Chapter 2 — Passionate About A Twisted Love

The Lam Phong Group headquarters building stands tall in the center of District 1, fifty-two floors of glass reflecting the bright afternoon sunlight, causing Nha Dan to squint his eyes when he looked up. She stood in front of the main lobby for more than twenty minutes, her hands clasped tightly around the handle of her bag, her heart beating erratically in her chest.

This was the first time in her life she stepped into such a powerful place.

She wore the most decent outfit she had, a simple white shirt and black skirt, trying to look as neat as possible even though she was in chaos inside. Last night she almost didn't sleep, she kept tossing and turning thinking about what to say, where to start, how to convince a stranger, a person whose family always saw her family as enemies, to help her.

But she had no other choice.

Nha Dan took a deep breath, walked through the revolving glass door, and entered the large reception hall with glossy marble floors reflecting crystal lights from the high ceiling. Everything here exudes luxury and power, making her feel even more small and out of place.

"Excuse me, can you tell me who you came to see?" The beautiful receptionist behind the counter asked, her eyes scanning Nha Dan's simple outfit with a bit of scrutiny.

"I want to meet President Cao Thien Lam." Nha Dan tried to keep her voice steady, even though her heart was trembling.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but I have something very important to meet with the president in person."

The receptionist looked at her with eyes as if she was familiar with similar situations, shaking her head slightly. "Sorry, Mr. Chairman does not accept guests without appointments. If you have something to do, I can pass the information on to the customer relations department."

Nha Dan choked for a moment, then gritted her teeth and continued. "Please, just tell him that I am Mr. Vu Dinh Bao's daughter. He will know who I am."

That name seems to have an invisible power. The receptionist froze for a moment, her eyes changed slightly, then picked up the internal phone to call to report to her superiors. Ten minutes later, a man wearing a black suit with a solemn appearance walked forward and introduced himself as the chairman's personal assistant, named Phan Dinh Long.

"Are you Vu Nha Dan?" He looked at her from head to toe, his eyes undisguised.

"Yes, I need to see Mr. Cao Thien Lam, it's very urgent."

Phan Dinh Long was silent for a moment, as if considering something, then nodded. "Follow me."

Nha Dan followed him into the private elevator, the feeling of suspense increasing as the floor numbers jumped up quickly. The elevator stopped on the fiftieth floor, the door opened into a long hallway covered with dark red carpet, with expensive abstract paintings hanging on both sides. At the end of the hallway was a large wooden door. Phan Dinh Long knocked lightly and pushed the door, signaling her to enter.

"Mr. President, Ms. Vu Nha Dan wants to see you."

Nha Dan walked into the large office room, the afternoon sunlight poured through the giant glass wall overlooking the entire city. Behind a glossy black mahogany desk, a man was sitting, without raising his head, just continuing to sign the stack of documents in front of him.

He is tall, broad shouldered, wearing a perfectly tailored ash gray suit that hugs his sturdy body. Neatly combed black hair, sharp facial features as if sculpted, high straight nose bridge, tightly pursed lips create a cold and unapproachable look. When he finally raised his head to look at her, Nha Dan felt like he was frozen under his knife-sharp gaze, a pair of deep black eyes without any emotion, cold and chilling.

"Vu Nha Dan." He said her name like he was tasting something bitter. "Daughter of Vu Dinh Bao."

"Yes, I'm Nha Dan." She tried to keep her voice calm, even though her legs were shaking. "I'm sorry for suddenly coming here without warning, but I really have no other choice."

Thien Lam put down the pen, leaned back in the chair, crossed her arms across her chest, her eyes swept over her body with undisguised contempt. "The daughter of the man who killed my father and bankrupted my family's company, now has the nerve to come in here looking for me. What do you want?"

The words were like a knife cutting into Nha Dan's self-esteem, but she thought of her mother lying in the hospital bed, of the heart rate monitor beeping steadily, and she swallowed all her pride.

"My father never did what people accused him of. He was suspended from the investigation because there was not enough evidence." She said, her voice trembling but determined.

"Suspending the investigation does not mean innocence, it just means there is insufficient evidence to convict." Thien Lam interrupted, his voice cold as ice. "My father trusted him like a brother, entrusted his entire life's business to him to partly manage, only to be betrayed, have every penny drained, the company went bankrupt, and his honor was destroyed. He was so depressed that he fell ill and died in frustration. Are you here to tell me that your father is innocent?"

