“I’m honestly amazed. Some people have all the luck! Wealth simply falls straight into their lap. They don’t have to lift a finger. One moment they have nothing, and the next they’re rich,” Oksana complained bitterly.
“You can say that again, sweetheart. She really did strike it lucky,” Nadezhda Leonidovna agreed. “But what does she even need an apartment like that for? And in a historic building right in the city center! I can only imagine how much it must be worth on today’s property market.”
“I’m just as shocked as you are! Who could ever have expected something like this to happen to our quiet little mouse?” Oksana continued resentfully.
“And that apartment is apparently filled with treasures—antique furniture, expensive oil paintings and old porcelain. Denis told me all about it.”
“Yes, our Denis certainly got lucky. His wife looks like a complete nobody—no figure, no beauty, nothing special at all. I’ve never understood what my brother saw in her. But now it turns out he has practically won the lottery,” Oksana told her mother. “Why couldn’t something like that happen to me? I’m beautiful, intelligent, and I’ve got the kind of looks people notice. Just imagine what I could do if I owned property like that! Oh, I would really make something of it!”
The mother and daughter were preparing to visit Denis and his wife. After hearing the astonishing news from him the day before, both women had been beside themselves. Frustration and envy had firmly settled in their hearts.
Yet one desire overshadowed every other feeling: they wanted to get their hands on someone else’s fortune. That thought gave them no peace.
It had all begun a week earlier, when Dasha unexpectedly learned that she had become a wealthy heiress. The news had come as a complete shock to everyone, including Dasha herself.
“I just don’t understand why you never told me you had such a rich father,” Denis said, every bit as astonished as his wife. “You always told me that you and your mother lived in a miserable one-room apartment on the outskirts and could barely make ends meet. You told me how the children at school mocked you because of your cheap clothes and shoes. You hardly had enough food and struggled until every payday. And now we suddenly discover that your father was a genuinely wealthy man.”
“I knew almost nothing about him until a few days ago,” Dasha tried to explain. “Mom never spoke about him. The only thing I knew was that he had betrayed her, and after that she forbade him from ever appearing in our lives.”
“It sounds like something from a movie!”
“I wish it were. The truth is probably much less romantic. Although there were a few strange incidents when I was still at school. Several times, a large, beautiful car stopped beside me in the street. The same man would sit inside and stare at me. He never spoke or asked me anything. Then his driver would hand me a huge stuffed toy and a bag filled with sweets and fruit, and they would drive away.”
“See? I told you—it’s just like a movie,” Denis said in amazement.
“But Mom threw away everything I brought home. I cried my heart out because I hated losing those presents. She could never afford to buy me anything like that on her tiny salary. Or at least she could only do it very rarely.”
“Well, your mother clearly wasn’t thinking straight!” Denis exclaimed indignantly.
“Denis, stop it! How can you talk like that? She’s my mother,” Dasha said, offended.
“But am I wrong? She lived in poverty and forced her child to grow up hungry. She must have known how badly your classmates treated you, yet she still allowed you to suffer. All because she refused money from her former lover. Money is money. So what does that make her?”
“Try to understand. Mom is extremely proud. And neither of us knows what really happened between them, so I refuse to judge her, and you have no right to judge her either. Now I’ve learned that my father was much older than Mom and owned a profitable business. It may not even have been entirely legal,” Daria said thoughtfully.
“Didn’t your father have any other heirs besides you? The whole thing is strange. We should ask Olga Sergeyevna to tell us everything. It’s time she did,” Denis insisted.
“I don’t know whether Mom will agree. But I’ll definitely ask her. I want to know who my father really was and why she refused his help when we needed it so desperately.”
A few days earlier, the couple had visited the large, luxuriously furnished apartment Dasha had inherited from her father. They were stunned by the number of beautiful paintings, antique vases, unusual mahogany furniture and other magnificent objects filling the rooms.
“This is unbelievable! It’s like a museum!” Denis exclaimed, making no attempt to hide his excitement. “But I doubt it would be comfortable to live here. We should sell everything and buy a modern house somewhere in the countryside. Right, Dashenka? There would still be a fortune left over. We might never have to work again.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet. I need time to accept what has happened. I’m not ready to make any decisions,” Daria said quietly, still overwhelmed by everything she had seen.
She wandered through the enormous rooms with their high ceilings as though she were under a spell. She touched the heavy curtains and the extraordinarily beautiful furniture, then stood for long stretches of time studying the mysterious paintings, each of which seemed to contain an entire world of its own.
