Kirill entered the apartment and immediately heard his six-month-old son, Artyom, crying. The apartment was dark and quiet. He had no idea where his wife, Alisa, was.
Quickly taking off his coat and shoes, he headed to his son’s room.
“Easy, easy, Daddy’s here,” he soothed the baby as he picked him up. “Where’s Mommy?”
Artyom gradually calmed down and was soon smiling at his father. Once Kirill saw that the baby had stopped crying, he took out his phone and called his wife.
“The subscriber is unavailable,” an automated voice told him.
Another man might have become worried. After all, their baby was only six months old, and his wife had disappeared somewhere. But instead of concern, Kirill felt anger.
Apparently, not every woman was blessed with maternal instinct after all. Alisa had always been rather selfish and self-centered. But she was strikingly beautiful, witty, and charming, and Kirill had fallen under her spell.
Over time, though, he began to realize that Alisa was not exactly the woman he wanted to spend his life with. She was fun to be around, but when it came to building a family, he wanted someone who valued a warm home, someone who would support and understand him.
Alisa, on the other hand, saw everything in terms of what she could gain from it and preferred talking mostly about herself.
But perhaps sensing Kirill’s doubts, Alisa suddenly announced that she was pregnant.
“How is that possible?” Kirill had asked in surprise. “You’re taking birth-control pills.”
“Well, they’re not one hundred percent effective,” she had shrugged. “Apparently something went wrong.”
She had probably arranged the whole thing deliberately. But Kirill wanted the child, so he even came to terms with the deception.
And he married Alisa because she insisted that the baby had to be born within marriage.
He also believed that once their son was born, Alisa would reconsider her priorities. After all, every woman supposedly had that famous maternal instinct. At least, that was what he thought back then.
Now he realized how badly mistaken he had been.
At first, Kirill believed that Alisa was suffering from postpartum depression. She was in no hurry to go to the baby when he cried and immediately refused to breastfeed, saying she did not want to ruin her figure.
But Artyom grew older, and Alisa continued behaving as though the baby were merely an irritating obstacle to her peaceful life.
Most nights, Kirill was the one who got up with the baby, even though he had to go to work in the morning.
Alisa could go an entire week without taking her son for a walk, claiming that it was inconvenient for her.
Whenever Kirill was at home, she hurried to escape somewhere—to meet her friends or go shopping.
While she was away, she never once called to ask how her son was doing. She simply enjoyed herself without a care in the world. Sometimes she even came home drunk near dawn.
Of course, Kirill tried talking to her, but Alisa only snapped back.
“You try sitting here trapped within four walls! And before that, spend nine months waddling around like an elephant! Once you’ve gone through all of that, then you can criticize me,” she would say, believing these arguments were perfectly reasonable.
But leaving the baby completely alone like this…
Perhaps Alisa had done it before and Kirill simply did not know.
Today, he had come home from work earlier than usual. Apparently, Alisa had not expected that she might get caught.
Kirill hoped she had stepped out for only a few minutes. Maybe she urgently needed to buy something from the store.
Though home delivery existed, after all.
But Alisa returned only an hour later, and there was no telling how long she had already been gone before Kirill arrived.
Kirill greeted her with the baby in his arms.
The look on his face made it perfectly clear how furious he was.
“Where were you?”
“Why are you home so early?” Alisa immediately asked.
“It just happened that way. I came home, and you weren’t here. Artyom was crying.”
“He was supposed to sleep for two hours. It’s not my fault he sleeps so little,” she shrugged.
“So where were you? What could possibly make you abandon your child?” Kirill was already losing his temper.
“Oh, don’t start! Nothing happened to him,” Alisa said, walking past them. “I needed to go for a walk!”
“How could you leave the baby alone?” Kirill followed her. “What kind of mother are you? Aren’t you worried about him at all?”
“Oh, God! Just leave me alone! Let me breathe for once! Why should I worry? Where is he going to go?”
“He’s scared! How can you not understand that?” Kirill shouted.
