“No, I’m honestly amazed at how lucky some people are! Wealth practically falls right into their lap. They don’t have to lift a finger. One moment they have nothing, and the next they’re rich,” Oksana complained bitterly.
“You can say that again, sweetheart. Now that’s what I call good fortune,” Nadezhda Leonidovna agreed. “And what does she even need an apartment like that for? In a historic building right in the center of the city, no less! I can only imagine how much it’s worth on today’s property market.”
“I’m just as shocked as you are. Who could have expected something like this from our quiet little mouse?” Oksana continued resentfully.
“And that apartment is apparently filled with treasures. Antique furniture, expensive oil paintings, old porcelain… Denis told me all about it.”
“Our Denis certainly got lucky. Just look at his wife—plain as can be, no figure, no looks. I’ve never understood what my brother saw in her. But now it turns out he practically won the lottery,” Oksana told her mother. “I wish something like that would happen to me. I’m beautiful, intelligent, and I have the kind of appearance men notice. Imagine what I could do with property like that! Oh, I’d really make something of myself!”
The mother and daughter were preparing to visit Denis and his wife. After hearing the astonishing news from him the previous day, neither of them had been able to think clearly. Envy and bitterness had taken root in their hearts.
Yet stronger than either of those emotions was their desire to get their hands on someone else’s fortune.
That desire gave them no peace.
It had all begun a week earlier, when Dasha unexpectedly learned—along with everyone else—that she had become a wealthy heiress.
“I don’t understand why you never told me your father was rich,” Denis said, every bit as surprised as his wife. “You always said you and your mother lived in a miserable one-room apartment on the edge of town and could barely make ends meet. You told me the kids at school mocked you because your clothes and shoes were so cheap. You hardly had enough food to last until payday. And now it turns out your father was a very wealthy man.”
“I didn’t know anything about him until a few days ago,” Dasha tried to explain. “Mom never talked about him. The only thing she ever told me was that he had betrayed her, and afterward she refused to let him be part of our lives.”
“It sounds like something from a movie.”
“I wish it did. The truth is much more ordinary. Although there were a few strange incidents when I was still at school. Several times, a large, beautiful car pulled up beside me in the street. The same man would sit inside and stare at me. He never spoke or asked me anything. Then the driver would hand me a huge stuffed toy and a bag filled with sweets and fruit, and they would drive away.”
“I’m telling you, it really does sound like a movie,” Denis said in amazement.
“Mom threw away everything I brought home. I cried terribly because I felt sorry for the gifts. She couldn’t afford to buy me things like that on her small salary. Or if she did, it was extremely rare.”
“Your mother must have been completely out of her mind!” her husband exclaimed.
“Denis, stop it! How can you talk about her like that? She’s my mother,” Dasha said, offended.
“But am I wrong? She lived in poverty and raised her child in poverty too. She must have known how your classmates treated you, yet she still allowed you to suffer. She refused your former father’s money even though money is just money. What does that say about her?”
“Try to understand. Mom has always been extremely proud. And neither you nor I know exactly what happened between them, so I’m not going to judge her, and you have no right to judge her either. Apparently, my father was much older than she was and was involved in a profitable business. It may not even have been entirely legal,” Darya said thoughtfully.
“Did your father have any other heirs besides you? The whole thing seems strange. We should ask Olga Sergeyevna to tell us the truth. It’s time,” Denis insisted.
“I don’t know whether Mom will want to talk about it. But I’ll definitely ask. I want to understand who my father really was and why she refused his help when we needed it so badly.”
A few days later, the couple visited the large, lavish apartment Dasha had inherited from her father. They were stunned by the expensive paintings, antique vases, unusual mahogany furniture, and countless luxurious objects filling the spacious rooms.
“This is incredible! It’s like a museum!” Denis exclaimed, unable to hide his excitement. “But it probably wouldn’t be comfortable to live here. We should sell everything and buy a modern house somewhere in the countryside. Right, Dashulya? We’d still have plenty of money left over. We might never have to work again.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet. I need time to get used to the idea. Right now, I’m not ready,” Darya said quietly, still overwhelmed by everything she had seen.
She wandered through the enormous rooms as though enchanted, touching the heavy curtains and exquisitely crafted furniture. She stood for long moments in front of the extraordinary paintings, each of which seemed to conceal an entire world.
