Boris Sergeyevich, on his way to his business partner’s country house with his fiancée for a barbecue in honor of the holiday, stopped by the supermarket. Initially, he had planned to celebrate March 8th in a restaurant, but Anzhela, having learned about the invitation, persuaded him that a trip to the country house would not … Read more
Nastya laid out another of Danila’s shirts on the bed and carefully hung it in the wardrobe. He had more clothes than she expected, but there was still enough space. “Where should I put your books?” Nastya asked, holding a stack of technical literature in her hands. “On the top shelf, if you don’t mind,” … Read more
“Sir… may I have lunch with you?” the barefoot girl asked timidly, addressing the millionaire. Her voice was quiet and shaky, but in the serene atmosphere of the elite restaurant it sounded like a clap of thunder out of a clear sky. Richard Evans, a well-known Chicago real-estate tycoon, a gray-haired man of about sixty, … Read more
For a long time I lied to myself. I acted as if life were still ticking along in its usual groove—same routines, nothing changing, just a bad dream I’d eventually wake from. I refused to accept that Sergey had really betrayed me. And not some careless fling, either—he was involved. With her. The woman who … Read more
Polina studied the new curtains with a careful eye. Powder-blue, sprinkled with tiny flowers—exactly what she’d pictured for the living room. She fussed with the pleats, stepped back a few paces, and allowed herself a small, satisfied smile. “Sergey, what do you think?” she called to her husband, who was slouched in the armchair, face … Read more
Lidia had put her daughter Elsa to bed just a couple of minutes ago. She was about to lie down herself and enjoy the quiet of the cozy apartment. But at that moment the doorbell rang. A melodious chime announced a visitor. “Well, so much for that,” the young woman said wryly and went … Read more
“Ksenia! Where have you disappeared to? The guests have been waiting half an hour for coffee! And cut the cake into larger pieces—Vasily Timofeyevich has a sweet tooth!” Her mother-in-law’s voice, Elena Petrovna’s, ricocheted through the apartment. Ksenia inhaled slowly, swallowing her irritation. A crowd of about ten had taken over the living room—every one … Read more
When her husband walked out, Priya was only twenty-five. He said he was leaving for work overseas—and then vanished from her life as if he’d stepped off the edge of the earth. Priya cried until her ribs ached. Even so, with swollen eyes and hands that wouldn’t stop trembling, she stood by the stove and … Read more
Elena opened her eyes at the sound of the alarm and reached for the nightstand, where a white envelope with a bank card lay. Every morning she checked that it was there—a habit she’d formed over two years of painstaking saving. Five hundred thousand rubles in a separate account were earmarked for the down payment … Read more
The morning began like so many others for Adrian Cole—magnate of glass towers and velvet-lobbied residences—yet a faint, unfamiliar stir unsettled his routine. His calendar was jammed until nightfall, a gauntlet of negotiations and signatures. Still, a quiet insistence tugged at him, a whisper beneath the rational hum of his day: go home. Adrian wasn’t … Read more