After listening to Joanna's statement, the police cast a serious look at Alice and asked, "Is what she said true?"
Alice's face paled, and she vigorously waved her hands in denial. "No, I didn't. She slandered me and threw my stuff out. She is the criminal here. You should arrest her, not me!"
"You know clearly if I slandered you or not."
Joanna's pretty face was expressionless as she spoke with logic and clarity. "As owner of this property. I have the right to handle any item in the house. Your words have just proved that you trespassed. And one more thing, the items in the baggage you stole are very valuable. Add that into the charges, and you're looking at at least three years behind bars!"
"What nonsense!"
Alice hurriedly defended herself and said, "There are only a few pieces of garments in the baggage, and they are not branded anyway. I bet they are worth less than two thousand. How can it be worth so much!"
She regretted it right after she said that.
Joanna smiled in satisfaction and looked at the police. "You heard her, Sir. She admitted it. Stop wasting time talking with her. Just take her away."
The police nodded and took out the handcuffs. "Please cooperate with us. Missy. We need you to go to the police station to assist us in the investigation."
Alice's face turned whiter, and she backed up and hid behind Ace. "Don't come near me. I've been wrongly accused, Ace. Save me!"
Just then, Lydia, who had long been holding a grudge against Alice, and happened to be a turncoat, said loudly, "I can testify that Miss Alice has taken Miss Pierce's belongings! Moreover, she did not treat the servants here as human beings. She has done many bad things when staying in this villa…"
Lydia recounted the bizarre and brutal things Alice had done. Everything she did could easily be constituted as a crime. The more the police listened, the more serious they looked.
'No, I didn't. You shut up, shut up!"
Alice behaved like a demon that revealed its true form, pouncing on Lydia with the intent to stop her from talking.
She had indeed treated the servants like they were less than human and tormented them whenever she had the chance.
She thought that they were just soulless beings without dignity and dared not resist no matter what.
She did not expect that Lydia would be the one who exposed her!
"That's enough!"
Ace's face was gloomy yet dignified.
The chaotic scene quieted down immediately. Lydia did not dare to continue, and Alice also did not dare to make a scene. anymore. The two police officers exchanged glances, not knowing how to settle this..
Though Alice's actions were confirmed crimes, they did not have the guts to arrest people from the hands of the president of Moran Group.
Joanna was getting tired of this. She was not surprised at how weird Alice was, nor did she care. She just wanted to get back. what belonged to her.
"Alice, I am going to say this one last time. Give it back to me. Otherwise, even God will not be able to save you, let alone this
man!"
Her words, though, as intimidating as they sounded, had somewhat challenged the authority of Mr. Moran. She seemed to have overdone it.
Alice wailed immediately. "Just listen to her, Ace. Miss Pierce is going to kill me. You must save me!"
Everyone thought that Ace, as the father of the child, would protect Alice no matter what.
However, the stony–faced man said calmly. "In that case, you should cooperate and go to the police station."
Joanna was stunned.
She hadn't expected Ace to be willing to turn his back on his own family. If she remembered correctly, he had been very protective of Alice before this, despite the obvious fact of her being a two– faced bitch. He treated her like a fragile flower. touching it gingerly in fear of damaging it instead of holding it tight.
Had he gotten tired of Alice so quickly?
'Tsk. The attention span of a man really is worse than a child's! It was the right decision to divorce him!' Joanna thought as she quietly celebrated her correct choice.
When the two policemen saw Ace's stance, they stopped hesitating and slapped the handcuffs on Alice's hands.
"Let go of me! Don't touch me!" Alice cried emotionally as she begged. "Ace. I'm innocent! Believe me! Tell them to release me! The baby will be terrified! You can ignore me, but don't ignore the baby!"
Ace furrowed his brows, his cold face not twitching the slightest as he said, "Take her away!"
"Don't worry, Mr. Moran. It's a routine taking of statements. We won't make things difficult for Ms. Alice."
Having said that, the two policemen escorted Alice to the police cruiser.
Though the car had long driven off. Alice's ghostly cries could still be heard.
Joanna watched the cruiser fade into the distance and let out a long sigh. She never expected things to turn out this way. She
had only wanted to retrieve her blanket and not send Alice to the police station.
After all, Alice was still a pregnant woman. If anything happened to her, wouldn't the blame fall on Joanna?
"What's wrong with you, Ace? Couldn't you tell that I was simply exaggerating? Why did you actually let the police take her away?" Joanna groaned as she rubbed her forehead to stave off the oncoming headache.
With a troubled look, she continued gravely, "Even if you really do have a secret crush on me, you don't have to make such sacrifices. Alice is pregnant with your child, and if anything happens to her, don't come looking for me!"
Ace was speechless in the face of Joanna's words and actions. Why hadn't he ever known how shameless and foolish this woman was?
In his memory. Joanna had been a budding white flower. A timid, soft–spoken woman, she'd surely blush whenever she looked at him.
She now carried herself proudly like a queen, displaying an image that was hard for him to comprehend.
He suddenly thought of a saying: the first response of falling in love was to feel inferior.
Did that mean… that Joanna really no longer loved him?
Because she didn't love him anymore, was that why she felt free to be herself?
With that conclusion swimming in his mind, Ace's heart clenched, and he felt awfully uncomfortable.
Joanna glanced around for a moment, and when she couldn't find what she was looking for, started to complain, "Ugh. I couldn't find my stuff in the first place, and you had to send away the one person who knew where it was. It'll be even harder to find now."
Ace came out of his thoughts and coldly asked, "What are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for my suitcase. There's something very important inside," Joanna replied, then let out a long sigh.
It seemed like she would have to look for it herself.
The entire villa spanned an area of hundreds of square feet, and finding a small box would certainly be almost impossible.
Ace crossed his arms and watched the woman go about looking for it. He didn't say a word and simply shook his head as
she shuffled around.
What a damn stubborn woman! What exactly was in the box? Was it worth the trouble she was going through?
Thus, unable to stand the sight of Joanna trundling around like a headless chicken, he summoned all the staff in the villa to help her look for it.
With the abundant manpower at their disposal, they scoured all four floors of the villa, its surrounding gardens, and even under the carpets, but they couldn't find anything.
"Did Alice dump it somewhere outside?" Joanna wondered out loud as she rubbed her chin, thinking about this possibility.
Suddenly, a young maid came up, gasping for breath as she huffed, "I I–I found it…! It… It's just that it scared me a little!"