“Katya, where is my blue tie?” Dmitry shouted from the bedroom. Ekaterina was standing in the kitchen, stirring oatmeal. Seven years of marriage, and every morning felt like Groundhog Day. He rushed off to the office chasing success and money, while she stayed between the stove and the washing machine. “In the closet on … Read more
Lyuba closed the door and leaned her back against it. The apartment greeted her with its familiar quiet and the scent of fresh renovations. Her parents had done their best—the two-room place in a modern neighborhood was any graduate’s dream. “Finally home,” Lyuba whispered, kicking off her shoes in the hallway. The doorbell rang unexpectedly. … Read more
Artyom, my husband, warned me almost a month in advance about the upcoming anniversary of his most respected colleague. The celebration was scheduled for Saturday, in the luxurious banquet hall of “Eden,” the most pretentious restaurant in the city. For the world of big finance and champagne toasts, it was just another event, but for … Read more
Andrei set the last box of dishes on the kitchen table and wiped the sweat from his forehead. The move was finished—at last he and Lyuda were the full-fledged owners of their own country house. Two years of construction, endless weekend trips out to the plot, arguments with contractors, choosing materials, sleepless nights over the … Read more
Ethan Cross, a self-made billionaire pushing forty, almost never flew commercial. Today, he didn’t have a choice. A sudden mechanical fault sidelined his jet, and the keynote at a global tech summit in Zurich wouldn’t wait. He grudgingly took a first-class seat. The trappings were fine—champagne, legroom, hush—but he hated sharing air with strangers. In … Read more
Vika picked up the grocery bag and unhurriedly climbed to the fifth floor. September rain tapped against the stairwell windows, and her heart felt calm. In the six months since the divorce, life had finally fallen into place. No one demanded explanations about where she’d spent money, no one criticized her cooking or fumed about … Read more
Love checked the bank app notifications while she waited for the bus. Her salary as a sales manager at a large IT company allowed for a comfortable life—eighty thousand a month plus bonuses. Igor worked as a mechanic at a factory, earned about thirty thousand, and didn’t make much effort to look for anything better. … Read more
— “Karina, you should at least eat properly,” my mother-in-law, Zinaida Arkadyevna, said, her voice scraping my nerves like a dull knife. “You’ve gone practically transparent. What is our Dmitry thinking? Skin and bones.” Family games I slowly lifted my eyes from the plate with the barely touched salad. The entire Voropayev family was at … Read more
Anya Karpenko jolted awake at half past six to the bang of the front door. Igor had slipped out the way he always did—no kiss, no goodbye, just the blunt punctuation of a life shared in silence. She rolled onto her other side, pressed her face into the pillow, and tried to drift back under. … Read more
Alka froze in the bedroom doorway, watching Misha hurriedly tie the laces on his scuffed sneakers. His movements were fussy, jittery—like he was trying to run from an inevitable conversation. “So you’re going to an interview in a tracksuit?” There was no anger in her voice, only surprise. Misha didn’t look up, still fussing with … Read more