CHAPTER 568: CHAPTER 556

Joanna was so tired that she decided to just give up and claim responsibility for everything.

"If you say it’s true, then it must be true. You don’t have to hold out hope for me because I’m obviously blindsiding you so that I can be with Jovan. I only cared for you to silence my conscience, so come at me if you still bear a grudge-don’t hurt Jovan, he’s just an innocent victim I manipulated!"

"Come at you?!" Ace snorted in disdain, slowly rising to his feet and walking up to Joanna.

"Do you know what’s the worst torment for a woman?"

"I’m sorry, but I’m inexperienced when it comes to being a sicko," Joanna replied with an impassive look. She knew that he probably hated her to the bone, and must have thought of hundreds of ways to torment her.

But it was fine-was she not fortunate if her sacrifice could be traded for everyone’s

happiness?

"I guess I can tell you..." Ace said with a vague smile, putting a hand around her waist and pulling her towards him. He leaned down and murmured in her ear viciously, "It’s by having her spread her legs for another man even though her heart belongs to another... to

put it plainly, sleep with me."

Joanna did a double take, and whispered, "You’re sick."

If she remembered correctly, Jovan said that before too-there were times when she

wondered if Jovan possessed Ace after the transfusion and passed on his deviant

tendencies. Why else would he seem to mimic

Jovan so often?

"Is that a yes?" Ace was trying to probe Joanna to see how far she would go for Jovan, only to have her react nonchalantly.

For some reason, that left him feeling mysteriously dejected.

It was certainly weird-he was the one in control here, so why did the woman before him remain inscrutable?

"Or perhaps you’re affording me the chance to say no, Mr. Moran?" Joanna suddenly smiled,remaining calm even as she provoked Ace.

"No!" Ace snapped, his stern glare making him look as if he wanted to devour her. "You don’t get to say no!"

And with that, he led Joanna out of the Bar of Fame as everyone looked on, holding her slender wrist as he pulled her to his sports car and jammed his foot on the pedal.

He never said a word as he drove.

Joanna had no idea where he was going to take her or what he was going to do to her, so she did not ask. There was no escape now that she had fallen into his hands-she could only hope that he would not hurt more innocents after he had enough fun and cooled off, so that

everything could come to a stop.

Meanwhile, Ace drove out of the bustling city center to a quiet beach.

Joanna had been uncomfortable at first, but that feeling slowly faded since it was a very long journey. All she felt was weariness, and her eyelids grew heavy...

Ace simply kept steering the car through the coastal roads. To be honest, he did not have a destination. He just wanted to keep driving forward with her in his car, ideally for all eternity.

Ocean waves could be heard on both ends of the road, and the stars were exceedingly bright. Anyone would be happy to feel the sea breeze brushing against their face.

Why the romance, damn it?! He was supposed to be tormenting her!

And yet, said romance soon disappeared due to a certain sound...

Hearing the rhythmic snoring, Ace turned around to find that Joanna was fast asleep

without a care. Furious, he spun the steering wheel and jammed his food on the brakes.

As the car came to a screeching halt at the turn on a coastal zone, Joanna immediately jolted awake and reached for the car door handle, looking around in panic, "Argh! What happened?! Was there an earthquake?!"

She saw that the car had stopped by the beach, enveloped in darkness and silence—danger seemed to lurk everywhere.

Meanwhile, Ace opened the window to let the fresh breeze in, looking up at the starry sky above.

"Carefree, aren’t you?" He scoffed flatly as he lit himself a cigarette, exhaling a puff of

smoke. "Someone who knew better would know you’re due for punishment, but those who don’t would think that you’re here to sightsee."

Embarrassed, Joanna hastily tidied her appearance and cleared her throat." Sorry I wasn’t taking this seriously. Should I be more worried about not meeting your expectations? If that won’t do, I could cry for you again..."

As soon as she said it, she started bawling, "Please, I’m begging you, Mr. Bigshot CEO. Let me go, I won’t do it again... Please don’t torture me anymore..."

Ace breathed another puff of smoke in frustrated silence-she really would be the death of him!

"See? That reaction was fantastic but you refused to play along. How am I supposed to do this?" Joanna kept flirting with him, but the fact that the man refused to play along made things awkward.

One could never cook without ingredients-how was she going to achieve anything if she was forced to match this stoic guy?

"You can shut up now," Ace growled through the smoke-this woman was brazenly messing around even though her doom was at hand!

"Fine, you’re the boss. You said to shut up, so I’ll shut up." Joanna reclined against her seat and kept her mouth shut-she had no choice but to be fully compliant. Maybe if she managed to cajole Ace, he would not keep harassing her and Jovan, or even take her to the beach in the middle of the night, just to make her watch him smoke.

The sight of cigarettes certainly tickled her nicotine addiction.

Hence, braving the risk of being kicked out of the car, she asked gingerly," Hey, do you have more? Can I have one?"

Ace was dumbfounded, but Joanna pressed, "It’s not like we have anything better to do."

Ace snorted. "You’re outrageous."

He brought her out here to mess with her, and get his revenge for her duplicity... only for her to treat this as a pleasure trip, even asking if she could have a cigarette!

She shot him a look, and complained, "It’s fine if you don’t want to give me one. There’s no need to be so petty."

And with that, neither spoke as Joanna kept watching him smoke, while the atmosphere between them stayed awkward.

Still, Ace was certain proof that someone up there played favorites. That chiseled, perfect face could give star actors a run for their money, and his aloofness made his very presence irresistible.

Even as Joanna stared at him, she could not help gulping as she restrained herself from leaning in to kiss him