I stared at the small recorder on the nightstand.
For several seconds, I didn’t touch it.
“What do you mean I was holding it?”
Chu Mo adjusted the flow of my IV before answering.
“When the ambulance brought you in, your clothes were soaked in blood. You had already lost consciousness, but your hand was clenched around this so tightly that the nurse couldn’t remove it.”
I looked at the recorder again.
Then I remembered.
Three months ago, after discovering that Co Canh Tham had secretly transferred a large sum of money to Hua Tri Y, I bought it.
At first, I wanted evidence for divorce.
Later, like everything else, I gave up.
That morning, however, I had turned it on without thinking.
My heartbeat suddenly accelerated.
I reached for it.
Chu Mo stopped my hand.
“Your wound.”
“I need to hear it.”
He hesitated, then placed the recorder in my palm.
My fingers trembled as I pressed play.
Static filled the quiet hospital room.
Then came the sound of an apple being peeled.
Co Canh Tham’s voice.
“Don’t move. I’ll cut it for you.”
My own voice followed.
“I can peel an apple myself.”
“You almost cut your finger last time.”
A bitter smile appeared on my lips.
How ridiculous.
Minutes before trying to kill me, he had been worried that I might cut my finger.
Then the doorbell sounded.
Footsteps.
The door opening.
And Hua Tri Y’s crying voice.
“Canh Tham…”
The recording continued exactly as I remembered.
Her accusation.
His footsteps rushing toward me.
My attempt to explain.
Then—
the sound of the knife entering flesh.
Once.
Twice.
Even Chu Mo’s expression changed.
But that wasn’t what made my blood turn cold.
Because after I collapsed, the recording continued.
Co Canh Tham carried Hua Tri Y away from me.
His footsteps gradually disappeared.
For several seconds, there was silence.
Then another pair of footsteps approached.
High heels.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Hua Tri Y had come back.
Her crying was gone.
“Tham Thanh?”
No answer.
She came closer.
“You’re still conscious, aren’t you?”
I remembered that smile.
The smile I had seen before everything turned black.
Her voice became soft.
“You really shouldn’t have married him.”
I froze.
The recording captured a faint rustling sound.
Then Hua Tri Y laughed.
“Do you know why I came today?”
She paused.
“Because I found your pregnancy report.”
My fingers tightened around the recorder.
Chu Mo looked at me sharply.
On the recording, Hua Tri Y continued.
“I knew if Canh Tham discovered you were pregnant, getting rid of you would become much harder.”
“So I only needed to make him angry enough.”
“You should have seen his face when I told him you attacked me.”
Another laugh.
Light.
Satisfied.
“He didn’t even ask why.”
My entire body went cold.
She knew.
From the beginning, she knew about my children.
The shallow wound on her arm wasn’t merely an attempt to frame me.
She had deliberately used Co Canh Tham as the knife.
Then came a sound that made Chu Mo immediately straighten.
Metal scraping against the floor.
Hua Tri Y had picked up the fruit knife.
Her voice was very close to the recorder now.
“He stabbed you twice.”
“But what if that isn’t enough?”
Silence.
Then—
the apartment door opened.
“Tri Y?”
Co Canh Tham.
Hua Tri Y immediately dropped the knife.
Her voice changed instantly.
Weak.
Terrified.
“Canh Tham! I came back because I was scared she would die…”
The recording ended there.
For a long time, neither Chu Mo nor I spoke.
Finally, he said, “This isn’t only evidence for a divorce.”
I looked at him.
He looked back at me.
“This could be evidence of attempted murder.”
I closed my fingers around the recorder.
“No.”
Chu Mo frowned.
I calmly placed it beneath my pillow.
“Not yet.”
“You don’t want to report it?”
“I didn’t say that.”
I looked toward the door through which Co Canh Tham had just left.
“I gave him three days.”
Chu Mo understood.
“You want to see what he’ll discover.”
“I want to see what he’ll choose to believe.”
Because there was one thing I needed to know.
If the truth was placed directly in front of him, would he finally see Hua Tri Y for what she was?
