“No need.”

I looked at the closed front door.

“Don’t send anyone here yet.”

Uncle Chau became quiet.

“Miss, what are you planning?”

I glanced at the recording on my phone.

“First, I want to see how far Trinh Nghien is willing to go when he thinks I know nothing.”

There was a pause.

Then Uncle Chau understood.

“I’ll prepare everything.”

“Tomorrow morning, call an emergency shareholders’ meeting.”

His voice sharpened.

“Do you want President Trinh notified?”

“Of course.”

I smiled.

“But don’t tell him why.”

After hanging up, I opened my laptop.

There were six years of documents inside.

Contracts I had translated for him.

European clients I had introduced anonymously.

Investment reports I had corrected after he went to sleep.

Whenever Trinh Nghien proudly announced that he had negotiated another foreign contract, I smiled and congratulated him.

He never knew that half those clients had answered his emails because I had called them first.

He thought I survived because of his company.

The truth was that his company had survived because of me.

At four that afternoon, Kieu Man returned carrying more than ten shopping bags.

Trinh Nghien followed behind her.

She held up a pair of slippers.

“Sister Hua, Mr. Trinh said I should treat this place like my own home.”

I looked at the bags.

“Did he pay?”

Kieu Man laughed.

“Of course.”

“Good.”

I wrote something in the notebook beside me.

She frowned.

“What are you writing?”

“Expenses.”

Trinh Nghien threw his car keys onto the table.

“Hua Van, enough.”

I looked up.

He continued impatiently:

“She is carrying my child.”

The room became silent.

He had said it in Chinese.

No German.

No secret language.

Perhaps after hiding it for months, arrogance finally defeated caution.

Kieu Man’s face changed.

“Nghien…”

But he no longer cared.

He looked directly at me.

“You were going to find out eventually.”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

His brows drew together.

That wasn’t the reaction he expected.

“No crying?”

“Should I?”

He laughed coldly.

“You always pretend to be calm.”

Then he sat opposite me.

“I’ll be honest.”

“Please.”

“Kieu Man is pregnant.”

“I heard you.”

“I’m responsible for the child.”

“Wonderful.”

His expression darkened.

“Hua Van.”

“What?”

“Don’t act strange.”

I almost smiled.

He genuinely believed I was the one behaving strangely.

He continued:

“You and I have been together for seven years. I won’t treat you unfairly.”

Kieu Man sat beside him.

Her hand rested naturally on her abdomen.

Trinh Nghien said:

“I’ll buy you an apartment.”

“You can keep your position at the company.”

“As long as you don’t cause trouble, nothing has to change immediately.”

I stared at him.

“Nothing?”

“Publicly, we can remain husband and wife for now.”

Kieu Man lowered her eyes.

As if she were the generous one making the sacrifice.

“And privately?” I asked.

Trinh Nghien leaned back.

“You’re smart.”

“I’m apparently not.”

I smiled.

“You said so yourself.”

He froze.

Kieu Man’s fingers tightened.

I switched to flawless German.

“After all, I’m just a useless wife who can’t understand a single sentence, right?”

The color drained from both their faces.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then I continued in German.

“Or should we discuss the hotel?”

Kieu Man stood so quickly her chair scraped the floor.

“You…”

I switched to French.

“Would you prefer this?”

Then Spanish.

“Or perhaps this one?”

Italian.

“Still comfortable?”

Japanese.

“Kieu Man, weren’t you going to expand the European market?”

Finally, I returned to Chinese.

“I speak eight languages.”

Trinh Nghien stared at me.

His lips parted.

“You understood?”

“Every word.”

His face became frighteningly pale.

Kieu Man grabbed his arm.

“Nghien, she recorded us.”

Smart.

I placed my phone on the table.

The recording began playing.

Her German voice filled the room.

“When the child can speak, I will tell him there is a maid who works for his father every day…”

I stopped it.

Nobody spoke.

Then Trinh Nghien suddenly reached for my phone.

I picked it up before he could touch it.

“Delete that.”

“No.”

His tone changed.

“You recorded me without permission.”

“I recorded a conversation inside my own house.”

His jaw tightened.

“What do you want?”

Finally.

The question I had been waiting for.

I closed my laptop.

“Nothing.”

He frowned.

“You must want something.”

“I want you to sleep well tonight.”

“What?”

“Because tomorrow morning is going to be very tiring.”

I walked toward the bedroom.

Behind me, Kieu Man whispered:

“Nghien, what does she mean?”

He didn’t answer.

At nine the next morning, Trinh Nghien entered the headquarters of Trinh International.

He expected an ordinary executive meeting.

Instead, every director was already seated.

The legal department.

Finance.

Three independent board members.

And Uncle Chau.

When Trinh Nghien saw him, he stopped.

“Director Chau?”

Uncle Chau stood.

“President Trinh.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Representing Van Dinh Capital.”

Trinh Nghien frowned.

“Why wasn’t I informed?”

“You were.”

Uncle Chau pointed toward the empty chair at the head of the table.

“The controlling shareholder called this meeting.”

Trinh Nghien looked around.

“Controlling shareholder?”

Then the door opened.

I walked in.

Not wearing the inexpensive clothes he had bought me.

Not carrying his briefcase.

Not standing behind him.

I wore the dark suit my grandfather had ordered for me before his death.

Uncle Chau pulled out the chair.

“Chairwoman Hua.”

Nobody spoke.

Trinh Nghien stared at me as if I were a stranger.

“What did he call you?”

I sat down.

Uncle Chau placed a thick folder in front of me.

“Miss Hua officially inherited all voting rights associated with Van Dinh Capital at midnight.”

I looked across the table.

“Van Dinh currently owns forty-five percent of Trinh International.”

Trinh Nghien’s face stiffened.

“That doesn’t give her control.”

“Correct.”

I opened the folder.

“So I bought another twelve percent this morning.”

His face changed.

“How?”

“Three shareholders were surprisingly eager to sell after hearing the company president had diverted corporate funds for personal expenses.”

Kieu Man’s shopping.

Her apartment deposits.

Hotels.

International travel.

All charged through accounts she had access to as his assistant.

Trinh Nghien shot to his feet.

“You investigated me?”

“No.”

I placed another document on the table.

“You were simply careless.”

His eyes dropped to it.

Then froze.

It was a resignation resolution.

Removal of Trinh Nghien as Chief Executive Officer.

Effective immediately.

He looked at me.

“You can’t do this.”

I smiled.

“In German?”

His face twisted.

“This company is mine!”

I shook my head.

“No.”

I leaned back.

“You built it using my grandfather’s money, my connections, my translations and my clients.”

My voice remained calm.

“You were simply the man whose name I allowed them to put on the door.”

Silence swallowed the room.

Then Uncle Chau’s phone rang.

He answered.

His expression changed.

“Miss.”

“What?”

He hesitated.

“The hospital called.”

I frowned.

“What hospital?”

His gaze moved toward Trinh Nghien.

“Kieu Man was taken there twenty minutes ago.”

Trinh Nghien immediately grabbed his coat.

But Uncle Chau added:

“There’s a problem.”

Everyone stopped.

“The doctor says her pregnancy is approximately fourteen weeks.”

I calculated automatically.

Trinh Nghien had supposedly begun his relationship with her eight weeks earlier.

His face slowly changed.

Uncle Chau continued.

“And according to immigration records, fourteen weeks ago…”

He looked directly at Kieu Man’s empty chair.

“She was still living in Germany.”

Trinh Nghien went completely still.

I closed the folder.

It seemed the child he had destroyed his marriage for…

might not even be his.