A black car came to a silent stop in front of massive wrought-iron gates. Beyond them began a short dead-end street with eight identical, solidly built houses, cut off from the rest of the world by a high brick wall. A small, self-contained kingdom. A security guard in a uniform jacket, bored in his glass […]
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— I don’t understand why you’re paying strangers when you have an apartment! We tried so hard for you!” Anna read her mother’s message out loud, as if saying the words might change their meaning. It didn’t. She was sitting at the kitchen table in a rented one-room flat, counting crumpled bills and carefully writing […]
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Gleb froze in the middle of the living room. In his hand he held a glass of cognac, which swayed slowly, casting amber glints on the wall. His face took on a strange shade—neither quite pale nor quite flushed, as if two colors were fighting for the right to claim his skin. “What kind of […]
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Marina froze in the middle of the kitchen with a towel in her hands. She had just finished making dinner—stewed chicken with vegetables, her husband’s favorite. Plates were already on the table, the cutlery neatly laid out. She had tried to create a cozy atmosphere after a long day at the medical center, where she […]
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Yana, a designer, arrived at her new client Elizaveta’s a little early. The door was slightly open, and when she stepped inside, she saw her husband Pasha in someone else’s robe and slippers. “Pasha, what are you doing in my client’s apartment?” Yana asked. He snapped irritably, “Did you mix up the address, Yana?” Elizaveta […]
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Lara sat in the kitchen staring at the documents. Her hands were trembling. Viktor stood by the window with his back to her. “Vitya, are you serious?” “Absolutely.” “But it’s been thirty years…” “That’s exactly why. Thirty years of deception.” Lara set the papers aside. Her head was spinning. Her whole world had flipped upside […]
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The Bonus That Tore Them Apart “I’m telling you—we earned this!” Rita tossed an envelope onto the table. “One hundred thousand, Vlad. One hundred thousand! Can you imagine what we could do with the kids’ room?” Vladislav slowly set his phone aside. “That’s great news. But don’t spend the bonus yet—my sister Karina’s wedding is […]
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— Are you deliberately trying to make my mother have a heart attack? Nicholas rasped, hurling the remote onto the table as if he were tossing away a red-hot coal that had scorched his palms. — Don’t be so dramatic, please, Elena replied indifferently, without looking up from the dishes. The water in the sink […]
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Zoya stood by the window of her apartment, watching the bustle of the street below. In her hands she held a cup of hot tea, a faint wisp of steam curling up from it. The past few months had been especially hard—her relationship with Andrei was coming apart at the seams, and she was withdrawing […]
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Svetа’s new perfume hit me in the nose the moment I walked in—sharp, cloying, the smell of a winner. “Katya, my God, I’m so happy!” Sveta, my best friend, squeezed me in a hug. Her movements were quick, predatory. The fussiness I used to mistake for hospitality now looked different. “Come in—just a second… I’ll […]
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