Svetlana turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. The apartment greeted her with the scent of another woman’s perfume and the sound of hurried footsteps. Betrayal, deceit, money—everything spun through her mind as she crossed the threshold. Her former fiancé, his new wife, the mistress who had become the lawful spouse. What a cruel twist of fate.
Yulia rushed into the hallway, her face twisted with fury. Artur appeared behind her, buttoning his shirt as he walked. Svetlana looked them both over calmly and smiled.
“Have you completely lost your mind? Breaking into someone else’s apartment!” Yulia shrieked so loudly it seemed the windows might crack.
“Good evening. How nice to find you both together,” Svetlana said, walking past her without slowing down.
“Are you deaf? I’m talking to you! Get out of here!”
“Yulia, dear,” Svetlana said, turning around. Her voice carried an almost motherly tenderness. “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on. You know that saying, don’t you?”
Artur grabbed Svetlana by the elbow.
“What are you doing here? We broke up six months ago. Why did you come?”
Svetlana calmly freed her arm and pulled a stack of documents from her handbag.
“Because this is no longer your apartment, Artur. It belongs to me now. Would you like to see the paperwork?”
Artur blinked several times. Yulia fell silent in the middle of a sentence.
“What kind of nonsense is this? This apartment belongs to my grandfather!”
“It used to belong to him. Until your grandfather sold it to my father. Then my father transferred it to me as a gift. Everything is legal and properly registered. You can call your grandfather. He’ll confirm it.”
“You’re lying!” Yulia lunged forward. “This is revenge! You arranged all of this because he left you!”
Svetlana looked at her with genuine surprise.
“Left me? That’s an interesting version of events. Artur, why don’t you tell your wife exactly how you ‘left’ me? Tell her how, two weeks before our wedding, I found the two of you in this very apartment. In the bed where you and I were supposed to spend our wedding night.”
“Shut up!” Yulia stamped her foot.
“My dear, you knew he was engaged at the time. Or did he lie to you as well?”
Artur clutched his hair in frustration.
“Svetlana, listen to me. I was an idiot back then. I admit it. But that doesn’t give you the right to take our apartment away!”
Svetlana walked into the living room, took out her phone, and began photographing the walls, corners, and windows.
“What are you doing?” Artur rushed after her.
“Documenting the condition of my property. You can take the furniture. But the renovation you paid for”—she gestured toward the new wallpaper—“stays with me. Thank you, by the way. You have decent taste.”
“I took out a huge loan to pay for this renovation!”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But that’s your problem, not mine.”
Yulia grabbed Svetlana by the shoulder.
“Do you even understand what you’re doing? We just got married! We’re still on our honeymoon!”
Svetlana turned around and calmly removed Yulia’s fingers from her jacket.
“The honeymoon is over. Get out of my apartment. Both of you.”
“You’re insane!” Yulia began screaming again. “You’re completely unstable! You’re a psychopath!”
“You know, Yulia,” Svetlana said quietly and evenly, “when a man cheats on his fiancée with you, there are only two possible outcomes. Either you become his wife, or one day you become the woman he cheats on. Congratulations on achieving the first outcome. The second one is only a matter of time.”
“Don’t you dare lecture me!”
“I’m not lecturing you. I’m warning you. Free of charge.”
Artur dropped onto the sofa.
“My grandfather couldn’t have done this. He knows I live here. He promised he would leave the apartment to me.”
“Promises are fragile things, Artur. Your grandfather lost money on his farm. He needed cash urgently. My father offered him a good price. Even with a discount, it was still a profitable deal for both sides.”
“You conspired against me!” Artur jumped to his feet. “You and your father planned the whole thing!”
Svetlana laughed.
“Planned it? Artur, six months ago I cried myself to sleep every night. I wasn’t making plans. Your grandfather approached my father with the offer, not the other way around.”
“I don’t believe you!”
“That’s your choice. Call him.”
