Chapter 17 — Passionate About A Twisted Love

After being discharged from the hospital, Nha Dan returned to the villa to recuperate and was cared for more attentively by Thien Lam than before. He arranged his work to spend more time with her, personally monitoring her diet and rest. Every morning, he was the one who personally fed her spoonfuls of hot porridge before leaving home to go to work, and repeatedly told Mrs. Xuan Lan to call him immediately if the wound on her head showed any unusual signs, even if it was just a fleeting headache. There were nights when Nha Dan woke up from a dream of hearing the sound of a truck screeching behind her. Turning around, she saw him sitting against the edge of the bed, his hand still holding her hand as if he had never left.

But Cao Ba Vinh never gave up his intention of sabotage. The accident did not kill her, and the photo collage series was also exposed by Phan Dinh Long's technical team overnight thanks to false metadata traces - he realized his mistake: what was staged by himself from beginning to end always leaves loopholes. This time, he won't create anything fake. He would just borrow an established fact, editing only the most innocuous number — the date — something no technical expert would think to double-check when the recording sounded so real with every breath.

He asked someone to search through the group's old data archives and found a recording from an internal meeting many months ago, right after Nha Dan had just signed the engagement contract. During that meeting, when the board members questioned the decision to bring the enemy's daughter to live with them, Thien Lam responded in a cold, calm tone: "Don't worry, I'm just using her to fulfill my purpose. Once I get what I need, I will throw her away without mercy, just like how her family destroyed my family."

Those were the words Thien Lam said in the early stages, when he was still filled with hatred and never had any feelings for Nha Dan. But Cao Ba Vinh cleverly cut and edited the recording date to make it look like it was recently recorded, then anonymously sent the recording straight to Nha Dan's phone with a short, malicious message: "You should know the truth about the man you trust."

Nha Dan opened the recording while alone in the room, and Thien Lam's cold, cruel words sounded like knives cutting into her heart. Her finger reflexively tried to press pause to compare, like Phan Dinh Long did with last week's collage series - but this was not a photo that could be enlarged to reveal each discolored pixel. This is his voice, true to every breath, the exact sound of him tapping his pen on the wooden table every time he considers an answer, a habit too unique to be faked. She had no idea that this was an old recording with only the date edited, she only heard that familiar voice calmly declaring that she would mercilessly throw her away, and because it was so real, she was no longer alert enough to doubt it like last time.

Tears fell from her eyes, her whole body trembling. She remembered all the sweet moments recently, the words he said on the balcony the night of the event, the absolute trust he had in her while she was in the hospital, all of which suddenly became suspicious, as if it was just a sophisticated play staged by him so that she would relax her guard and volunteer to provide information to help him deal with Cao Ba Vinh, before being thrown away like an item that had no use.

She sat in a daze for hours, her mind spinning between the trust she had placed in Thien Lam and the doubt that was gradually taking over her mind. She wondered if she was too naive, too easily softened by his caring gestures that were actually just part of his sophisticated manipulation plan?

In the evening, when Thien Lam returned to his room to look for her as usual, he immediately noticed a difference in Nha Dan's attitude. She sat huddled on the bed, her eyes avoided, not daring to look directly at him, her whole body exuding an unprecedented coldness and distance.

"What's wrong with you? Is something wrong?" He asked, stepping closer, but Nha Dan immediately backed away, leaving him stunned.

"Don't come near me." She said, her voice trembling but filled with determination. "I heard everything."

"Hear what?" Thien Lam frowned, not understanding what was going on.

Nha Dan didn't say anything, just turned on the phone and played back the recording for him to listen to. When those cold and cruel words rang out, Thien Lam's face changed color, not because of embarrassment at being exposed, but because of surprise when he realized that this was a recording from an internal meeting many months ago, a meeting that he had almost forgotten.

"This is an old recording." He spoke immediately, his voice urgent. "This is what I said at the beginning, before..."

