“Do you honestly think we can afford that kind of extravagance right now?” Rodion asked without lifting his eyes from his plate, though it was obvious the food held no interest for him.
“Rodion, it isn’t extravagance. It’s an investment in happiness,” Galina explained gently, as if speaking to a child, while pouring tea. “Sveta is my sister. My only sister. And you know how hard things are for her right now. This marriage is like a lifeline for her.”
“A lifeline worth five hundred thousand?” Rodion finally looked at his wife. There was a sticky, lingering unease in his eyes, which Galina mistook at that moment for ordinary masculine stinginess. “Gleb has problems too, you know. Serious ones. And here we are sponsoring weddings.”
“Gleb has always had problems. He has them now, and he’ll keep having them. That’s a constant,” Galina said with a small smile, trying to smooth things over. “But Sveta is getting married once. At least, I hope so. Besides, it’s my money. I didn’t earn it out of thin air.”
“Yours, mine… Aren’t we a family, Galya?”
“Exactly. A family.” She covered his hand with hers. “So let’s be happy about it. I spent six months hunting down that edition. I negotiated with a collector from Saint Petersburg, worried over every volume of Brockhaus and Efron, checking the condition of the engravings. And now the deal is closed. Mom will be happy, Sveta will be able to pay for the reception, and whatever is left will go toward their honeymoon. Vadim, her fiancé, well… you know his health isn’t good. The sea is practically medicine for him. And now there’s a baby on the way too.”
Rodion pulled his hand away. He rose from the table and began pacing the kitchen with the heavy, dragging steps of a man carrying some invisible burden on his shoulders.
“Fine,” he muttered. “Be happy. I’m going to bed.”
Galina watched him go with slight confusion, but her own joy was too great to let her husband ruin the evening. The softness in her heart had not yet given way to alarm. She opened her bag and checked once more the thick stacks of bills held together with bank bands. The smell of old money mingled with her perfume, creating an intoxicating cocktail of success.
Tomorrow she would give the money to her sister.
Tomorrow a new chapter would begin.
She had no idea that a new chapter really would begin — just not the one she had dreamed of.
Galina worked as a senior sales coordinator in an elite antiquarian bookshop. Her profession required not only knowledge, but a special instinct. She could tell a fake from an original by the texture of the paper, by the faint, almost imperceptible smell of time. Nineteenth-century books were both her passion and her livelihood.
Rodion, on the other hand, was a man of the earth — literally. He worked as a bulldozer operator, leveling ground for the construction of new residential neighborhoods. Many people thought their union was strange: refined, well-read Galina and rough, simple Rodion. But Galina valued in her husband that very groundedness, that reliability — or so she had believed.
There was only one problem: his family.
His older brother Gleb, and his endlessly wise but stern mother, Tamara Pavlovna.
Gleb was the complete opposite of Rodion: slippery, always looking for shortcuts. He had once worked as a construction foreman, and a scandal involving missing bags of cement had nearly cost him his freedom. Back then, Tamara Pavlovna had used her old connections from the furniture factory, where she had worked for twenty-five years as a financial director, and managed to hush the matter up. Gleb avoided prison, but he learned nothing.
Saturday morning began with sunlight pouring through the windows. Galina woke in a wonderful mood, looking forward to seeing her sister and mother. But the space beside her in bed was empty. Rodion’s pillow was cold.
She went into the kitchen, but he wasn’t there either. On the table lay a note:
“Went out on business. Back soon.”
Galina shrugged. Bulldozer operators had their own business. Maybe some side job had come up. She turned on music and started getting ready. A sea-green dress, light makeup — today she felt like a fairy godmother.
At that very moment, Rodion was sitting in the smoke-filled interior of his friend Slavik’s old foreign car.
“Listen, brother, you have to understand — this is serious,” Slavik said, drumming his fingers nervously on the steering wheel and making the situation sound even worse. “Who is Gleb to you? Your own blood. And a wife… wives come and go. If Gleb gets locked up now, your mother won’t survive it. Her heart is weak. Do you want to drive your mother into the grave?”