Or would he find another excuse for her?
This time, I wouldn’t beg.
I wouldn’t explain.
And I wouldn’t warn him.
I would simply watch.
The first day passed quietly.
Co Canh Tham didn’t come to the hospital.
The second day, his assistant appeared.
He brought clothes, food, supplements, and a black bank card.
“Madam, President Co asked me to give these to you.”
I looked at the mountain of gifts.
“Take them back.”
The assistant hesitated.
“President Co hasn’t slept for nearly forty hours.”
“That has nothing to do with me.”
“He has been investigating Miss Hua.”
My hand paused.
The assistant lowered his voice.
“He checked the surveillance footage from the residential area.”
I looked up.
“And?”
His expression became strange.
“Miss Hua entered the building alone that day.”
I said nothing.
“She wasn’t attacked outside.”
Of course.
The assistant continued.
“And President Co found footage from a pharmacy across the street.”
“What footage?”
“Miss Hua bought a small blade.”
My eyes narrowed.
“The morning she came to your house.”
So the scratch on her arm—
was self-inflicted.
The assistant swallowed.
“President Co also discovered that someone accessed your private medical records two weeks ago.”
I already knew who.
Before he could continue, footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
Fast.
Heavy.
Then the hospital room door slammed open.
Co Canh Tham stood there.
He looked completely different from two days ago.
His shirt was wrinkled.
His eyes were bloodshot.
There was dried blood across his knuckles.
In his hand was a folder.
Behind him, two bodyguards were holding Hua Tri Y.
Her face was pale.
“Canh Tham!”
She struggled desperately.
“Tell them to let me go!”
He didn’t even look at her.
His eyes remained fixed on me.
Then he walked to my bed and threw the folder onto the blanket.
Medical records.
Surveillance photographs.
Bank transfers.
Phone logs.
And a photograph of Hua Tri Y purchasing the blade.
His voice trembled.
“She lied.”
I looked at him without emotion.
“I know.”
He froze.
“You… know?”
“Yes.”
Hua Tri Y suddenly screamed.
“She framed me!”
I turned toward her.
For the first time since she entered, fear appeared in her eyes.
Real fear.
I reached beneath my pillow.
And took out the recorder.
Her face instantly lost all color.
Co Canh Tham stared at the object in my hand.
“What is that?”
I pressed play.
Hua Tri Y’s recorded voice filled the hospital room.
“I knew if Canh Tham discovered you were pregnant, getting rid of you would become much harder.”
Co Canh Tham stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
“He didn’t even ask why.”
His face became whiter with every word.
Then came the final sentence.
“But what if that isn’t enough?”
The room fell silent.
Co Canh Tham slowly turned toward Hua Tri Y.
For the first time in all the years I had known him, there was no affection in his eyes when he looked at her.
Only horror.
Hua Tri Y stepped backward.
“Canh Tham… listen to me…”
He walked toward her.
She began shaking her head.
“No.”
One step.
“Canh Tham, I can explain.”
Another.
“You knew she was pregnant?”
Hua Tri Y’s lips trembled.
“I—”
“You knew.”
His voice broke.
“And you still came to our house.”
She burst into tears.
“I did it because I love you!”
Co Canh Tham suddenly laughed.
It was a terrifying sound.
Then he raised his hand.
But before he could touch her, I spoke.
“Stop.”
Everyone turned toward me.
I looked directly at him.
“Don’t dirty your hands for her.”
For one second, hope appeared in his eyes.
Perhaps he thought I was protecting him.
Perhaps he thought some part of the old Tham Thanh still cared.
I crushed that hope immediately.
I picked up my phone.
“The police are already downstairs.”
His expression froze.
I looked from Hua Tri Y to the man who had stabbed me twice without allowing me to speak.
Then I smiled for the first time since waking up.
“You’re both going to answer for what happened that day.”
Outside the room, footsteps approached.
This time, they weren’t doctors.
They were police officers.
And as the door opened, Co Canh Tham finally understood something.
The three days I gave him were never a chance to save our marriage.
They were his last three days of freedom. Pasted text