“What is there to think about? We sell it all, and that’s that!” her husband persisted. “Surely you’re not seriously planning to live here!”
Meanwhile, Dasha’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law were not wasting any time. They were already developing a strategy of their own.
“We need to emphasize the fact that Daria is now part of our family,” Oksana told her mother eagerly. “And what does that mean? Everything that belongs to her belongs to the whole family.”
“Do you really think she has no brains at all?” Nadezhda Leonidovna asked. “Dasha may be quiet and timid, but she isn’t completely stupid.”
“Oh, come on! Remember the poverty she grew up in. Dasha probably doesn’t even know the approximate value of any of these things. And her mother is rather simple-minded too. Just think about it, Mom. What could that woman possibly have taught her daughter? She certainly won’t know how to stand up to us.”
“You’re right, sweetheart. What would Dasha do with all of that anyway? She won’t know how to manage such wealth intelligently. Either she’ll waste it all in her excitement or give it away because she’s too softhearted. That would be just like her.”
“Exactly! We need to convince Dasha to let you and me handle the sale of both the apartment and everything inside it. We can quickly find people who know how to deal with these things,” Oksana explained.
“Yes, sweetheart,” her mother agreed. “You’re right about that. This is not a simple matter. It isn’t some ugly concrete box on the outskirts that anyone could sell. Property like this requires a different approach.”
“I’ll convince Daria that she knows nothing about it and that people will definitely cheat her. Our little fool will lose a fortune if she handles it herself. And there is serious money involved here!” Oksana continued enthusiastically, already imagining what they might gain from someone else’s inheritance.
“You’re so clever, Oksanochka! Go ahead with the plan. We’ll make sure we get our share. We only need my daughter-in-law to sign a general power of attorney as soon as possible, and then we can begin selling all her treasures.”
Daria’s mother was not nearly as foolish as her in-laws believed. In fact, she had expected precisely this kind of reaction. That was why she invited her daughter over without Denis and decided to warn her before she made a serious mistake.
“Dasha, I need to speak to you,” her mother began firmly. “You’re a very kind and trusting person. I have nothing against the fact that your father left you such a valuable inheritance. I knew it would happen. I knew Arkady would remember his only daughter before he died. He did the right thing in the end, and I hope he rests in peace. But this conversation isn’t about him, Dashenka. It’s about you.
“Be careful. Your husband’s relatives will try to strip you of everything while claiming that the money will remain in the family anyway. Don’t fall for their tricks.”
“All right, Mom. I’ll be careful. Honestly, I’m still so overwhelmed after visiting Dad’s apartment that I can hardly think clearly. It’s incredibly beautiful! I can’t even describe it. It feels like a magical palace.”
“Oh, my dear girl,” her mother said, gently stroking Dasha’s hair. “Deep down, you’re still such a child. I’m glad fate has finally compensated you for all the pain and tears of your childhood.”
“Mom, tell me about Dad,” Dasha asked.
“There isn’t much to tell. I was foolish and proud. Perhaps I should have behaved differently. Then you and I might have lived a completely different life instead of surviving on bread and water.
“I met Arkady when I was twenty-six, and he was already well into his forties. He was admitted to our hospital after suffering a serious medical emergency and needed immediate surgery. That was why he ended up in our ordinary public hospital rather than an expensive private clinic. An ambulance had brought him to us.
“He liked me. Arkady praised me for giving injections without causing him pain. He complimented my gentle hands and beautiful eyes. He spoke so sincerely that I believed him.
“After he was discharged, we continued seeing each other. Your father courted me beautifully and told me he loved me.
“But when I told him I was pregnant with you, he disappeared. I suffered terribly. I cried constantly because I realized that I had merely been a toy in his hands. Arkady did not return until after you were born.”
“And then what happened? Why did you reject him, Mom?” Daria asked impatiently.
“Because he… It was so humiliating. Arkady offered to keep me as his mistress. It turned out that he had been married for years. He and his wife had no children, but her father was a powerful man who controlled a somewhat illegal business. Arkady worked for his father-in-law and was deeply involved in everything he did. That was why he couldn’t leave his wife. According to him, they would never have allowed him to survive if he tried.”
“And then? Why did you forbid him from seeing us? Why wouldn’t you let him help us? You worked constantly and still had no money! Why did we have to live in such poverty, Mom?”
“I already told you. I was proud. I wouldn’t make the same choice today. I understand now how hard it was for you to grow up without a father. Forgive me, Dasha. And there was something else. I was terrified for your safety. If his wife had discovered that you existed, she might have tried to take revenge.”
