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I want a fur coat, and a car for Valera! Screw the apartment—we’ve already got somewhere to live!” the mother-in-law threw a fit when she found out about my inheritance.

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“You didn’t wash the cups properly again, Lida! Look at these marks!” Tamara Petrovna’s voice sounded like an alarm—sharp, metallic. Lida stood at the sink, lips pressed tight. Foam from the dish soap clung to her mouth; anger burned in her eyes. “Mom, I just washed them,” she said quietly, but evenly. “Washed them… sure. … Read more

Gleb, why do you need a mortgage if your wife has a spacious apartment?” Alya overheard her husband talking to his parents-in-law.

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“Still, Gleb, I think we really need to think this through before taking on obligations like that,” Alya said, carefully studying the documents spread out on the kitchen table. “Alevtina, we’ve discussed this a hundred times already. A new apartment is our future,” Gleb said, impatiently drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “Three rooms instead … Read more

You won’t be getting any gifts — you’re nobody to me,” said her mother-in-law. But for the first time, Olga didn’t stay silent.

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Now that was a New Year’s, alright. Olga would later remember it like a very bad, very cruel fairy tale—one where she wasn’t Cinderella at all, but some useless, dusty thing they’d forgotten to throw out of the house. They celebrated, as usual, at Galina Petrovna’s place. A lavish table, set so heavily that the … Read more

“Yes, I did receive an inheritance. No, I’m not putting a share in my mother-in-law’s name! And yes—people live by my rules here now, not yours!”

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“Did you buy those pasta again for a hundred and twenty?” The voice from behind the door sounded as if Yulia had messed something up somewhere. “I told you—in ‘Pokupochka’ they’re eighty-five!” Yulia froze in the kitchen with the grocery bags—she had only just set them on the table. Her hands were trembling with fatigue, … Read more

Where’s the money?! The card doesn’t work!” her husband exploded. “It works,” Marina said. “It just doesn’t work for you anymore…

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“Where’s the money?! The card won’t work!” Marina held the phone a little away from her ear. Dmitry’s voice slammed through the speaker—sharp, demanding. She was sitting in her office on the twelfth floor. Outside the window: a construction site—cranes, concrete blocks. “It works. Just not for you anymore.” Silence. She pictured him at a … Read more

The Wife Never Expected That One Sudden Trip to the Dacha with Her Husband Would Change Their Whole Life

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Marina’s phone chirped, vibrating against the tabletop. A message from Sergei: “Want to go to the dacha together this weekend?” Marina stared at the screen in such confusion, as if he’d suggested flying to Mars. In twenty-five years of marriage, she had almost forgotten what their dacha looked like from the inside. Sergei had always … Read more

— “Now you and your mother are both neck-deep in debt, and don’t you even come near me or my apartment!” I said as I folded up his things.

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— “Are you seriously saying this right now?” Raisa set down the comb she’d been threading pearls into and slowly turned toward her husband. Her voice was quiet, but there was steel trembling inside it. “Sell my apartment to pay off your mother’s debt?” — “Well what else are we supposed to do?” Andrey stood … Read more

My husband caused a scandal at a restaurant, demanding access to MY money — and left with nothing after one suggestion of mine.

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The tea at their place was always suspiciously strong. It wasn’t that Dmitry knew how to brew it—he simply believed you had to soak the bag until it turned into dark crude oil, and then boil it again “so the flavor opens up.” Olga usually added lemon to somehow neutralize that “inky brew.” But this … Read more