“Vitya, deal with your wife! What does she think she’s doing?! She threw me out on the street!”

Victor was sitting in his office, sorting through contracts, when his phone exploded with a frantic shriek. “Vitya, do something about your wife! She threw me out on the street! Who does she think she is?!” His sister Kristina’s voice shook with fury and tears. Victor shoved the folders away, a familiar headache already pulsing … Read more

“It’s your celebration—so you can entertain your guests,” she said, leaving her loudmouthed husband staring at an empty table.

Valery Petrovich liked to believe he had everything under control. At work he was a department head, at home the unquestioned patriarch, and in life the man steering his own destiny. He was used to the world moving according to his schedule, and the moment something slipped out of line, his voice filled the apartment … Read more

— We’ll stay in your apartment for now, and you can go live with Mom, — the sister-in-law moved into their mortgaged place like it was hers.

Olga heard the doorbell and, for some reason, tensed immediately. Her husband Dmitry was at work, and they weren’t expecting anyone. Through the peephole she saw a familiar figure—Svetlana, Dmitry’s sister, dragging suitcases. Beside her hovered her eternally silent husband, Viktor, and between them stood five-year-old Artyom with a tablet in his hands. “Ol, open … Read more

— I work too hard for that money to hand it over for anyone’s vacation! And definitely not for your mother!

Marina snapped her laptop shut and leaned back in her chair, feeling the tightness of the past few months slowly ease out of her shoulders. December 23rd. Project complete. Acceptance papers signed. The money had landed in the company account. — Congratulations, — Oleg Viktorovich, her direct supervisor, said as he handed her an envelope. … Read more

— You have to give my sister three million! We’re family! — her ex-husband bellowed right there in the courthouse hallway

Elena had a quiet morning routine: coffee in an oversized mug that said “CEO of Everything,” the espresso machine humming, and exactly four minutes of silence before the day officially began. Not meditation—more like an effort to remember why on earth she’d ever married Viktor. Over the past few months that question had started gnawing … Read more

“Your paycheck is our family fund! My mom needs a refrigerator, and my sister needs a new iPhone,” her husband declared.

“Will you stop obsessing over your mother?” Polina snapped, slamming the cabinet door so hard the glasses inside rang. “Every day it’s the same: ‘Mom needs this, Mom needs that.’ What am I to you—an ATM?” “Don’t start,” Alexey grunted from the table, where he sat with a cup of tea gone cold. “You’re always … Read more