Diana stood in the kitchen, staring at the screen of her phone. A message from her mother-in-law, Alla Gennadyevna, glowed like an unnaturally bright blot in the evening half-light:

Diana stood in the kitchen, staring at the screen of her phone. A message from her mother-in-law, Alla Gennadyevna, glowed like an unnaturally bright spot in the evening half-darkness: “Pasha, just a reminder: my birthday is on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. I’m expecting you and Seryozha. The table will be lavish. Ask Diana on my […]

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A sharp ring at the door sliced through the mourning silence of my apartment. It hadn’t even been forty days since Kostya’s funeral

A sharp ring at the door sliced through the mourning silence of my apartment. Forty days hadn’t even passed since Kostya’s funeral—I still hadn’t learned how to breathe without him—yet my mother-in-law, Larisa Grigoryevna, was already standing on the threshold. And she wasn’t alone. Beside her was a hunched man with a briefcase. She didn’t […]

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We transferred your inheritance to your brother—you don’t need it!” her mother said, but the notary suprized everyone with new documents

Anna hurried up the stairs of the notary’s office, nearly half an hour late for the appointment. The traffic in the city had been terrible, and the bus had broken down halfway there. Her heart was pounding—not only from walking fast, but also from anxiety. Today the inheritance matter after her grandmother’s death was supposed […]

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My husband left his phone at home, and I saw a message: ‘Sweetie, we’ll sell her apartment and buy one for me in Sochi!’ But he didn’t know what was coming…

Olya pushed the apartment door open with her shoulder, a bag full of notebooks in her hands. She had been grading geometry tests until eight in the evening—thirty-two papers, and only about five were done well. The rest were nothing but failing and barely passing marks. Her eyes ached, and her temples throbbed. “Dim, hi,” […]

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