Chapter 5 - The Will's Deadly Clause
"The Master Key to the Vance Vault"The air in the VIP suite turned deathly still. The faint, rhythmic ticking of a digital timer echoed from behind the wall paneling.
Julian took a cautious step back, his eyes darting toward the balcony exit. "Victoria, don't do this. You're insane!"
"Insane?" Victoria laughed hysterically. "I am a Vance! Insanity is in the bloodline! Oh wait... not my bloodline, right? But it doesn't matter. If I can't have the family fortune, no one will!"
Lily didn't flinch. She kept her gun steadily aimed at Victoria’s forehead.
"You won't press it," Lily said quietly.
"Try me!" Victoria shrieked, her thumb hovering over the red detonator button.
"You won't press it because you don't actually care about the money in the banks," Lily revealed, taking a step forward. "You care about what's inside Vault 09 in Switzerland. The Master Key."
Victoria’s eyes widened in genuine shock. The confident smile slipped from her face. "How... how do you know about Vault 09?"
"Because our father didn't leave the digital encryption key to Eleanor, or to the corporate board," Lily explained, pulling a heavy obsidian key suspended on a platinum chain from under her server uniform. "He hid it inside my cradle before I was taken away. The entire Vance global network, the offshore accounts, the bio-tech patents... none of it can be accessed without this."
Victoria’s breathe hitched. "Give it to me."
"Come and take it," Lily challenged.
Victoria lunged forward like a madwoman, abandoning the detonator to grab the key. But Lily dodged swiftly to the left, sweeping Victoria’s legs out from under her. Victoria crashed onto the glass coffee table, shattering it into thousands of sharp shards.
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The detonator flew out of her hand, skidding across the floor straight toward Eleanor’s trembling fingers.
CHAPTER 5 HOOK: Eleanor grabbed the detonator and smashed it against the bronze fireplace grate, destroying the trigger mechanism. But as Victoria scrambled up from the broken glass, blood pouring from her arms, she let out a terrifying laugh. "You destroyed the remote... but you forgot the automatic timer!"
