— “Lena, I’m back,” her ex-husband announced triumphantly, as if proclaiming victory in a war. “I realized I made a huge mistake. You’re the best woman in my life.” Viktor stood on the threshold—her twice ex-husband, the man she’d divorced four years ago. He held a bouquet of white roses, and on his face was […]
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Good Lord, what on earth is going on?” Marina jerked awake to a crash in the kitchen. The clock on her nightstand read half past six. Sunday. The only day in the last three weeks when she could have slept at least until eight. She threw on a robe and stepped out of the bedroom. […]
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Get out of here!” Marina’s voice trembled like a thin string about to snap. She stood in the doorway, barefoot, hair disheveled, clutching a bundle of children’s toys. At her feet—suitcases jutting out at odd angles, as if thrown together in a hurry. And opposite her—a whole delegation: her mother-in-law with a frozen smile, her […]
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Anatoly froze in the middle of the living room, holding a folder of documents. His face went pale, then flushed. “What do you mean, ‘out of your apartment’? We bought it together!” “NO,” Elena cut him off, gripping the certificate of title in her hand. “This is my grandmother Vera Pavlovna’s apartment. She signed a […]
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— Again the whole apartment smells of vanilla; there’s no air to breathe,”—Raisa Pavlovna’s voice, sharp and dry like last year’s leaf, broke into the kitchen before she herself did, shattering the focused working atmosphere. Anya didn’t flinch. She only gripped the offset spatula a little tighter, continuing with surgical precision to smooth the snow-white […]
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For Elena, receiving a court summons for the dissolution of marriage was no surprise. The last year of her life with Anton had felt like a slow, painful fading. His constant late nights at work, the coldness, the distant gaze—all of it left no doubt. And a month ago he simply came home, packed his […]
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— “She’s gotten on my nerves. She’s put on weight, she’s always unhappy about something. I don’t know why I put up with it.” I heard my husband’s voice from the living room when I came back for my umbrella. The truth overheard by chance I froze in the hallway. The key was still in […]
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Natasha saw the photo in her feed by accident. Vika next to a brand-new foreign car — white, with a red bow on the hood. The caption read: “Thank you, Mom and Dad! Now I can get to the kids faster!” Her knuckles turned white. Natasha squeezed the phone in her hand. She dialed her […]
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Lena was folding tiny baby onesies when the key rattled in the lock. Her heart dropped—Andrei was at work, and the spare key was with her mother-in-law “for emergencies.” Only for Galina Petrovna, any day of the week counted as an emergency. “Lenochka! Where are you?” She stepped into the hallway, tugging her sweater down […]
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“Do you even realize this is betrayal?” Ivan’s voice was shaking, though he was trying to keep himself in check. Maria stood by the window, looking out at the yard where two girls were kicking a ball and laughing as if the whole world belonged to them. She was holding her phone and staying silent. […]
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