Nelly looked more closely at the woman and realized it was the same woman who helped her when she was experiencing pangs of pregnancy in the plane. The same lady she ran into at the mall some days back. Nelly looked puzzled, the world was way smaller than they spoke of it.
“How are you doing?” The lady got up and hugged Nelly. She looked so concerned about Nelly.
“Can you please give us some privacy, Edgar?” The lady requested from the man who brought Nelly into the premises. She was so happy to get the opportunity to see Nelly once again.
“You own this place, Ma’am?” Nelly asked.
“I do. And please do not call me Ma’am, my name is Sandra.”
“Sandra?” Nelly had read a lot of books and never had she seen a German easily bear such a name. She knew that they didn’t bear such names and that was why she was surprised.
Sandra understood this. “If I were to make you call me by my German name you could literally take more than a minute just to pronounce my name.”
Sandra and Nelly laughed, they laughed so hard. It was comforting for Nelly to know that Sandra also had a good sense of humor. Nelly was always comfortable with people that did possess such quality.
“So what were you doing that warranted Edgar to believe you were the new cleaner?”
“Oh, silly me. I was simply admiring the building when he came out and met me. So he thought I was coming in.”
Sandra laughed. “You could have gotten employed against your wish.”
“But it was still a good thing. I mean, if he didn’t bring me in here I would not have met you again.”
Nelly went further:
“I heard you are looking for a cleaner, is the job space still vacant?”
“Yes, do you want to..?”
Nelly did not even wait for Sandra to complete her statement before she replied “yes, I want to.”
Sandra could see that Nelly’s pregnancy was becoming more visible. It was now more noticeable than when they even met at the mall. She wanted to know if Nelly can put up with the workload. Nelly vowed that she was up to the task. She needed to make some cool cash, to take care of herself and the baby. Also, she needed to pay for the rent.
“Fine, you can assume duty whenever you want to,” Sandra told Nelly.
“Tomorrow, is it possible?” Nelly asked. A flicker of hope nurtured in her eyes.
“Tomorrow, if that’s what you want.”
Nelly hugged Sandra. She was so happy.
Ivan was still very much concerned about Nelly. He could not think straight anymore and his temper had gotten worse.
“Get out of my office you wretch! Get out of here!”
Ivan was heard screaming at a worker by the two men who brought him updates concerning the search for Nelly.
He instructed them to deliver the information in person. What they usually tell him through phone calls was annoying. Ivan wanted them to report to him in person. He felt this would make them serious with their work.
“What news do you bring for me?” Ivan asked. His face frowned as he questioned them. Ivan was so angry.
Which one of them would speak? Ivan’s mood was already ruined even before they came into his office. That crazy employee just had to ruin his mood before they came in, they certainly must have reasoned in their mind.
“What news do you bring for me?!” Ivan asked again. This time, his voice was about high. Merely looking at them, he could tell that they had nothing to say.
“Well, we looked around the Stratford records and at some of their friends, they said Nelly just vanished. They said the last two people to ever see her were her Father and that Ash guy. Ash was the last of the two mentioned to set his eyes on her.”
The report from the men was clever. They knew they didn’t have any lead on her so they decided to push his anger a bit to Ash’s lane. That was smart as well as foolish. If Ivan ever found out that it was their intention to turn his anger away from them, they will definitely feel sorry for themselves. You never mess with Ivan Lander and expect to walk away like a genius! Never! It’s not done.
“I think it’s high time we paid our friend a visit, don’t you think?” Ivan said to his men.
They drove down to Ash’s place. Ivan and his boys met Ash as he was about to walk into the house. It seemed he went to a grocery store to get some things he needed
Ash was surprised to find Ivan and some fiercely looking men in his premises.
“To what do I owe this visit?” Ash asked Ivan.
“Where is Nelly, you son of a bitch?”
“I do not know where Nelly is. How many times will I have to tell you that?”
“I’ll ask you again, where is Nelly?!”
“And I’ll repeat this to you – I do not know where Nelly is!”
Ivan struck Ash on his lips and Ash fell to the ground.
“If you do not tell me where Nelly is I’m going to order my boys to break every single bone in your body!”
Ash was beginning to get scared. Ivan looked very serious with his threats. Ash didn’t want any trouble, he also didn’t want Ivan to find Nelly. Ash didn’t mind risking his life just to ensure the safety of Nelly’s.
“You can go ahead and beat me up! Hurt me! But I promise you that you’ll never get a single information about the whereabouts of Nelly out of me because I know nothing!”
Ivan was fuming with anger and a bit of hate for Ash. He wanted to break him into pieces.
“Get him!” Ivan instructed his men. Just as Sok as they were about to get hold of Ash, they heard a voice:
“Ivan! Stop, Please!”