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  She heard knocking on the door, a sign that her ten minutes were over. She covered her eyes again.

  *

  When she was fastened to the bed again, she said, “John, I’d like to talk to you.”

  “Yes,” he said drily.

  “You seem like a very smart guy, unlike your brother.” She stopped for a moment and forced a little smile. “In fact, I think you should have been in charge of your company instead of him. As far as I know, you were his assistant. I have a feeling you’re much more capable than he is.”

  “You don’t have to flatter me,” he told her. “If I had it my way, we’d have broken your neck long ago.”

  His vicious response almost ended her hopes, but nonetheless she went on. “I only wanted to say that you seemed like a very reasonable man. Not as stubborn as your brother. I understand that you’re filled with a desire for revenge. If I’d known that your company meant so much to you, I would never have—”

  “Shut up and stop blabbering. You should have thought of it then, you greedy bitch.” His voice sounded more and more tense.

  “I just want to mention that I have two million dollars in my personal account in Switzerland. No one knows about it. If you give me the number of your bank account, I can transfer the money with a single phone call. No risk involved.”

  John hit her so hard that her head jerked sideways. A strong pain shot through her jaw, but in spite of it Emely straightened her head.

  “I’m serious, John. What use is my life to you if you continue to be broke? You’ll have the satisfaction, but—”

  “Damn it! You talk too much.” He got up and banged the door shut. As he was walking downstairs, he lit a cigarette and thought about what she had said. The bitch is right. I am more capable than Ronald. If I was managing that company, it wouldn’t have got into trouble.

  *

  In the evening Emely heard footsteps approaching the room. Her heart started racing and she fearfully waited to know who would open the door. She got the feeling it was John.

  He swayed over to the bed and by his irregular movements she concluded that he was drunk.

  “I came to ask if you wanted to use the can,” he said. He leaned close to her so that she was able to smell his breath, which reeked of alcohol.

  She recoiled from him as much as she could.

  John removed the blindfold and took a step back to have a good look at her. “Hmm, not bad,” he mumbled. “My big brother has gone somewhere and there’s no need for you to have your eyes covered. It was his idea, but I’m not sure what for. You can’t go anywhere anyway.”

  “Yes, I’d very much like to use the bathroom,” Emely said in order to change the topic of conversation, which she didn’t like.

  She examined him from head to toe. He was about ten inches taller than she and had an unshaven, symmetrical, elongated face framed by short, blond hair. Emely was surprised by his gleaming white teeth, clearly visible because of his wide grin. She thought he must be around thirty years old.

  He took off the restraints and accompanied her to the bathroom again. He held her hand all the time, visibly assessing her body.

  When she was finally alone in the bathroom she felt relief. I need a cold shower, she thought. In a rush she took off her clothes and turned on the cold tap as far as she could. Thousands of ice-cold droplets covered her feverish body. Instead of it being a shock, it felt incredibly liberating. She was ready to explode.

  For more than ten minutes Emely kept turning around under the cold water, breathing deeply. When she started feeling cold she soaped her body, rinsed it quickly, and rubbed herself down with a towel. She looked at her wrist that was red from the restraints. Again her stomach began to churn. Oh no, I must think clearly, she told herself.

  She remembered how John had spied on her through the keyhole earlier and she quickly got dressed. She fixed her hair a bit and then knocked on the door to say she had finished.

  The door opened and she saw John staring at her breasts. Pretending not to have seen anything, she said in a calm, deep voice, “Have you thought about my proposal, John?”

  He said nothing.

  “We could make a deal.” Emely said this as if it were a completely normal, everyday business discussion.

  Unexpectedly he grabbed her neck and held her like that all the way to her room.

  “John, please don’t!” she shouted in pain.

  He pushed her so hard that she fell roughly onto the mattress. Before she was able to defend herself, he grabbed her left hand and fastened it to the metal frame. Then he began tearing her clothes off.

  “I have other ideas,” he said. “You’ll like it.”

  Her clothes flew around the room and soon she was completely naked. When she was about to scream, he put his hand on her mouth. “No point in shouting. The house is in the middle of the woods and there’s no one anywhere near.”

  Emely closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She was afraid that screaming would only increase his anger.

  But when he lunged on top of her she did scream and wanted to push him away with her free hand, but to no avail … he was too heavy. While gripping her firmly, he was letting out strange noises. Then he licked her with his slimy tongue. Disgusted, she tensed her muscles in the hope that this would make her feel as little as possible.

  When he tired of feeling her up and licking her, he unbuttoned his fly and revealed himself proudly.

  “John, please don’t, don’t do this!” she begged.

  In spite of her pleading, he roughly spread her legs wide open, penetrated her within a second, and took a deep breath.

  She gritted her teeth in order to muffle the pain.

  He kept thrusting into her as if she didn’t exist, all the while grunting like an animal.

  She moaned during quiet intervals, hoping it would end soon. His rhythm got faster.

