Chapter 19 — Reborn: This Hell Is Mine

The Night Before the Abyss

The lobby of Diamond Hotel is brightly lit. Seven hundred guests. Shareholders. Partner. Press. All gathered for the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of Chung Nguyên Group.

Ý Vy stood in front of the mirror in her private preparation room, adjusting her hairpin. Her hands weren't shaking. Three years of preparation had taught her how to control her breathing, control her eyes, control even her deepest fears.

Outside, the opening music sounded and the guests' chatter and laughter echoed through the thick door. Ý Vy looked at her watch. In forty minutes, Bách Nguyên will step on stage. The last forty minutes of nearly three years of waiting.

She opened her phone and read the last message from Mr. Son: "Everything is in place. The witness is present. Waiting for the signal." She typed back a short line: "On time." Then put the phone in a small bag.

The room door opened without warning.

Tuệ Nghi walked in and locked the door behind her. No more familiar sweet smile. Her face was pale and her eyes were red from sleepless nights.

"You know everything, right?" Tuệ Nghi's voice was trembling but cold.

Ý Vy turned around and faced her sister. Don't avoid it. "You think I don't know, after the car brake incident?"

Tuệ Nghi paused. One second. Two seconds. Then tears flowed out uncontrollably. "I don't want that. I swear I don't want to kill you. I just..."

"Just want to scare you so you can give me your position?" Ý Vy finished the sentence, her voice was not harsh, only a deep sadness. "Do you think that's the only way to be recognized?"

Tuệ Nghi burst into tears. But just a few seconds later, she wiped her tears and her face suddenly stiffened. A chillingly cold transformation.

"If you dare to expose everything tonight," she said, her voice regaining its sharpness, "I will tell all the press out there a different story. That you used tricks to get the inheritance from your adoptive mother, that you deliberately hid favoritism in the will so that you alone could benefit, pushing me to the sidelines. Who should you believe, Ms. Ý Vy? A newly popular bride, or a poor sister who was abandoned at a young age?"

It was a reckless, desperate threat — a blatant fabrication based on Tuệ Nghi's real pain. But Ý Vy understood immediately that this was the final sign that her sister had run out of options and was ready to cling to any weapon, even a lie, to save herself.

"Just do that," Ý Vy replied, her voice strangely calm. "I have a copy of the will, my mother's handwritten notes, and Mrs. Dieu's testimony. Lying in front of hundreds of journalists is a double-edged sword, Tuệ Nghi. You should think carefully before swinging it."

Tuệ Nghi was silent. She knew Ý Vy was right. But she had no other way out.

"Do you think I want to become like this?" Tuệ Nghi asked, her voice choked. "Since I was little, I've always tried to be obedient. Study well. Be patient. But never once was enough. Mom chose me first. The couple that year chose me first. Now even Bách Nguyên..." She choked, not finishing her sentence.

"I don't fight with you about anything," Ý Vy replied, her voice softening a bit. "Everything I have, I try to get it myself. No one takes it away from you, Tuệ Nghi. You take away your own happiness, by always looking at me instead of looking at your own path."

"Easy to say." Tuệ Nghi took a step back, her hand on the doorknob. "You're going to regret tonight."

She opened the door and walked out, leaving Ý Vy standing alone in the middle of the quiet room, her heart beating rapidly even though her face remained calm. She took a deep breath, looked in the mirror one last time, then walked out.

At the same time, in another corner of the hotel, Vệ Đắc Thịnh was present as a guest of honor, standing and chatting with several elderly shareholders of Chung Nguyên, skillfully sowing subtle doubts about Bách Nguyên's recent management capacity, implicitly implying that the group's internal affairs were unstable.

"I heard that Chung Nguyên has been having some internal problems lately," he said to an elderly shareholder, his voice filled with fake concern. "Mr. Bách Nguyên is young, sometimes letting family matters influence business decisions is understandable." The elderly shareholder nodded, his expression showing concern. "I have also heard some rumors. If it is true that there is real unrest, the board of directors needs to reconsider the executive position."

