Maria drove slowly along the familiar streets of her hometown. Ten years in the capital had erased many memories. She reached her mother’s apartment by GPS.
The front door opened before Maria had time to ring. Her mother stood on the threshold—older, tired.
“So you finally came,” Galina Petrovna said dryly. “Come in.”
Maria stepped over the threshold. Teenagers crowded the hallway. Her stepbrother and stepsister looked her over with undisguised curiosity.
“Kids, this is Maria,” their mother introduced her. “Your sister.”
A girl of about fourteen looked Maria openly up and down. The designer coat, the expensive handbag, the elegant shoes—all of it marked her as a successful city dweller.
“She has such a beautiful car,” the girl whispered to her brother.
“Hush, Lena,” their mother snapped.
A middle-aged man came out of the kitchen. The stepfather gave Maria a silent nod. His gaze slid over her clothes and lingered on the expensive watch.
In the living room stood an old sofa and worn armchairs. The television had clearly seen better days. Maria sat down, taking in the surroundings.
“As you can see, we live modestly,” her mother began.
Maria nodded.
“Vladimir works as a foreman at the factory,” Galina Petrovna went on. “The pay isn’t much. And the children need so many things.”
The teenage son sat in a corner staring at his phone. The screen was cracked. Lena was tugging at the sleeve of a sweater that had clearly seen better days.
“Mom, when will you buy me new sneakers?” the girl asked loudly. “Everyone in my class has normal ones, and I’m stuck with these old things.”
“Lena, not now,” her mother hissed.
Maria kept quiet. The atmosphere was growing more and more tense.
“You must be tired from the trip?” the stepfather asked.
“A little,” Maria admitted.
“And is your job in Moscow good?” her mother inquired.
“Yes, everything’s fine.”
“I heard your father left you the company,” Galina Petrovna began cautiously. “Things must be going well there?”
Maria sighed. Yesterday she had met with the company’s manager. The scale of the business had amazed her. The firm’s turnover was in the tens of millions.
“Yes, things are going well,” she said.
Vladimir Sergeyevich exchanged a glance with his wife. Something predatory flickered in their eyes.
“Maria, could I talk to you?” her mother asked. “In private.”
They went into the bedroom. Galina Petrovna closed the door.
“Daughter, you can see how we live,” she began quietly. “The children need so many things. Lena needs a math tutor. And Andrei wants to take programming courses.”
Maria listened in silence.
“There are layoffs planned at Vladimir’s work,” her mother continued. “We don’t know what to do. And now you’ve come into such money…”
“Mom, I just got here,” Maria gently interrupted. “Let’s give Dad a proper farewell first.”
“Of course, of course,” Galina Petrovna agreed. “But you understand—family is family. Your father always said we must help one another.”
Maria nodded. She didn’t want to argue.
When she returned to the living room, she walked in on a family meeting. Vladimir was whispering something to the children. When they saw Maria, everyone fell silent.
“Maria, will you be in town long?” the stepfather asked.
“I don’t know yet. I need to sort out my father’s affairs.”
“Is the house he left big?” Lena asked.
“Lena!” her mother said sharply.
“What? I’m just curious,” the girl shrugged.
Andrei finally tore himself away from his phone.
“Is it true your dad had a construction company? It must be cool to be the boss.”
Maria looked at this family and understood—everything revolved around money. Her money. No one asked how she was coping with the loss of her father. No one cared about her plans.
“All right, I’ll go to a hotel,” Maria said, getting to her feet.
“What hotel?” her mother protested. “You’re home! Stay with us.”
“No, Mom. I’d rather rest on my own.”
Galina Petrovna walked her to the door. She gave her daughter a tight hug goodbye.
“Think about what I said. Family is sacred.”
Maria returned to the hotel with a heavy heart. Her mother’s words kept circling in her head. The next day she said goodbye to her father. The ceremony was modest. Her mother and her family kept to themselves.
After the cemetery, Galina Petrovna approached her daughter.
“Come to us for dinner tomorrow. Aunt Valya and Uncle Pyotr are coming. We need to discuss everything as a family.”
Maria nodded. It would have been awkward to refuse.
The following evening she came to her mother’s apartment. Relatives were seated at the table—Aunt Valentina and Uncle Pyotr. Their faces were serious.
“Sit down, Maria,” her mother indicated an empty chair.
The atmosphere was tense. Lena and Andrei sat quietly, casting sidelong glances at Maria.
“We’ve been thinking,” Galina Petrovna began. “Your father was always a fair man. He loved family.”
Aunt Valentina nodded.
“Boris always talked about family values, about how relatives should support one another.”
“And what are you getting at?” Maria asked carefully.
Uncle Pyotr cleared his throat.
“You see, Maria, you now have a large inheritance. And your brother and sister are living in need.”
“That’s not fair,” the aunt added. “One child is rich, the others are poor.”
Maria tensed. The conversation was taking an unpleasant turn.
“We think,” her mother continued, “that you should share with Lena and Andrei. At least give them half.”