“What is there to think about? Sell it all!” Denis continued. “You can’t seriously want to live here.”
Meanwhile, his mother and sister were not sitting idle. They were already developing a strategy of their own.
“We need to emphasize that Darya is part of our family,” Oksana said heatedly. “And what does that mean? It means everything that belongs to her also belongs to us.”
“Do you think she’s completely brainless?” Nadezhda Leonidovna asked. “Dasha may be quiet, but she isn’t a complete fool.”
“Oh, come on! Remember the kind of poverty she grew up in. She probably doesn’t even know the approximate value of everything she inherited. And her mother is half-crazy too. Think about it, Mom. What could that woman possibly have taught her daughter? She certainly won’t have the courage to stand up to us.”
“You’re right, sweetheart. What does she need all those things for? She won’t know how to manage that kind of wealth sensibly. She’ll either waste it in her excitement or give it away because she’s too kindhearted. That would be just like her.”
“Exactly! We need to convince Dasha that you and I should handle the sale of the apartment and everything inside it. We can quickly find people who understand this kind of business,” Oksana explained.
“Yes, darling,” her mother agreed. “You’re absolutely right. This isn’t a simple matter. Selling a miserable concrete box on the outskirts is one thing. Selling a historic property filled with antiques requires a completely different approach.”
“I’ll tell Darya she doesn’t understand any of it and that someone will inevitably cheat her. Our little fool will lose a fortune if she tries to do it herself. And we’re talking about serious money,” Oksana continued enthusiastically, already imagining what she could do with someone else’s wealth.
“You’ve always been the clever one, Oksanochka! Go ahead with the plan. We’ll make sure we don’t walk away empty-handed. The main thing is to get our daughter-in-law to sign a general power of attorney so we can start selling everything.”
Darya’s mother, who was nowhere near as foolish as her in-laws believed, had expected exactly this kind of reaction. She therefore invited her daughter to visit without Denis and decided to warn her before she made any serious mistakes.
“Dasha, I need to talk to you,” her mother began firmly. “You have always been kind and trusting. I have nothing against your father leaving you such a large inheritance. I knew this would happen. I knew Arkady would remember his only daughter before he died. He did the right thing in the end, and may he rest in peace. But this conversation isn’t about him, Dasha. It’s about you.
“Be careful. Your husband’s relatives will try to strip you of everything while claiming that the money will remain within the family anyway. Don’t fall for their tricks.”
“All right, Mom. I’ll be careful. To be honest, I was so overwhelmed after visiting Dad’s apartment that I still can’t think straight. It’s so beautiful there! I can’t even describe it. It feels like a magical palace.”
“Oh, my darling girl,” her mother said, stroking Dasha’s hair. “Deep down, you’re still such a child. I’m glad fate has finally rewarded you for all the tears and hardship you experienced when you were young.”
“Mom, tell me about Dad,” Dasha asked.
“There isn’t much to tell. I was a proud fool. Perhaps I should have behaved differently. Then you and I might have lived an entirely different life instead of surviving from one payday to the next.
“I met Arkady when I was twenty-six. He was already well into his forties. He was brought to the hospital where I worked after suffering a sudden attack and needed emergency surgery. That was why he ended up in our ordinary public hospital instead of an expensive private clinic. The ambulance simply brought him to the nearest place that could save him.
“He liked me. Arkady praised me for giving injections without hurting him. He said I had gentle hands and beautiful eyes. He spoke so sincerely that I believed him.
“After he was discharged, we continued seeing each other. Your father courted me beautifully and told me he loved me.
“Then I told him I was pregnant with you, and he disappeared. I suffered terribly. I cried constantly because I realized I had been nothing more than a toy to him. Arkady didn’t return until after you were born.”
“And what happened then? Why did you reject him, Mom?” Darya asked impatiently.
“Because he made me a humiliating offer. Arkady wanted me to become his kept woman. That was when I discovered he had been married for years. He and his wife had no children, but her father was an influential man who controlled a business that operated somewhere between legal and criminal. Arkady worked for him and was deeply involved in that business. He said he couldn’t leave his wife because her family would never allow him to walk away alive.”
“And then what happened? Why did you forbid him from seeing us? Why wouldn’t you let him help us? You worked all the time, and we still had no money. Why did we have to live in such poverty, Mom?”