“Of course not,” Rodion said, wiping sweat from his forehead. The weight of five hundred thousand rubles was burning in the pocket of his jacket. He had taken the money that morning while Galina was asleep. His hands had trembled when he opened her bag. “But Galya will kill me. That money was for her sister’s wedding.”
“What wedding?” Slavik snorted, spitting out the open window. “The groom’s some sickly weakling. He’ll probably kick the bucket in a year anyway. But a brother is forever. Gleb just slipped up. Happens to everyone. He moved a bit of merchandise off the books. Thought he’d get away with it. Bad luck, that’s all. Those new cameras, damn them. Now he either covers the shortage, or they open a criminal case. Five hundred grand, and he’s clean. And Galya… she’ll yell and calm down. You’re the man. You’re supposed to solve problems.”
Rodion listened to his friend, and in his head, that nonsense began to sound logical. Fear of his wife stepped aside before the fear of looking “unmanly” in the eyes of his friend and brother. Gleb had called the day before, sobbing into the phone, begging for help. Rodion had always been easy to lead, always standing in the shadow of his older brother. Now he suddenly had the chance to become a savior.
“Fine,” Rodion breathed out. “Let’s go to Gleb.”
When he returned home three hours later, Galina was already standing in the hallway, completely ready to leave. She was glowing.
“Oh, you’re back!” she exclaimed, fixing her hair in front of the mirror. “I was just about to call a taxi. Can you drop me off at Mom’s? I’ve got the money…”
She stopped short.
Her hand, which had automatically slipped into her bag, froze. It was empty inside.
Galina frowned and shook the contents out onto the small hallway cabinet. Makeup bag, phone, keys.
No money.
She lifted her eyes to her husband. Rodion stood leaning against the doorframe and would not look at her. His face was gray, his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Where is the money, Rodion?” Her voice trembled, though there was still hope in it — hope that this was some stupid joke. “Did you move it? This isn’t funny.”
“I took it,” he said dully.
“Took it?” Galina blinked, trying to grasp the meaning of that simple word. “Why? Give it back. I have to leave.”
“I can’t give it back, Galya. I gave it to Gleb.”
Galina felt the ground disappear beneath her feet. A ringing sound rose in her ears.
“To Gleb?” she repeated in a whisper. “You gave my sister’s money to your thief of a brother?”
“Don’t you dare call him a thief!” Rodion suddenly flared up, hysterical notes cutting through his voice. “The man is in trouble! He was set up. The camera caught it, yes, but he just loaded some goods without paperwork. He was going to process it later! He was facing prison, do you understand? A criminal case! I saved my brother! Your sister can wait. Nothing will happen to her wedding. They’ll celebrate more modestly!”
His words fell like stones — heavy, filthy, senseless.
Galina stared at the man with whom she had shared a bed for three years and did not recognize him. Instead of her husband, some creature stood before her, justifying baseness with grand words about brotherhood.
“You stole from me,” she said slowly, carving out every word. “You stole from a pregnant woman. You stole from a sick man. To cover up your brother’s theft.”
“Shut up!” Rodion roared, taking a step toward her. “We’ll give your money back! We’ll pay it from my salary! Gleb will get a normal job…”
“No!” Galina screamed. “No ‘later’! Give the money back now!”
Rage, hot and blinding, struck her in the head. She did not remember how her hand flew upward. The slap cracked through the hallway. Her palm landed straight across Rodion’s lips. He staggered back, clutching his face. Blood appeared between his fingers — Galina’s ring had cut his lip.
“You… you hit me?” he lisped, staring at his bloodied palm. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Return the money you stole from me, or get out of my home,” Galina told her husband, feeling a cold fury rise inside her. “Right now.”
“I don’t have it! I gave it away! All of it!” Rodion shouted, glaring at her with hatred. “And I’m not giving you anything back right now! Your sister will survive!”
Galina choked on his arrogance. She turned and ran into the bedroom, slamming the door in his face.
