"…"
Joanna was stunned. She did not know what to say.
Based on her understanding of Alice, there was no way the wicked woman would withdraw the charges due to her conscience.
Then, it was most probably Ace's order. But the heartless man was supposed to use Nancy to threaten Joanna. Why would
he back out of the war first?
Did he find out that Vernom hacked into the hospital's cloud storage system last night?
Thinking of that, Joanna quickly gave Vernom a call.
Vernom answered the phone lazily. He was obviously still sleeping.
"You miss me already. Bonnie?"
"Cut the crap. Tell me, did anyone find out about you hacking into the cloud storage system last night?"
"What's the matter? Why do you sound so anxious?"
"Cut the crap and answer me!"
"No one found out."
Vernom said confidently. "I coded the encryption. As long as I don't tell anyone, no one would know."
Joanna fell silent. She frowned and thought for a while, then said. "Okay, got it."
"What's the matter? You…"
Vernom still wanted to ask Joanna something but Joanna had already hung up.
"So heartless?"
Vernom lay on the large bed. His arm that was showing outside the blanket had perfect muscle lines, more defined than that of international male supermodels.
"The wild kitten has quite the personality," he said with a smirk.
Meanwhile, Joanna was biting her nails as she carefully analyzed what happened.
Since her theft of the surveillance footage had not been found out, there should be no reason for Ace to let Nancy off the hook. What was he planning?
"Miss Joan, I'm sorry I made you worry. I knew I was gonna be alright, so you didn't have to worry about me…"
Nancy's consoling words suddenly reminded Joanna of the stranger's words last night.
"Maybe when you wake up tomorrow, your problems will no longer be problems."
This statement was so timely that she had to wonder if the guy could predict the future.
Or, perhaps, this stranger was actually Ace in disguise?
Based on the picture of the moon, it did look suspiciously like the picture was taken from the French window in Ace's office!
Thinking of that, Joanna rushed upstairs and turned on the computer to track the stranger's IP address.
After typing a long string of code, the IP address quickly locked on to a location, and the person's information was obtained.
According to the information, this guy was just an ordinary working man in his twenties in a neighboring city. All the information showed that he had nothing to do with Ace.
It was both expected and logical.
Joanna heaved a sigh of relief, but also felt a bit disappointed.
"Joanna, oh Joanna, you think too highly of yourself. Who do you think you are? Why would he waste his time chatting with you on a burner account?" She chuckled to herself.
In any case. Ace's sudden "truce" could only mean that he was planning something big!
"Nancy, don't go anywhere in the next couple of days. Just stay at home. I'm worried Ace might play dirty!"
Joanna told Nancy.
"Miss Joan, I don't think Mr. Moran is as bad as you think. Maybe he simply doesn't want to hurt you. After all, he can see how close we are. If we really go to court, there might be no way back for you two…"
Nancy persuaded, "Miss Joan, don't be so angry. I think you should withdraw the charges against Miss Alice too so that your relationship with Mr. Moran doesn't become irreconcilable!"
Joanna sneered. "Hah… so he's playing mind games in order to make me withdraw charges willingly. Unfortunately, he doesn't
understand what kind of person I am!"
After she said that, she headed straight for Moran Group, bringing the solid evidence with her.
Joanna arrived at Moran Group.
As usual, she was not stopped by anyone and was warmly welcomed by all the employees.
Rose Ace's secretary, was the biggest stan of the Joanna–Ace ship. Her eyes filled with excitement, she received Joanna enthusiastically.
"Mrs. Moran, Mr. Moran is in a meeting right now. Do you want to wait for him in his office, or should I go to urge him?"
"I'll wait in his office!"
"Okay, I'll take you there."
Rose nodded repeatedly.
Generally, one could not go to the CEO's office without permission.
But this woman was the CEO's wife. The rules did not apply to her.
Joanna entered Ace's office and sat down in his chair. She turned left and right in the chair, feeling very comfortable.
Her eyes suddenly fell on a crystal ashtray on the desk. She thought it looked kind of familiar.
"Rose, could this ashtray be… the one I gave him a while ago?"
Rose's eyes instantly brightened. She quickly replied. "Yes, Mrs. Moran, you sure have a good memory. This ashtray was the Christmas gift you gave Mr. Moran a year ago. Mr. Moran likes it very much!"
"And this succulent. Mr. Moran also likes it very much. He takes care of it every day. Sometimes he would even take pictures of
it…"
"And this mechanical keyboard. Mr. Moran loves using it. One of the key's broken, but he still refuses to replace the keyboard!"
"No way."
Rose's words shocked Joanna. "How could a picky guy like Ace Moran possibly like the presents I gave him? These presents look so childish to me now. Even I feel embarrassed by them!"
"He didn't like them before, but recently, he kept asking us to bring out the things you gave him, especially the coffee… He would only drink the brand that you once bought for him. We're so troubled by it. Maybe he loves you, so he loves the things you gave him too!"
"Cough!"
Joanna almost choked on her own saliva.
These fangirls sure are delusional. Ace and her were almost mortal enemies now. There was no love to speak of between
them!
After Rose left, Joanna could do nothing but wait.
Out of boredom, she looked out of the french window. Be it the window's material, angle, or the scenery outside, it really did look like the window in the picture the stranger sent her.
So, she took out her phone, enlarged the picture of the moon again, and compared it to the french window in front of her…
"What are you doing?"
Joanna suddenly heard Ace's cold voice.
She was startled. Her phone dropped to the ground with a thud.
She quickly picked it up and replied with a straight face, "Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for you."
"Who gave you permission to come into my office?!"
Ace's handsome face was very unhappy. He slowly walked towards Joanna and said with a frown. "You even dare to sit in my chair? Do you want to die?"
He had had a strong sense of boundaries from an early age and disliked others touching his things.
"So what if I sit in your chair for a moment? You're so stingy. See, I even gave you all these things!"
Joanna casually glanced around and saw about seven or eight old presents she gave Ace.
"You wanted to give me those things yourself. I don't even like them."
Ace's face was cold and his voice was haughty.
"You don't like them?"
Joanna raised her eyebrows. "In that case, I'll take them all back right now so that I can give them to my future boyfriend. It's called recycling!"
Ace glared daggers at her and said, "Don't you dare!"
Joanna's pursed her lips and murmured, "You don't like them, but you still want to take possession of them. What a tyrant!"
Ace made no reply to that. He simply picked Joanna up from his chair and said coldly, "Why do you want to see me? Get to the point!"
Joanna's expression turned serious. She asked, "Why did you suddenly let Nancy go? Did you do it out of conscience?"
Ace looked up with his cold eyes and stared at Joanna for a long time before he flatly said, "If I say it's because I don't want to make you sad, would you believe me?"