Chapter 5 - The Encrypted Laptop Found Inside the Private Study
Leaving two trusted guards at Arthur’s hospital room door, Ethan drove his black SUV back to the estate under the pouring rain.
The grand house was eerily silent, the faint scent of copper blood still hanging in the air around the marble staircase.
Ethan walked up to his father’s private second-floor study, pushing open the heavy mahogany doors to find the room completely ransacked.
Bookcases were pulled down, drawers were emptied onto the Persian rug, and the heavy steel wall safe stood wide open and completely bare.
However, behind the grandfather clock in the corner, Ethan noticed a tiny blue light blinking rhythmically in the pitch darkness.
He moved the heavy clock aside, discovering a small, silver encrypted laptop plugged into an auxiliary power port in the wall.
Ethan opened the screen, which immediately prompted for a dual-passcode sequence requiring a facial scan and a specific date.
He entered his late mother's birthday, holding his breath as the system processed the request for five agonizing seconds.
A green checkmark appeared, loading a folder containing recorded video feeds from hidden micro-cameras Arthur had installed years ago.
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Ethan clicked the top video file, dated less than two hours prior, and watched the horrifying events play out in full, vivid clarity.
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