She sat on the bed, pressing her hands to her chest. Her heart was pounding so violently her ribs hurt. Tears strangled her, but she forced herself not to sob aloud. With trembling fingers, she dialed her friend’s number.
“Lida… Lida, he stole everything…” Galina whispered into the phone.
Lida, a tough and practical woman, listened to the broken story in silence.
“All right, listen to me,” Lida said, her voice like an icy shower. “You have two options. First, you go to the police right now and file a report against your husband. Grand theft. That means prison time. But the money becomes evidence, then there’s an investigation, court — it’ll drag on. It won’t save the wedding. Second option: you go and take back what’s yours. Today is Saturday. Most likely, Gleb hasn’t had time to put the money into the store’s cash register yet, if it was cash.”
“He said he gave it away…”
“He can say anything! Gleb is a coward and a crook. If you put pressure on him, he’ll give it back. Go. Right now. And Galya… don’t feel sorry for your husband. He didn’t feel sorry for you.”
Galina hung up.
The fear disappeared.
She wiped her face and walked out of the room. Rodion was sitting in the kitchen, pressing a towel filled with ice against his lip. When he saw his wife, he tried to look threatening.
“Calmed down?” he muttered. “Let’s discuss a repayment schedule. I think we can manage ten thousand a month…”
He did not get to finish.
“I’m going to your mother’s,” Galina said in an icy voice. “And I’m taking my money back from your brother.”
“You’re not going anywhere!” Rodion jumped up, blocking her way. “Don’t you dare drag Mom into this! Her blood pressure is high! Don’t you dare touch Gleb!”
He grabbed her arm, squeezing her forearm painfully. There was a threat in his eyes.
That was the final straw.
Without thinking, Galina used a move her father had taught her as a child — a sharp strike upward with the heel of her palm, straight into his nose.
The crunch was sickening.
Rodion howled, released her arm, and doubled over, clutching his face. Blood poured out in a stream, splattering the kitchen floor.
“I warned you,” Galina said, stepping over him. “You chose this yourself.”
She ran out of the apartment, leaving her husband groaning in pain behind her. She did not care. Pity had died the second he said, “Your sister will survive.”
Galina reached her mother-in-law’s building in half an hour. She shook the entire way, not from fear, but from adrenaline. Only one thought spun in her head: save her sister’s celebration.
Tamara Pavlovna opened the door wrapped in a shawl. Her apartment resembled a museum: heavy furniture, crystal in glass cabinets, the smell of valerian and old parquet floors.
“Galya?” she said in surprise. “Rodion came by this morning… Has something happened? You’re as pale as a sheet.”
Galina did not waste time on greetings. She walked into the hallway, kicked off her shoes, and headed straight for the room where Gleb usually stayed whenever he ran from yet another life disaster back under his mother’s wing.
“Where is he?” Galina asked loudly.
“Who? Glebushka? He’s in his room, resting,” Tamara Pavlovna hurried after her, understanding nothing. “Galya, what is going on?”
Galina threw open her brother-in-law’s door.
Gleb was lying on the couch with his phone in his hands. When he saw his sister-in-law, he flinched, but immediately pulled a mask of innocence over his face.
“Oh, Galina. What brings you here?” he drawled in his nasal voice.
“Give me back the money,” Galina said quietly, but in such a tone that Gleb’s eyes began darting around. “Five hundred thousand. Right now.”
“What money? What are you talking about?” He tried to sit up, pretending to be surprised. “Mom, what is she talking about?”
Tamara Pavlovna appeared in the doorway.
“Galya, dear, explain properly. What five hundred thousand?”
“The ones your younger son stole from me this morning to save your older son from prison!” Galina turned to her mother-in-law. “Gleb got caught stealing at work. He moved goods off the books. And Rodion decided that I and my family should pay for his filth!”
Tamara Pavlovna turned pale. She clutched at her heart and leaned against the doorframe. In her eyes, usually stern and clear, horror flashed. She knew what Gleb was capable of.
“Is this true?” she asked her son. Her voice, accustomed to giving orders in accounting departments, rang like metal.
