Olga Sergeyevna straightened the tablecloth and looked over the table. A milestone. A round number—fifty-five. A vase of carnations, warm salad, “herring under a fur coat,” her signature eggplant rolls. Borscht was simmering on the stove; Timur would always grimace—said anything without meat “isn’t food,” though there was meat in it. Like a schoolgirl, she […]
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— Oh, it’s so nice here! So spacious! — Tamara Pavlovna’s voice rolled through the hallway like thunder out of a clear sky. — Not like my little den. Lord, her again. Marina froze with a rag in her hand. The kitchen cabinet already shone, but she kept scrubbing—maybe if she didn’t react, her mother-in-law […]
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Elena woke first, as always. Maxim was asleep beside her, his arms stretched out over the blanket. Sunlight filtered through the heavy curtains, illuminating the familiar contours of the room. Three years ago she had brought her husband into her home. Now, she sometimes felt like she was the guest. Getting up, Elena went to […]
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“You dragged yourself here for your junk, did you? Well then, come in—take a look at who’s the mistress here now,” her husband said with a sneer. Vlad turned off the shower, wiped his face with a towel, and listened to the sounds coming from the bedroom. Masha was still asleep. Water was running down […]
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On a commuter train, on a gray, rainy day, a stranger handed me two babies—and vanished. Sixteen years would pass before I learned the truth. In the letter were keys to a manor… and a fortune that took my breath away. “Out in this weather—and by train?” the conductor raised her brows in surprise as […]
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A cold courtroom. The final strike of the gavel, and a thirty-year marriage was dissolved in fifteen minutes of bureaucratic procedure. Natalia clutched the papers in her hand, avoiding the gaze of the man who had been the center of her life for decades. “Well, that’s that, Natasha,” Oleg smiled. He really was smiling at […]
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— Sveta, you won’t believe it! I just saw a woman—the spitting image of you! If I had any doubts, I’d think she was your mother… You don’t happen to have an older sister, do you? — her husband, Dmitry, rolled up behind her with a shopping cart piled high with groceries. — What? What […]
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That day, Antonina Petrovna arrived without warning. “Hello,” came the mother-in-law’s cold tone from the hallway. Luda automatically wiped her hands on her apron. “Hello, Antonina Petrovna.” “Potatoes again?” The mother-in-law looked over the plates on the table and wrinkled her nose. “I told you, children shouldn’t have so much starch.” Relations with Antonina Petrovna […]
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“Have you lost your mind, Lyudmila Petrovna? Olya’s already living practically on a dump, and now she’s going to take my apartment too?” Marina couldn’t believe her ears. She and Sergey were having dinner, and her mother-in-law, Lyudmila Petrovna—wearing the face of a prosecutor—was laying out her plan. “Olya needs support. She needs a place […]
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— “Why isn’t the floor washed? And where’s dinner?” Gleb threw his briefcase on the couch and looked around the room. “You’ve stopped taking care of yourself altogether!” Marina froze at the stove, flustered. It was past midnight, and there she was, like a fool, waiting for her husband with a hot dinner. He smelled […]
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