Andrei was turning this way and that in front of the large mirror in the hallway. The dark navy fabric of his expensive suit fit him perfectly.
Nadya stood a little farther away. She adjusted the collar of her simple pistachio-colored dress.
“They look fine, Andrei.”
“In my business, people judge you by your appearance.”
He tugged at his cuffs.
“An investor needs to see a successful man in front of him. Not some middle manager. This is an investment in our future status.”
Nadya said nothing. The “investment” had cost forty thousand rubles. And the money had been charged to her salary card three days earlier.
At the time, Andrei had spent a long time explaining temporary cash-flow problems in a very persuasive manner. He mentioned charts and profitability curves. He promised to pay her back as soon as he closed his first major deal.
Andrei always had deals supposedly in the works.
Nadya had not seen any actual money from him in a year and a half.
“Let’s go,” she said briefly.
“The taxi’s already downstairs. Comfort Plus, by the way.”
Andrei picked up a thick kraft-paper envelope from the cabinet.
They went downstairs. The weather was overcast, and the asphalt glistened after the morning rain. Nadya settled into the back seat. Andrei sat beside her and carefully placed the kraft envelope on his lap.
“We could’ve ordered business class on a day like this,” he grumbled, looking around the car.
“We could have,” Nadya agreed. “If you were paying for it.”
She took her phone out of her handbag.
“As it stands, this ride is going to be charged to my account too. Remember? My card is linked.”
Andrei grimaced.
“Nadya, why are you starting this now? It’s a celebration. We’re creating a family. And you’re back to your petty accounting. I think strategically. My assets are working right now.”
“Your assets,” Nadya said calmly, looking at the buildings passing outside the window, “are a studio apartment on the outskirts that you’ve been renting out for the past year.”
She had wanted to bring this up for a long time. Somehow there had never been a suitable moment.
Today, her patience finally cracked.
“By the way, where does the rent money go? I pay for the groceries. I pay the utilities for my apartment.”
Andrei shifted slightly away from her.
“That’s our emergency reserve!”
He lowered his voice and glanced toward the back of the driver’s head.
“Money has to work. I’m building our investment portfolio. You simply don’t understand how the modern economy works.”
Nadya understood economics perfectly well.
For fifteen years, she had been balancing debits and credits at a large logistics company.
Andrei’s balance sheet did not add up.
She was forty-two. Behind her was a long, exhausting divorce when she was younger, followed by years of building her career brick by brick.
She had inherited the apartment from her grandmother and had put an enormous amount of effort into it.
She had met Andrei at an industry exhibition. He spoke beautifully. He courted her elegantly. Somehow, almost without her noticing, he moved in with her.
He arrived with one sports backpack and grand plans to conquer the market.
“All right,” Nadya said, putting away her phone. “We’ll leave the details until this evening.”
The registry office lobby was crowded. Couples waiting for nearby ceremonies bustled around. Some laughed, others fixed their hair.
Nadya and Andrei sat down on a hard leather sofa in the waiting area.
There were about fifteen minutes left before their appointment.
Andrei looked around and adjusted his expensive tie.
Then he picked up the kraft envelope.
“Nadya.”
His tone suddenly became unnaturally businesslike.
“There’s something we need to take care of before the registration. Just a formality.”
Nadya turned her head.
Andrei pulled several stapled pages from the envelope and slid them across the coffee table toward her.
Then he placed a ballpoint pen on top.
“What is this?” she asked directly.
“A prenuptial agreement.”
He tried to smile.
The smile came out crooked.
“My lawyer insisted. You understand, I have a business. Risks. Obligations to partners.”
Nadya stared silently at the pages.
“I don’t want,” he continued, “any potential debts of mine to fall on your shoulders in the event of some unforeseen circumstance. This is about protecting you, Nadya. Entirely about your well-being.”
She did not touch the pen.
Instead, she picked up the papers.
The text was packed with fine print.
Nadya quickly skimmed the first two pages. Separate accounts. Waiver of claims to each partner’s income.
Nothing unexpected.
Andrei was protecting his hypothetical millions.
Then her eyes caught on clause five.
She read it twice.
“Andrei,” Nadya said, her voice turning icy. “Explain clause 5.2 to me.”
He shifted uneasily on the sofa.
“Well, it’s logical!”
Andrei leaned toward her.
“Your apartment is old. The pipes are terrible. The wiring is barely holding together. We need a complete renovation.”
“And?” Nadya said sharply.
