Only the Strongest Survive (37 page)

Emely picked herself up and managed to avoid
his hands reaching for her. She ran up the stairs and closed the
door behind her. She got to the front door only to find it
locked.

She pulled
the handle and rattled it, hoping the door would open. Meanwhile
she could hear footsteps coming up from the basement. Her nerves
were about to shatter.

Then she
remembered Kitty. She had heard her barking
when they were rolling around in front of the stairs. Now
Emely looked down and was relieved to find the dog staring up at
her nervously. She lifted Kitty, pulling her close, and ran up to
the second floor and shut herself in the last room on the right.
Only when she had locked the door behind her, she realized that
this had not been the smartest move. Yet again, she was shut in a
room with no exit.
What do I
do?

She searched
hysterically around the room that was obviously a servant’s
bedroom. No one had slept in it for a long time. She ran to the
window and opened it with a single push.
Oh no, I wouldn’t survive the jump.

She ran
around the room and soon heard the opening and closing of doors.
She climbed into a wall cabinet, still holding Kitty in her
arms
, and prayed quietly.

*

The door to the room opened. A painful
silence followed, lasting at least ten seconds. The shadow visible
through the small gaps in the cupboard showed that he was standing
only a few feet away. Ronald bent over.

He’s looking under the bed.
She
was holding Kitty’s mouth with her right hand so that the dog would
not give them away. Emely was trembling all over and drops of sweat
gathered on her forehead. She was still praying.

The door of
the first closet opened and then the second. Without being aware of
it,
as soon as the door opened she
grabbed a wooden hanger and hit Ronald with it across the
nose.

The
resultant thud caused Ronald to shout, “Damn it,
you broke my nose!”

He
held his nose that was pointing leftward and was
beginning to bleed, while he screamed. He grabbed her by the
throat. She hit him again, this time on the forehead. Still not
releasing his grip, he screamed even louder, like a stubborn child
that refuses to let go of his favorite toy regardless of the
consequences. Emely bit his hand as hard as she could and pushed
him away. He dropped down like a log and kept squirming.

Not wanting to lose any time, she ran into
the corridor and locked the door behind her, still holding Kitty.
She threw the key far away and then ran to the ground floor.

Even before
she had reached the last
step, she heard
the door smash, which meant he was out. She remembered the back
door. Like a rabbit, she ran to the back of the house, but to her
disappointment that door was locked. She looked at the
window.
Why do I want to get
out through the door when I can use a window?

Ronald’s
heavy breathing and the sounds his shoes made on the floor betrayed
his vicinity. She put Kitty on the floor and opened the nearest
window easily. She grabbed Kitty again and dropped her out of the
window. “Out, get out quickly,” she told herself
aloud.

Emely
sat on the windowsill and lifted her legs to
step outside, but it was too late. He grabbed her hair and pulled
her close. Tears came to her eyes from the pain, but she didn’t let
out a sound. She fell down in front of him and he immediately
closed the window. Then he kicked her in a kidney so that she began
coughing and rolled into a ball.

“
This is for
my broken nose,” he shouted, kicking her again.

She thought
she would faint
from the pain.

“
And
this
, for my head.”

He sat on her
back and grabbed her neck with both hands. His fingers were
pressing harder and harder and she was unable to breathe. Her lungs
were demanding air, but however hard she tried she could not move,
let alone wriggle out of his grip. She nearly resigned herself to
her fate when she heard yelping somewhere in the distance. Kitty
felt much more courageous outside and was barking as loud as she
could to get help. And her barks gave Emely additional strength.
With all the force she could summon, she pushed her elbow back,
aiming it at his nose. Nothing else could have had such a strong
effect on him—the pain was so great that he had to put both his
hands on his badly broken nose. She had never heard a louder scream
and realized that she had managed to get him off her. Catching her
breath, she crawled on all fours away from him.

Ronald, not completely recovered either, also
followed on all fours.

She wondered
where she could go. The bathroom was the nearest. She looked back
and saw his bleeding face only a few feet away from her. He was
reaching for her when she screamed, got up, and shut herself in the
bathroom.

“There’s no point, Emely,” he said, wheezing
noisily, barely able to talk. “I’ll get you sooner or later.
There’s no way you’ll survive this. Just admit defeat.”

Emely was
leaning on the sink, breathing deeply and listening. What he had
said made her angry but at the same time strengthened her resolve
not to give up. She would fight to the end—if he wanted to take her
life, she would extract a high price. Then she thought what to do.
The lock threatened to give at any moment. As she could not think
of anything else, she unscrewed the shower hose, even though her
hands trembled so much that she couldn’t control them.

The moment he entered, she attacked him with
the hose. She jumped toward him and he opened his eyes wide in
surprise, having expected her to be sitting in a corner,
crying.

With all her strength she managed to get him
on the floor and wrapped the hose around his neck. She pulled hard
on both ends so that his air supply was cut. Then she knelt on him
and pulled even harder. His distorted face became red within
seconds and his eyes bulged. She could see he was suffocating and
nearly loosened her grip, but then remembered what he had done to
her and pulled even harder instead.

“How do you feel now, Ronald? Do you like not
being able to breathe? It’s your turn to say goodbye to this
life.”

Chapter
19

_______________________

Robert Miles
was with someone he had wanted to meet for ages. Opposite him sat
Anita Walters, a former Donnovan Corporation employee who didn’t
have such a positive opinion about Emely Donnovan. She had been
working in accounts as part of the team responsible for salaries,
when Alexandra had found her giving one employee a higher salary
than she should have. It transpired that this was prearranged and
Anita got a share of the difference. She had to resign
immediately.

