Chapter 37 — Post-Divorce Rebound: Claiming My Daughter and Starting Over

"Is that just empty talk?"

"You know the truth better than anyone."

I continued to press her, sensing her resolve fraying.

"It won't be long now. The Deep will know. He has already begun his investigation into your offshore accounts and your intimate dealings with the General Manager of the Enlightened Fund. Imagine, if you will, the moment he realizes that the heirs he has poured his life into cultivating are not of his blood at all. Worse yet, imagine him discovering that they are merely the products of your illicit transactions with criminal organizations. How do you think he will treat you then?"

"No... that is not how it is... you are lying to me! The Deep would never believe someone like you!"

Lin Vy Vy’s voice was ragged, dripping with desperation and a frantic, brittle madness.

"Whether he believes me or not is no longer a matter for you or me to decide," I replied coldly. "The evidence will speak for itself. The contents of your private box, the cards held by Chu Bich Hoa, and—did you truly think that everyone involved back then had simply vanished into thin air?"

I fell silent, deliberately giving her the space to swallow her own terror.

"What... what do you want from me?"

A long time passed before she finally spoke. Her voice was cracked and weary, like that of a woman who had finally reached the absolute end of her rope.

"Do you want money? I can give it to you. My offshore accounts still have..."

"I don't need your money," I cut her off. "I need the evidence in your possession. I need proof of the illegal activities committed by The Deep, along with every single document that reveals the true origins of those three children. Whether they are in that box or hidden somewhere else, every last piece must be surrendered to me."

"And then? If I hand them over to you, am I just waiting for my own execution?" Lin Vy Vy let out a hollow, tragic laugh.

"I am offering you a chance," I said slowly, my tone laced with a deliberate, hypnotic lure. "A chance to perform a service that might commute your sentence or even allow you to walk away unscathed. The Deep and Chu Bich Hoa are finished, but you are different. If you provide the critical evidence to denounce The Deep, there might still be a path to survival for you. In the eyes of certain people, you are merely a victim—someone deceived and coerced by him. Isn't that right?"

Silence descended upon the line once more. All I could hear was the hitching of her breath and her stifled sobbing. I knew she was agonizing over the choice. On one side stood the fury and inevitable destruction that would follow once The Deep unearthed the truth. On the other side was a narrow, fragile path to survival—the one I had just traced for her.

"How... how can I trust you?" she rasped.

"You have no other choice," I said coldly, shattering her final flicker of hope. "Only I can grant you a way out. Or, you can simply wait. Wait for The Deep to find you, and then see for yourself whether he chooses to cherish the memory of your past, or if he decides to bury you alongside those three little boys of such dubious parentage."

Another prolonged silence stretched between us. Finally, I heard her voice, pushed out through gritted teeth, as if every syllable were being carved from her very soul.

"The items... are at my mother’s old house. In the main room, in the northwest corner, under the third floor tile, there is a waterproof oilcloth package. The key is hidden inside the jade Buddha pendant I have always worn against my skin. You only need to unscrew it."

"What else?" I pressed. "I know you have duplicates or another backup."

"The old archive room... at the city library. The third bookshelf, on the bottom shelf, pushed against the wall. The volume titled 'Local Gazette – Volume Seven.' The spine is hollow. Inside... there is a micro-SD card."

She sounded utterly drained, her voice hollowed out by despair. "The password is the date of Tu Hien’s birth, written in reverse."

"Very good," I said, committing every detail to memory before continuing.