Chapter 19 — It's Too Late, Doctor Vu

The largest conference hall of Anh Duong International Hospital, which is often used for important events, was packed with people that Thursday morning. All members of the Board of Directors sit at the front row of tables, Mr. Ly Thanh Dat and the legal and financial team of Meridian Healthcare Foundation sit in a position of honor, while behind them are the deans and representatives of important departments invited to attend to witness the signing ceremony scheduled to take place at the end of the meeting.

The atmosphere in the room carried a solemnity mixed with an underlying tension that not everyone noticed, except for a few people who knew in advance what was about to happen. Vuong Ba Khiem sat in the front row, his demeanor still calm and confident as usual, occasionally glancing towards Dinh Vu who was sitting not far away with a calculating, searching look.

In just a few minutes, everything will be decided, there is no turning back for anyone in this meeting room. If the evidence he and Nguyen have painstakingly collected over the past several weeks are not convincing enough in this single presentation, not only will his career and honor collapse right in front of the investors, but Vuong Ba Khiem, with his position of power intact, can completely turn the tables immediately afterward - turning Lam Nhi from a victimized wife into an accused profiteer, forcing her into an unequal legal and public opinion battle that she will have to bear alone. Going forward, hundreds of hospital employees will lose an investment that could determine the future of their own work. This is not a presentation that can be missed and then done better next time. There's only one chance.

Ton Ba Thanh opened the meeting with a speech welcoming investors, summarizing the two-year negotiation journey and the achievements the hospital has achieved. He talked about the impressive growth numbers, about the dedicated team of doctors and nurses, and about the vision of expanding into a regional hospital chain in the next five years. Mr. Ly Thanh Dat listened attentively, occasionally nodding with satisfaction. The legal team next to him was also reviewing the final terms of the contract in preparation for the signing ceremony.

Then, for the pre-agreed presentation, Ton Ba Thanh introduced Dinh Vu to speak. His voice was a bit more reserved than usual because he knew in advance that something not simple was about to happen. His eyes accidentally glanced at Vuong Ba Khiem sitting unusually quiet in the front row, and a vague premonition of something big about to happen made him nervous.

Dinh Vu stepped up to the podium to speak, Lam Nhi sat in the first row reserved for special guests, her eyes followed his every step with absolute support. He looked around the room, took a deep breath, and then began.

"Dear Chairman Ton Ba Thanh, Mr. Ly Thanh Dat and everyone present today. Before presenting the professional development orientation as originally planned, I would like to talk about a more important truth, directly related to the reputation and transparency that our hospital is trying to build before investors."

The whole room suddenly fell silent, all eyes turned to him. Vuong Ba Khiem frowned slightly, his body tensed up in an undisguised alertness.

"For the past five years, I have been legally married to a woman I love and cherish — Ms. Chu Lam Nhi, who is present here." Dinh Vu said, his voice rang out clearly, without trembling. "We have a four-year-old daughter. Because of the pressure from the hospital's 'dedicated single doctor' image strategy, I hid this truth, leaving my wife and children to live in the dark for many years. This was my mistake, and I apologize for it."

Whispers began to echo throughout the meeting room, many surprised eyes turned towards Lam Nhi, who still sat up straight, calmly accepting all looks with a confidence that she had rediscovered after everything she had been through.

"But that's not the most important thing I want to talk about today." Dinh Vu continued, his voice becoming more serious. "Recently, my family became the target of a deliberate, elaborate plot to destroy my marriage, creating a scandal big enough to shake the reputation of the hospital's leadership right at the most sensitive time of this investment deal."

Vuong Ba Khiem stood up suddenly, his face had lost its original composure. "Doctor Vu, I think you should stop. This is not the right place to—"

"Please allow me to explain everything, Mr. Vice President." Dinh Vu interrupted, his voice still remaining absolutely calm even though many emotions were surging inside. "I believe that the entire board and investors alike deserve to know the whole truth, before any decisions are made."

Vuong Ba Khiem sat down on the chair, but just a second later he jumped up again, changing the direction of his attack. "Okay, then I would like to speak frankly, in front of the entire council and Mr. Ly." He turned to Ly Thanh Dat, trying to regain some of his familiar authority. "A doctor defends himself, using recordings of unknown origin to blame a board member who has been with this hospital for more than twenty years - is it true, or is it just a stage staged to cover up the fact that the assistant has taken advantage of her position to tie up Dr. Vu for the past five years?" His eyes directed straight at Lam Nhi, deliberately digging deep into the wound he had inflicted from the emergency meeting the day before.

The whispers spread throughout the room again, a few eyes turned towards Lam Nhi. Before Dinh Vu could speak, she stood up from the chair, her body straight, her voice clear, without any trace of the woman who had to bow to her husband like a stranger in the hospital hallway for five years.

"Dear Vice President Khiem, you continue to doubt my motives, but I think you understand better than anyone in this room why you know exactly every detail of that night — because you were the one who planned it." She spoke, each sentence slowly but decisively. "During five years of working as a personal assistant, I have never received a single penny other than the salary of the position I hold, and have never asked for any privileges. If I had truly taken advantage of my position as you said, perhaps I would not have taken my children and left my own house in the middle of a rainy night, and would not have had to live in a cramped rented apartment for weeks, just because my pride would not allow me to stay in a place where I was suspected of being betrayed by the person I love the most." Having finished speaking, she slowly sat down, without waiting for his reaction, as if she had finished pouring out what she needed to say.

