Let’s be realistic, he absolutely doesn’t need all-wheel drive in the city. It’s just paying extra for nothing.”
Nelli Kondratyevna sat at the dining table, methodically running an expensive fountain pen over a glossy brochure from a car dealership.
“Mom, our winters are pretty snowy,” Oleg tried to object.
He leaned one shoulder against the window frame and crossed his legs in his new suede shoes.
“Last year I got stuck in the courtyard twice. Nearly tore the bumper off on a snowbank.”
“Twice in one winter, you can pick up a shovel and do some work. You’re not a nobleman,” his mother-in-law snapped.
She turned another page of the brochure.
“But if we get front-wheel drive, the difference in price will be just enough to cover replacing the pipes at my country house. And we’ll hire a decent crew this time, not those cheap handymen who did the roof the year before last.”
Evgenia stood at the sink rinsing out lunch containers. She worked as a manager at a transportation company and was accustomed to clear logistics and well-planned routes, but right now, the logic inside her own apartment seemed to be falling apart.
The apiary she had inherited from her grandfather was conveniently located near a new highway under construction. The ownership had not even officially been transferred to her yet, but the money from its sale was already being divided up.
And it was being divided by people who had absolutely nothing to do with the property.
“So you’ve already calculated everything?” Zhenya asked.
She shook the water from her hands and dried them with a paper towel.
Nelli Kondratyevna looked up. Her sand-colored tailored jacket fit perfectly, and every strand of her hair was carefully arranged. She never wore house robes. She had spent thirty years working as a shift supervisor at a factory and was used to managing everything wherever she happened to be.
“What is there to calculate, Zhenya?” her mother-in-law said in surprise. “Everything is perfectly clear.”
She tapped the cap of her pen against the hood of the car pictured in the brochure.
“The buyer is offering an excellent price. Your grandfather got that land for free back in ancient times, so it’s pure profit. Oleg should have replaced that wreck of his ages ago. You ride in it yourself, so you should understand the practical necessity. And I need to fix up the country house. We’re family. Resources should benefit everyone instead of sitting uselessly in a bank account while inflation eats away at them.”
Oleg shifted from one foot to the other.
“Zhenya, don’t start, okay? We talked about all this yesterday.”
Zhenya looked carefully at her husband.
Yes, they had talked yesterday.
More precisely, Oleg and his mother had talked. Together, they had convinced Zhenya that selling the land would be complicated and exhausting and required a man’s firmness. Someone had to communicate with the buyer, negotiate the deposit, and handle a pile of paperwork.
The best solution, they had said, was for her to give Oleg a general power of attorney.
Let the man handle the negotiations.
“I’m not starting anything,” Zhenya replied peacefully. “I’m just clarifying the details. The car will be registered in Oleg’s name?”
“Obviously,” her mother-in-law snorted, as though she had heard something ridiculous. “He has more driving experience. The insurance will be cheaper. Let’s be realistic—we have to save money wherever we can.”
“Makes sense,” Zhenya nodded. “And where did the buyer, Arkady, transfer the deposit?”
Oleg jerked and nearly dropped the phone he had been turning over in his hands.
Nelli Kondratyevna did not even raise an eyebrow.
“He transferred it to my account. Oleg has credit cards, and who knows, the bank might automatically take the money toward his debt. It’s safer with me. Zhenya, the main thing is, don’t worry. Oleg will sign everything, Arkady will bring the remaining amount and the contract tomorrow, and then we’ll finally start living properly. You won’t have to think about anything at all.”
“Exactly, Zhenya,” Oleg added. “I’ll meet with him tomorrow, sign everything under the power of attorney, and collect the money. You won’t even have to take time off work.”
Zhenya said nothing.
Silently, she gathered the dry dishes and put them away in the cupboard.
She had no energy to argue.
Arguing with Nelli Kondratyevna was generally pointless. She crushed people beneath arguments, experience, and an unshakable certainty that she was always right.
And Oleg always took his mother’s side.
Later that night, Zhenya was hanging freshly washed laundry on the drying rack in the bedroom.
The apartment was quiet. Only Oleg’s muffled voice could be heard from the balcony. He was talking on the phone.
Zhenya had no intention of listening, but the balcony door was slightly open.
“I’m telling you, Mom, everything’s fine,” Oleg said, unable to hide the smug grin in his voice. “Arkady will come tomorrow with the contract. I’ll sign it. The money will go straight into my account. I already gave him my bank details.”
Someone asked him something on the other end.
“Zhenya? What’s she going to do about it? She doesn’t understand any of this paperwork anyway. She signed the power of attorney, and thank God for that. I told her half the money would go toward paying off our mortgage. She swallowed it completely.”
Oleg chuckled.
“Yeah, right. As if. We’re paying the loan off little by little anyway, but the discount on that crossover only lasts until the end of the week. I already called the dealership manager and confirmed the reservation. We’ll tell Zhenya the buyer lowered the price at the last minute. We’ll sell her grandfather’s land, buy ourselves a decent car, and figure out the rest later. The main thing is, we’ll have the money. All right, Mom. See you tomorrow.”
Zhenya carefully laid a damp towel across the metal bar of the drying rack.
Her chest felt heavy, as if someone had placed a stone inside it.
She did not experience a sudden flash of enlightenment or rage.
There was only a sticky, lingering pain caused by how casually her husband was discussing deceiving her.
He referred to her grandfather dismissively and talked about his land as nothing more than a piece of property that needed to be turned into cash.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed her temples.
She had always believed she and Oleg had a normal family.
Yes, they had financial difficulties.
Yes, they had an interfering mother-in-law.
But secretly planning how to take her inheritance and spend it on their own desires while pretending it was for her benefit—that was too much.
Zhenya picked up her phone.
