The heat was unbearable, even for late May. The sun, like a baker gone mad, scorched from the sky, branding the earth with red-hot iron. The air above the asphalt quivered like a frying pan. Dust kicked up by the occasional car hung suspended, slowly settling on the leaves of the poplars lining the road … Read more
“Happy birthday, Mommy!”—Katya, my only daughter, pecked her mother-in-law, Alla Borisovna, on the cheek. “Here, take this!” Inside a luxurious envelope with gold embossing were plane tickets and a voucher for a two-week vacation in Dubai. Five stars, all-inclusive, a personal butler, spa treatments—the full package. I noticed the Burj Al Arab logo—the most expensive … Read more
A millionaire invited the cleaning lady to humiliate her—but when she walked in like a diva!.. He invited the cleaner to his lavish ball to laugh at her, but when she appeared like a true queen, he realized he’d made the greatest mistake of his life. Valentina was on her knees, carefully polishing the cold … Read more
The wife, who had been with her husband from the very beginning—back when he didn’t have money even for new jeans and dinner on the table was often just pasta with processed cheese—decided she would not so easily hand over her husband and the family business to that greedy woman. Recently, Grigory informed his wife … Read more
Just grab and run, you know? Immediately…” “But why me? What’s so special about me?” Thirty years have passed, yet these phrases still ring clearly in my memory, as if spoken only yesterday. That fateful evening radically changed the course of my life. Now, looking back through the prism of all these years, I clearly … Read more
— “Do you have your own car? Or are you planning to rely on Kostya’s?” Nika froze with a glass of juice halfway to her lips. At that moment, Kostya was slicing cheese at the kitchen counter; a slow flush crept over his cheeks. The woman who had just entered the apartment stood in the … Read more
Vika went to the concert without her husband. She didn’t know he would be there too. She was sure he was at work… Vika had planned to go to the concert with her husband. She had bought the tickets a month in advance. All week she’d been getting ready to see her favorite actor. New … Read more
— Yulya, Anya just called. She wants to talk. Yulia didn’t immediately tear herself away from what she was doing. She sat at her work desk, which looked more like a spaceship control panel—crowded with lamps, sterilizing devices, and dozens of tiny bottles of bright nail polishes. Methodically, she wiped each drill bit with a … Read more
Vladimir felt as if the ground itself were springing beneath his feet from happiness. Not from drink—no—from that very pure, bright feeling that had been overflowing him since morning. Today was his day. The day he had waited for two long years, swallowing the dust of army training grounds and rereading to tatters the envelopes … Read more
— And dinner? The question was tossed into the quiet of the room as casually as Kirill tossed his jacket onto the back of the chair. He wasn’t expecting an answer; he was stating a need. The sound of his steps across the parquet was heavy, assured—the steps of a man who had returned to … Read more