“I’m prepared to take over management of the whole process. Find the workers, buy the materials. That’s a massive contribution!”
He spoke in polished, rehearsed phrases.
“And legally, if significant joint funds and labor are invested in real estate and its value increases substantially…”
Nadya did not take her eyes off him.
“The agreement simply states that once the renovation is complete, the apartment will be recognized as jointly acquired marital property. Fifty-fifty. That’s fair! We’re going to be a family.”
She carefully placed the papers back on the table.
In her mind, the entire estimate assembled itself instantly.
The pieces of the puzzle finally fit.
For the past three months, Andrei had been persistently trying to persuade her to take out a large personal loan for the renovation.
His argument had been that no bank would lend that kind of money to him, an individual entrepreneur declaring no income, whereas she, with her official salary as a chief accountant, would be approved in five minutes.
“Let’s make this clear,” Nadya said, straightening her back.
She spoke quietly, but every word fell like a stone.
“I take out a loan in my own name. I repay it from my salary. You supervise workers whom I pay. And after that, half of my apartment becomes your property?”
“You’re exaggerating!”
Red patches appeared on Andrei’s cheeks.
“Does my intellectual contribution count for nothing? My time? I’ll optimize the spending on construction materials! I’m putting my heart into it!”
“You can’t attach your heart to a property deed,” Nadya cut him off.
Andrei tried to take her hand.
She pulled it away.
“Nadya, you don’t understand the nature of real estate investment.”
“I understand the nature of freeloading, Andrei.”
The words came out before she could stop them.
“You’ve been living at my expense for a year and a half. Eating at my expense. Taking taxis with my card. And now you want to carve off half of my only home because you’ll hire some workers to put up wallpaper?”
“Watch your language!” he hissed. “I’m proposing a partnership!”
“You’re proposing daylight robbery.”
An employee came out of the office holding a tablet.
“Nadezhda and Andrei? It’s your turn. Please come in.”
Andrei grabbed the pen and shoved it directly into Nadya’s hand.
“Quickly. Sign here at the bottom. We’ll sort out the details at home.”
Nadya looked at the pen.
At Andrei, who had already started rising from the sofa.
At the prenuptial agreement with its neat margins.
She opened her handbag and took out her passport.
Andrei exhaled with relief.
“Finally. Give it here.”
But Nadya slipped the passport into the inner pocket of her dress.
She tossed the pen onto the agreement.
“The reception is canceled,” she said.
She stood up.
Andrei stared at her in disbelief, frozen with his hand extended.
“What do you mean, canceled? People are waiting for us! Nadya, why are you making a scene over nothing?”
“I’m protecting my assets.”
She hooked her handbag over her elbow.
“The investment didn’t pay off. The cash-flow gap turned out to be too large.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
He looked around at the other people.
“You’re humiliating me in front of everyone! Where are you going?”
“Home.”
She took a step toward the exit from the waiting area.
“Rip up the agreement. Or keep it as a souvenir.”
“I was going to invest in the renovation!” he shouted after her.
She did not turn around.
Four hours later, Nadya was sitting on the ottoman in the hallway of her apartment.
She had taken off her shoes as soon as she came home.
She had not changed out of her dress.
Three heavy-duty construction trash bags stood in the hallway.
All of Andrei’s belongings fit inside them.
Sneakers, shirts, laptop, a couple of sweaters.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Andrei appeared.
He was furious. His tie had slipped sideways, and the collar of his expensive shirt was unbuttoned.
“You had no right to throw my things outside!”
He kicked one of the bags.
“I did. My property, my rules. Take them and leave.”
Andrei theatrically untied the first bag and rummaged through it.
“Where’s my new suit? The blue one. The one I wore this morning.”
He straightened up.
“Did you hide it? That’s mine!”
Nadya calmly folded her hands in her lap.
“The suit was paid for with my card. I have the receipt in my banking app. When you return the forty thousand, you can have it back.”
Andrei practically choked with outrage.
“You’re so materialistic…”
He stopped.
Apparently, he could not find the right business term.
“Greedy?” Nadya suggested. “Maybe. But I still have my apartment.”
Andrei grabbed the bags and dragged them toward the elevator, muttering filthy curses through clenched teeth.
Nadya watched him go.
That evening, she opened her banking app.
She transferred the remaining money into a savings account and removed her card from every taxi service it was linked to.
Living alone turned out to be much cheaper.
And she could manage the renovation perfectly well on her own.
Without a self-proclaimed investor living off her money