— So you thought you could waltz into paradise on my reproductive organ? I’m not your cash cow! — Timur smirked and decisively pressed the doorbell button.
“— Darling, did something happen? You seem tense today,” Victoria greeted him, immediately noticing the change in her husband’s mood.
“— Vika, we need to talk.” Without undressing, Timur walked into the living room, where the luxurious interior starkly contrasted with the gloomy expression on his face.
“— What happened?” Victoria froze in the doorway, feeling a chill of anxiety run down her spine.
“— Business troubles…” The man sank heavily into an armchair, covering his face with his hands. “One of the projects has failed. We’re suffering colossal losses.”
“— Failed? What kind of losses?” Vika sat next to him, taking his hand.
“— This morning I fired half of our employees. I have no money to pay their salaries. The project in which we invested the investors’ funds… The city has frozen the construction. They found some violations…” Timur sighed, unable to meet his wife’s eyes, and began studying the marble floor as if hoping to find answers there.
“— And what does that mean for us?” Victoria asked cautiously, feeling her heart beat faster.
“— Two pieces of news: one good and one bad. Which should I start with?” Timur avoided her gaze, trying to appear calm, though inside everything was boiling.
“— The bad one,” she replied after a moment’s thought.
“— We have almost no money left. All my accounts are frozen. This morning I was interrogated…” His voice sounded dull, as if he himself could not yet believe what was happening.
“— And what could possibly be good news after that?” Victoria exclaimed in surprise.
“— Well… I’m not going to jail,” Timur attempted to joke, glancing at his wife.
“— What joy!” Victoria snorted. She stood, walked to the bar, and poured herself a generous portion of single malt whiskey.
“— And how are we supposed to live? When all our accounts are frozen? Did you think about that when you started this construction adventure?” The woman drained her glass in one gulp.
“— Who could have foreseen such an outcome?” Timur shook his head, as if justifying himself to no one.
“— Timur!” Vika couldn’t help but curse. “Even a turkey was oblivious until it ended up in a bubbling pot!”
“— And what will our family budget be now?” His voice carried hints of hysteria.
“— Three hundred and fifty thousand rubles a month… But the exact sum still needs to be calculated…” Timur scratched his beard and gazed thoughtfully out the window, where three tall pines stood proudly on the property.
“— What?! Three hundred and fifty thousand?” Vika raised her voice. “But my expenses alone are over half a million! Manicure, beauty salons, a driver, fitness, a cosmetologist… That’s not even counting new dresses!”
The woman poured herself another whiskey and downed it in one gulp.
“— Be careful with the alcohol,” Timur warned. “Tomorrow you’ll have a severe headache. And soon we won’t be able to afford such expensive drinks.”
“— And how long will this last? How long will we remain broke?” Vika was clearly beside herself with anger.
“— I don’t know, darling. I don’t understand anything myself yet… We’ll live and see…” Timur shook his head, taking a small sip from his glass.
“— ‘Live and see’? Is that what you call ‘living’? Because of you, you numbskull, we now have to struggle to survive!” Vika emptied her glass again and slammed it down on the coffee table.
“— Thank goodness we have no children. How could I explain such a situation to them?” she declared aloud and walked into the bedroom.
“— That’s pretty much the reaction I expected,” Timur muttered with a smirk. “Let’s see what her mother says tomorrow…”
The next morning, Timur was awakened by the persistent call of his mother-in-law. Marina Georgievna always got up early. After reading an early message from his daughter, in which she vividly described their “new life,” his mother-in-law immediately began calling her son-in-law.
“— What do you mean, ‘you’re poor now’?” she snapped as soon as Timur answered the phone. “And who’s going to pay my mortgage?”
“— Take out a bank loan until I resolve my problems. Or sell the old apartment… It’s just sitting there…” Timur replied lazily as he stretched in bed.
“— How dare you put me in such a position! Are you out of your mind?” Marina Georgievna was outraged. “How am I supposed to live now? You, you disastrous builder, what were you thinking when you started that construction? We used to live so well!”
“— That was my gesture of goodwill, Marina Georgievna. I had spare money, and I helped your family move to Moscow. I wasn’t even obligated to do it,” Timur retorted, activating his speakerphone as he headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
“— Not obligated? You churn out those houses like they’re on an assembly line! Helping with the apartment is your direct duty!” shrieked her voice from the bedroom.
