The spotlight glare hit me straight in the face. The hall held about three hundred people. I stood on the stage, wrapping up a case presentation—how, in six months, we took a regional chain into the top tier. In the third row, someone suddenly sat up straight. Kira. She stared at me as if I’d […]
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This apartment is mine! I registered here twenty-five years ago, back when I wasn’t even married yet!” Valentina Petrovna stood in the middle of the living room with her hands planted on her hips, her voice ringing with iron certainty. She was full of righteous indignation, her face twisted into a grimace of offended dignity. […]
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“Three thousand for utilities. Two and a half for groceries. A thousand for your medicines. Fifteen thousand for repairs, because you ‘accidentally’ flooded the neighbors downstairs…” Svetlana Petrovna’s voice was even, almost emotionless, but each figure landed on the kitchen table like a cold coin. She sat opposite her daughter-in-law, holding a battered checkered notebook […]
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“Why do you need a separate account? We’re a family!” Lyudmila Ivanovna said it softly, almost tenderly, but Polina—standing at the sink with a plate in her hands—felt a chill run down her spine. She froze without turning around. The water from the tap drummed against the porcelain, and that sound suddenly felt like the […]
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Part 1. Someone Else’s Bill and a Forgotten Grudge The office smelled of expensive leather and the air purifier that hummed steadily in the corner. Timur leaned back in his chair, savoring the pleasant weight of his new status. Regional Director of Logistics at a major construction holding company. It sounded solid. He ran his […]
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I was standing on the threshold of the apartment where my entire childhood had passed, and I couldn’t believe the key in my hand was the last one. My husband kept insisting that selling my inheritance was the only way to save his life. I believed him, handed over every last penny, and a week […]
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I stared at my phone for a long time. Alexey was calling for the third time that evening, but I didn’t pick up. The screen showed the time—half past ten. Before, at that hour, I would already have been washing the dishes after dinner, wiping down the table, hanging up laundry. Now I was sitting […]
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“Don’t you dare!” Valentina Petrovna spun around so sharply that her rhinestone earrings swayed, throwing glints of light onto the wall. “I don’t want to see you while the Nesterovs are here! Sit in your kennel and keep quiet!” Dina froze by the half-open kitchen door, clutching a towel in her hands. Through the crack […]
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The keys to her new life lay in the pocket of her robe, softly clinking with every step she took across the kitchen. Nadezhda was making her morning coffee and listening to that sound like music. A small metallic melody of freedom. “Nadya, where did you put the salt?” a demanding voice rang out from […]
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“Damn you!” Igor screeched, and a white flash tore across the room: a vase of fake daisies slammed into the wall. Glass rained onto the floor, caught the lamplight, and a shiny shard nicked Anna’s leg. She didn’t even flinch. “Have you completely lost your mind?!” Her voice broke into a shriek. “Kirill is sleeping!” […]
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