Arina froze in the bedroom doorway, watching her husband, Dmitry, adjust his tie in the mirror.
“Dima, have you seen my sapphire earrings? The white-gold ones Mom gave me for my thirtieth.”
Dmitry kept fussing with his tie without turning around.
“No, I have no idea where they could be. Why, are they missing?”
Arina went to the vanity and opened the jewelry box. Her eyebrows climbed. There were gaping spaces where her silver charm bracelet, gold chain, and a few other trinkets dear to her heart used to lie.
“Strange. It looks like it’s not just the earrings that are gone,” Arina’s voice quivered.
Dmitry finally turned and gave the open box a careless glance.
“Maybe you moved them yourself? Or wore them and then forgot where you left them?” His tone was far too indifferent, even for a husband forever rushing off to work.
“Maybe,” Arina nodded, closing the box. But inside, everything clenched. Jewelry didn’t just disappear.
Dmitry pecked her on the cheek.
“I’ve got to run, I’m late. We’ll look together tonight, okay?”
Arina nodded mechanically, but of course they didn’t look together. Dmitry came home late and went straight to bed, muttering something about a hard day.
Over the next weeks, Arina simply watched. She didn’t make a scene or demand explanations. After all, she had no proof. But her eyes saw what they saw.
At a family dinner at her mother-in-law’s, Arina noticed a new watch on the wrist of Kirill, her husband’s brother. Expensive, with a large face and a leather strap. Kirill had never been known for a love of work or any special luck with money.
“Nice watch,” Arina remarked offhandedly when the two of them were alone in the kitchen. “New?”
“Oh, this?” Kirill raised his hand to show the watch and smiled. “Yeah, picked it up recently.”
“Been wanting one like that for long? They don’t look cheap.”
Kirill shrugged.
“Got lucky with some investments. Put money into one thing at just the right time.”
“Into what, if it’s not a secret?” Arina kept her voice casual, just a relative making conversation.
“Uh… cryptocurrency,” Kirill was clearly flustered. “Bitcoin, you know, that thing.”
“Ah, Bitcoin,” Arina drawled. “Interesting. Dima mentioned it recently, too.”
“Yeah, yeah, we decided to try it together,” Kirill added a little too quickly.
A month later, Kirill showed up at his mother’s birthday with a brand-new top-of-the-line smartphone, and a week after that he boasted he’d made the down payment on a car. And all this on the salary of a mid-level manager at a company that, as Arina knew, wasn’t doing so well.
Her suspicions grew with each passing day. And when she noticed that her grandmother’s brooch had disappeared from the house, something boiled over inside her.
That same evening when Dmitry came home, Arina greeted him as usual—with dinner and a smile. Only her eyes were colder than ice. A plan had already begun to take shape in her head. He and his brother were mistaken to think she’d meekly accept being robbed.
The plan for payback was crystallizing in Arina’s mind—clear, calculated, without excess emotion. That was how she was used to solving problems. Her husband’s and his brother’s betrayal called for an appropriate response.
A week later, Arina’s mother-in-law, Svetlana Andreyevna, announced a family dinner to mark her wedding anniversary.
“Dima, please let Mom know I might be late at work,” Arina said at breakfast, stirring her coffee. “We’re filing the quarterly report—you know what a headache that is.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t go, then?” A flicker of hope crossed Dmitry’s voice. “Mom will understand.”
“Oh no, I’ll definitely come,” Arina smiled. “I’ll just be a little late.”
Dmitry nodded, avoiding his wife’s eyes. Lately he’d been trying to cross paths with her as little as possible, as if he feared the conversation that could break out at any moment.
That evening Arina arrived at her mother-in-law’s house exactly thirty minutes after the appointed time. She had deliberately done a new hairstyle that emphasized the grace of her neck and applied brighter makeup than usual. But the main thing, of course, was the jewelry—the very same “missing” sapphire earrings, the brooch, the necklace, and the bracelet. Everything that had so oddly vanished from her jewelry box.
Pressing the doorbell, Arina drew a deep breath. Dmitry opened the door.
“Sorry I’m late,” Arina said, stepping into the hall.
After taking off her coat, she turned to her husband. Dmitry froze, his gaze snapping to the sapphires glinting in his wife’s ears, then sliding to the necklace and the bracelet.
“Is something wrong?” Arina asked innocently. “You’re looking at me so strangely.”
“N-no, everything’s fine,” Dmitry mumbled, his face turning a grayish shade. “It’s just… you’re very beautiful tonight.”
“Oh, thank you,” Arina smiled. “Shall we join the others?”
In the living room, Svetlana Andreyevna, Kirill with his wife Nadezhda, and a couple of old family friends had already gathered. Everyone took their places at the festively laid table.
“Arina, dear, we were starting to worry,” her mother-in-law greeted her.