Finally something juicy,
Miles
thought.

Anita was the
sort of woman who ask
ed questions and
gossiped, so she was full of information.

“You say you’re unemployed?”

“Of course. Thanks to Donnovan Corporation
I’m now without a job, with three kids.”

“And why did you leave?” Miles was trying to
make the question as polite as possible even though he knew what
had happened.

“I didn’t leave willingly, I was forced. I
should have sued them.”

“I see. What did your job involve?”

“
Salaries.
You know, numbers, numbers, and more numbers. You’ve no idea what
salaries the managers are getting, have you?”

“
None
whatsoever.” He pretended to be stupid so that she’d tell him
things no one else had. He sat comfortably opposite the woman and
wrote down everything she said.

“
Every month
when we were paying the salaries, I got angry. When I saw that I
got only 5 percent of what my boss was paid, I lost my enthusiasm
for work. You understand, don’t you?”

“Of course, go on.”

He was
observing the woman, who didn’t look that poverty stricken. She
wore an elegant blue suit. Robert guessed her age to be just over
forty.

“
And that’s
not all,” she said. “In addition to a huge salary, they’re
constantly going for expensive dinners, for which they pay with
company credit cards. Do you know how much Emely Donnovan spent on
average on her card?”

“No idea.”

“Around twenty thousand dollars. Can you
imagine? All at the expense of the company. I know she traveled a
lot, but still, it’s too much. Not to mention Alexandra. She drives
the latest model of Mercedes, owned by the company. Since she’s
been with the corporation, she hasn’t spent a cent on gas for it.
These people eat and drive at the expense of the company, while
their salary stays untouched in their bank account.”

Miles was barely able to write down
everything she told him as her anger and hatred fueled her story
and made her speak quickly and with zeal. “So, you weren’t happy
with what they paid you?”

“Happy? Are you kidding me? No idiot could be
happy with the pittance I was getting. I could barely make it to
the end of the month. You know how much children cost.”

“Yes, I know. I was told you were fired
because you paid salaries that were higher than they should have
been,” he said directly.

“Everyone in that company is stealing. From
top to bottom. And then they got at me, and I’m the least to blame.
If only you knew all the things that go on there.”

“
Such as?”
Miles was waiting like a dog for a chunk of meat, for her to
finally tell him something tangible. So far, she hadn’t said
anything useful or shocking.

The woman
leaned back in her chair and lit a cigarette. “You’ve got to
understand that I have three kids to keep. My husband earns hardly
anything.”

She’s smarter than I thought.
Miles took a bunch of hundred-dollar bills from his wallet
and offered them to her.

“That won’t be enough. You’ll make a fortune
with the information I’ll give you, so I want my share.”

Robert put
his hand on his chin, staring at the woman.
Is she worth the investment? Who knows who I’m dealing
with here.
“So what is your
price?”

“Five thousand dollars.”

“
What! Are
you out of your mind? There’s no way I can give you that kind of
money.”

Anita Walters put out her cigarette and got
up.

“
Hang on.”
Miles didn
’t know what to do. This was
supposed to be his last article about Emely. Unless he wrote
something good, he’d have to say goodbye to her. And he didn’t want
that; he wasn’t ready to leave Emely Donnovan.

“
OK,” he
said, “I’ll pay you five thousand, but I hope you’re worth
it.”

The woman sat
down again, satisfied with herself, while Miles wrote a check for
the amount she was demanding. He could only hope that his boss
would reimburse it.

Anita lit
another cigarette, stared at the check for a while, and then said,
“You know everyone thinks Emely just disappeared. They think she
may have been killed, but no one knows anything for
certain.”

Miles pricked
up his ears
.
What is she trying to tell me?

“Go on, please.”

“I think she was killed.” Anita stared at
Miles as if to see whether he believed her. “Emely Donnovan was an
evil woman and finally someone had had enough of her
machinations.”

Though
he
didn’t like what she said about his
heroine, Miles didn’t interrupt, sensing that something important
was coming. “What machinations do you mean?”

She laughed
confidently, liking the fact that the man in front of her could
barely wait for her to continue. She liked it when people were
dependent on her, even though this didn’t happen often.

“
Ms. Donnovan
was not the wonderful person you have described. I’ve read
everything you
’ve said about her and it’s
all nonsense, about her being smart, prudent, honest, some kind of
a superwoman.”

These were
insults Miles found difficult to swallow. He was about to raise his
voice, but she overtook him. “Emely Donnovan had a horde of
enemies. You don’t know how often I’ve witnessed attacks on her,
when all the people angry with her wanted to get her.”

“What attacks? Tell me, who were these
people?”

Anita paused for a few moments again,
enjoying her performance. “You wrote that Emely was a manager who
men and women in leading positions could look up to. I don’t think
that’s true. I’ll tell you why that company grew so fast. Don’t
think that it all just happens. Damn it, it’s easy for those with
heaps of money. And you know money is power.” She put out her
cigarette and pursed her lips.

Robert’s
mouth was completely dry, but he didn’t dare order another drink
since this might interrupt her flow.

“
Donnovan
Corporation is involved in investment funds. They’re very
successful and so there are quite a few people investing in them.
This means a lot of money. The numbers I’m talking about surpass
the dreams of any individual. Emely and her brokers invest this
money into securities, gold, and other precious metals. But with
time, Emely grew bored with this and found a new hobby.” She
stopped again.