CHAPTER 572: CHAPTER 560

"What if your brother hurts the love of your life?" Ace pressed.

Joanna frowned, but said with a cool glare, "If that does happen, I will die with my beloved,and let my brother live!"

She had no chance of knowing back then that it was an exchange that would become very relevant years down the line!

Nonetheless, Ace calmly said, "Quinton is being punished for his own misdeeds. He

challenged us by destroying our merchandise-our retaliation is just, if only to make him understand that some rules are not meant to be broken."

"I can admit that his methods can be radical, and I will compensate you for any losses you’ve sustained. We can talk about this, as long as you agree to release him..." Joanna was convinced that problems solved by money were no problems at all. Moreover, Quinton had

been impatient for results over the last couple of years, so he had repeatedly sabotaged Moran Group’s business operations. It was no different from trying to steal food from a lion, and was basically suicidal.

It was just a matter of time that Ace’s retaliation reached Quinton, and Joanna felt humbled since Ace had the moral high ground... even though she had Ace tied up, and a knife pressed to his neck.

"Really? We can talk about this?" Ace sneered, gesturing at his hands restrained with his own necktie. "Is this how we’re going to do it?"

"Well... I didn’t want to tie you up, but you were getting frisky. Who knows what would

happen if I didn’t restrain you?" Joanna retorted with righteous indignation.

She took a moment to calm herself, and gingerly touched his hair, saying, "Be good now-l’ll free you, but the condition is that you have to release my brother. Okay?"

"Free me, and I’ll think about it."

"No, you have to say yes!"

"You have to free me for me to make the call."

"Is that a yes?" Joanna’s eyes lit up, surprised that Ace gave in despite him being as stubborn as an ox.

"A gentleman’s word is golden. Don’t go back on it!" Joanna warned him. "I’ve tied you up once, and I can certainly do it again."

"Cut the crap and free me already!" Ace snapped impatiently-he had never suffered so much in his life!

Joanna trusted promises, and quickly freed Ace, seemingly unafraid of his retaliation.

It was just like she put it—she had restrained him once, and that meant she could do it again.

"There’s nothing womanly about you at all!" Ace sighed emotionally, flexing his wrists that had almost been dislocated. He was actually skilled in martial arts, even winning the school championship for four years running- only to end up completely restrained by a woman.

If word of that ever got out, he would die of embarrassment.

Joanna said nothing, however, and suddenly leaned closer to him.

"What are you doing?" Ace tensed up, sliding backwards and pressing himself against the car door. He tried to get out, only to realize that he had locked it himself.

What had he done to deserve this?!

"I’m warning you, don’t do anything stupid. We can talk about this..." He stared at Joanna warily as if she were a beast -he did not want to be tied up again!

Joanna rolled her eyes, speechless. How much of a coward could he be? Was she even that scary?

"Call your people now!" She snapped coolly, shoving his phone in his hands.

Ace breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly searched for Elijah’s number, once again the indomitable CEO as he called Elijah and told him, "Release Quinton Pierce. The matter has been resolved."

"What?! Just like that?!" On the other end, Elijah was dumbfounded by Ace’s orders. "But he was out to get us at every turn, Mr. Moran! The losses from our core plant being destroyed is still inestimable, and we’re waiting for you to come here and personally end him! But...you’re telling us to let him go instead?"

"I know what I said, or are you questioning my orders?!"

"That’s not what I meant, sir-but he’s a clear threat against the Moran group. We’d have trouble explaining ourselves to our

board of directors..."

"I’ll deal with them myself."

"Huh..." Elijah was reluctant, but there was no way he would disobey his boss’s orders.

"Alright, I’ll have him released."

Ace hung up, and turned towards Joanna, demanding coolly, "Are you satisfied now?"

"Absolutely." Joanna nodded repeatedly with a fawning smile, actually surprised that Ace was that cooperative.

In contrast, she was quite villainous.

"You may be satisfied, but I’m not!" Ace suddenly snapped, his expression inscrutable as ever.

"I know my brother broke the rules, but I will apologize in his place and compensate for any losses."

"No!" Ace shook his head. "Compensation is far from enough."

Joanna raised a brow. "Then what do you want?"

"Have you considered a partnership between Stellar Group and Moran group?" Ace asked slowly. "We’ve been competing for years, but there was never a clear winner while losses continued to mount. Maybe we could reach new heights if we worked together."

"A partnership?" Joanna was surprised-the man took her for quite a ride, only to start

discussing business?

It didn’t make sense. Stellar Group was small fry to Moran group at best, and they were at completely different levels. Even if Stellar Group did see rapid growth and aggressively cut a territory of its own in the stock market, they were far from the level needed to necessitate a partnership with Moran group.

So why would Ace suddenly come up with something like that? Was he extending an

olive branch?

"Take your time to consider. If possible, we can discuss the details with Quinton next

Wednesday." With those words, Ace unlocked the car doors and said coolly, "And if there’s nothing else, you can get out of my car."

He appeared aloof and impassive-the stereotypical look of a businessman.

Perhaps in his perspective, Joanna was a ’deal’, and everything he did tonight was to seal the deal!

After getting out of Ace’s car, Joanna strolled along the coastal road for a long time, until she finally got a taxi to return into the city.

Suddenly, she got a phone call from Plum, who excitedly said, "Miss Joanna? Where are you right now? Good news! Master Quinton has returned"

Already?!

Joanna’s face lit up in delight. She did not expect Ace to come good on his word so soon.

"Great! I’ll be right back!"

She returned to Carmine Pawnshop as fast as she could, and immediately saw a lanky figure at the lobby when she did.

That aloof stature, the familiar mask-it was none other than Quinton.

"Quinton! Are you alright?!" Joanna rushed towards him excitedly, checking him from head to toe and relieved to see him unscathed.

"Of course I’m fine, silly. Ace’s always been a coward, and he was afraid to harm me. I would have lodged with them if they didn’t chase me off," he scoffed.

He stood with his hands in his pocket, looking completely unaffected by his abduction almost as if he just returned from a vacation. After all, having fought Ace for years, he was used to close shaves.

Joanna, however, sighed deeply and said worriedly, "Ace is no pushover, Quinton. You might not be as lucky even if you escaped this time... have you ever thought about not fighting him?"

"Not fighting him?!" Quinton’s expression was immediately ice-cold, and his tone was one of disappointment. "Have you lost your mind?! You dumped me, your children, and Stellar Group just as the company was on the rise-just to care for a crippled member of the Moran family! Even if I allowed that, you’re now telling me to stop fighting Ace?! Do you want our

whole family to be destroyed before you really understand how serious this is?!"

"What are you talking about, Quinton? Our families have always been on good terms and supported each other. The Moran family was never our enemy..."

"You’ve really lost the plot..." Quinton sighed, and told her sincerely, "No friendship or enmity lasts forever. The only thing that does is profit-right now, Stellar Group is a great threat to Moran Group, which means we are affecting their profits. Given how they usually immediately wipe

out a potential threat, just as they did with this place, I hope you can at least see the

benefits of making the first move, and denying them the chance to attack us!"

"No, they won’t!" Joanna shook her head, determined. "The Morans are not that despicable, and Ace isn’t that ruthless. Your abduction was proof-they had every chance to hurt you, but they released you, because they are hoping we can put the past behind us to work together!"

"Work together?" Quinton narrowed his eyes contemplatively.

Seeing that her brother was almost convinced, Joanna struck while the iron was hot. "Yes.Instead of losing together, why not put the past behind us and win together?"