“— Answer quickly when there’s money!” his mother-in-law hissed into the phone.
“— There’s nothing definite yet, Marina Georgievna. I have to go. I’ll call back later,” Timur hung up and calmly resumed his morning routine.
There was no spouse at home. After breakfast, the man went to the office to manage his company, which he knew was thriving. However, after lunch, a surprise awaited him that he could never have imagined.
Timur was horrified to discover that some expensive items and accessories from the house had disappeared. His belongings.
“— Vika, where are my watches? Where are my golf clubs? Where is my crocodile leather briefcase?” The more Timur searched the house, the more items he couldn’t find.
“— I sold them, Timur. I needed something to live on,” Vika replied coolly from the living room while counting five-thousand-ruble banknotes.
“— My golf clubs? My favorite watches? Are you serious?” Timur was beside himself with anger.
“— Now isn’t the time for golf, Timur. Think about how to save the business. You can check the time on your phone too. Extra show-offs are useless now,” his wife said sternly.
“— Vika! I have just one question! Why did you only sell my things? Why not yours? You have plenty of expensive bags. If you sell them, you could buy an apartment in Moscow!” Timur clenched his fists, restraining his emotions.
He wanted to lash out at his wife, but he was fundamentally opposed to violence. Raising his hand against a woman? Never.
“— And what do my things have to do with it? These are your problems, not mine!” Vika continued counting the money, wetting her finger with saliva.
“— Three million eight hundred thousand rubles. It’ll be enough for the first month,” she said smugly, carefully folding the bundles into a bag.
“— What do you mean, ‘it’ll be enough’? And what about me?” Timur exclaimed. “How could you sell all that for three million eight hundred thousand when just one of my watches was worth seven million?”
“— Let me repeat, Timur. These are your problems. Solve them yourself. I’m a fragile, defenseless woman who’s been living in stress because of you for the past two days. And don’t forget to help my mother. She’s been crying on the phone all day…” Vika shot him a piercing look, got into her car, and drove away.
Timur called his best friend and met him at a bar.
“— Vanya, she’s completely lost it. She treats me like a bag of trash… She sold my things without permission… And I always knew she was with me only for the money…” Timur took a sip of beer and looked sadly at his friend.
“— Timur, but she loved you when you had no money. She supported you for five years, believed in you…” Ivan answered cautiously.
“— I’m not excusing her actions, but maybe it’s worth trying to understand her reaction…” Ivan cautiously said after a moment of silence.
“— There’s nothing to understand…” Timur snapped, breaking off a piece of dried fish and waving it in the air, as if emphasizing his point. “Vika is just ungrateful. I expected completely different behavior.”
“— What exactly did you expect?” Ivan ordered another two beers and paused, looking at his friend intently.
“— I thought she would support me, cheer me up. Say something like, ‘I’m with you, darling! We’ll manage!’… And instead, it was a barrage of reproaches.” Timur rested his head on his hand and directed the waiters, who were scurrying past their table, with an unseen gaze.
“— Give her some time… Perhaps she is really under stress because she feels unsupported. Maybe in a couple of days she’ll come to her senses and start supporting you,” Ivan suggested, hoping to somehow calm his friend.
“— You know, Vanya, I devised this test only because in the last six months she’s become so cold. Always moody, dissatisfied with everything. Taking gifts for granted… Only reproaches from all sides…” Timur swirled his glass in his hand, studying the amber liquid.
“— I thought that this test would set things straight. If she doesn’t support me, then that’s the end. The lawyers and I have been scheming for a whole month so that she gets nothing in the divorce…” Timur pulled out his phone, glanced at his watch, and decisively stood up.
“— Alright, bro, I’ve got to go. I still have a few things to finish at work.” He settled his tab, hugged his friend, and left outside.
As soon as Timur disappeared through the door, Ivan quickly took out his phone and dialed Vika.
“— Vika, listen carefully! Timur is deceiving you. He has no problems at all. This is all a test. He wants to see if you’re willing to divorce him or not,” Ivan blurted out in haste, raising his voice.
