"You tricked me!"
Joanna shot Ace a cold glare. She was indeed slightly hurt.
She recalled how she'd been acting like a fool these few days. She tried her best to take care of him, fearing he might catch some kind of illness. She also satisfied all of his fussy requests though he had long recovered.
She felt just like a clown, her dignity trampled on by him.
"Think I'm some kitten or puppy? Is it amusing to you?"
Joanna clenched her fists and suppressed her urge to break his bones. "Enjoy yourself. I'll be gone!"
She then left without turning around.
Of course, part of the reason she ran away so quickly was that she was guilty.
After all, she firmly announced his lifelong paralysis a few minutes ago.
Ace was so mean that he bickered over the smallest trifles and was extremely vindictive. If she didn't run away quickly, she was simply waiting to be ruined.
Ace attempted to pursue her, but Alice held his arm, pretending to be considerate. "Ace, you just recovered. Don't run around. It'll be better if you go lie and rest."
He lowered his deep-set eyes and stared at the hand she put on his arm coldly. Even though he remained quiet, his innate cold and magnificent aura terrified her so much that she immediately let go.
"Ace, don't get mad. I'm not trying to stop you from coaxing Miss Pierce. I'm just genuinely worried about you. What's more…"
She bit her lips and acted like a bitch, as usual. "There's something about her," she muttered hesitantly. "I'm not sure if I should talk about it…"
Ace's handsome face exposed no emotions. "Don't say it if you're unsure."
After the recent series of incidents, including Alice's true reaction after she learned that he was paralyzed, he seemed to have a new understanding of her.
"Why did you say that?"
Susan snarled, "Don't forget that Alice is still pregnant with our family's child. Be nicer to her. If she's in a better mood, the child will grow well…"
Of course, Susan saw through Alice's little thoughts, but Alice was pregnant.
If Joanna were pregnant with a child, Susan would surely protect her to the ends of the earth.
Unfortunately, that confounded thing's womb was still barren after three years. What else could she do except bring bad luck to her dearest son?
Susan became angrier the more she dwelled on those things. So, she looked at Alice and urged her, "Alice, of course, she's not afraid of people criticizing her since she dares to do so. Just tell us."
Alice swallowed briefly before she carefully took her phone out. She clicked on a photograph and showed them her phone. "My friend is a paparazzo, and he managed to snap this photo and came to me. He asked if he should publish it. I felt that this photograph was bound to induce bad effects, so I asked him to delete it. However, you're her husband, and you have the right to know…"
Ace glanced at the photograph on the phone coldly. His gaze turned gloomy and sinister.
The photograph showed Joanna and Liam coming out of the obstetric department together. They looked very intimate, as though they were a couple deeply in love.
"Is this photograph true? Is this jinx pregnant?"
Susan looked at the photograph with complicated feelings.
She then recalled what Joanna told her at the shopping mall that day. Joanna claimed she was pregnant with a Blackwood offspring, a pair of mixed-gender twins. She thought that Joanna had only said that for the sake of her pride, and she did not expect it to be real. Wasn't that a kind of humiliation for the Moran family?
Ace quickly explained, "No, that's not true. I asked the doctors there, and they told me something different…"
"She's not pregnant?"
Susan breathed a sigh of relief because her family did not have to be humiliated.
"But why did she visit the gynecologist if she's not pregnant?"
"Well, I can't talk about this because I'm afraid that Alice might get upset…"
Alice looked at Ace carefully and spoke pretentiously.
Ace's handsome face was as hard as a stone. "Go on!" he said coldly.
"Umm… I'll tell you the truth then…"
Alice was very satisfied with his reaction, so she continued eagerly, "I didn't tell you right away after seeing the photograph because I feared a misunderstanding. So, I went to see their attending doctor to get the truth. The doctor told me she wasn't pregnant, though she was ready to have Mr. Blackwood's child. They got a lot of vitamin B…
"And… It looks like she can't get pregnant easily. If a natural pregnancy fails, they may try getting a test-tube baby."
Of course, Alice made those things up.
She indeed found the attending doctor who was responsible for Joanna and Liam, but the other party denied that he had attended to them. She had nothing useful that they wanted.
Hence, she took the chance to make the situation worse just to slander Joanna. Besides, she had even bribed her attending doctor.
Even if Ace sent people there to investigate, he might get the same answer.
"Humph, I knew it! There must be something wrong with this jinx, and she can't get pregnant. Luckily, Ace was smart enough to divorce her in time…"
Susan felt that her family had escaped from a disaster. As she gloated at the misfortune of others, she said, "Now it's the Blackwood family's turn to be unlucky. If Liam's father learns that his dearest son has found a sterile woman, he may be greatly infuriated!"
Ace remained silent all that while, but his handsome face was horribly gloomy.
Seeing that, Susan became upset. "Ace, why are you looking at it in such a way? Shouldn't you be happy? Why do I feel like you can't accept it?"
"She even claimed you got bitten by a poisonous snake just to save her. Don't tell me that you've feelings for her now. Don't be fooled!"
Ace clenched his fists, but there wasn't so much as a single twitch of emotion on his
gorgeous face. "Never!" he hissed cruelly with his thin lips slightly parted.
Three days later.
Joanna had been staying in the house for three whole days after she came back from the hospital. She did not even walk out.
She thought that Ace would come and deal with her when he learned he'd been fooled, which was why she hid there. It wasn't a very promising prospect, though.
Oddly enough, he went completely missing in those three days. He didn't even text her, much less go to her.
She then recalled how she stayed with him to care for him during those few days. They were once so close, but now she felt like it was a lifetime away. It was as if it had not happened.
Disappearing from each others' world that way would be the most suitable ending.
However, they needed to get a divorce before that.
Today was the day they would get divorced.
None of them contacted each other as if they were deliberately setting themselves against each other and waiting for the other party to be the bad guy to ruin that stalemate.
After waiting almost half a day, Joanna finally could not hold herself back.
She picked up her phone and sent Ace a message.
"We're getting a divorce today. What time should we meet up?"
Ace soon sent her a reply. "In half an hour."
Why was he so cold?
Joanna looked at the few words on her phone. She inevitably felt extremely resentful when she recalled how she had worked so hard to care for him during those few days.
Forget it. He was naturally an extremely aloof person. She had failed to move him after three years. So, how would he change in those few days?
Joanna grabbed her documents and immediately hailed a taxi to City Hall.
Ace's car arrived the moment she alighted the cab…