“This area is for VIP clients; you’re not allowed in here,” Igor hissed at me, his fingers digging into my forearm. They were cold—like the look he’d been giving me for the last ten years. I silently stared at the heavy velvet rope blocking the entrance to the fireplace lounge. There, in the soft light […]
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“Honestly, Anya, you’re like a little girl. My money is mine. Yours is yours. That’s fair,” Dima leaned back on the sofa and laughed loudly, straight from the gut. That laugh, which a year ago had seemed sincere and infectious, now grated on my ears like cheap metal. He looked down at me, and his […]
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— “Well, that’s it, we’re here,” Tamara Petrovna looked around with distaste at the tiny entryway of the rented apartment where her son Igor had brought his things after the wedding. “Now you’ll be living in this hovel.” Alina, Igor’s wife, gave an awkward smile as she took the heavy bag from her mother-in-law. “Come […]
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The shadows had already fallen long and thick when the bus—having made its daily run from the dusty, noisy city to the quiet rural backwater—hissed to a stop on its pneumatics by the familiar post with the peeling blue sign. The door opened, and she stepped down. Katerina. The weariness of a twenty-hour shift as […]
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A rumor pierced the autumn air of Zaozerye like the first cold wind before a storm. It flew over the leaning fences, rang in the empty buckets by the well, and whispered on the benches where old women gossiped. A “medichka” was coming to them. Not another inspector from the district center, not some mythical […]
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Valentina was sitting at the kitchen table, sorting through utility bills, when she heard Sergey talking on the phone in the hallway. His voice was quiet, almost guilty—the very tone he used whenever Irina called. “I understand, I understand… Yes, of course, the boy needs a vacation…” she caught fragments of the conversation. “It’s just […]
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“I’d leave you the keys, but there’s no point.” Elena slowly raised her head. Andrey was standing in the doorway, holding a gym bag. Not a suitcase. As if he were heading to a workout, not walking out on a family after ten years of a marriage she had considered at least stable. “What do […]
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Lena sat at the kitchen table, twirling a pen between her fingers. A blank sheet of paper lay in front of her, and she still couldn’t bring herself to write the first word of her résumé. For the third month in a row, the job search was going nowhere—either her qualifications didn’t fit, or the […]
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Anna carefully parted the curtain and looked out the window. The familiar white Logan pulled up to the gate, and behind it came two more cars. The girl’s heart clenched in exasperation. Again. “Seryozha,” she called to her husband, who was fixing the kitchen faucet at the time. “Your mother’s here. And she’s not alone.” […]
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Galina Petrovna had always believed she possessed a special gift—she could see right through people. In twenty years as the factory’s chief accountant, she had learned to read faces, catch intonations, and notice what others missed. That talent made her indispensable on the job, but at times it turned into a curse—especially when it came […]
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