You withdrew our savings to buy your sister an apartment? Pack your things and go live with her,” I exploded, throwing the printed bank statement onto the couch.
Denis froze in the doorway with a mug of coffee in his hand. His bewildered gaze darted between me and the cursed piece of paper.
“Anya, wait, let’s talk,” he began.
“What is there to talk about? Seven years! For seven years we’ve been saving for our own place!” My voice was shaking. “And you handed it all over to your precious sister in one go!”
“Ira is in a desperate situation,” Denis put the mug down and took a step toward me. “After the divorce she was left with Masha and no place to live. It’s temporary, in six months she’ll pay it back…”
“In six months,” I laughed bitterly. “We’ve been renting for eight years, cutting back on everything. And your Irina, after her divorce, can’t rent a place like normal people?”
“Her situation is completely different,” his voice grew quieter.
“Everyone has a ‘different situation’! Everyone except us!” I opened the wardrobe and pulled out his travel bag. “If her problems are more important than ours, if you make decisions like this without me, then do the decent thing and go live with the people whose interests you’re defending.”
Denis didn’t resist when I started throwing his things into the bag. He looked at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.
“I didn’t think you’d react like this,” he said at last. “I thought we were a family, and in a family you help each other.”
“A family is you and me,” I zipped up the overstuffed bag. “Your sister and your mother – that’s your family. And right now you’ve chosen them.”
The door slammed behind Denis, and I collapsed onto the couch. My phone was bursting with calls, but I didn’t answer. I knew there would be no apologies there – only explanations, excuses, and pressure.
In the evening Marina, my best friend, called.
“Denis called me,” she said. “He said you had a fight.”
“A fight?” I gave a joyless laugh. “He took two million rubles from our joint account and gave it to his sister. Without telling me. Without discussing it. He just presented me with a done deal.”
“Wow,” Marina drew out. “That’s serious. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Seven years down the drain.”
“Did he at least try to explain?”
“Said that Ira would pay it back in six months. Do you believe that? I don’t.”
“His mother must have put him up to it,” Marina never liked my mother-in-law. “She’s been against your marriage from day one.”
I rubbed my temples.
“You know what hurts the most? Not the money. It’s that he made a choice. And he didn’t choose me.”
The next day at work I couldn’t concentrate. Pavel, our company lawyer, noticed my state and invited me to lunch.
“Something wrong?” he asked when we sat down at a table in the café.
“Family issues,” I answered evasively.
“Financial ones?” He was observant. “Sorry to be blunt, but you look like you’re ready to kill someone over money.”
“Pretty close,” I smiled despite myself. “My husband withdrew all our savings without my consent.”
Pavel whistled softly.
“That’s serious. How much are we talking about?”
“Everything we saved in seven years.”
“You know, that can be challenged. If the account is joint, he had no right to dispose of the entire amount on his own.”
I shook my head.
“I don’t want to start a legal war. He’s still my husband.”
“Family is family, but money is money,” Pavel leaned a little closer. “If you need help – professional or just someone to talk to – I’m always here.”
His gaze lingered on me a bit longer than necessary, and I felt awkward.
In the evening my mother-in-law, Elena Viktorovna, called.
“Anya, what’s going on? Why is Denis living with me?”
“Ask your son,” my voice sounded colder than I meant it to.
“He told me. But I don’t understand how you can throw your husband out over money! How can you be so heartless? Irina is in trouble, she has a child!”
“And we’ve been renting for eight years and cutting back on everything. And he knew that perfectly well when he took the money.”
“But she’s his sister! Blood is thicker than water!”
“And who am I?” The anger in me was rising again. “I’m his wife. We vowed to be together and make decisions together.”
“Oh, Anya,” there was something like pity in her voice. “You’ve always been selfish. Denis deserves a woman with a bigger heart.”
On the third day, the doorbell rang. Irina stood on the doorstep with red, swollen eyes. I barely stopped myself from slamming the door.
“Can I come in?” she asked quietly.
I silently stepped aside, letting her into the apartment.
“Anya, I understand you’re angry,” Irina began, walking into the living room. “But I really had nowhere to go.”
“So you decided to take away our future?”