  Not long now, she told herself. You can take it, not long now.

  With every passing moment feeling like ages, she finally said, “Stop!”

  Just as she was about to scream, he began convulsing and grunting. That lasted a few more seconds.

  He remained on top of her with all his weight so that she was able to use only a quarter of the capacity of her lungs to breathe. She lay still, as if not alive.

  Emely gathered her strength and said, “John, I’ve never enjoyed it so much. You really are special.” She could not believe she had said it, did not know why she had said it. But her mind was telling her she had to get him on her side, irrespective of the price. In reality, given half a chance, she would have killed him.

  He rolled over like a log, still breathing deeply.

  “About that proposal I mentioned—”

  “Shut up, you bitch. Keep that poisonous tongue of yours still.”

  He fastened up his pants and jumped off the bed. He took the restraint off her hand.

  “Quick, get dressed. I don’t have much time.”

  “I just wanted to say—”

  John slapped her hard with his right hand. It was so unexpected that she bit her tongue. Her tears poured instantly and she moaned out loud while picking up the rest of her clothes from the floor. He looked at her humiliating position with a smile on his face.

  When she was dressed, he fastened her down again and blindfolded her. Then he left.

  *

  As John was making himself a coffee in the kitchen, he gazed out the window, at one point, frowning.

  “She’s right,” he said aloud to himself, “I really am special.”

  *

  Emely cried for a long time, until there was no strength left in her. She felt she might have gone to sleep for a few minutes, when someone grabbed her arm.

  “What’s happened?” she asked, confused.

  As if he had not heard her, he unfastened her and made her stand up. He fastened her hands behind her back instead, then he took her by the elbow and dragged her downstairs. She had to run in order to be able to keep up wit
h his long strides.

  She heard the front door open and felt the fresh morning air. I was right, it must be three or four in the morning. Where are they taking me? she wondered.

  John opened the back door of a vehicle and pushed her in violently. He sat next to her.

  “Good morning, Ms. Donnovan.” The voice was Ronald’s. “We’re taking you on a short early morning outing.” He turned the key. “I’m sure you’re going to like it.”

  “Listen, you can’t do this. Where are you taking me? Please, tell me the price, everything has a price.”

  “No, my dear Ms. Donnovan. We no longer care about money. We lost it all and learned to do without.”

  “But …”

  “No buts. All that’s left is hatred and a desire for revenge. And soon this desire will be fulfilled.”

  She began screaming and completely lost control. Never before had she found herself in a situation which she could not influence.

  John placed one hand around her mouth and they drove like that for over half an hour. The vehicle swayed from side to side to avoid roots in the road. Feeling sick from fear or the bumpy ride or both, Emely didn’t know how much longer she’d last.

  “Where are you taking me?” she cried when John took his hand off her mouth.

  But she didn’t get a reply.

  After a while she asked again. “Please, tell me where we’re going.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ronald said, “we’ve arrived.”

  The SUV slowed down. She felt John’s hand telling her she had to get out. She wanted to stay in the vehicle, but relented. With the blindfold still on, her only orientation were the noises outside. Somewhere in the distance she could hear the hooting of an owl, and then a mosquito buzzed past her ear. There was a strong smell of pine trees. We must be in deep woods, she guessed.

  John pushed her over to a slender tree not far away and tied her to it. He took off the blindfold and she was able to look around. Because of the trees that stood close together and reached high into the starry sky, little light reached the ground in spite of the full moon. Scared, she turned toward Ronald, who was watching her from the side. He was small, only about five foot seven, and considerably overweight.

  Her heart was beating hard and she kept gulping down the saliva that gathered in her mouth as she looked at his round face. “What are you going to do with me?” she asked. Tears streamed from her eyes.

  Ronald looked down, stood on a dry branch that snapped under his weight, and smiled. “You’re gonna like it here, Ms. Donnovan.”

  John appeared with some wide tape and put it over her mouth. She was able to respond only with muffled screams through her nose. The men set off for the car, laughing.

  In horror she noticed a coffin made from raw wooden planks on the roof of the SUV. Emely wanted to scream and run, but felt she was going to faint at any moment. The scene in front of her was real, even though she found it hard to believe that it was really happening. Why did they bring a coffin?

  She felt dizzy. It was too much for her. She kept looking around for anyone who could help her. They are crazy, this can’t be true.

  John and Ronald took the coffin off the roof and put it down next to the tree Emely was tied to. They went back to the car, opened the trunk, and pulled out two shovels.

  They’re only trying to scare me. They can’t be serious, can they? In panic she tried to free her wrists, but got nowhere. She kept looking around to spot anyone, perhaps a woodcutter or someone picking mushrooms. She begged God to help her.

  They began digging a hole in front of her.

  For a while she stared at the shovels that kept pushing the soft soil so easily and she prayed for all this to turn out to be nothing more than a bad dream. But the longer she stared at them, the more certain she became that it was real. Finally, she could take no more and everything went dark.