"Exactly," Đắc Thịnh replied, his voice as gentle as honey pouring into his ears. "Sometimes a timely leadership change can save an entire corporation from crisis. My Hưng Thịnh Group is always willing to support, if you need a reliable partner during the transition period."

Phó Nhật Khang, standing not far away, heard the entire conversation and immediately texted Bách Nguyên to alert him: "Đắc Thịnh is sowing doubts with shareholders, even offering to jump in and take his place. He is preparing to pre-empt it before I can act."

Bách Nguyên, standing next to Ý Vy after she left the confrontation with Tuệ Nghi, read the message, her jaw clenched. "They're trying to preempt us."

"Then we won't wait until the end of the show," Ý Vy said, her eyes shining with a cold determination. "Let's act now, before they can sow any more suspicions." Bách Nguyên nodded and held his wife's hand tightly. The two walked out of the preparation room and headed towards the main stage, where Mr. Son was standing by with all the evidence files, where Phó Nhật Khang signaled the technical team to prepare the big screen.

On stage, the host had just finished introducing Bách Nguyên's speech. The spotlight shines directly on the podium. Seven hundred pairs of eyes turned towards him.

In the front row, Tuệ Nghi sat stiffly, clutching her skirt tightly, not daring to look at the stage. Not far away, Vệ Đắc Thịnh took a sip of wine, a confident smile on the corner of his mouth, unaware of the storm that was about to strike him in just a few minutes.

Backstage, Mr. Son stood next to a man wearing a baseball cap pulled low - the mechanic, brought in under discreet protection, ready to appear as a witness if necessary in the final step. Besides, a lawyer of the corporation is holding a thick file, stamped with legal confirmation, waiting for the signal to transfer it to the stage at the right time.

"Everything is ready," Mr. Son whispered through the small walkie-talkie attached to Bách Nguyên's ear. "Just waiting for your signal."

Bách Nguyên stepped onto the podium, his eyes scanned the entire auditorium, then stopped where Ý Vy was standing backstage, nodding slightly. A signal. A promise. Both are ready.

Ý Vy nodded in response, squeezing the file in her hand so tightly that her knuckles turned slightly white. She recalls each face that accompanied her throughout this journey — Mr. Son with his discreet devotion, Phó Nhật Khang with his tireless meticulousness, Bích Ngọc with his sincere friendship without knowing the whole truth, and Bách Nguyên, who chose to trust her from the first moment he knew the truth. All those people, all those sleepless nights, now come together in this decisive moment.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, his voice echoing throughout the hall, calm but carrying an unusual weight compared to all his previous speeches. "Before starting the summary of fifteen years of development of Chung Nguyên Group, I have an important matter to share frankly with all of you present tonight."

Murmurs arose throughout the auditorium. Tuệ Nghi raised her head, her face pale. Đắc Thịnh put down the glass of wine, the smile on his lips gradually froze.

"Over the past few months," Bách Nguyên continued, his voice not shaking even though all the camera lenses were pointing straight at him, "our group has discovered a systematic plot to sabotage business operations and directly threaten the lives of my family members. I know this is not the content you expected to hear in a celebration. But I believe, you - the shareholders and partners who have accompanied Chung Nguyên for the past fifteen years - deserve it. know the truth, before anyone else deliberately distorts it for their own purposes."

The entire auditorium fell into absolute silence. Ý Vy, standing backstage, clutching the file in her hand, took a step toward the stage light.

In the corner of the room, a few journalists quietly raised their cameras. An elderly shareholder turned to whisper to the person next to him, his face full of confusion. Đắc Thịnh tightened his hand around the stem of the wine glass. The confident smile from before had completely disappeared, replaced by a high level of vigilance.

Tonight, there is no turning back for anyone.