Artur snatched up his phone and dialed the number. Yulia stood beside him, biting her lip.
“Grandpa? Is it true? Did you sell the apartment?”
Svetlana couldn’t hear the response, but she watched the color drain from Artur’s face.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I would have found the money! I would have…”
He ended the call and threw the phone onto the sofa.
“Well?” Svetlana placed the documents back into her handbag. “Do you believe me now?”
“You waited for the perfect moment,” Artur hissed. “You wanted to humiliate me in front of my wife.”
“Artur,” she said, stepping closer, “you humiliated yourself six months ago when you decided you could cheat because there wasn’t a marriage certificate yet. Do you remember what you told me? ‘We’re not officially married, so I have the right.’”
Yulia turned toward her husband.
“Is that true?”
“Yulia, that was a long time ago.”
“Six months ago! You told me you had already broken up with her when we started seeing each other!”
Svetlana spread her hands.
“Surprise.”
“Shut up!” Artur stepped toward her. “Did you come here to destroy my family?”
“No. I came to take possession of my apartment. You can destroy your family yourself. You’ve always been very good at that.”
Yulia backed against the wall.
“Artur… did you lie to me?”
“Yulia, not now!”
“Right now! You told me she had abandoned you! You said you were heartbroken!”
Svetlana watched the scene with a faint smile.
“Oh, he was heartbroken. Especially after his parents had already paid for the wedding venue, ordered the dress, and sent out the invitations. Everything had to be canceled, and they didn’t get their money back.”
Artur grabbed a vase from the shelf. Svetlana didn’t flinch.
“Go ahead. Smash it. It’s your vase, not mine. Just don’t complain later when you’re charged for damaging the property during the eviction.”
He slowly put the vase back.
“You want me to beg, don’t you? You want to see me crawling on my knees?”
“Not at all, Artur. I just want you out of my apartment. Today. I’ll bring my things here this evening.”
“That’s impossible! We have nowhere to go!”
“That’s your problem. Six months ago, you had somewhere to go when you spent the night with Yulia. I’m sure you’ll think of something now.”
Yulia sank onto the hallway floor.
“I can’t believe this. This has to be some kind of nightmare.”
Svetlana crouched beside her.
“You know, Yulia, I’m not your enemy. You stole my fiancé, but honestly, you did me a favor. Otherwise, I might have discovered what kind of man he was a year later, with a wedding ring on my finger and his child growing inside me. So thank you.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. I’m completely serious.”
Artur walked to the window and stared outside with an empty expression.
“How much do you want? I’ll buy the apartment back from you.”
“With what money? You’re already paying off the renovation loan.”
“I’ll find it. My parents will help me.”
“Artur, your parents already lost money on the wedding that never happened. Your grandfather sold this apartment because his business was failing. Where exactly is this money supposed to come from?”
He said nothing.
“Exactly.” Svetlana headed toward the door. “I’m giving you four hours. I’ll be back at nine tonight. If you’re still here, I’ll call the district police officer and have an official report filed. I don’t want a scandal, but the law is on my side.”
Svetlana opened the door and looked back one last time.
“Artur, remember one thing. When you decided you could deceive me, you forgot that I have a family who loves me. And I have a father who knows how to solve problems. You, on the other hand, had nothing but arrogance and an apartment that didn’t belong to you. Now you don’t even have the apartment.”
She stepped outside and quietly closed the door behind her.
At nine that evening, Svetlana returned carrying two boxes. The apartment was empty. A note had been left on the table.
“This isn’t over.”
She crumpled it and tossed it into the trash.
Then she took out her phone and called her father.
“Dad, everything went smoothly. They moved out. They haven’t taken all the furniture yet, but I’m changing the locks tomorrow.”
“Well done, sweetheart. You handled it.”
“Thank you. For everything.”
Svetlana ended the call and looked around at the empty walls. The renovation really was quite good.
An ironic gift from the man who had betrayed her.
She smiled and began unpacking her things.