Chapter 9 - Bao’s Father’s Box
Bao denied sending the email.
This time Jack believed him.
The security camera at Nguyen Business Center showed who had scanned the photograph.
Huy Le.
Minh confronted him.
Huy did not run.
“I was going to tell you.”
“You had three weeks.”
“I didn't know who to trust.”
Huy's father had worked for Nam Nguyen.
After Huy's father died, Huy inherited a locked steel box.
He never opened it until the recent dispute began.
Inside were photographs, receipts and a cassette tape.
Huy had scanned one photo hoping Sophie would understand.
“Why anonymous?”
“Because Bao employs my wife.”
Minh’s face softened slightly.
Huy brought them the box.
Bao was not invited.
Inside, Sophie found evidence of the 1991 fire at Ellis Stone’s office.
Photographs taken by Huy’s father, Thanh Le.
Why had Thanh photographed the scene?
Because Nam paid him to remove documents before firefighters arrived.
Huy looked ashamed.
“My father wasn't a criminal person.”
Jack said quietly, “People aren't only one thing.”
Sophie glanced at him.
He had learned that recently.
According to Thanh's handwritten notes, Nam believed Ellis kept a copy of the 1988 side agreement.
Nam wanted it.
He sent Thanh into the damaged office after the fire.
Thanh found no original.
Only a photocopy of the first page.
They unfolded it.
STONEBRIDGE SETTLEMENT AND OPTION RELEASE.
In exchange for $50,000 and withdrawal of immediate purchase claims, the merchants agreed to give Stonebridge—or a designated successor—a future purchase option on several parcels if the district was ever sold collectively.
Lan stared.
“This could be worth tens of millions today.”
Jack understood.
Daniel accepted fifty thousand dollars.
The community received breathing room.
But the price may have been a hidden future option.
“Did Dad sign this?”
The signature page was missing.
Minh looked sick.
“My father probably did.”
Lan said, “If this side agreement was valid and transferable, Crescent might claim successor rights.”
Sophie frowned.
“Does Crescent know?”
“Victor said he didn't.”
Jack laughed.
“Maybe Victor lies better than Bao.”
The cassette tape offered something worse.
They found an old player.
Thanh’s voice began.
“April 3, 1994. Recording this because Nam says I worry too much.”
Another man spoke.
Nam.
Then Minh.
Lan stared at her father.
The tape captured the meeting in which Minh gave Nam the second key to 27B.
But after Minh left, Nam and Thanh continued talking.
Nam said:
“Duc destroyed his copy. Mercer still has the other key. Once I clean the room, nobody can prove how the parcels were divided.”
Thanh asked:
“What about the side letter?”
“Ellis has it.”
“And the fire?”
Silence.
Then Nam:
“Vinh should not have been there.”
Everyone froze.
Thanh asked:
“You knew about it?”
Nam replied:
“I knew they were going to burn the papers.”
Minh grabbed the table.
Lan whispered, “Oh my God.”
Nam had known someone intended to set the Lantern fire.
Maybe before it happened.
Thanh asked who.
Nam's answer:
“Stonebridge didn't light matches themselves.”
“Who did?”
A long pause.
Then:
“Duc knows.”
Minh staggered backward.
“My father?”
The tape continued.
Thanh pressed.
“Duc Tran knew about the fire?”
Nam replied:
“Duc agreed the papers had to disappear. He said nobody was supposed to be inside.”
Lan stared at Minh.
Minh shook his head.
“No.”
But the voice was clear.
Duc Tran—respected founder, community patriarch, Minh and Vinh’s father—had apparently agreed to destroy the records.
The fire meant to erase documents had killed his own son.
That explained why Duc demanded silence afterward.
Not merely to protect businesses.
To protect himself.
Minh stood.
For almost forty years he had blamed Daniel Mercer for betraying Vinh.
The deeper betrayal had been inside his own family.
His father’s decision.
His brother’s death.
His silence.
All connected.
Minh walked outside without speaking.
Lan started to follow.
Jack stopped her gently.
“Give him a minute.”
“You don't know him.”
“No.”
May you like
Jack looked through the window at Minh standing beneath rows of flags.
“But I know what it feels like when your dead father becomes somebody else.”