“I told you, I was proud. I wouldn’t make the same decision now. I understand how hard it was for you to grow up without a father. Forgive me, Dasha. But there was another reason. I was afraid for your life. If his wife had learned about you, she might have tried to take revenge.
“Then, two years ago, Arkady reappeared. He told me his father-in-law was dead and that his wife had recently passed away as well. He asked you and me to move into his apartment. But you were already dating Denis, and everyone knew the relationship was heading toward marriage. As for me, I had already moved on. By then, I preferred being alone. Perhaps I had waited for happiness for too many years and finally grown tired of waiting.”
Dasha left her mother’s home, and that same evening, her mother-in-law called.
“Well, Darya, when are you going to show us your inheritance? Let us see what you’ve got. It’s time you showed it off.”
“You want to see my father’s apartment? All right. I’ll be there tomorrow morning because I need to sort through his papers. Mom said he left some letters for me. You can come by. I’ll send you the address.”
When the mother-in-law and sister-in-law entered the apartment, they became unusually quiet. They had expected to see an expensive home, but nothing had prepared them for such magnificence.
Although both women forced smiles onto their faces, they could not conceal their envy.
“So, Dasha dear, have you decided what you’re going to do with all this?” Nadezhda Leonidovna began in a gentle, calculating voice.
“Not yet,” Darya replied.
“What do you mean, you haven’t decided?” Oksana interrupted. “You need to sell it. What could you possibly want with all this old junk? Do you have any idea how much collectors would pay for the things in this apartment? And the apartment itself must be sold properly, at its true market value. You can’t afford to make a mistake. Do you even know how to arrange something like that?”
“Why are you so concerned about my apartment?” Darya asked sharply, remembering her mother’s warning. Her unexpected tone surprised both women.
“We’re only worried about you, Dasha. We want to help you and Denis,” her mother-in-law continued.
“Help me? And how exactly do you plan to do that?” Darya asked, pretending to be interested.
“Just listen to us. You need to understand that you’ll never sell these things as profitably as my mother and I could. Mom knows people who work in museums, as well as collectors and antique enthusiasts. Believe me, they would pay a substantial amount for almost any old item in this apartment. We also know a real estate agent who specializes in exclusive luxury properties like this one,” Oksana explained persuasively. “All you need to do is sign a power of attorney allowing Mom and me to handle everything for you. That’s all. What do you think? Isn’t it a wonderful solution?”
“I don’t have any problems that need handling. And for your information, I’m not planning to sell anything. Not a single object from my father’s apartment. I’m not selling the apartment either.”
“What?” the two women exclaimed simultaneously.
“So that’s how you’re going to treat us?” Nadezhda Leonidovna shouted, no longer hiding her true feelings. “You don’t care about our family at all! You became rich, and suddenly none of us matters to you. Perhaps you don’t need our Denis anymore either, now that he’s too poor for you. Go on, say it. Don’t be shy, our quiet little simpleton.”
“I’ll deal with my husband myself,” Darya replied calmly, amazed by how accurately her mother had predicted everything. “And unless you have any other equally original proposals, I’d like you to leave me alone. I have a great deal of work to do.”
“You poisonous little snake!” Oksana snapped.
The mother-in-law and sister-in-law left Darya’s apartment empty-handed. However, they had no intention of abandoning their exciting plan to seize someone else’s wealth.
Instead, both women began pressuring Denis, encouraging him to force his wife to sell her father’s property.
From that day onward, the previously peaceful marriage was filled with arguments. Dasha refused to give in to her husband’s demands. She had made a firm decision not to sell anything, at least not for the foreseeable future.
Whenever she entered her father’s apartment, she felt as though she had stepped into another world—a magical life she had never known existed.
“Why are you being so stubborn?” Denis demanded more and more frequently. “Don’t you understand that with this money, we could buy a beautiful apartment in a modern building or even an entire house outside the city? We might not have to work for years! We could live comfortably on the money we’d receive from selling the antiques.”
“I understand everything perfectly well. I’m not stupid,” Dasha replied, hearing the insincerity in her husband’s voice and knowing exactly who had been influencing him. “I can also see that you’ve become very skilled at counting money that doesn’t belong to you. This conversation is over. I’m not selling anything.”
Eventually, the couple divorced.
After being manipulated by his relatives, Denis could not forgive his wife for becoming unexpectedly wealthy.
And Darya no longer wanted to remain beside a man who was capable of betraying her the moment money entered their lives.