray from Spain?"
"He's my grandfather." Vernom shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he answered honestly.
"You're telling me that the unbeatable man who owns a team of top armies that could command the whole of Spain is your grandfather?" Joanna said with eyes wide in shock that they looked like they would fall out of their socket anytime.
When she was a child, she heard stories of Luke fighting in the war with his two best friends. One was Old Mr. Moran, and the other was Gray.
However, something happened between Old Mr. Moran and Gray and they ended the friendship. Luke chose to side with Old Mr. Moran; hence he had to end the friendship with Gray as well.
Years later, the Moran family and the Pierce family became the two most powerful families in the City, while the Josh family became powerful in Spain under the lead of Gray.
"My grandfather never imagined that one day it would be my destiny to meet his old buddy's granddaughter." A mix of emotions flashed before his eyes as he stared at Joanna and said, "If I had known the woman my grandfather forced me to marry was the Cyber Queen, I've been looking for a long time, I would've gladly agreed."
"I would have treated you like a queen for being such a beautiful and perfect wife. I wouldn't have cheated behind your back."
When the Pierce family faced bankruptcy and Joanna's parents decided to end their life and leave her all alone to face the enemies' threats and live a harsh life, Gray wanted Vernom to marry her for Luke's sake.
However, when Vernom heard about the news, he went missing.
And so their wedding had to be canceled.
Afterward, the news about her marriage to Ace was everywhere.
What angered Vernom the most was that he had gone missing not to avoid the marriage but to look for Cyber Queen instead. He hadn't known that the person he had been looking for all this while was in front of his eyes the whole time!
"Ugh! Fate was playing with me!" Vernom groaned as he slumped on her couch with immense regret.
Joanna handed a bottle of juice to him and asked, "Why are you here? It can't only be because you regret not marrying me, right?"
It was strange. Although she was meeting him for the first time, a sense of familiarity made her feel like he was her long-lost relative. This made her wonder whether she would be happier if she had married Vernom instead of Ace.
"Of course not."
He twisted open the bottle and gulped down the juice. Then stood up and said solemnly, Do you hate him? Do you want to get revenge?"
"I don't hate him, nor do I want revenge," She answered honestly.
Ace has cheated on you.
She just wanted to earn enough money to raise her two kids and live a peaceful life with them that didn't involve Ace.
Vernom shook his head and said, "we quite optimistic. Do you know that the Moran family is in trouble now? This is
the best chance to get your revenge. If you're willing to work with me, I can help the Pierce family take over the Moran family's position."
"What if I don't want to work with you?"
"If you refuse, I will expose your identity as 'Cyber Queen'. which will cause him to come and exert vengeance on you."
"Are you threatening me?"
He didn't answer her. Instead, he gave her a card. "I'll give you three days to think about it. Call me anytime you change your mind."
Joanna didn't take Vernom's threat seriously, and she threw the card away. She didn't care if he exposed her. After all, she saved Ace's life. She hoped Ace wouldn't be cruel to her just because of a little prank.
However, she was curious about the problem Vernom said about the Moran family.
'Is that why Ace keeps getting targeted? Who would be bold enough to attack the Moran family of the City publicly?' she thought to herself.
At first, she wanted to ask Liam to check it out, but she felt it was unnecessary, seeing as she and Ace were about to get a divorce soon.
She put the thoughts back in her mind and decided to care for herself first. It was a pointless venture anyway, as she had never gotten any gratitude from the Moran family in the past three years despite all the sacrifices she had made for them.
Seeing as the weather was great today and she hadn't gone out to shop in a while, she called Clara. The two decided to meet at three in the afternoon in the Plaza.
Thinking about how her babies were almost three months old, she initially went from feeling they were a burden to slowly looking forward to meeting them.
"Bestie!" Clara called out, looking stunning as she waved at Joanna from afar.
As Liam's twin sister, she got the same love from their father and was pampered her entire life. As a result, she exuded confidence and radiated force. Only in front of Joanna that she would act silly hence the nickname 'clumsy beauty'.
"Joan, you finally remembered me! I miss you so much. Let me see your injury."
After Clara gave her a big hug, she began examining her wound. Only when she was sure Joanna was okay did she start to complain. "My brother is too overbearing! He doesn't let me visit you because he said I'd bother you. I think he just wants you all to himself! He should at least look in the mirror before thinking he deserves you. Doesn't he know that you belong to me?"
At the mention of this, she hugged Joanna in her arms and kissed her furiously on the cheek.
Joanna couldn't help but laugh at the other woman's actions. "Okay. Don't be disgusting. Let's go shopping."
"Sure. Where do you want to go? LV or Chanel? I don't think the mall has Hermes. That's why it feels like it's missing something."
Clara was born rich. All her clothes were luxurious brands. She rarely goes to a mall, but if she did, she would go to branded shops.
"Let's just window-shop a little."
Although that was what Joanna said, she pulled Clara straight to the thirteenth floor. The thirteenth floor was full of baby products. Parents could be seen there with their children.
Joanna's eyes glistened with excitement when she saw the baby's clothes and instantly went up to touch them.
"Wow. This pink dress is so cute. The material is so soft!"
"And this overall is so adorable too!"
"This pair of shoes is so small, so adorable!"
Clara stood outside the shop and was stunned to see Joanna so excited.
'What's going on?'
If she remembered correctly, Joanna seemed to dislike children but now…
'Something's not right!' Clara thought to herself.
Joanna got more excited as she walked inside the shop. She loved every single thing there and had a strong urge to buy the whole floor.
She saw a doll in the center of the shop and was about to take it for a closer look when someone snatched it away.
It was none other than Alice.
"Miss Pierce?"
Alice was shocked, but she acted innocent.
At the same time, her future mother-in-law, Susan, saw Joanna and shouted, "Joanna, why are you here? Did you follow Alice and me?"
"Miss Pierce, why are you here at a baby store? Are you pregnant as well?"
Alice purposefully exposed her belly. She seemed innocent, but her voice and actions were filled with provocative intent.