Chapter 18 - The Poisoner's ParadoxClaire didn't hand over the drive. Instead, she let out a quiet, eerie laugh that made Eleanor's finger pause on the trigger.
"What's so funny?" Eleanor demanded, her eyes narrowing.
"You really think you're the smartest person in every room, don't you, Eleanor?" Claire said, stepping forward until the silencer of Eleanor's gun was pressed directly against her forehead. "You think you set the trap. But you forgot one fundamental rule of our mother's legacy."
Eleanorās brow furrowed. "What rule?"
"Mother didn't trust either of us," Claire whispered sinisterly. "Look at your hands, sister."
Eleanor instinctively glanced down at her right hand holding the gun.
Her fingers were turning a faint, pale blue. A subtle, tingling numbness was rapidly spreading up her wrist toward her forearm.
"The velvet on those diamond pouches..." Eleanor gasped, her breath catching in her throat.
"Synthetic Paralytic B-8," Claire smiled, her voice dripping with ice. "A contact neurotoxin developed by Mother before she died. Absorbed directly through the skin upon touching the velvet inside the tray. I wore invisible liquid-latex gloves when I pulled the box out. You... walked in and rested your bare hands on the stainless steel table where I wiped the residue."
Eleanor tried to squeeze the trigger, but her index finger refused to respond to her brain's commands. The heavy pistol slipped from her paralyzed grip, clattering uselessly onto the floor.
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"You... poisoned me..." Eleanor choked out, her legs buckling beneath her as she collapsed onto the hard floor of the vault.
CHAPTER 18 HOOK: Claire knelt beside her paralyzed sister, picking up the gun and placing it safely into her handbag. "I didn't poison you, Eleanor. Mother did. She knew whichever daughter arrived at this vault out of pure greed would be the one who deserved to die."