“I’m not taking it away! I’ll pay the money back, I promise. I just need time to get back on my feet.”
“And how much time is that?” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Six months, a year at most.”
“And where are you planning to live all that time?”
Irina hesitated.
“That’s just it… I have a chance to start my own business. A small café. I already have a partner, and we’ve found a place…”
“Stop,” I raised my hand. “Are you saying the money isn’t for an apartment, but for a business?”
“Not exactly…” She lowered her eyes. “If it works out, I’ll be able to pay off the debt faster.”
“Does Denis know?”
“Not exactly… I told him it was for the down payment on an apartment.”
“Wonderful,” I shook my head. “You lied to your brother, and he lied to me. What a lovely little family you are.”
“Anya, please understand, Masha and I have nowhere to live! My ex-husband left us with debts, I barely escaped that relationship…”
“And decided to hang your problems on us,” I finished for her. “No, thank you. The exit is in the same place as the entrance.”
A week passed. I ignored Denis’s calls but read his messages. He wrote that he missed me, that he regretted what he’d done, but that he couldn’t abandon his sister in trouble.
On Friday evening there was another knock at the door. On the threshold stood an elderly man – Viktor Petrovich, an old family friend of Denis’s.
“Hello, Anya,” he greeted me with a warm smile. “Will you let an old man in?”
I couldn’t refuse – Viktor Petrovich had always treated me kindly.
“Of course, come in.”
He walked slowly into the room and sank heavily into an armchair.
“You know, I’ve known this family a long time,” he began without preamble. “I remember Denis as a boy. He was always responsible, reliable. And always a kind of donor for his relatives.”
“What do you mean?” I sat down opposite him.
“Did Denis ever tell you why he dropped out of university in his third year?”
“He said he realized he’d chosen the wrong major.”
Viktor Petrovich shook his head.
“Elena Viktorovna was diagnosed with a serious illness. She needed surgery, and an expensive one. Denis sold the car his grandfather had given him, withdrew from his studies, and went to work. Didn’t tell anyone, of course. Proud boy.”
I stared at him, stunned. Denis had never mentioned any of this.
“And when Irina was eighteen and about to apply to university, their dacha burned down. Everything that had been set aside for her education went into rebuilding it. Denis took out a loan and paid for her studies. Again, without a word.”
“Why didn’t he ever tell me?” I asked quietly.
“He’s not used to complaining. But you know what’s the saddest part? Neither his mother nor his sister ever learned to live independently. They got used to Denis always coming to the rescue. Always solving their problems.”
He sighed heavily.
“I’m not justifying what he did with your savings. It was wrong. But I know why he did it. He simply doesn’t know how to say no.”
The next day I called Denis.
“We need to talk. Really talk.”
He arrived an hour later. Gaunt, with dark circles under his eyes.
“Why did you never tell me about your mother? About the surgery? About the fact that you dropped out of university for her?”
Denis flinched.
“Who told you?”
“Viktor Petrovich. Why am I finding this out from other people?”
“That was a long time ago. What difference does it make now?”
“A huge difference! I never understood why you’re so dependent on your family. Why you can’t say no to them.”
Denis sat down on the couch and covered his face with his hands.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be the only man in the family. After my father died, I felt I had to protect and provide for everyone. It got into my bones.”
“And did you think about me? About us?”
“I thought you’d understand. That we’d help Ira, she’d get back on her feet…”
“She’s not planning to buy an apartment,” I cut him off. “She wants to open a café. She told me that herself.”
Denis looked at me in shock.
“What? She told me she had nowhere to live with Masha…”
“And that’s true as well. But she wants to invest the money in a business. Another of her schemes.”
“That can’t be,” he shook his head. “She wouldn’t lie to me.”
“The way you lied to me?”
On Sunday Denis insisted on a family council. In our rented apartment everyone gathered: Elena Viktorovna, Irina with little Masha, Denis and me. The atmosphere was tense.
“I want us to settle this once and for all,” Denis began in a firm voice I hadn’t heard from him in a long time. “Ira, is it true you’re going to open a café with this money?”
Irina went pale and shot a quick glance at her mother.
“I… that’s not exactly…”
“Answer directly,” Denis pressed.