“Mom, come on! She’s delirious!” Gleb jumped up. “What goods? What prison?”
“Oh, I’m delirious?” Galina pulled out her phone. “Fine. I’m calling the police. Right now. I’ll file a report against Rodion for theft, and against you, Gleb, for complicity and receiving stolen property — or whatever the proper legal term is. And while I’m at it, I’ll call your manager at the construction store. Let them check the invoices one more time.”
She began dialing.
“Wait!” Gleb squealed. “No police! Galya, are you crazy? You’d send your own people to prison?”
“You are not my people,” Galina cut him off. “You are a thief. Money on the table. Now!”
Her mother-in-law watched her son in silence. There was more condemnation in that silence than any shouting could have contained.
Gleb deflated. He collapsed back onto the couch.
“There’s no money,” he whined. “I took it in. An hour ago. Gave it to the director so he wouldn’t file a complaint. That’s it. It’s clean now. There’s no money, Galya!”
At that moment, the front door slammed. Heavy breathing and shuffling footsteps sounded in the hallway. Rodion stumbled into the room.
The sight was both pathetic and frightening. His nose was swollen and bent sideways, already turning violet-blue. His lip was split open badly. His shirt was stained with blood.
Tamara Pavlovna gasped. Gleb shrank back into the couch.
“You…” Rodion rasped, pointing at his wife. “You broke my nose… Mom, she’s insane!”
His mother looked from her battered younger son to her trapped older one, then to Galina, who stood straight as a string. In her mind, accustomed to balancing debits and credits, the whole picture came together instantly.
And she did not like that picture at all.
“Gleb,” Tamara Pavlovna said quietly. “Show me the statement. Or the receipt. Something proving you handed over the money.”
“Here,” Gleb said, pulling a crumpled sheet of paper from his pocket. “Cash receipt. I covered the shortage.”
Galina snatched the paper.
Amount: 500,000 rubles.
Date: today.
Stamp.
Everything was correct.
The money was gone.
She dropped the paper. Her legs nearly gave way. Her sister’s wedding, her dreams, the promise she had made to her mother — all of it collapsed. She covered her face with her hands and began to cry. Bitterly. Hopelessly.
“Mom, tell her!” Rodion whined through his swollen mouth, wiping blood away. “We’ll pay it back! From my salary! Was I supposed to let my brother go to prison?”
Tamara Pavlovna walked over to Galina and placed a hand on her shoulder. Galina jerked away, but her mother-in-law held her gently.
“Quiet, Galya. Quiet.”
Then she turned to her sons.
“Both of you,” she said in a voice that seemed to lower the temperature in the room. “Both of you are a disgrace to this family. Gleb is a thief. And you, Rodion… you are a traitor. You stole from your wife to cover up a crime. And you dare complain that she broke your nose? Be grateful she didn’t tear your head off.”
“Mom, what are you saying?” Rodion stared at her. “She crippled me!”
“Gleb,” Tamara Pavlovna ignored her younger son. “Return Galina’s money. Right now. Borrow it, take out a loan, sell a kidney — I don’t care.”
“Mom, no bank will give me a loan! My credit history is terrible!” Gleb whined. “And where am I supposed to get that kind of money on a Saturday?”
Galina stopped crying. She wiped her tears and looked at that pitiful trio — no, not a trio. Her mother-in-law did not belong with them — and realized there was nothing more to gain here.
“I’m leaving,” she said hollowly. “I hate you. All of you.”
She ran out of the apartment.
Tamara Pavlovna looked at Rodion.
“You stay here,” she said dryly. “The way home is closed to you. Think about where to get the money. And think carefully.”
“Mom, are you seriously on her side?” Rodion protested, sniffling through his broken nose. “She almost killed me!”
Tamara Pavlovna did not answer. She went into the kitchen so she would not have to see her children’s faces. She was ashamed. For the first time in many years, she was unbearably ashamed of the people she had raised.
Galina returned to an empty apartment. Drops of Rodion’s blood had dried on the kitchen floor. She mechanically wiped them away with a rag. Then she sat down on the sofa and stared at the wall.
