Chapter 20 — Debt Book at the End of the Alley

The cafe Nam chose is hidden in a small alley away from the downtown area, where he is unlikely to encounter his colleagues. Dieu arrived at the appointed time and saw Nam already sitting at the table in the corner, in front of him was a laptop and a thick file of documents carefully clamped in a plastic cover.

"I'm here," Nam said, standing up to pull out a chair for her. His face seemed more tense than usual, his eyes were dark as if he hadn't slept for several nights in a row.

“Are you okay?” Dieu asked, immediately realizing the abnormality in his attitude.

“I'm fine,” Nam replied, although his voice was not very convincing. "It's just that these past few days I've had to find a way to access some internal documents without leaving too obvious traces. If the company finds out what I'm doing, I'll definitely lose my job, and maybe even be sued for violating the confidentiality contract."

Dieu felt a feeling of guilt mixed with gratitude well up in her heart. "You don't need to risk your life for me like that, Nam. If it's too dangerous, we'll find another way."

"No," Nam shook his head firmly, "I'm not only doing this for you, but for the whole Ben Cat neighborhood, because I don't want to be part of a shady plan targeting innocent people. I need to know the truth, even if that truth could destroy my own career."

He opened the laptop, turned the screen around for Dieu to see, his tone turned serious and concise as if he was presenting an important report. "I found Kim Phat's share ownership chart. Look here - this company was founded just eight months ago, its charter capital is very small, but it has the ability to lend unusually large sums of money. Going back, one of the three founding shareholders named another shell company, and that shell company..."

He stopped, took a sip of coffee to calm himself before continuing. “...shares a board member with the parent company of the group he is working for, which is the unit behind the Ben Cat Riverside project.”

Dieu felt her heart beat faster, even though she had somewhat predicted this outcome. "So you guessed right. Kim Phat is not a normal lending company, but was created on purpose, to trap households in urgent need of money, then use the debt to force land to be sold at cheap prices."

“That's right,” Nam confirmed, his voice filled with the indignation he was trying to suppress. "I also found an internal memo, without mentioning the specific sender's name, but the content mentioned 'accelerating the progress of collecting land funds in the Ben Cat area through informal financial channels' before the project was officially announced to the public. I believe this is an implicit directive for the establishment of Kim Phat."

Dieu picked up the printed document and flipped through each page, her hands shaking slightly with emotion and anger. This was the evidence she and lawyer Khoa needed — not only to protect her mother's shop, but also to protect other families in the alley who were facing similar debts.

“Can you give these documents to my lawyer?” Dieu asked, even though she clearly understood that this meant putting Nam in a much higher risk situation.

Nam was silent for a moment, thinking carefully before answering. "You copied it all, deleting all traces of access from the company system. But if this document is used as official evidence in court or authorities, there is a high possibility that they will investigate otherwise." origin, and I'm not sure I can keep my identity hidden forever.”

“Are you scared?” Dieu asked softly, looking straight into his eyes.

“Yes,” Nam answered honestly, not avoiding it at all. “But I'm more afraid of having to live with complicit silence. He grew up in this area. Even though his family moved away a long time ago, he still considers Ben Cat a part of his flesh and blood. I can't stand by and watch it be destroyed just because a group of people want to profit."

Dieu held his hand, a simple gesture but filled with deep gratitude. “Thank you, Nam. No matter what happens next, I will never forget what you sacrificed for us.”

They spent another half hour together reviewing every detail in the document, marking the most important points that needed to be presented to lawyer Khoa. Nam also made a bold proposal — instead of just using evidence to defend against debt, they could consider disclosing all this information to the press or management agencies, if the situation becomes too urgent.

“But that will be the last step,” Nam warned. “Once it goes public, there will be no turning back, and both you and I will have to face significant legal and social consequences.”

Dieu nodded, understanding the seriousness of this decision. “I will let lawyer Khoa evaluate first to see which strategy is most effective and has the least risk for everyone.”

