CHAPTER 554: CHAPTER 542

Seraphina maintained her calm and combined bits and pieces of some incidents before she debated right and wrong with Ace.

"Is... Is that so?"

Ace’s deep-set eyes flickered with a mix of wrath, unwillingness, hatred, and doubt.

This truth vastly differed from the truth he had imagined. For a moment, he couldn’t accept it.

"If you trust me, this is the truth. If you don’t, you can ask her about it."

Seraphina stated with absolute certainty.

Her statement was flawless. Even she was almost convinced of its truth, let alone Ace.

Besides, she had Susan as a witness who confirmed those things.

"That’ll be unnecessary..."

Ace slowly clenched his fingers and said coldly, "She had long admitted to it, but I was just unwilling to believe her."

He stubbornly thought that there must be some secrets in it. Why would such a wicked woman take her blood to use as an ingredient for his medicine?

Now it seemed the truth was just that simple. She simply tried to atone for her sins after she harmed him. She was just troubled by a guilty conscience.

’No, Joanna, you can’t fool me that easily. Since you dared to offend me, you can’t leave just like that.’

Joanna leaned against the window and looked at the street that was rich with the scent of spring. She fell into silence.

Jovan had long noticed her gloominess. As for the reason, it was indeed very obvious.

"If you can’t bear to part with him, we can postpone it and leave the hospital after a period. I’m fine with it."

With his eyes closed, he cracked a faint smile and pretended to say casually.

Joanna turned to look at the calm man. She did not understand his meaning.

"What nonsense! I... What am I reluctant to part with?"

Even she felt guilty when she made that remark.

She could rely on her reason to suppress how much she missed him, but she could never eliminate it. It was a feeling that had been ground into her bones.

She admitted that she did care about Ace. Not even once did she manage to forget about him.

If she did not see him, she could stop missing him.

But now that she met him, the dormant feelings were ignited and, before long, burned fervently in her heart.

"You don’t have to hide it. Of course, I’m aware of your thoughts. Well... I never truly yearn to gain your heart. To me, getting you is already a grand victory. So, you don’t have to lie to me. You can just be yourself," Jovan said freely.

He was not stubborn. He was not so overbearing that he would shamelessly occupy her heart after he’d gotten the better of her.

"Okay, I gave up. I... I’m a bit reluctant to part with him. But don’t worry. It’s not a big problem. I can hold it back."

Joanna stopped hiding it and generously admitted to it. At the same time, she held Jovan’s hand. It gave him a great sense of security.

Jovan did not comment much on that before he said to the driver, "We should be near the antique shop on South Street soon. Stop there for a while. I want to get something."

"What is it?"

"I told you, it’s a surprise for you. It’ll be meaningless if I tell you in advance."

Jovan kept up his mysterious demeanor, keeping her in suspense.

The car stopped before an antique shop.

Joanna wanted to push Jovan into the shop, but she was turned down.

"Wait for me in the car. The driver can push me into the shop."

He did not want to expose the surprise he prepared for her in advance, or all his efforts would be futile.

"Okay, I would like to see what kind of trick you will pull."

With deep curiosity, Joanna watched the driver push Jovan into the antique shop.

She leaned against the back seat in slight boredom. When she checked the time, it was coincidentally an afternoon in the city. The two children might have gone home from school by now, so she gave her brother a video call.

His brother always answered her calls within seconds. But strangely, today, he did not answer her calls at all. She tried repeatedly, but it yielded the same result.

"What’s the matter?"

A crease soon formed between her brows as a bad premonition overwhelmed her.

She immediately called Nancy, and the latter picked it up just as quickly.

"Miss Joan, what a coincidence! I was about to call you."

Similarly, Nancy had a deep frown on the other end of the phone. Anxiety was her friend now.

"Nancy, you sound so anxious. Did... something happen?"

"Yes, Miss Joan. I don’t know whether I should report this to you or not. Both Chase and Miss Clara asked me not to tell you first for fear that you’ll be worried..."

"What’s wrong? Tell me now."

"It’s like this. Mr. Pierce went to the south for a business trip a week ago. He should be back two days ago, but he’s not back yet at the moment. The two kids miss their uncle very much, so they asked me to give him a video call. However, I couldn’t get in touch with him. Chase claimed it was very normal, given their kind of business. Sometimes they need to go to places where they can’t get in touch with the outside world. Hence, Chase asked me to patiently wait for a few days. But I feel quite worried."

While describing the incident, Nancy heaved a long sigh. Quinton was the descendant of the Pierce family, so he was the same as Joanna. They were the masters that Nancy vowed to devote her life.

If anything happened to them, she would not be able to answer.

"So, you couldn’t get in touch with him for two days?"

"Yes, I heard from Chase that Mr. Pierce went to the south to collect a batch of treasures. The other party is rather violent and rough. So, I’m afraid that something may happen..."

When Nancy reached that point, she said carefully, "Miss Joan, when will you settle your issues over there? When are you going to return to the City? Both you and Mr. Pierce are not around. So, Miss Clara is the only one managing Stellar Group. It’s already a mess. A few days ago, some people came to make a scene. Miss Clara fought against them head-on. Now both parties involved were taken away by the police officers. Miss Clara is injured too..."

"What? Clara is injured and locked up?"

Joanna felt her temples throbbing. She was soon filled with deep guilt.

Both Joanna and Liam worked hard and endured hardships for four years to establish Stellar Group, developing it into what it was now.

During the half year that she was away, it was always her brother and Clara who helped to manage it.

Both of them were not good at doing business. Besides, they knew little about anything to do with electronic technology. Hence, it must be very difficult for them to manage the company.

"That’s right. They were too strong. They came to the company to provoke Miss Clara. She was so angry that a fight broke out, and she and hurt one of them. They quickly grabbed onto this incident and sued her for a criminal offense. Now... she’s still in prison. I don’t even know how much she has suffered."

Nancy had long wanted to tell Joanna about those affairs, but she held herself back all that while, fearing she might affect Joanna’s mood.

But now, they needed Joanna badly. If Nancy kept it a secret any longer, they might get into bigger trouble.

"Oh, okay, I got it. Don’t worry. I’ll come up with ways to deal with it."

Clutching her phone, Joanna felt great frustration and annoyance washing over her.

She knew that she should have gone home long ago. She should not have asked Quinton, Clara, and Nancy to bear those things. But...

She inevitably looked toward the antique shop. Jovan was still in there, waiting to present the surprise he had meticulously prepared for her.

What would happen to Jovan if she left?