Mr. Ly Thanh Dat, still silently observing from the beginning, frowned slightly, his eyes moved from Khiem to Lam Nhi with a much clearer focus than before, the pen in his hand stopped in the middle of the page.

Dinh Vu nodded slightly to his wife, a silent appreciation flashed in his eyes, then signaled to Nguyen. Nguyen immediately connected the projector and showed each carefully prepared piece of evidence one by one in the correct order as discussed - first, the technical analysis report of an independent expert, zooming in on each photo and message that had been spread on social networks, highlighting in red the abnormalities in lighting, shadows in the wrong direction and undeniable layering traces, proving that the entire previous smear campaign against Lam Nhi was just a staged product using image editing software; Next is the data showing that the villa's security camera system was disabled from Vuong Ba Khiem's administrator account; then came information about the relationship and debt between him and Vuong Tuyet Nhung; and finally the most important recording — Vuong Ba Khiem's own voice directing the details of the staging plan over the phone.

Vuong Ba Khiem's cold, calculating voice echoed clearly throughout the room: "...you just need to stay until morning, create the most natural scene possible, let his wife see for herself..."

The entire room fell into dead silence for a few seconds, before panicked whispers erupted violently. Mr. Ly Thanh Dat sat in the row of honor, his face did not show much emotion, but the sharp eyes of an experienced investor followed every detail with absolute attention, taking quick notes in his private notebook.

"This is fake evidence! Someone spliced my voice!" Vuong Ba Khiem shouted, his face red with anger and panic, but his voice had completely lost its original confidence.

"This evidence was sent to the hospital's independent legal office with a clear time stamp from three days ago, sir." Nguyen spoke from behind the projector, each word slowly and clearly as if reading an indisputable test result. "We may also invite an independent audio expert to verify authenticity, if requested by the Board of Directors."

Vuong Ba Khiem was silent for a second, his eyes quickly scanned the room, trying to find the last gap to defend. "Let's assume that recording is real." He lowered his voice, trying to regain the composure of a seasoned administrator. "So what? Those were just words on the phone to a woman who was in debt to me, and could have been completely taken out of context. Are you going to rely on the testimony of someone who is willing to do anything for money to convict me? If you find her, she will probably only say things that benefit herself."

Dinh Vu looked straight at him, not flinching at all. "Then perhaps, you should ask her that yourself, Vice President." He turned and nodded to Nguyen.

Nguyen pulled out his phone and sent a short text message that had been agreed upon the night before - the last backup plan that the three of them had secretly prepared, in case Vuong Ba Khiem intentionally denied the recording or turned to discredit the person providing evidence. The signal has been sent. Now it's just a matter of waiting.

Lam Nhi sat in the front row, her hands clasped tightly together on her thighs, her heart pounding with every word her husband spoke. She remembers that fateful morning standing on the stairs, remembers the long lonely nights in the small apartment, remembers the despair when looking at fake photos spread on the internet - all were now being exposed to the light, each piece of that pain had finally found a worthy answer. She looked up at Dinh Vu standing on the podium. Their eyes met for a brief moment, enough to give each other the strength needed to continue until the end.

Less than half a minute later, the conference room door opened. Vuong Tuyet Nhung walked in from the small adjacent room, where she had been quietly waiting since the beginning of the meeting according to the discussed plan, her face was pale but her eyes were full of determination. She approached the council, her voice trembling but clear.

"I am the person in that recording talking to. I accept responsibility for my actions, but I also want to state clearly that I was forced by Mr. Vuong Ba Khiem to participate in this entire plan, from setting up the scene at Dr. Vu's house, to creating recent fake images and messages."

There's no turning back. Tuyet Nhung's appearance was the final fatal blow.

Vuong Ba Khiem turned to look at her, for a moment his eyes revealed a naked threat, as if he was still trying to force her to stay silent with the weight of the debt he had used to bind her for so long. But Tuyet Nhung did not avoid those eyes anymore. She stood straight, looked straight at him, then turned to the entire council, continuing to say everything she knew, not letting anything stop her again.

Ton Ba Thanh stood up from his chair, his face pale with shock at what had just been revealed. "Vice President Khiem, do you have anything to explain these serious accusations?"

Vuong Ba Khiem stood silently in the middle of the meeting room. His eyes wandered around, looking for a way out that didn't exist. Years of building the image of a calm, trustworthy administrator collapsed in just a few minutes, right in front of the people who once respected him the most. He opened his mouth, intending to say something—perhaps a final denial, perhaps a familiar threat. But not a single sound escaped. There was no more evidence left to bend. There's no one left to threaten. There was no debt large enough to buy silence. He fell silent.

Mr. Ly Thanh Dat, still maintaining the composure of an experienced investor in the midst of chaos, spoke up, his voice rang out clearly, cutting through the tense atmosphere that was covering the entire meeting room. "I suggest we pause for five minutes to give the Board time to handle this situation appropriately, before continuing with the agenda."

His proposal was accepted immediately, the entire meeting room was in chaos during that short break, noisy discussions rang out everywhere, while Vuong Ba Khiem was invited out of the meeting room by two hospital security guards, following Ton Ba Thanh's urgent instructions, to avoid causing more chaos. His face as he walked away still had the stunned look of someone who had just witnessed the entire plan he had built so painstakingly collapsed in just a split second. No more words were spoken, only the sound of his footsteps disappearing behind the meeting room door, ending five years of lies that he sowed.