Leaving the coffee shop, Dieu immediately called lawyer Khoa, her voice could not hide the excitement mixed with nervousness. “Uncle Khoa, I have important evidence. I need to see you as soon as possible.”

Lawyer Khoa, although busy, still arranged an appointment that afternoon. When listening to Dieu's presentation and looking through the documents Nam provided, he nodded, his eyes clearly revealing the seriousness of a person who had just realized the complexity and seriousness of the case, which went far beyond a normal civil dispute.

“This is valuable evidence,” he said, looking carefully at each page of the document. “If we can verify the origin and legality of the collection method, we can use it to request authorities to investigate real estate market manipulation through black credit. But you need to be mentally prepared, this process will not be fast, and the other side will definitely protest strongly when they realize they have been exposed.”

Dieu nodded, clearly feeling the weight of what was to come. She looked out the window of lawyer Khoa's office, where the city was still bustling about as usual, unaware of the silent battle going on to protect a small alley from being wiped out because of the greed of a few people behind complex corporate shells.

That evening, when recounting the entire incident to Uncle Tu and Huong, all three clearly realized that they had crossed an important threshold - from simply defending against a debt, they now held the ability to expose a much larger conspiracy, affecting the fate of an entire community. The road ahead will certainly be full of thorns and risks, but for the first time since everything started, Dieu feels he is no longer in a passive position, but has in hand the necessary tools to proactively fight for justice.

After listening, Uncle Tu was silent for a long time, his hands clasped together on the table. “If it is according to the documents Nam gave it," he said, his voice low, "so from the beginning, your mother's loan was not a simple financial accident, but a trap set up, waiting for someone to fall into it."

“I think so too,” Dieu replied, squeezing the cup of tea in her hand to calm herself. “And if it's a trap, then the fact that someone 'introduced' my mother to borrow from Kim Phat is even more suspicious. I still haven't found out who that person is, but now that I have a clearer motive, I believe I will be able to track it down.”

Huong, who still holds the most alert role in the group, spoke up to analyze. “The important thing now is to keep this information confidential until lawyer Khoa has prepared the strategy. If it is revealed early, Kim Phat or the company behind it may have time to erase the traces, or worse, put pressure back on his family and Mr. Nam."

“Huong is right,” Uncle Tu nodded in agreement. “From now on, this matter should only be limited to a few people who know, the fewer people who know, the safer. Even Mrs. Sau, even if you believe her, you shouldn't speak too quickly, to avoid making a mistake somewhere."

Dieu agreed, even though she felt heavy in her heart as she had to continue to keep it a secret, even though this time it was for strategic reasons, not because of fear or shame like before. She looked around the small kitchen, where the yellow light shone on the dear faces that had accompanied her through many ups and downs over the past weeks - Uncle Tu with calloused hands from a lifetime of work, Huong with sharp eyes that always knew how to see through problems, and even the invisible figure of her mother, who was always present in every decision even though she was lying on a hospital bed.

“I've come a long way,” Dieu said, her voice both tired and filled with determination. “From knowing nothing about the debt, knowing nothing about my mother's past, I now have evidence, a lawyer, and an ally willing to risk my career for the right cause. Believe me, if our whole neighborhood unites, we won't let anyone bully us."

Uncle Tu patted her shoulder, his eyes shining with undisguised pride. “You are exactly like your mother, in the way you refuse to give in to injustice. My mother was like that in the past, no matter how poor she was, she never let anyone bully her neighbors."

That night, after Uncle Tu and Huong left, Dieu sat alone at the old wooden table, spread out the documents Nam gave him again under the table lamp, read and reread each line as if to engrave them in his memory. She knew, these fragile pages now carried the weight of a war - not only for her family's forty years of attachment to this alley, but also for the future of dozens of other households living in similar insecurity. Folding the documents and storing them carefully in a locked cabinet, Dieu turned off the lights, stepped out onto the porch and looked up at the star-studded night sky, silently promising herself and her mother that, no matter how difficult the road ahead was, she would not back down.