“What?” Maria couldn’t believe her ears.
“What’s so terrible about that?” Vladimir Sergeyevich shrugged. “A real daughter wouldn’t leave her family in need.”
“Your father would have wanted you to share with your brother and sister,” her mother said coldly.
Lena looked at Maria hopefully. Andrei, too, waited for an answer.
“You understand,” Aunt Valentina chimed in, “it’s a family duty. You lived in Moscow for ten years. You didn’t help with anything. Now you have a chance to make it right.”
“That’s right,” Uncle Pyotr supported her. “Justice above all. The children have a right to an equal share.”
Maria looked around at the faces gathered there. They all stared at her expectantly.
“I’m not obligated to give anything,” she said quietly.
“How are you not obligated?” her mother exploded. “This is your family!”
Maria replied,
“If Father had wanted to divide the inheritance, he would have written it that way in his will. But he never mentioned you in our conversations. He never said he loved you. And who was there to love? You became strangers! I am his only daughter!”
Galina Petrovna boiled over.
“Oh, that’s how it is! So you don’t care about us?”
“Not exactly…”
“No?” her mother cut her off. “Then prove it! Give the children their share!”
Vladimir Sergeyevich leaned forward.
“Maria, think sensibly. You have millions. We’re barely scraping by.”
“Lena will be applying to the institute soon,” the aunt added. “There’s no money for her education.”
“And Andrei needs a computer for school,” Uncle Pyotr put in.
Maria saw the children looking at her. In their eyes she read both resentment and hope.
“Decide,” her mother said harshly. “Either you share the inheritance, or you lose your family forever.”
Silence fell. Maria slowly rose from the table.
“No,” she said firmly.
Galina Petrovna jumped up so sharply that her chair toppled backward.
“What?! Have you completely lost your conscience?! How can you look at these children and refuse them?!”
“Ungrateful selfish woman!” Aunt Valentina shouted, waving her arms. “You were gone for ten years! You didn’t even come for your mother’s birthday!”
“Heartless,” the stepfather said, shaking his head and looking at Maria with contempt. “I thought you had at least a drop of humanity left.”
Lena burst into tears, burying her face in her hands.
“I hoped… we all hoped… And you…”
Andrei looked at his stepsister in silence. In his gaze there was the fierce anger of a teenager watching all his dreams collapse.
“You drove up in an expensive car!” he suddenly blurted, his voice shaking with rage. “Your bag costs as much as our monthly groceries! And we don’t even have money for new clothes!”
“The boy is right,” Vladimir Sergeyevich nodded. “You’re bathing in luxury while we’re just surviving.”
Maria headed for the exit, but her mother blocked her way.
“Stop!” Galina Petrovna screamed, grabbing her daughter’s arm. “If you walk out now, don’t come back! You’re no daughter of mine! Not a daughter at all!”
“I’ll tell the whole town how stingy you are!” the aunt threatened, trembling with anger. “Everyone will know you abandoned your own family!”
“I’ll tell all the neighbors!” her mother chimed in. “In the shops, at the clinic! Everyone will know!”
“And your business will have problems,” Vladimir Sergeyevich warned coldly, raising his voice for the first time that evening. “I have connections. We’ll make your life here miserable.”
“Go away!” Lena cried through her tears. “Go away and don’t ever show your face again! We’ll manage without you!”
“A disgrace to the family!” Uncle Pyotr added. “Your father is turning in his grave!”
Maria pushed her mother aside and moved toward the door. Shouts followed her:
“I curse you!” Galina Petrovna screamed. “May you never know happiness!”
“You’ll end up alone!” Aunt Valentina yelled. “Completely alone!”
The door slammed. But the shouting was still audible through the wall.
The next day Maria moved into her father’s house. She changed the locks and put the rooms in order. The house was large and cozy.
A year passed. Her mother still hadn’t spoken to her. When they met, she demonstratively turned away. The children were resentful as well. Neighbors whispered behind Maria’s back.
“See how stingy she is,” they said. “She chose money over family.”
“Completely heartless,” the old ladies tutted.
But Maria wasn’t bothered. The company was growing; new orders were coming in. She was building homes for other people, creating jobs. Her father’s business lived and developed.
She remembered perfectly well why her parents had divorced. Her father was just getting the company off the ground; there was no money. And her mother left for Vladimir, who was earning well at the time. Her father took the breakup hard. After that he poured all his love into his daughter. First he took her to live with him. Then he sent her to study in the capital and helped her find her feet. He never even mentioned her mother’s new family.
Now her mother had decided to pretend the past didn’t exist—and to get her hands on part of what her father had built with such effort. But Maria had no intention of dismantling her father’s empire so easily.
In the evenings Maria sat in her father’s armchair, leafing through his photos. She understood she had done the right thing. She had preserved his legacy for herself.
The relatives stopped calling. Family ties were severed for good. But she had no regrets. Her father had entrusted her with his life’s work, and she did not let him down.