  *

  When she opened her eyes, she saw in front of her an elongated hole, about five feet deep and next to her the two men, soaked with sweat and bent over from the effort.

  “So, Ms. Donnovan,” Ronald said, “even though it didn’t seem so at first, the ground was hard and full of stones. We had to work real hard.”

  He looked at John and jerked his head. John came nearer, unfastened her from the tree, and refastened her hands in front of her.

  To their surprise Emely began to resist like a wild wounded animal. She butted John in his stomach as hard as she could and he writhed in pain.

  Then she grabbed a shovel and hit Ronald on the head. Both men were rolling on the ground, howling. She ran like the wind.

  Running as fast as she could, breathing through her nostrils, she kept looking back. To her horror and surprise, John had gotten up and was running equally fast. Emely sped up and her breathing became loud. Ignoring the branches that struck her face, she ran for her life.

  She tripped over a tree root and lost her balance, sprawling onto the thick layer of pine needles covering the forest floor. It was too late. John’s hands were already grabbing her left leg. She struck at him like a snake, but he moved away in time. He grabbed her hands and soon had her under control. Ronald came and together they carried her back to the original spot. She kept struggling and making muffled noises.

  When they put her in the coffin, her resistance doubled. She banged her head against the sides of her deathbed in the hope of the planks loosening.

  The two men quickly put the wooden top on the coffin and fastened the sides down in order to prevent her from opening it. They pushed the coffin into the hole and began to cover it with soil.

  When Emely felt damp soil fall onto her face through the cracks, she passed out.

  The men covered the hole and scattered the remaining soil around. Then they spread the grave with branches and leaves. Exhausted, they got in their SUV and left the crime scene.

  Chapter 2

  _________________________

  Blake Crouse was in charge of legal matters at Donnovan Corporation. He was an uncomplicated and calm man who had just turned sixty, with still dark but already graying hair, and kind eyes framed by thick eyebrows. He was sitting anxiously in his office, thinking about Emely. He lifted the receiver and called the head secretary.

  “Maria, call a board meeting in two hours.”

  “OK, Blake.”

  Often, when Emely was away, Blake had to stand in for her.

  He gazed out the window, deep in thought, sensing that something was seriously wrong.

  At the meeting two hours later he began by saying, “This morning I was called by a Chief Inspector Reynolds. Something terrible has happened.”

  The directors stopped whispering to each other and started to pay attention.

  “Emely Donnovan has been kidnapped.”

  A cacophony of voices could be heard around the meeting room. Everyone was turning toward each other, surprised at the horrifying news. They couldn’t believe what they had just heard. After a minute or so, the noise settled down. Blake glanced out of the window and then resumed.

  “Her car was found abandoned by the highway. At first they didn’t know whose it was because the number plates had been removed. But it didn’t take the police long to identify a car worth over four hundred thousand dollars.”

  Everyone smirked for a moment, but immediately became serious again.

  “If she really has been kidnapped, we can expect a call from her kidnappers anytime now,” Crouse said.

  Horrified, the directors didn’t know how to act in such a situation. They were used to concluding business deals and assuring the company was making a profit, but a kidnapping!

  “I think we should hire a good detective,” said Alexandra Regan, a board member responsible for finance. Her appearance was striking, with long, jet-black hair and gray, domineering eyes. Men were attracted to her exceptional beauty but always surprised by her sharp intellect and greedy character.

  “I’ve already done that. The Chicago District Court has been worki
ng with some guy for over seven years. Bauer, I think.” Blake looked for the name among his papers. “Yes, Bauer. He’s of German descent and apparently very good. I’m meeting him later.”

  Alexandra said, “The news of her kidnapping will sooner or later find its way out. This will of course result in the value of our shares falling.”

  Everyone was appalled at her words. How could she think about shares when Emely had been kidnapped?

  “Listen to me, I know we’re dealing with a kidnapping and I can’t even imagine what Emely must be going through at this moment. But we must act carefully and consider everything.”

  Blake watched her from the side. Alexandra was one of the smartest women he had ever known. During the years of struggling for survival, she had often had to ignore her sentimental side.

  He said, “I agree with Alexandra. We’ve got to think of the company and at the same time do everything we can to save Emely.”

  Alexandra looked at him gratefully and added, “It’s best if we can hide the news for as long as possible. Perhaps she has lost her memory or something. It’s pointless panicking already, as she’s only been missing for a short while. As soon as the public gets a whiff of this, we can expect journalists to descend. Everyone will want to write about it and our share price will fall dramatically.”

  A hubbub rose in the meeting room from conflicting voices of approval and disapproval.

  Blake stepped closer to the table and said, “If it is a kidnapping, we can expect a call from whoever did it. They’ll demand huge amounts of money. What’s our liquidity at the moment, Alexandra?”

  “If they ask for no more than ten million, we would have no problem.”

  “But surely we’re not just going to pay these killers and let them get away,” one of the directors said in a defiant tone.