Her phone came alive.
Svetlana was calling.
“Galyunya! Hi!” Her sister’s voice rang with happiness. “We just came from the banquet hall! It’s so beautiful there! Vadim talked to the administrator, and they said we can bring our own fruit. Oh, and we looked at vacation packages too… You won’t believe it, there’s a last-minute tour to Greece! It fits exactly within the amount you promised! Galya, can you hear me? You’re the best sister in the world!”
Galina listened to that joyful chatter, and every word cut her heart. She could not tell the truth now. She could not kill that happiness.
“Yes, Svetik, I hear you,” she forced out, struggling to keep her voice steady. “I’m… I’m so happy. Everything will be fine. The money… the money will be there. I just…”
“Of course, no problem! See you tomorrow! Kisses!”
Galina tossed the phone aside.
Envy — sticky and black — stirred in her soul. Why was everything so pure and bright for her sister, despite her fiancé’s fragile health, while all Galina had was filth, theft, and broken noses? But the envy instantly gave way to hatred for Rodion.
The doorbell rang.
Galina flinched.
Had he come back?
She grabbed the heavy bronze statuette from the side table. If he crossed the threshold, she would not hold back.
Tamara Pavlovna stood at the door.
“Leave,” Galina said without lowering the statuette. “I don’t want to see you.”
“Galina, put that down. It’s Dostoevsky, and it’s heavy,” her mother-in-law said calmly. “I came alone. May I come in?”
Galina hesitated, then stepped aside.
Her mother-in-law went into the kitchen and sat on the same chair where Rodion had sat that morning. She took an envelope from her handbag.
A thick, swollen envelope.
“Here,” she said, placing it on the table. “Count it. There are five hundred thousand.”
Galina froze. She stared at the envelope as if it were a bomb.
“Did… did Gleb return it?”
“No,” Tamara Pavlovna said with a bitter smile. “Where would Gleb get money? It’s mine. I had savings. For a rainy day. Looks like the rainy day has come. I was saving for repairs at the dacha, but the family’s honor is worth more.”
Galina slowly approached the table. She felt no joy, only vast, all-consuming relief.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “Tamara Pavlovna, I…”
“Don’t,” the older woman raised a hand. “You are within your rights. My sons behaved despicably. One stole, the other betrayed. I will not justify them. I came for only one thing: to ask you not to make a decision in anger.”
Galina lifted her eyes to her. Her gaze had become hard and glassy.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t throw Rodion out immediately. He’s an idiot, easily led, a fool — but he loves you. In his own way. Stupidly. If necessary, live apart for a while. Let him stay with me. But family… breaking it is easier than building it, Galya.”
Galina was silent for a minute. She listened to the quiet of the apartment, which no longer felt cozy.
“Tamara Pavlovna,” she said evenly. “You are a remarkable woman. And you returned the debt to me, for which I will be grateful to you forever. But I cannot forgive Rodion.”
“Why?” her mother-in-law asked softly.
“Because it isn’t about the money.” Galina touched the envelope with her fingertips. “It’s about the fact that when I looked at him this morning, I suddenly realized: I don’t love him anymore. Not at all. Everything disappeared. Instantly. All that remained was contempt. He stole money from a sick man and a pregnant woman to get his thief of a brother out of trouble. And he thought he was right. Do you understand? He wasn’t sorry until I broke his nose. He believed I should understand and forgive him. It is frightening to live with a man like that. Today he stole money. What will he do tomorrow? Sell the apartment?”
Her mother-in-law lowered her head. There was nothing she could say.
“I understand,” she sighed, rising. “You’re right, dear. Absolutely right. Greed and stupidity are a terrifying mixture.”
“I’m filing for divorce on Monday,” Galina added. “The apartment is mine. I bought it before the marriage. I’ll pack his things. Let him collect them when I’m not home.”
Tamara Pavlovna nodded.
At the door, she turned back, as if wanting to say something, but only waved her hand and left.
As soon as the door closed, Galina grabbed the envelope, her phone, and called a taxi.
