— Yes, Mom, don’t worry… I’ll take care of it right after the wedding… I’ll say it’s for the mortgage, or think up something else… Yeah, we’ll put it in your name, that’ll be safer; she won’t be a stranger anymore. Yana froze in the entryway, barely managing to pull the front door shut behind … Read more
— Mom, open the door. It’s me. And I’m not alone. Kiril’s voice on the other side of the door sounded unusually firm, almost official. I put my book aside and walked to the hallway, fixing my hair as I went. An uneasy knot had already formed somewhere in my gut. My son was standing … Read more
Elena had been racking her brain for a long time trying to come up with a gift for her husband. No idea seemed good enough. In desperation, she asked him directly. Artem’s answer was abrupt and unexpected: — “A premium gym membership.” — “But you hate working out?” she asked, genuinely surprised, her brow furrowing. … Read more
For a long time, I lived in denial. I told myself nothing had changed — same routine, same life — that all of it was just a bad dream. I refused to believe Sergey had truly betrayed me. And not just a meaningless fling, but a full-blown affair. With her. The woman who now worked … Read more
The city, shrouded in dark shadows, breathed a muffled, heavy silence, broken only by the occasional wail of an ambulance siren. Inside the city hospital, where every corridor held the echoes of other people’s suffering, a storm raged no less fierce than the tempest beyond the windows. The night wasn’t merely tense—it hovered on the … Read more
A dark night, shot through with cold and a storm wind, seemed to have stepped off the pages of a grim fairy tale. The sky, shrouded in clouds, appeared to be hiding the moon on purpose, leaving the world at the mercy of a relentless rain that lashed the asphalt as if trying to wash … Read more
“Valentina, this is no way to do business! What on earth is going on? This is outrageous!” Nadezhda shouted into the phone. “We transferred the full amount to you, didn’t we? Yes, we did! We paid you for all three months, just as we agreed! And what is happening here now?” The woman was speaking … Read more
The stack of documents on the lawyer’s polished desk looked out of place, like a shard of rock in the middle of a lake. I stared at my husband’s signature, and the line of his stroke seemed mocking, wrong. It looked similar, but it wasn’t his. “As you can see, Anna Viktorovna, everything is done … Read more
Sveta knew for sure—their keys were gone. She had turned the entire entryway upside down, checked the pockets of her jacket and Andrei’s jeans, even looked under the doormat. Nothing. “Andrei! Have you seen our keys?” she shouted nervously, opening yet another drawer. “Which ones exactly?” Her husband appeared in the kitchen doorway with a … Read more
Anna pulled the keys from her bag and pushed the door open carefully, trying not to wake Sergey. The hallway was dark, filled with a warm, spicy aroma—he must have reheated delivery pilaf again, probably late at night. His boots were abandoned in the middle of the floor, one knocked over as if kicked off … Read more