“Yes,” she finally squeezed out. “I have a business plan, a reliable partner. It’s a good investment, and I’ll be able to pay the money back faster.”
“And where are you going to live?”
“For now with Mom. Then, when the business takes off…”
“That’s enough,” Denis cut her off. “Mom, did you know about this?”
Elena Viktorovna pursed her lips.
“What difference does it make? The important thing is that you helped your sister!”
“It makes a huge difference! You both lied to me. And I lied to Anya.”
“Enough with this ‘Anya, Anya’!” Elena Viktorovna exploded. “What has she ever done for you? We’re your family!”
“And Anya is my family too,” Denis said quietly. “The person I planned to spend my life with. Who trusted me. And I ruined everything.”
Little Masha clung to her mother, staring fearfully at the adults.
“Ira has a daughter, she needs help,” Elena Viktorovna insisted stubbornly.
“Irina has a car her ex-husband bought her,” I stepped in. “An expensive one, by the way. And expensive jewelry. And the option to get a job, for that matter.”
“It’s not for you to tell my daughter how to live!” my mother-in-law snapped.
“And it’s not for you to tell us how to live,” I didn’t back down. “Denis, as long as you indulge their every whim, they’ll never learn to solve their own problems. They’ll bleed you dry for the rest of your life.”
Irina suddenly burst into tears.
“You think it’s easy for me? After ten years of marriage to end up alone, with a child, with no support?”
“Ira,” I turned to her. “When Denis and I got married, we also started from scratch. We rented a room, we scrimped on everything. Why do you think you should get everything handed to you on a platter?”
“Because that’s how it’s always been for her,” Denis said unexpectedly. “First at our parents’ expense, then at mine, then at her husband’s. And now again at my expense. At our expense.”
Irina stood up.
“In that case I’ll pay your money back. I’ll sell the car, the jewelry – whatever’s left from the marriage. You have no idea what it took for me to decide to divorce him!”
“And you have no idea what it cost us to save this money,” I shot back. “How many vacations we skipped, how many things we didn’t buy, how we scrimped on everything.”
Masha tugged at her mother’s sleeve.
“Mom, don’t cry. Can I live with Grandma, and you find a job?”
Silence fell over the room. From a child’s mouth, those words sounded especially sobering.
After the difficult conversation, Denis and I were left alone.
“What are we going to do?” he asked wearily.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “The trust is shattered. The money is gone.”
“Not all of it. Ira really can sell the car and pay part of it back. And I’ll take on extra projects at work.”
“It’s not just about the money, Denis. You made a huge decision without me. How can I be sure it won’t happen again?”
He was silent for a long time.
“You know, I understood a lot today. About myself. About my family. About how I’ve been letting them use me for years. And about how I nearly lost the most important thing – you. If you give me a chance, I’ll prove I can change.”
A year later
“Careful, that box is heavy!” Denis called, stepping through the door of our new apartment.
It was small, just a studio, but it was ours. We’d bought it in a new development on the edge of the city. Not what we’d once dreamed of, but a beginning.
“Need a hand?” Irina appeared in the doorway with Masha.
Her relationship with Denis had been restored, but in a healthier way. Irina had gotten a job as a restaurant manager instead of opening her café. The car had been sold, part of the money returned. The rest she paid back little by little.
“Here, take this,” Denis handed her a light box with dishes.
Elena Viktorovna hadn’t come – she was still sulking at both of us. But that was probably for the best. We’d had enough drama in our lives.
Masha ran up to me.
“Aunt Anya, can I go draw in that room?”
“Of course, sweetheart,” I smiled, watching her run off with her sketchbook.
“You know,” Denis hugged me from behind, “I’m grateful to you.”
“For what?”
“For not giving up on me. For making all of us face the truth. It hurt, but it had to be done.”
I turned to him.
“We both had a lot to learn this year. I was wrong about a lot of things too.”
“The important thing is we made it through. Together.”
I looked around our small, still bare apartment. It wasn’t the dream home we’d once pictured. But it was filled with honesty, mutual respect, and a new understanding of what it really means to be a family.
“Together,” I echoed. “And with the right boundaries.