She found the buyer’s number. They had met Arkady a week earlier when showing him the property.
He had struck her as a practical, straightforward man.
He needed the land for a warehouse, not for family drama.
She quickly typed a message, sent it, and put her phone aside.
The morning began in a rush.
Oleg ran around the hallway looking for a clean shirt.
Nelli Kondratyevna arrived at nine, bringing with her the scent of expensive perfume and her usual commanding tone.
“Oleg, don’t forget your passport,” his mother ordered from the hallway. “Arkady will be here any minute. We’ll sit in the living room and sign everything.”
Zhenya calmly drank coffee at the kitchen table.
She was dressed in a formal business suit, and her handbag rested on the chair beside her.
The doorbell rang.
Oleg hurried to answer it.
Arkady stepped into the hallway—a tall man wearing a thick jacket, with a leather portfolio tucked beneath one arm.
He confidently nodded to Oleg and walked into the room, where Nelli Kondratyevna was already waiting.
“Good to see you,” Arkady said, placing the portfolio on the table. “So, is everyone here? I have the documents ready.”
The mother-in-law nodded approvingly and gestured toward an armchair.
“Please sit down, Arkady. Oleg will bring the power of attorney and his passport. You’ll transfer the money to the account as we agreed?”
“To an account,” the buyer agreed. “Just not Oleg’s.”
He looked past Nelli Kondratyevna at Zhenya, who had just entered the room.
Oleg froze with the documents in his hands.
“What do you mean, not mine?” he asked, confused. “I have the power of attorney. I’m acting on my wife’s behalf.”
“You were,” Arkady corrected him. “Evgenia messaged me last night. The power of attorney has been revoked.”
Nelli Kondratyevna slowly straightened her back.
Her perfect posture suddenly faltered.
“What do you mean, revoked?” Her voice lost its velvety quality and turned sharp. “Zhenya, what kind of joke is this? We already decided everything!”
Zhenya stepped closer and rested one hand against the back of a chair.
“We didn’t decide anything, Nelli Kondratyevna,” she said evenly. “You decided everything for me. And Oleg agreed with you.”
Oleg turned pale.
“Zhenya, what are you doing in front of strangers?” he hissed. “What do you mean, revoked? You agreed yesterday!”
“I agreed to let you save me from the paperwork,” Zhenya said, looking directly into her husband’s eyes. “Not to let you lie to me about the price, tell your mother how gullible I am, and buy yourself a crossover with my grandfather’s money.”
The atmosphere in the room became painfully uncomfortable.
Arkady tactfully moved toward the window and began studying the view of the residential neighborhood outside.
Apparently, this was not the first time he had witnessed family drama during a property transaction.
Oleg opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
“You… you were eavesdropping?”
“I simply went onto the balcony to get the laundry, Oleg. Don’t turn me into some kind of spy. You were practically shouting across the entire apartment.”
Nelli Kondratyevna immediately took control again.
She jumped up from the chair.
“How dare you!” she exclaimed, advancing toward Zhenya. “That is family money! Family! You’re hiding money from your own husband! He’s doing this for the family. He wanted to buy a car so he could drive you around!”
“I don’t need anyone to drive me anywhere,” Zhenya replied calmly. “And family means making plans together. Not taking the deposit yesterday and putting it into your own account so I couldn’t get access to it.”
She turned toward the buyer.
“Arkady, are you prepared to complete the transaction directly with me? At the same price we originally discussed?”
“Absolutely,” the man nodded. “I don’t care who I transfer the money to. The important thing is that the legal owner agrees.”
“Just a minute!” Nelli Kondratyevna blocked the path to the table. “I am not returning the deposit! I have every right to it! I found this buyer!”
Arkady smirked.
“You didn’t find me, Nelli Kondratyevna. I called because of the advertisement. And if the deposit isn’t returned to my card within an hour, I’ll file a claim for unjust enrichment. And believe me, you’ll lose that case.”
The mother-in-law slowly sank back into the armchair.
Her eyes darted around the room before settling on Oleg.
“Son, are you going to keep standing there silently? Your wife is humiliating your own mother!”
Oleg pressed himself against the hallway wall.
His confused gaze moved from his mother to his wife as he realized that the brand-new crossover with heated seats had just disappeared from his life forever.
“Zhenya…” he mumbled. “Why are you being so harsh? We only wanted what was best. You could relax at Mom’s country house too. The air is fresh there.”
Zhenya shook her head.
“I don’t have time to relax at your country house. I have a job. And I’d rather spend my weekends somewhere people don’t treat me like a convenient idiot.”
She picked up her handbag from the chair.
“Arkady, let’s go to the bank. We’ll handle everything there without unnecessary spectators.”
The buyer readily picked up his portfolio and headed toward the door.
“Oleg,” Zhenya said, stopping in the doorway. “I’ll be back this evening. Will you pack your things yourself, or do you need my help?”
The man only blinked, unable to believe what he had heard.
“What do you mean, my things? Where am I supposed to go?”
“To your mother’s,” Zhenya said, nodding toward Nelli Kondratyevna. “You can discuss together how best to invest your resources.”
Two months later, the land transaction was fully completed.
Zhenya placed the money in a savings account after using part of it to reduce the mortgage she had taken out before the marriage.
Oleg was deeply offended by her lack of trust. He declared that he had no intention of living with a “greedy, calculating woman” and temporarily moved in with Nelli Kondratyevna.
That “temporary” arrangement lasted until winter.
His mother-in-law had to return Arkady’s deposit that very same day.
The reservation at the dealership was canceled with a penalty.
Now she complains to all the neighbors about ungrateful young people who supposedly don’t understand family values.
And as for the pipes at the country house, she ended up having to replace them herself, once again hiring the same cheap crew she had criticized before