Forty minutes later, she was at her mother’s place. Sveta and Vadim were already there.
“Galya!” her sister rushed to embrace her.
Galina hugged her, feeling the tension slowly release. She took out the envelope.
“Here, Svetik. For your dream.”
No one noticed how her hands trembled.
No one knew what price had been paid for that money.
Tamara Pavlovna returned home slowly. The night city roared around her, but she did not hear it. She kept thinking about where she had gone wrong. She had spoiled Gleb — that much was clear. And Rodion… Rodion had always looked to his older brother for approval, never developing a backbone of his own.
And here was the result.
She entered the apartment. The hallway light was on. The sound of the television came from Gleb’s room. Rodion was sitting in the kitchen, holding a frozen chicken against his nose.
When he saw his mother, he perked up.
“Well?” he asked, lisping. “Did you talk to her? Has she cooled off? When can I go home? Because sleeping on Gleb’s couch is impossible. He snores like a tractor.”
Tamara Pavlovna walked in and sat across from her son. She removed her scarf and folded it neatly.
“You’re not going anywhere, Rodion,” she said calmly.
“What do you mean?” He lowered the chicken from his face. His swollen nose made him look like an unlucky clown. “Is she still raging? Fine, understandable. Stupid woman. She’ll have her tantrum for a couple of days and calm down. We’re family.”
“You don’t have a family anymore, son,” Tamara Pavlovna said, looking him straight in the eyes. “Galina is filing for divorce. On Monday. She’ll pack your things. The apartment is hers. So now you have nowhere to live.”
Gleb appeared in the doorway, chewing a sandwich. At those words, he choked.
“What do you mean, divorce?” Rodion’s eyes bulged. “Over money? Mom, you said you gave it back to her!”
“I did,” his mother nodded. “But she did not forgive you. She said she despises you. And I understand her.”
“Have you all lost your minds?” Rodion jumped up. “You’re destroying a family over some lousy pieces of paper? I was saving my brother! That’s noble!”
“Noble is when you save someone at your own expense,” his mother cut him off sharply. “You stole. You wouldn’t snatch a crust from a rat’s mouth, but you snatched it from your wife.”
“And where am I supposed to live?” Rodion asked, suddenly lost.
“Here,” Tamara Pavlovna declared. “In the room with your brother. Just like when you were children. We’ll put in a folding bed. You’ll live together, pay the utilities, and repay your debt to me. Five hundred thousand. Twenty-five thousand a month from each of you. Until every ruble is returned.”
Gleb stopped chewing.
“Mom, uh… I have a personal life…” he began.
“Your personal life ended when you reached for what didn’t belong to you,” she snapped. “And be grateful Galya didn’t file a police report. Otherwise your personal life would be in a prison cell with a bucket for a toilet.”
Rodion sank back into the chair.
Only now did the meaning of what had happened begin to reach him.
“But… how are we supposed to live in one room? We’ll kill each other… My garage is nearby…”
“You’ll take the bus to work. It’ll be useful for reflection.”
Rodion covered his face with his hands. The pain in his broken nose pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat. He had thought he was making a “manly decision,” that he would “handle everything.” Instead, he had lost it all: the cozy apartment, his loving — now former — beautiful wife, his mother’s respect, and even his freedom.
Now he faced years of life in a stuffy room with his snoring, thieving brother, constant lack of money because the debt to his mother had to be repaid, and loneliness.
“This is some kind of nonsense…” he whispered. “This can’t happen. Not over money…”
“It can, Rodion,” his mother said quietly, standing up. “Betrayal always costs double. Good night.”
She turned off the kitchen light and went to her room.
In the half-darkness, two men sat silently.
One with a broken face and a broken life.
The other with a sandwich in his hand and fear in his eyes, realizing that his “savior” would now live beside him and hate him every single day.
It was complete collapse.
A disaster neither of them had even imagined that morning while planning their “brilliant” scheme.
Rodion looked at his brother with hatred.
“Well then, brother,” he rasped. “Did we save you?”
Gleb said nothing.
There was nothing to say.