“Work, Svetlana Andreyevna—you understand,” Arina replied, kissing her on the cheek.
When Kirill saw her, he froze with his fork in midair. His eyes widened as he took in the jewelry on his sister-in-law. Arina caught his gaze and smiled slightly. Blotches spread across Kirill’s cheeks.
“What’s wrong with you, Kirill?” Nadezhda asked, noticing her husband’s odd state.
“Nothing, I just remembered I forgot to send an important document,” he muttered.
The brothers spent the entire evening on pins and needles. Dmitry kept casting nervous glances at his wife, and Kirill tried not to look in her direction at all. Arina, meanwhile, sparkled—telling funny stories from work, laughing at the friends’ jokes, as if nothing were happening.
When Svetlana Andreyevna brought out dessert—a homemade blackberry cake—Arina set down her fork and said loudly:
“You won’t believe the amazing thing that happened to me the other day!”
Everyone turned to her. Dmitry tensed.
“I found my jewelry that had gone missing from the box,” Arina went on, running her fingers along the sapphire necklace. “I found it in a pawnshop, no less!”
The silence around the table became tangible. Kirill went pale, and Dmitry froze with his glass in hand.
“In a pawnshop?” repeated Svetlana Andreyevna. “How did it get there?”
“That’s what I’m wondering—how?” Arina smirked, looking straight at her husband. “Someone took my things out of our apartment and pawned them. Can you imagine the nerve? They didn’t even spare my grandmother’s brooch, my last keepsake.”
“Maybe you yourself gave them to someone… or forgot?” Nadezhda ventured cautiously.
“No, Nadya, I didn’t forget,” Arina shook her head. “But you know what’s most interesting? The pawnshop owner remembered who brought the items in. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be my own husband and his brother.”
Dmitry grew even paler and set his glass down.
“Arina, I can explain…”
“Of course you can,” Arina cut him off. “Only it won’t change much. And you’re not the only one you owe an explanation to.”
She turned to her mother-in-law.
“Svetlana Andreyevna, I need to tell you that your sons started a little business behind my back. Dmitry took my things from the house, and Kirill sold them or pawned them. Judging by Kirill’s new watch and phone, business was going well.”
“That’s not true!” Kirill cried out.
“Dima, is it true?” Svetlana Andreyevna asked in a trembling voice.
Dmitry lowered his eyes.
“We were going to put everything back… We just needed money to develop the business,” he muttered.
“What business?” exclaimed Svetlana Andreyevna.
“No business,” Arina interjected. “There is no business. There are just two grown men who decided to rob their own wife and daughter-in-law.”
“Arina, let’s talk at home…” Dmitry pleaded.
“Oh no, Dmitry,” Arina straightened. “We won’t be talking at home anymore. Because I’m filing for divorce.”
“What?!” Dmitry leapt to his feet.
“Sit down,” Arina’s voice was calm and icy. “I’m not finished. Since the apartment we live in belongs to me, you’ll have to pack your things and leave. And the sooner the better.”
“Arina, you can’t—” Dmitry began.
“I can,” she cut him off. “And furthermore, Svetlana Andreyevna,” Arina turned to her mother-in-law, “I need to remind you that the apartment where you, Kirill, and Nadya live is mine as well. You do remember I let you live there free of charge?”
Her mother-in-law gave a faint nod.
“You’ll have to move out, too,” Arina finished.
“Where are we supposed to go?” whispered Svetlana Andreyevna.
“That’s no longer my concern,” Arina shrugged. “Maybe Kirill will offer to put you up on the money from selling my jewelry.”
“Arina, please,” Dmitry tried to take her hand, but she pulled away.
“I’m giving you a week to pack,” she said. “Then I’ll change the locks.”
“You can’t do this to us!” Kirill protested. “We’re your family!”
“Were,” Arina snapped. “Family doesn’t steal from each other.”
She rose from the table and headed for the hallway. Dmitry rushed after her.
“Arina, I’m sorry, it was stupid! I swear we’ll return everything!”
“Too late, Dmitry,” Arina put on her coat. “You shouldn’t have sawn off the branch you were sitting on. Now you can reap what you’ve sown.”
She opened the door and looked back one last time:
“By the way, I bought all the jewelry back from the pawnshop. And you know what? It’s worth much more than what you got for it. Even in that, you turned out to be shortsighted.”
Arina didn’t wait for a reply. Stepping out into the evening air, she took a deep breath. Inside, she felt empty but calm. No regrets—only a clear understanding that this was right. Some things simply can’t be forgiven.
A week later, just as she had promised, Arina changed the locks on both apartments. Dmitry called a few more times, but she didn’t answer. Her mother-in-law sent a long message with apologies and pleas, but Arina left that unanswered as well.
Sometimes decisive action is the only way to start life over—without betrayal and lies. Arina knew she’d made the right choice.