“He’ll survive. Let him toughen up a little…”
Kirill looked at his wife and understood that this was the end.
He should never have married her in the first place. They could have had the child without getting married.
But Alisa had been the one who insisted on marriage.
“I can’t do this anymore…” he said, shaking his head. “I’m divorcing you.”
Alisa spun around and stared at him.
“Are you serious? Because I went for a walk for an hour?”
“Because of everything. You’re a terrible wife and mother…”
“Oh, as if you’re perfect! Kir, calm down. Stop being hysterical. Fine, if you’re so angry about it, I won’t leave the baby alone anymore.”
“His name is Artyom,” Kirill said quietly. “You could at least call your own son by his name. And I’m not being hysterical. I’ve run out of patience. We’re getting divorced, Alisa.”
Alisa screamed like crazy.
She threatened him, got angry, begged him to reconsider.
And eventually she announced that she would take Artyom with her.
“You don’t even want your son,” Kirill said, shaking his head.
“No. But you do. If you want to keep the child, pay me.”
It was so disgusting that Kirill almost felt sick.
But he knew his wife would stubbornly follow through with her threat.
And he did not want to leave his son in danger.
“Fine. We’ll come to an agreement. But in court, the child’s place of residence will officially be determined as being with me. If you want to visit him…”
“I won’t,” Alisa interrupted. “But you’ll have to meet all my demands.”
It sounded like blackmail.
More precisely, that was exactly what it was.
But Kirill had few options, so he agreed.
Kirill was financially well-off and could afford a lot, which only made Alisa more brazen.
She forced him to give her one of his apartments, buy her a car, and hand over a large amount of money.
In exchange, she told the court that she did not object to the child living with his father.
Kirill hired a nanny.
And once his mother was no longer around, Artyom actually became more cheerful.
Kirill had suspected that his son was afraid of his own mother.
Now he was certain of it.
Just when Kirill thought everything was finally over, Alisa showed up again.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said. “You should pay me child support.”
“For what? I’ve already given you more than enough!”
“Because I gave birth to your child!”
“Yes, but he lives with me.”
“And you should thank me for that too. Anyway, you’re going to pay me a certain amount every month, and then everyone will be happy.”
Kirill said nothing.
After Alisa left, he contacted a lawyer.
She was becoming far too brazen.
The first time, he had tolerated it because he thought it would be easier to settle everything peacefully and avoid scandals.
But apparently, Alisa had decided she could do whatever she wanted.
She was wrong.
Following his lawyer’s advice, Kirill obtained footage from the apartment building’s security cameras showing Alisa leaving and abandoning the baby alone.
He also collected all the receipts and financial records proving that Alisa had not contributed a single ruble.
Then he arranged another meeting with her and secretly recorded their conversation.
Alisa had never imagined that her ex-husband would go this far.
She believed she could manipulate him however she pleased.
So once again, she openly stated her demands, repeatedly saying that she would take away the child she did not even want if Kirill refused to accept her conditions.
Imagine Alisa’s surprise when she was summoned to court.
She was subsequently stripped of her parental rights and ordered to pay child support for her son.
Alisa threw such a huge tantrum that she had to be escorted out of the courtroom.
She threatened Kirill.
She even threatened her own son.
But she still did not know that soon her ex-husband would also evict her from the apartment because it had never actually been transferred into her name.
He would also take back the car, which had been registered in Kirill’s name.
The only thing he could not recover was the money he had already paid her the first time.
Of course, Alisa tried to cause trouble afterward.
But after a conversation involving the police, she finally backed off.
Naturally, she never paid any child support because she did not have a job.
But Kirill decided not to continue the conflict.
He simply let it go.
She could live however she wanted.
The important thing was that she stayed away from him and Artyom.
Two years later, Kirill married a very kind, warm, family-oriented woman who accepted his son wholeheartedly.
After some time, Artyom began calling her Mom.
And Kirill was grateful that his little boy did not remember the time when his biological mother had still been around.
Because there was certainly nothing good in those memories.