Chapter 23 — Back Before The Wedding Day

The official meeting between Bao Ngoc and the inspection team took place on Friday morning, in a private meeting room arranged discreetly to avoid causing a stir within the company. Khanh Linh was not allowed to be present in person at the meeting, but she sat and waited in the hallway with lawyer Kien, her heart heavy with anxiety mixed with hope.

Three hours passed slowly like centuries. Finally, the door of the meeting room opened, Bao Ngoc walked out with a tired face but eyes filled with relief of someone who had just let go of the burden that had been suppressed for many months.

"I told the whole truth," she told Khanh Linh, her voice still shaking but full of determination. "I submitted all my text messages, emails, and even a recording of a conversation with Ms. Kim Chi that I secretly saved from last week, in case it's needed."

Khanh Linh hugged her friend, unable to hide her emotions. "You did it. Thank you for everything you sacrificed."

That very afternoon, the news spread quickly within the corporation - Ms. Kim Chi was urgently summoned to work with the inspection team, and the atmosphere throughout the company became extremely tense. Some senior employees began to worry about the future of their jobs, while others whispered about the possibility that the corporation would face a major crisis.

Late at night, when Khanh Linh was on her way home, she received a call from lawyer Kien, his voice was both serious and a little excited. "Linh, I just received unofficial information - Ms. Kim Chi tried to transfer a large sum of money abroad this afternoon, right after learning about Bao Ngoc's testimony. The authorities promptly blocked this transaction."

Khanh Linh's heart beats faster. "So that means..."

"That means, this action itself has become irrefutable evidence of the intention to disperse illegal assets," Mr. Kien said, his voice full of confidence. "With all the evidence available — the draft contract, the test transaction, Bao Ngoc's testimony, the potential testimony from Dang Khoa, and now this asset dispersal — I believe, the case will soon have an official conclusion in the next few days."

Hanging up, Khanh Linh felt a wave of intense emotions rising — relief, hope, but also worry about what would happen next. She knows that a person like Mrs. Kim Chi, when cornered, can have unpredictable reactions.

True to her hunch, less than an hour later, Khanh Linh received a call from an unknown number. The voice on the other end of the line sent chills down her spine - it was Mrs. Kim Chi's voice, but this time there was no longer any authority or coldness, but full of desperation, almost madness.

"Are you satisfied? You've destroyed everything I've built over the past twenty years," she said, her voice shaking with both anger and panic. "You think you'll get a good ending after all you've done?"

"I didn't mean to destroy anything you built," Khanh Linh replied, trying to keep her voice calm even though her hands were shaking slightly. "I'm just trying to stop the mistakes you're making, before they cause irreversible consequences for too many innocent people. different."

"Mistake?" Mrs. Kim Chi laughed dryly, a bitter laugh. "You're too young to understand, in this world, sometimes people have to do imperfect things to protect what they love most."

"I understand, maybe you did all of this because you wanted to protect Dang Khoa, protect the corporation you worked so hard to build," Khanh Linh said, her voice softening a bit, not wanting to stir up unnecessary hatred. "But the path she chose went against the very values she was supposed to protect."

The other end of the line was silent for a long time, only the sound of Mrs. Kim Chi's heavy breathing echoed through the phone. Finally, she spoke, her voice softened somewhat, carrying a deep tiredness. "Perhaps, you're right. I've gone too far, and now there's no turning back."

The call ended abruptly after that, causing Khanh Linh to stand still for a moment, feeling an indescribable complexity in her heart - not the joy of victory, but a deep sadness at the fall of a man who once held great power and ambition, but lost himself on the path of pursuing the wrong things.

She immediately called Lam Quoc Bao and recounted the entire call, her voice still shaking a bit. He listened silently, then spoke, his voice filled with worry. "Are you okay? Did she say anything that was directly threatening?"

"Not really," Khanh Linh replied, trying to calm down. “She just… sounded like someone who was exhausted, didn't have the strength to fight anymore. I didn't expect to feel a little pity for her, even though I knew clearly what she had done."

"It shows that you still maintain your kindness, even in the harshest of circumstances," Lam Quoc Bao said, his voice gentle. "That is something to be appreciated, not a weakness."

At the same time, Khanh Linh's phone reported a new message from Dang Khoa: "My mother just called me, her voice... I've never heard my mother talk with such desperation before. I will go see her right now." Khanh Linh read the message, her heart heavy with concern for Dang Khoa's mood in this difficult moment.

"Are you okay?" she texted back, unable to hide her sincere concern even though things had come to this.

"I don't know," Dang Khoa responded after a few minutes. "But I know I made the right choice when I decided to tell the truth. It's just... seeing my mother fall like that, even though she was wrong, it's still indescribably heartbreaking."

"I understand that feeling," Khanh Linh texted back, thinking about the complicated struggles she was also going through. “But you did the right thing. Sometimes, loving someone doesn't mean being silent about their mistakes."

There was no further response from Dang Khoa after that, only heavy silence remained, signaling that a long night full of emotional storms was waiting for him ahead.

The next morning, the official news was announced internally - Ms. Kim Chi voluntarily suspended all executive activities, temporarily delegating authority to another vice president while waiting for the official investigation conclusion from the authorities. The announcement was carefully drafted to maintain minimal face, but everyone understood that this was essentially a forced step back in the face of undeniable legal pressure.

Khanh Linh read the announcement on the internal bulletin board company, a feeling of mixed relief and emptiness arose. This was what she had been looking forward to for nearly a year, since the day of her rebirth, but when that moment actually came, she did not feel the complete joy of victory as she imagined, but instead felt a complicated stillness, mixed with many thoughts about the price of a long and arduous journey.

Bao Ngoc found her desk right after that, her eyes were still a little confused but much more steadfast than the first days. "It's almost over, isn't it?" she asked, her voice half hopeful and half worried.

"I think so," Khanh Linh replied, holding her friend's hand tightly. "But perhaps, this is just the end of a chapter, there is still a lot to rebuild after this storm."

"I think so too," Bao Ngoc nodded, her eyes looking far away out the office window, where the city was still bustling with daily life as if no events had just happened. "But at least, we have overcome the most difficult part together. I believe, what lies ahead, no matter what, will be much easier than what we just went through."

That afternoon, the whole design team gathered to eat together. The atmosphere was much less tense than the previous days, although there was still a hint of worry about the future of the corporation. Lam Quoc Bao sat next to Khanh Linh, occasionally glancing at her with concerned eyes, as if silently watching every smallest expression on her face to make sure she was okay after all the recent upheavals.

"You need to rest a bit," he said softly, just loud enough for her to hear. "You've been stressed for weeks."

"I will try," Khanh Linh replied, smiling with relief, clearly feeling the warm concern from him creeping into her heart, easing some of the fatigue that had accumulated throughout a long and turbulent journey.