"I didn't come here to argue about the past." Nha Dan bit her lip, feeling tears threatening to flow but she tried to hold it back. "I came here because my mother is in critical condition. She needs urgent kidney transplant surgery, costing two billion four hundred million dong, and I have no way to raise that amount of money in two weeks."

Thien Lam raised his eyebrows, the corner of his lips curled up into a cold, sarcastic smile. "So you came here to ask me for money?"

"I know this is ridiculous." Nha Dan bowed her head, her voice choked. "I know how much your family hates my family. But I have no one else to beg. I beg you, just lend me that money, I will do anything to pay it back, even if it takes my whole life."

"Whatever?" Thien Lam repeated, his voice carrying a strange tone that made Nha Dan shiver.

"Yes, anything." She raised her head, her eyes firmly looking straight at him, even though her heart was trembling to the extreme. "As long as you save my mother."

Thien Lam stood up, slowly walked around to the front of the table, leaned against the edge of the table, folded his arms and looked at her from above with cold, evaluating eyes. He was a head taller than her, making her have to look up to look into his eyes.

"You know, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time." He said, his voice low and menacing. "Waiting for one day, someone from the Vu family will have to kneel in front of me and beg me for something. I didn't expect that day to come so soon, and it would be you."

"I don't care about the past between our two families." Nha Dan trembled but still tried to keep her voice steady. "I only care about saving my mother. If you want me to kneel, I will."

Having finished speaking, she actually knelt down on the cold floor, bowed her head low in front of him, placed her hands on the floor, her tears finally could no longer be held back and fell in drops.

"Please, save my mother. I beg you."

The room fell into a heavy silence. Thien Lam looked down at the girl kneeling in front of him. This was exactly the moment he had been imagining for twelve long years, yet his chest did not swell with any joy as he had imagined, only a strange sharp pain shot straight up his throat. He gritted his teeth tightly, his knuckles that were crossed in front of his chest tightened until they turned white, as if he was forcing himself not to bend down to help her stand up.

He looked closely at her face, her big eyes filled with tears, the bridge of her delicate nose, there was something in that face that made him feel strangely familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere a long time ago, in a distant memory that he deliberately buried.

But he quickly quelled that feeling, clenched his teeth, and his eyes returned to their original coldness.

"Get up." He said, his voice without any emotion. "I don't like seeing other people kneel in front of me, at least not this way."

Nha Dan raised her head, her eyes flashing with a fragile hope. "So will you help me?"

Thien Lam turned around and walked back behind the desk, sat down in the chair, his eyes looking at her full of calculation. "Get up first. I haven't said I agree yet."

Nha Dan slowly stood up, her legs were still shaking, but her eyes did not leave him, waiting for the answer that would decide her mother's fate.

"I'll think about it." Thien Lam said, his voice was cold and unpredictable. "But if I help you, it won't be free. There will be conditions, and those conditions won't be easy. Are you sure you're willing to pay any price?"

"I'm ready." Nha Dan replied without hesitation, even though in her heart she had no idea how terrible the price would be.

Thien Lam curled his lips slightly, a smile without any warmth. "Then come back here in three days. I'll give you the answer."

"Thank you." Nha Dan bowed her head, even though her heart was still filled with hundreds of worries, not knowing what the next three days would bring.

When she left the room, Thien Lam sat silently behind the desk for a long time, his eyes glued to the door that had just closed, his mind echoing the image of the girl kneeling and begging in front of him. He opened his desk drawer, took out an old photo that had yellowed over time, in which were his father and another man smiling brightly, shaking hands warmly, behind was the inauguration sign of Cao Nguyen Thinh Company's headquarters.

The man standing next to his father in that photo is Vu Dinh Bao.

Thien Lam squeezed the photo in his hand, his eyes darkened. Twelve years of hatred cannot disappear just because of a few tears from one girl. But he also couldn't deny that this opportunity, the opportunity to have his enemy's daughter kneel before him, to live under his control, was too good an opportunity to miss.

I will help her, but in my own way. And Vu Nha Dan will have to pay a much more expensive price than she could have imagined.