Chapter 7 - Laura’s Final Recording
They reached Toby’s bedroom through a narrow service hall.
Penelope entered first.
The room was almost empty.
A bed.
A desk.
A bookshelf.
No toys except a wooden train placed neatly beneath the window.
The cabinet under the bed had been bolted to the floor.
Toby unlocked it with his brass key.
Inside were dozens of signed pages.
Each bore his childish handwriting.
Penelope lifted one.
Consent to transfer voting rights.
Another authorized the sale of medical patents.
A third declared that Toby voluntarily wished to live in a residential school overseas.
Penelope felt sick.
“They were planning to send him away.”
Samuel examined the pages.
“Once the shares transferred, he became a liability.”
Toby whispered, “Grandma said I was sick like Mom.”
Penelope crouched.
“You are not sick.”
“She said Mom imagined people were following her.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Helen had used the same tactic against Laura.
Call her unstable.
Make others doubt her.
Take control of her company.
Then isolate her child.
Beneath the cabinet, Margaret found a hidden latch.
A section of the floor opened.
Stone steps descended into darkness.
Conrad appeared in the bedroom doorway.
His suit was torn at the shoulder.
Samuel followed close behind.
“Don’t go down there,” Conrad warned.
Penelope held the lantern.
“Why?”
“The server is damaged.”
“Then you have nothing to fear.”
Helen arrived behind him.
Her voice became softer.
Almost maternal.
“Penelope, you are emotional. This is your wedding night.”
Penelope stared at the woman.
“You thought that would make me easier to control.”
Helen’s expression hardened.
Toby took Penelope’s hand.
Together, they descended.
The underground room contained server towers, locked cabinets, and a single desk.
Margaret restored backup power.
A monitor flickered on.
No password was required.
The system recognized Toby’s fingerprint.
A video file appeared.
Laura sat in the same corridor where Penelope had found the strap.
She looked exhausted but calm.
“If Toby is watching this,” she began, “then Conrad failed to protect him.”
Conrad stepped toward the monitor.
Samuel blocked him again.
Laura continued.
“Helen has been forcing me to sign control of my company to the Wheeler trust.”
Toby gripped Penelope’s fingers.
“I refused.”
Laura looked directly into the camera.
“Conrad knows what she is doing.”
Conrad’s face drained.
Then Laura said the sentence no one expected.
“He told me to cooperate until he could get Toby out.”
Penelope turned toward him.
Conrad had known.
May you like
But Laura’s recording suggested he might once have planned to help her.
The question was when he stopped.
