Chapter 16 - The Vault in ZurichThe air inside the underground private vault of the Bank of Zurich was heavy, sterile, and smelled faintly of ozone and old paper. Heavy steel doors, three feet thick, sealed the sound of the outside world into total silence.
Claireānow traveling under the identity of Victoria Vanceāstood before Safe Deposit Box 0909.
She slid her mother's vintage signet ring into the biometric scanner. The light flashed from crimson red to deep emerald green.
CLICK. WHIRRRRR.
The heavy titanium box unlocked with a pneumatic hiss. Claire pulled the tray outward. Inside, under a layer of black velvet, lay twenty sparkling velvet pouches filled with uncut, top-grade pink diamonds, along with a sleek black hard-drive containing the private cryptographic keys to $100 million in anonymous assets.
Claire ran her fingers over the cool, flawless stones. A breath of pure, triumphant relief escaped her lips.
"It was never about revenge, was it, Mother?" Claire whispered to the empty room. "It was always about the prize."
"It's a beautiful prize, isn't it?" a voice suddenly echoed behind her.
Claireās heart stopped. Her body went completely rigid.
That voice. It was impossible. She had watched Eleanor bleed out on the wet asphalt outside the airfield. She had seen the body covered in a black sheet.
Claire slowly turned around.
Standing in the vault doorway, dressed in a pristine white trench coat, her hair styled in a sharp, flawless bob, was Eleanor Blackwood.
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Her gray eyes were alive, sparkling with cruel amusement, and her hand rested comfortably inside her coat pocket.
CHAPTER 16 HOOK: "You look like you've seen a ghost, little sister," Eleanor chuckled softly, stepping into the vault. "Did you really think a bullet from a simple maid could kill a true Blackwood?"
