CHAPTER 571: CHAPTER 559

Ace wondered how the hell things had turned out like this.

Right now, Joanna Pierce should have been beneath him and completely at his mercy...

but it was the other way around!

Paying her back for her antics?! He would thank the gods if he could just escape her

clutches!

"What do I want? You still don’t get it, do you?" Joanna asked, whipping out her phone and turning on the camera. "Tell me where you’re keeping Jovan or let him go, and I will release you. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?"

"Every netizen will watch as I take off your clothes, layer by layer... and then eat you up!"

Joanna smirked, eager to get going. The Moran family was a dynasty that treasured their reputation, so one could only imagine the sensational headlines that would ensue if their heir was filmed on livestream, tied up and stripped naked!

Joanna was naturally convinced that Ace would obey her with the utmost compliance.

"So? Are you afraid yet? I’m ready to give up when you are," she told him.

"Whatever," he scoffed.

Seeing that he was completely unfazed, Joanna became a little worried.

Whoosh!

She pulled down his shirt, baring his muscular upper body while waving her phone at him and threatening, "Don’t think I’m joking. I’m really going to strip you bare."

"Please do," Ace replied nonchalantly, even challenging her, "I’m perfectly confident with my own body.

If she really did broadcast him naked, he would only get more fangirls.

"You..." Joanna was surprised, but doubled down and started to undo his belt. "I’m not kidding. Give up, or your pants come off!"

"I told you-l won’t say a word, whether you skin me or strip me," Ace replied flatly.

"Ace Moran!" Joanna snarled as she grabbed his boxers with her dainty hands, but ultimately stopped herself from pulling them down. She had a sense of shame even if he did not, and she couldn’t go that far!

"Why are we stopping?" Ace asked challengingly, narrowing his eyes. "Moran group’s influence stretches across the globe, so it’s high time we give something back to our customers."

"You’re crazy, Ace Moran!" Joanna screamed in exasperation, her eyes welling with tears.

"What do I have to do for you to free Jovan? How about I set you free, and let you strip me naked for the world to see?! You can torment me any way you want, and once you have your fun, you can let him go!"

She was almost hysterical-nothing got through to him at all, and she was really at a loss!

"You just want payback, don’t you?!" She cried maniacally." Fine, I’ll strip then!"

Ace stared at Joanna, who was on the verge of a breakdown.

"I won’t tell you where Jovan is even if you were naked," he told her evenly. "Because I have no idea where he is."

He finally admitted the truth since things were getting out of hand. With the ridiculous thought processes that Joanna’s mind appeared to be prone to, one of them would soon be driven insane!

Joanna was half-undressed and froze right then. "What are you talking about? What do you mean you don’t know where he is?"

"He never stays put like you, and I guess he’s now actually missing. It only begs the

question of why you came to me at all," Ace replied, leaning back against his seat with an impassive look, staring at her contemptuously as if she was an idiot.

"How could you not know?! When that explosion happened, the chauffeur clearly heard the person who abducted Jovan say, ’Mr. Moran sends his regards’! And there is no other Mr.Moran except you!"

"Why me? There are plenty of Mr. Morans across the globe," Ace sneered. "Moreover, why are you so sure that the chauffeur was telling the truth? What if he was trying to frame me?"

He had no idea why someone would pin the blame on him, but this was not unprecedented; he certainly was used to being scapegoated, especially with the multitude of rivals he had in the City!

"That makes sense," Joanna was calm enough to agree with Ace’s insight-she knew him well enough to tell that such a crude move was not his style at all...

In fact, it happened to fit Jovan’s style. Was it possible that Jovan had arranged his own abduction?

However, Joanna quickly shook her head-that was impossible, since Jovan was not that nonsensical despite his crafty nature.

And what could he have hoped to achieve-did he want to drive a wedge between her and Ace? There was already no sentiment between them whatsoever, so Jovan did not have to go that far.

It just doesn’t make sense!

"If it wasn’t you, then why’d you leave this note for me?!" Joanna cried out in agitation, and whipped out the piece of paper that she had been carrying around. "This is obviously your handwriting! ’You reap what you sow. Come to me if you want him back.’ Obviously it means

I should meet you if I want him back. What do you have to say now?"

Ace glanced at the note, and admitted, "I did write the note, but I wasn’t referring to

Jovan."

"Not Jovan? Then who?"

"Quinton. That’s your biological brother, no?"

"My brother... You mean you’re the one behind what happened to him?!" Rene tensed up immediately-it was really one bombshell after another! She had just been worrying that there was no clue as to who her brother’s assailants were, only for this man to admit it!

"How dare you hurt my brother! I should skin you... and it’d still serve you right!" Joanna was absolutely furious. She searched the whole car and finally found a swiss army knife. She picked it up and pressed the blade to his neck. "Where’s my brother?!"

"Are you going to kill me if I refuse to tell you?" Ace asked with a vague smile, fearless even as she stared at the knife in Joanna’s hand.

"I won’t kill you-but I’ll skin you and watch you bleed! You’d wish you were dead... unless you return my brother!" Joanna was not joking-Quinton was her flesh and blood, a progeny of their parents. She would never allow anyone to hurt him!

"You seem more agitated," Ace pointed out, still unfazed." Does that mean your brother is more important to you than your own partner?"

"Yes!" Joanna readily admitted to it. "Family is more important than anything. If you lay a finger on him, I won’t hesitate to kill you."