Maxim clenched the ticket in his hand and looked at the familiar station. Three years away from home, three years of hard work at the logging camps—all for this moment. In his backpack were gifts for his mother and his sister Tatyana, and in his pocket—the cherished ring for Irina. “Maxim? Is that really you?” […]
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“Give me the keys to your car, I need to get to the resort,” Maxim tossed out without looking up from what he was doing. Hot steam hissed from under the iron, smoothing the last stubborn crease on the snow-white shirt collar. He did it with showy nonchalance, as if the mere fact that he […]
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Ethan Cross, a self-made billionaire pushing forty, almost never flew commercial. Today, he didn’t have a choice. A sudden mechanical fault sidelined his jet, and the keynote at a global tech summit in Zurich wouldn’t wait. He grudgingly took a first-class seat. The trappings were fine—champagne, legroom, hush—but he hated sharing air with strangers. In […]
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She sank to her knees beside his sidewalk table, one arm cradling her infant tight. “Please,” she said, voice steady but small, “I’m not asking for money—just a minute of your time.” The man in the crisp suit glanced up from his glass of wine, not yet aware that a single request was about to […]
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Vadim sat for a long time staring at his phone. He’d been putting it off as it was. Finally, taking a deep breath, he pressed the call button. One ring, two… “No, I can’t,” he cursed himself for being a coward and was about to hang up when Misha’s voice came through the receiver: “Hey, […]
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Kristina took her coat off the hanger and started putting it on. “Why are you always in such a rush?” a colleague asked. “Mash, you know Anna Fyodorovna is waiting for me at home,” Kristina replied, turning to her friend. Masha smirked. “You’re strange, Kris. She’s not even a relative of yours, and her son […]
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