Chapter 21 — The Secret Pages of Room Seven

News of the shocking case at An Tâm Clinic spread throughout the city within just one day. Media channels simultaneously reported that a large-scale money laundering network hidden in the name of psychiatric treatment had been exposed, with two key figures arrested, Mr. Mạc Vĩnh Điền - who was previously believed to have passed away - and Ms. Chu Bảo Hạnh, the clinic's executive director.

Nhã Vân stood in front of the media camera for the first time since the day Diệu Kỳ was arrested, no longer with the evasive expression of a relative trying to protect the family's honor, but with the dignified posture of someone who fought to the end to regain justice.

"I know that over the past several weeks, my family and the public have had to witness heartbreaking information about this incident," she spoke to a crowd of reporters gathered in front of the corporation's gate. "Today, I can confirm that my sister, Trác Diệu Kỳ, is completely innocent. She was only defending herself against the control of a person who was deliberately concealing his own huge financial crime," she continued to briefly present the entire truth that had been revealed — about the money laundering network operating for many years in An Tâm, about the innocent victims illegally detained in Room Seven, about Mạc Vĩnh Điền's fake death to avoid responsibility. She did not shy away from any details, even though she knew that it would cause the group's reputation to suffer heavy damage in the short term.

"Trác Gia Medical Group will fully cooperate with the investigation agency," she said, her voice steady. "And I pledge, we will conduct a comprehensive reform of An Tâm Clinic, to ensure that what happened will never happen again."

The press conference ended, but its echoes lingered for many days afterward. The group's board of directors convened an emergency meeting, where Nhã Vân presented all the evidence and developments in the case to senior members. A few people were skeptical, worried about the impact on brand value, but most were convinced by her transparency and determination.

"We've let one worm spoil the pot for too many years." An elderly board member, who worked with Nhã Vân's father since the early days of establishing the group, spoke. "But Ms. Nhã Vân has shown us that this family still retains the integrity that Mr. Trác Vĩnh Khôi once built." Meanwhile, the investigation process of Đỗ Bách Khiêm and his team continued to dig deep into the entire illegal financial network. Records obtained from Room Seven, combined with data from a secret villa in the northern suburbs, have revealed a long list of shell companies and suspicious transactions spanning nearly a decade, involving dozens of different victims, not just Ms. Tram or Ms. Thanh Hà.

Many families, after hearing the news through the media, went to the investigative agency to report their relatives who mysteriously "disappeared" after being treated at An Tâm many years ago. Some cases, sadly, no longer had a chance of reunification because the victims passed away in custody due to complications from chronic sedative abuse, but the majority were successfully located and rescued from other secret "in-house treatment" facilities that the network maintained scattered around the suburban area.

In the first instance trial held a few months later, Mạc Vĩnh Điền and Chu Bảo Hạnh were both indicted on a series of serious charges — money laundering, illegal arrest, falsifying medical records, and many other related crimes. Standing in court, Mạc Vĩnh Điền still tried to justify his actions with arguments about financial pressure and fear of losing everything, but those words were no longer enough to convince anyone, even those who once trusted him the most.

Chu Bảo Hạnh, when asked why she betrayed the trust of an entire family that had considered her a relative for twenty years, just silently bowed her head, not giving any justification. Perhaps, deep inside, she also realized that there was no reason enough to justify what she had done.

Nhã Vân attended the trial as a witness, sitting next to her mother - who experienced a great mental shock when learning the truth about her second husband, whom she had placed all her trust in, but also gradually regained her stability thanks to the companionship of her two daughters. Diệu Kỳ, although she still needed time to fully recover, was also present in the trial, sitting up straight, her eyes firmly looking straight at the man who had caused her to go through the darkest days of her life.

When the verdict was announced, with harsh sentences for both Mạc Vĩnh Điền and Chu Bảo Hạnh and other accomplices in the network, Nhã Vân tightly held her mother and sister's hands, feeling a deep relief spread throughout her body. Justice, although late, has finally been served.

Outside the courtroom, Bách Nguyên stood waiting, his eyes watching Nhã Vân walk out with a rare relieved smile on his lips. He knew that the journey ahead for her, and for her whole family, is still very long, but at least, the darkest chapter of this story has officially closed.

In the weeks after the first instance trial, Nhã Vân spent most of her time working with the group's lawyers and legal team to handle the consequences of the case from a corporate perspective. She personally met with each victim's family identified during the investigation, apologized for the mistakes that her family corporation had unintentionally or intentionally tolerated over the years, and pledged full financial and psychological support for their reintegration into life.

Mrs. Tram was one of the first people to be reunited with her family. The meeting between her and her husband, who had believed that she was truly mentally ill for the past three years, was filled with tears, as he tremblingly hugged his wife, repeatedly apologizing for not being persistent enough to doubt what the hospital had told him. Her daughter, now an eighteen-year-old girl, stood silently looking at her mother for a long time before bursting into tears and rushing into her arms, as if trying to make up for the lost days of separation.

Ms. Thanh Hà, the most timid witness among the victims, also gradually regained her confidence after being taken to a prestigious psychological rehabilitation center that Nhã Vân personally arranged, completely separate from the system of Trác Gia Medical Group to ensure objectivity. She began to recount in more detail the secret patient transfer case she witnessed many years ago, providing additional important pieces that helped the investigation agency expand the scope of prosecution to many other related subjects in the network.

The media, after the initial news storm, gradually turned to another angle on the story — not just a sensational criminal case, but a wake-up call about the flaws in the private health surveillance system. Many experts were invited on news programs to analyze how a medical facility could be used as a front for organized crime, and legal reform proposals began to be hotly discussed in legislative circles.

Nhã Vân, in a rare interview she agreed to participate in, shared a statement that was quoted by many newspapers in the following days: "I don't want my family's story to be remembered only as a scandal. I want it to become the reason why doors like Room Seven can never exist again, anywhere."

That sentence, simple but full of weight, touched the hearts of many people who had followed the case, and gradually, instead of just being a victim of a family scandal, Nhã Vân began to be recognized by the public as a symbol of integrity and courage to face the truth, no matter how cruel that truth was.

Ngọc Diễm, a silent companion throughout the whole journey, also received sincere thanks from Nhã Vân in a private evening where the two of them sat together after all the storms had calmed down. "If it weren't for you outside, I don't know if I could have survived to the end," Nhã Vân said, tightly holding the hand of her friend and assistant who had been by her side since the first confusing days. Ngọc Diễm just smiled and responded with a simple but equally sincere statement: "I'm just doing what a friend should do, Ms. Van."