“Don’t you want me to kneel?”

I looked at Pho Van Dinh calmly.

His expression changed.

For the first time since he had arrived, he seemed uncertain.

Lam Vy Vy stepped closer.

“Deputy President, she must have gone crazy.”

I ignored her.

My phone remained in my hand.

On the other end of the call, Uncle Chau was still waiting.

I had one final instruction.

“Freeze everything.”

A pause.

Then his voice came through the speaker.

“Everything?”

“Everything under his control.”

Pho Van Dinh’s eyes narrowed.

“What exactly are you talking about?”

I looked at him.

“You’ve spent five years believing I had nothing.”

“You were wrong.”

His jaw tightened.

The phone in his pocket began ringing again.

This time, his expression changed before he even answered.

He walked several steps away.

“What?”

The voice on the other end was frantic.

“What do you mean the corporate accounts are restricted?”

He stopped.

“Which accounts?”

A longer silence followed.

Then his face became completely pale.

“All of them?”

The people around us exchanged glances.

Lam Vy Vy approached him.

“What happened?”

He didn’t answer.

His phone rang again.

Then again.

Within less than five minutes, three different executives had called.

The company’s payment system had stopped processing.

Several overseas transfers were pending.

A private investment account had been locked.

Even the card he had used to buy the diamond ring for Lam Vy Vy was being declined.

She stared at him.

“Deputy President…”

He suddenly turned toward me.

“You did this.”

I shook my head.

“No.”

“You called someone.”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

I smiled faintly.

“Someone you should have known about five years ago.”

His eyes darkened.

“Who?”

I didn’t answer.

Because at that moment, the elevator doors opened.

An elderly man in a dark gray suit walked into the hallway.

His hair was completely white.

His posture was straight.

Two assistants followed behind him.

The hospital administrator immediately recognized him.

“Mr. Chau?”

Everyone became silent.

Uncle Chau didn’t look at Pho Van Dinh.

He walked directly toward me.

Then he stopped.

“Miss So.”

I nodded.

“You came quickly.”

“You called.”

His eyes moved toward the unpaid bill in my hand.

Then toward the red mark on my lip.

His expression became cold.

“I understand.”

Pho Van Dinh stared at him.

“You’re…”

Uncle Chau finally looked at him.

“Chau Ming.”

Pho Van Dinh’s face changed.

Everyone in the hospital knew that name.

Chau Ming was not merely an investor.

He was the chairman of the private holding company that had quietly controlled several financial institutions and investment funds across the country.

More importantly—

He was the person who had managed my mother’s medical trust for years.

Pho Van Dinh stared at him.

Then his eyes returned to me.

“How do you know him?”

Uncle Chau answered before I could.

“She doesn’t know me.”

“I work for her.”

The hallway became completely silent.

Lam Vy Vy’s smile disappeared.

Pho Van Dinh stared at me as if he had never seen me before.

“You?”

I looked at him.

“You always said I was a housewife.”

“You said I had no career.”

“You said every penny I spent came from you.”

I paused.

“You never once asked where my family came from.”

His face became increasingly tense.

Uncle Chau opened a folder.

“Five years ago, Miss So inherited a controlling interest in several private companies.”

Pho Van Dinh’s expression froze.

“She chose not to participate in management.”

“She transferred operational authority to me.”

“She wanted a quiet life.”

I looked down.

“That was my decision.”

Uncle Chau continued.

“Her assets were kept completely separate from the marriage.”

“Mr. Pho has never had authorization to access them.”

Pho Van Dinh stared at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I laughed softly.

“Would it have changed anything?”

He didn’t answer.

“Would you have loved me more?”

Still nothing.

“Would you have treated my mother better?”

Silence.

“Would you have stopped bringing Lam Vy Vy into our marriage?”

His eyes shifted toward her.

Lam Vy Vy immediately stepped back.

“Van Dinh, I didn’t know…”

I looked at her.

“You didn’t know what?”

She became pale.

“That I had money?”

I smiled.

“You knew exactly what you wanted.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“No.”

I continued.

“You wanted the ring.”

“You wanted his attention.”

“You wanted everyone to believe you were the woman beside him.”

“And he gave you all of it.”

I looked at the diamond on her finger.

“Enjoy it.”

Her hand trembled.

Pho Van Dinh suddenly stepped toward me.

“Why are you doing this?”

I looked at him.

“You told me to kneel.”

He stopped.

“You told me my mother’s treatment depended on obedience.”

“You humiliated me in front of everyone.”

“You threatened me because you believed I had no choice.”

I took a slow breath.

“So I showed you what it feels like when someone takes away the illusion that they control your life.”

His expression softened.

“Van Ninh…”

It was the first time he had said my name without contempt.

I almost didn’t recognize his voice.

He reached for my hand.

I stepped away.

“Don’t.”

His hand remained suspended in the air.

“I was wrong.”

“Yes.”

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No.”

His eyes reddened.

“Can we go home and talk?”

I looked at him for several seconds.

“Home?”

He nodded.

“Our home.”

I shook my head.

“That stopped being my home the moment you brought another woman into my mother’s hospital room and ordered me to kneel.”

His face went pale.

Uncle Chau quietly handed me another document.

I opened it.

The title was simple:

PROPERTY TRANSFER AGREEMENT.

The hospital hallway seemed to disappear around me.

I looked at Pho Van Dinh.

“You remember the house?”

His eyes widened.

“The one you always said belonged to us?”

“Yes.”

“It belongs to my family.”

He stared at me.

“The company that owns the property has just been transferred.”

His lips parted.

“To whom?”

I folded the document.

“To me.”

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Then Pho Van Dinh’s phone rang again.

He answered.

His face changed.

“What?”

He listened.

Then slowly lowered the phone.

“What happened?” Lam Vy Vy asked.

He didn’t answer.

His chief financial officer had just informed him that the board had called an emergency meeting.

Not to discuss his wife’s actions.

To discuss his position.

The shareholders had learned that the person who had frozen his private assets also controlled a substantial portion of the company’s external financing.

His father had apparently known.

His board had apparently known.

Everyone except him.

He looked at me.

“You planned this?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

I looked toward my mother’s hospital room.

“Because I never planned to hurt you.”

“I only planned to stop you from hurting me.”

The doors to the special care unit opened.

A nurse hurried toward us.

“Mrs. So?”

I turned.

“Your mother is awake.”

My heart stopped.

I immediately ran toward the room.

Behind me, I heard Pho Van Dinh take a step forward.

But he didn’t follow.

For once, he understood that he no longer had the right.

I entered my mother’s room.

She opened her eyes slowly.

When she saw me, she smiled weakly.

“Van Ninh…”

I took her hand.

“Mom.”

Her eyes moved toward the doorway.

Then she saw Pho Van Dinh standing far behind the glass.

She looked at me.

“What happened?”

I smiled.

“Nothing.”

“I finally learned how to protect myself.”

My mother squeezed my hand.

“Good.”

Outside the room, Pho Van Dinh remained motionless.

He had spent years believing he was the most powerful man in every room.

But tonight, standing outside his wife’s mother’s hospital room, he finally understood the truth.

He hadn’t lost his money.

He hadn’t lost his company.

He hadn’t even lost his reputation yet.

He had lost something far more important.

The woman who had once loved him enough to endure everything.

And when he finally realized her worth…

she had already decided she would never kneel for him again.