"Before what?" Nha Dan interrupted, her tears falling continuously. "Before I realized that I could still continue to use you to find evidence against Uncle Vinh? I had a plan from the beginning, right? Every gentleness, every word I said to you on the balcony that day, it was all just part of my plan."

"That's not true." Thien Lam stepped forward and tried to hold her hand, but Nha Dan pushed his hand away and dodged. "Nha Dan, you have to believe me, this recording has been edited with dates. These are words I said a long time ago, when I still didn't really understand what kind of person you were."

"How do you know if I'm telling the truth or lying to appease you?" Nha Dan asked, her voice choked with hurt. "I don't know what to believe anymore."

She stood up and began to pack a few personal items into a small handbag, her movements were hasty and fierce. "I need time alone. I can't continue living in this house when I don't know what's the truth and what's a lie anymore."

"Nha Dan, wait." Thien Lam tried to stop her, but Nha Dan bypassed him, quickly walked out of the room, down the stairs, straight to the villa gate, even though he called her name behind with an unprecedented urgent tone.

She walked in the night, tears falling endlessly, her heart was in extreme pain because she didn't know who or what else to believe amid the chaos of truth and lies surrounding her life. She did not realize that, behind all this suffering, a mastermind was still hiding in the shadows, contentedly watching the results of the elaborate plot of division that he had carefully arranged.

Leaving the villa gate, Nha Dan caught a taxi and called Quynh Chi in tears, her voice choked up without making a sound. Quynh Chi, even though it was the middle of the night, immediately agreed to let her stay in his small apartment temporarily, without asking much, just hugging her friend when she walked in the door, letting her cry freely on his shoulder.

"Tell me what happened." Quynh Chi said, after making Nha Dan a cup of warm tea, sitting down next to her on the small sofa in the cramped living room.

Nha Dan told the whole story about the recording, about the doubt that was tearing her heart apart. Quynh Chi listened attentively, then pondered for a long time before speaking.

"Nha Dan, I don't deny that the recording could hurt you, but have you considered the possibility that this is just another trick of Cao Ba Vinh? He just caused an accident and spread fake rumors about Viet Dang, and now such a suspicious recording appears, the timing is strangely coincidental."

Nha Dan was stunned, Quynh Chi's words were like a bucket of cold water, helping her become a little more alert in the midst of an emotional panic. "But what if that's really what he said? Even though it's an old recording, it still shows that at first he only considered me a tool of revenge."

"Yes, it may have been like that at first." Quynh Chi nodded and held your hand. "But people can change, Nha Dan. You've told me so many things he's done for you over the past time, from silently taking care of you, to standing up to protect you in front of the whole family, trusting you even when there was fake evidence against you. Those actions are not something someone who is just taking advantage of you can do."

Nha Dan was silent, Quynh Chi's words made her begin to waver, but the wound was still too new, too painful for her to immediately dismiss all doubts.

Meanwhile, at Thao Dien villa, Thien Lam stood silently in the middle of the empty living room, his hand still clutching the phone, his eyes fixed on the gate where Nha Dan had just left. He called her continuously but no one picked up. Each missed call made his heart ache even more.

"Mr. Lam, let me have someone find her." Phan Dinh Long suggested, noticing the owner's rare painful expression.

"No need." Thien Lam replied, his voice hoarse. "She needs time, I won't force her to come back right now. But you immediately find out where the recording was leaked from, who edited it and send it to Nha Dan."

That night, Thien Lam sat alone in his office, reopening the wooden box containing his teenage memories, his heart heavy with a pain that was hard to name. He realized that no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, even though he swore he would never let his heart be moved by anyone from the Vu family, he had completely failed. Nha Dan had crept into his heart without realizing it, and now, when she left in misunderstanding and pain, he realized he could not bear the feeling of losing her.

He took out an old photo taken with little girl Dan in the past, his fingers gently caressed the innocent face in the photo, then looked at the dark window outside. He promised himself that no matter how long it took, no matter how he had to prove it, he would regain her trust and let her understand that his feelings for her at this time were completely genuine, without any trace of hatred from those early dark days.