CHAPTER 582: CHAPTER 582

Joanna followed Clara’s finger; her eyes fixated on the man as she frowned." Mr. Winston?

No way... He’s one of the first people who partnered with Stellar Group, and he’s considered an old friend of ours. I wouldn’t

When Stellar Group was first founded, it was just a small company with no name and nothing to offer, so there were very few business partners who were willing to work with them. Each partnership they had managed to get back then was the fruit of their hard labor.

Mr. Winston was actually great, being a down-to-earth man. Although he wasn’t exactly the most powerful person to work with, he was certainly the most reliable one.

This was why Joanna refused to believe he would ever betray them like this. "I think there’s more to the eye..."

"But... the angle! It’s definitely taken from this angle! Even if he hadn’t uploaded the video, he was the one who recorded it! It’s obvious that he had ulterior motives for doing so!"

"Ah, let’s just forget about it for now. We have to think of some way to take down all those photos and videos, along with all the hate comments! We have to make sure it dies down before Quinton finds out!" Joanna didn’t care to overthink this any further, as she only wanted to get this over and done with.

With that, the two women locked themselves up in another lounge within the hotel, doing everything in their power to contact anyone to take down any posts and ban any users. At times, they even started retorting back at some of the netizens.

Netizen: [Bleurgh, that’s disgusting! He’s so ugly, whoever who dines with him would surely vomit, right?!]

Joanna: [If you vomit so easily, I suggest you go seek medical attention. Just look at all the bullsh*t you’re spewing!]

Netizen: [Just look at that scar on his face. He’s definitely some kind of thug. He probably got what he deserved.]

Joanna: [If you like judging someone by their looks so much, why don’t you take a good look at yourself in the mirror?]

Netizen: [Why is someone still defending someone so ugly? Are they into ugly b*stards?!]

Joanna: [Thanks for noticing. I just simply hate stupidity, especially stupid people who judge books by their cover!]

After Joanna’s many attempts, she managed to sway the netizens’ views on her brother’s looks.

Netizen 1: [Just here for the hype, it’s such a shame that a man with such defined features ended up with a scar like that.]

Netizen 2: [Same, I think he’d be more good-looking than most idols out there if not for that scar!]

Netizen 3: [If he really is Joanna Pierce’s brother, maybe his face was scarred by the very same people who took down the Pierce family! Oh my god, what evil!]

Betizen 3: [Wait, that does sound like an interesting idea. Come on, guys! Let’s look into this!]

People were like sheep, blindly following the way in which the wind blew.

At first, many were berating Quinton for his looks, but now most were defending him with all their might. Some even started looking into the truth of his scars.

Seeing how the trending topics were dying, Joanna felt much more relieved. She then put away her laptop and took a sip of her orange juice. She turned to Clara, who was still frantically looking for people who could help take down the posts. "Clara, take a break. I think

we have it under control now."

"Mhm, I think so too. Looks like most of the netizens still have some decency." Clara lets out a sigh of relief after hanging up as well.

The women then proceeded to talk about everything and anything, only to find themselves feeling quite sleepy hours later. With that, they resigned to bed.

The next day, as dawn was just approaching, Joanna was bombarded with a barrage of calls from Clara.

"Joan, you’re still sleeping!? Something’s happened again! Quick... check online!"

Joanna rubbed her eyes groggily. "What is it? Are there people insulting my brother again? Ugh, back to the warzone!"

"No, no, not your brother, but your ex-husband! Just look... Everyone’s going for his throat!

This is great!" Clara pridefully exclaimed on the other end of the line.

"What? Ace Moran?" Joanna instantly sat up and looked through her phone. The first three trending searches were now all related to Ace, and each was as shocking as the other.

The first three words in the search were all related to Ace, and every word was enough to be described as explosive.

[Ace Moran’s brutality!]

[Ace Moran should be in jail!]

[Ace Moran is an absolute scum!]

The woman’s entire body tensed up, her eyes glued to her phone screen. After that, she clicked on each of the articles and read through its contents.

A user named ’l_Got_You_Good_Now’ seemed to have written a long essay about how Quinton was once abandoned in a village where he fell victim to horrifying abuse during his entire childhood. Then, it described how Ace was responsible for scarring his face.

The highlight of this post was an expose of Quinton’s looks before he was irreversibly

disfigured. He did, in fact, look like a noble, dashing young man.

As soon as this post was published, many started sympathizing with Quinton and quickly came to his defense, especially after reading about his traumatic past. They turned on Ace and pounced on his character instead.

Netizen 1: [I knew I was right when I said that rich guys like him were evil! He’s so used to power and wealth! It’s not surprising that he’d do something so wicked!]

Netizen 2: [And this was the only leaked incident too! Who knows what else he does behind the public eye? His victims probably can’t even rest in peace!]

Netizen 3: (Ace Moran is such a hypocrite. To think I used to be a fan of Moran my

Pierce! Looks like their divorce was well deserved!]

Netizen 4: [I have no words, but I will never buy any of Moran group’s products ever again! I’ll play my part as a good citizen!]

The internet was a rather terrifying place, where the winds could shift in any direction at any time. Since most netizens could be easily manipulated -with many simply jumping in on the bandwagon to join the hype-Ace became no different than a street rat.

"How could this have happened? Who’s the one leaking all this information? " Joanna was conflicted.

She had special feelings for Ace, after all. Even though they were in a nocontact phase now, she still couldn’t bear seeing him in such deep water. She simply couldn’t help worrying about him.

After calming down, she decided to find the IP address of this user, hoping to learn about their purpose for doing all this.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and Joanna answered the door swiftly.

"Morning, Boss."

Outside the door was Liam, who was in what seemed like a causal outfit and holding a cupcake. He then flashed her a bright smile. "Your favorite ’ Blueberry Nights’ right? I went down a few blocks just to get it for you."

Joanna was nearly moved to tears as her eyes lit up. She took it without hesitation and replied, "Oh, Liam, you know me so well! I’ve been craving this for a while now!" ’Blueberry Nights’ was a cupcake that Joanna adored very much. Hence, every time Liam came to visit, he’d personally bring her one, as if there were some hidden agreement between the two.