Chapter 12
Joanna didn't expect Henry's trash talk to keep getting nastier.
She really wanted to tell Henry that he wasn't even worthy of being Angelo's servant.
But knowing Angelo's low-key personality, she didn't reveal his identity.
She just firmly told Henry, "If you don't apologize, I won't handle Chad's case anymore!"
"How dare you!"
Henry raised his hand, about to slap her again.
Joanna was already prepared to take another slap from Henry. Over all these years, this was how Henry had beaten her growing up.
But the slap that should have landed on her face was blocked by Angelo.
Joanna jumped in shock and immediately asked about Angelo's condition. "Are you okay? Let's go to the hospital!"
Joanna knew how strong Henry was. When he slapped her, her face would stay swollen for days.
Angelo winked at her and squeezed her hand, whispering in her ear, "Do you mind if I teach your father a lesson?"
Joanna immediately understood what he wanted to do. She shook her head.
She was really fed up with Henry's endless harassment. It would be nice to have some peace and quiet for a while!
"Peter, you saw it. This person hit me! Take him to the police station! And I refuse to settle!"
Henry was stunned. As a man, he could tell this young man liked his daughter. He dared to be so arrogant because he was Joanna's father!
But he didn't expect this person wouldn't try to please him at all and would actually send him to the police station!
"Joanna, are you just going to watch your dad get sent to the police station? Beg him!" Henry ordered.
But Joanna turned her head away and ignored him.
"Joanna! You damn thing!" Henry panicked.
But Peter had already brought people from the court to restrain Henry. Now, Henry was scared.
"I was wrong! For my daughter's sake, let me go!" Even when begging, Henry's tone was commanding, as that was his habit.
Angelo ignored him, and Henry could only curse all the way as he was taken to the police station.
Watching Henry being taken away, Joanna suddenly felt relieved.
"Joanna, how many days do you want him to stay at the police station?" Angelo asked Joanna.
"As many as possible!" Joanna said through gritted teeth.
She was really fed up with Henry's endless verbal abuse and beatings.
"Then I won't hold back," Angelo said.
At Joanna's insistence, Angelo still went to the hospital, but fortunately, his face was fine, just a bit swollen that could be reduced with ice.
When they parted at the hospital entrance, Peter asked Joanna if she still wanted to continue looking for evidence to appeal.
"Yes." Joanna nodded without hesitation. "If Chad was framed, we won't pay this money for nothing."
Three million was not a small amount.
And Joanna understood Chad. Although he was just a small-time thug, he wouldn't lie.
Chad swore in court that he didn't kill anybody, just got caught up in some street fight—he wouldn't say that unless he was dead certain about it.
This case must not be simple.
Peter thought the same. "I'll try to work on this family. Please try again with the footage. There were many people at the bar that day, and there must have been quite a few people filming when it happened."
She nodded. "Thank you, Peter."
Angelo drove Joanna back. In the car, he asked about her progress on her divorce. "Chris doesn't seem very willing to divorce. Do you need my help?"
Angelo didn't want to get mixed up in this mess before. He didn't want people running their mouths about Joanna, saying she was fooling around with him. Joanna kept her nose clean in this marriage, and he wanted her to walk away from the divorce with her head held high. But now that Chris was being a total asshole, he felt bad for Joanna.
"Not for now. This is between Chris and me. Before the court hearing, Peter sent me the drafted divorce agreement. I'll go back and check the content, and after signing it, I'll send it to Chris."
"Then I wish you a smooth divorce in advance."
"Thank you. When I'm divorced, I'll treat you to dinner to celebrate!"
The car stopped at the apartment entrance. Angelo still had company matters to handle, so he didn't go up and left directly.
Peter had already sent over the drafted divorce agreement. Joanna opened the email to check.
After carefully reviewing the content and confirming there were no problems, she found a courier service to print and pick it up, and after signing it, had someone deliver it to Hillside Villa.
However, she didn't expect that the person who signed for this document wasn't Chris, but Chris's mother, Nicole Cooper, who rarely visited her son's villa.
Seeing the divorce agreement inside, Nicole was so angry she immediately called Joanna.
"Get your ass back to Hillside Villa right now! If you're not here within an hour, I'll call your father and make him cough up all the money he's spent from our family over the years!"
Then she hung up.
Joanna bit her lip. Although she had earned some money through Angelo's uncle's surgery, it definitely wasn't enough to repay all the money spent from the Coopers over the years.
Besides, Henry still didn't know about her divorce. She had to wait until she got the divorce certificate before she could tell him.
Thinking of this, Joanna put on light makeup to cover the slap mark on her right cheek and immediately took a taxi to Hillside Villa.
Since leaving, she hadn't been back in a long time.
The things she had left here were still there. It looked like Chris hadn't been living here recently either.
He had many properties in Austin City. Usually, unless it was to satisfy his sexual desires, he wouldn't come back at all.
Joanna entered and found the divorce agreement she had signed on the table in front of Nicole.
Joanna didn't expect her to have received it. Now she could only bite the bullet and walk over, asking, "Why did you call me back?"
Nicole snorted coldly. "You're such a pain in the ass! Chris has a million things going on at work, and he still has to deal with your drama! Didn't your brother just get mixed up in some murder case? With all this shit going down, you still want to throw a fit about divorce. Can't you just chill out for once!"
"Didn't you always say I wasn't good enough for Chris and should leave sooner?" Joanna pressed her lips together. "My asking for a divorce is exactly what you wanted, isn't it?"
Nicole sneered, "What makes you think you've got any right to ask for a divorce! Even if you two do split up, it should be Chris kicking your ass to the curb with nothing. You won't get jack shit! This agreement is worthless. I already called Chris. He'll be here any minute!"