“— If you leave now or if he files for divorce, you’ll end up with nothing. We’ll end up with nothing. You need to be the sweetest little kitty in the world so that he melts and forgives you.”
“— As soon as I find out where he hid the money, I’ll file for divorce. We’ll take half of his assets and live the way we’ve always dreamed. I love you!” Ivan hung up, picked up a piece of dried fish, and thoughtfully took a bite. Then, slapping the table with his palm, he began cursing Timur with every epithet he knew.
Meanwhile, an inconspicuous man who had been sitting at a neighboring table got up from the bar and headed toward Timur’s car.
“— Timur Vladimirovich, everything has been confirmed. They’re in collusion. Now we have a recording of their conversation,” the man said, playing an audio recording on his phone. The bar was noisy, but Ivan spoke so emotionally that every word was clearly audible.
“— There’s one thing I can’t understand, Leonid Stepanovich…” Timur sat in the backseat of his executive sedan, tightly clutching a plastic water bottle. “Why did we end up confessing about the money? Now they’ll be looking for it. The divorce will become harder to finalize…”
“— That’s exactly what I anticipated. They won’t find the money no matter how hard they search. And if they do find something, the offshore schemes are so convoluted that those assets formally do not belong to you. You didn’t pay the schemer ten million for nothing to set up a money-laundering plan…” Leonid Stepanovich smirked.
“— The house is registered under the company, as are all the cars. On paper, the company isn’t even yours. Your account holds three hundred thousand rubles. You’ll quickly spend it. We know our business, Timur Vladimirovich. You have everything under control. Don’t worry.” The man firmly shook Timur’s hand and exited the car.
“— Packing them for the final act?” Leonid Stepanovich peeked out the window with a smile.
“— Yes, let’s. Let’s finish everything today,” Timur replied, reclining in his seat and closing his eyes.
When Timur returned home after work, Victoria and Ivan were already waiting in the living room. Fear and bewilderment were evident on their faces. Six burly men in suits from Timur’s security service stood nearby, watching every move of the “guests.”
“— There’s one thing I can’t understand…” Timur looked at his almost ex-wife with disdain. “You had everything: money, a house, travel, gifts, help for your mother… Why did you have to ruin it all so foolishly? Was I such a bad husband?”
He suspected that over the past six months Victoria had found someone else, but he could never have imagined that it would be his best friend.
“— And you, Vanya… We’ve been friends since childhood. How many times have I helped you with money and connections? I never expected this from you. Jealousy? You can’t accept that I became a hundred times richer than you?” Timur shook his head, looking at Ivan with a disappointed smile.
Victoria wanted to say something, but Timur motioned for her to stop.
“— This isn’t a dialogue. This is my final word. And you know what? I’m not sad at all about how things turned out. Because you, Ivan… You didn’t take away my beloved woman.” Timur paused, looking at his former friend.
“— A beloved woman can never be taken away. She would never let anyone get close to her. You, Vanya, took away my problem. A very expensive problem. And now you have to live with it.” Timur laughed, his laughter sounding like a blow.
At that moment, the maid wheeled in five large suitcases. She glanced at Victoria with embarrassment and hurried away.
“— Let me make this clear: you won’t get a single million. What you sold, Vika, you can keep. That’s all you’re entitled to after years of marriage. Live as you wish. My people will drive you to the city.” Timur exited the room and never saw Victoria or Ivan again.
Receiving not a single kopeck in the divorce, Victoria immediately left Ivan. She sold part of the apartment to her mother, which had been fully paid off thanks to Timur, and returned to her native Saransk. What happened to her afterward, no one knows.
Ivan, having lost everything, began drinking uncontrollably. Instead of rebuilding, he chose the path of self-destruction and soon became an alcoholic.
Timur remained alone for a long time. He focused on his business, which became even more successful. A year later, he fell in love with his assistant. But he wasn’t planning on remarrying yet. Rumor had it that Timur was happy with a woman who knew how to support, inspire, and appreciate him.
They say that those who have experienced betrayal become wiser. And that infidelity is always a conscious choice. After all, no one undresses by mistake.
Whether that’s true or not is up to each person to decide. But one thing is for sure: the great sun shines equally on all — both the faithful and the unfaithful.