“What happened after that?”
“Two years ago, Arkady returned to my life. He told me that his father-in-law was dead and that his wife had also passed away recently. He invited both of us to move into his apartment. But by then you were already seeing Denis, and everyone knew the relationship was heading toward marriage. As for me, all my feelings had burned out long ago. I had grown used to being alone, and I preferred it that way. I suppose I had waited for happiness for so many years that eventually I became too tired to want it anymore.”
Dasha left her mother’s apartment, and that evening her mother-in-law called.
“Well, Daria, when are you going to show us your inheritance? It’s time you let us see what you’ve got!”
“You want to see my father’s apartment? All right. I’ll be there tomorrow morning because I need to go through his documents. Mom said there are some letters there for me. You can come over. I’ll send you the address.”
Dasha’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law walked silently through the apartment, completely stunned. They had expected to see an expensive home, but nothing could have prepared them for such magnificence.
Although both women forced smiles onto their faces, they were unable to hide their envy.
“Well, Dashenka, have you decided what you’re going to do with all of this?” Nadezhda Leonidovna began in an unusually gentle and careful voice.
“Not yet,” Daria replied.
“What do you mean, you haven’t decided?” Oksana interrupted. “You need to sell everything! Why would you keep all this old junk? Do you have any idea how much collectors might pay for the things inside this apartment? And the apartment itself must also be sold intelligently, at its true value, so you don’t lose money. Do you even have the ability to arrange something like that?”
“And why are you so concerned about my apartment?” Daria asked boldly, remembering her mother’s warning. Her tone surprised everyone in the room.
“We’re simply worried about you, Dasha. We want to help you and Denis,” her mother-in-law continued.
“Help me? And how exactly do you intend to do that?” Daria asked, pretending to be interested.
“Just listen to us. You need to understand one thing—you could never sell these possessions as profitably as my mother and I could,” Oksana declared. “Mom knows plenty of museum employees, collectors and antique enthusiasts. Believe me, they would pay a substantial amount for every valuable object in this apartment. We also know an estate agent who specializes in exclusive luxury properties like this one.
“All you need to do, Dasha, is sign a power of attorney allowing Mom and me to handle these problems for you. That’s all! What do you think? Isn’t it a wonderful idea?”
“But I don’t have any problems,” Daria answered. “And for your information, I have no intention of selling anything in this apartment. Not a single thing that belonged to my father. I’m not selling the apartment either.”
“What?” her mother-in-law and sister-in-law exclaimed in disbelief.
“So that’s how you’re going to treat us?” Nadezhda Leonidovna shouted, no longer bothering to hide her true feelings. “You don’t care about our family at all! The moment you became rich, you decided you didn’t need us anymore! Perhaps you don’t need our Denis either now that you’ve got money. Is he too poor for you? Go ahead, say it! Don’t be shy, our quiet little simpleton!”
“I’ll deal with my husband myself,” Daria replied calmly, amazed at how accurately her mother had predicted everything. “And unless you have any more original proposals, I would like you to leave me alone. I have a great deal of work to do.”
“What a nasty little snake!” Oksana snapped, unable to control herself.
Daria’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law left the apartment empty-handed. However, they were not ready to abandon their exciting plan to seize someone else’s fortune.
Both women immediately began pressuring Denis, urging him to persuade his wife to sell her father’s inheritance.
From that day onward, arguments began between the spouses, who had previously lived together peacefully. Dasha refused to give in to her husband’s demands and stood firmly by her decision. For the time being, she genuinely wanted to preserve everything exactly as it was.
Whenever she entered her father’s apartment, she felt as though she had crossed into another world—a beautiful, enchanted life completely different from anything she had ever known.
“Why are you being so stubborn?” Denis asked her more and more often. “Don’t you understand that with this money we could buy a magnificent apartment in a new building or even an entire house in the countryside? We could stop working for several years! We could live comfortably on the money from the antiques alone.”
“I understand everything perfectly well. I’m not stupid,” Dasha replied, hearing the insincerity in her husband’s words and knowing exactly who was influencing him. “I can also see that you’ve become very skilled at counting money that doesn’t belong to you. The matter is closed. I’m not selling anything.”
In the end, the couple divorced.
After being constantly manipulated by his relatives, Denis could never forgive his wife for suddenly becoming wealthy.
And Dasha refused to remain with a man who might betray her the moment money was involved.
