Olga was sitting in the kitchen while her husband, Sergey, rushed around the apartment looking for the documents for the apartment. His mother, Galina Petrovna, sat in an armchair with the expression of a judge. Sergey was hurrying to get everything ready for the sale so they could buy a house outside the city, but Olga was against such haste.
“Better a concrete box than your village without decent internet,” she snapped.
“Olya,” Galina Petrovna cut in, “a house outside the city means fresh air, your own land.”
“Oh, sure,” Olga snorted. “Especially when your mother-in-law is sitting behind the wall, waiting for you to make a mistake.”
The tension grew when Sergey mentioned that Olga would need to issue him a power of attorney to speed up the process.
“Sergey, are you sure we’re acting in my interests?” she asked.
“And whose interests would we be acting in? You’ll sign the power of attorney over to me yourself, and everything will move faster.”
“Yes, yes,” she said with a smirk. “A power of attorney so that later I’m left with the loan, and you and your mother are left with the keys to the new house?”
“Olya, what nonsense are you talking about?” Sergey protested.
Galina Petrovna called her suspicions paranoia and advised her to be a wife, not an investigator. Olga shot back that her mother-in-law should be a mother, not “an adviser on schemes for how to squeeze property out of a wife.” Olga firmly declared that she would not sign a general power of attorney and threatened divorce if Sergey tried to do anything behind her back.
One day, after coming home earlier than usual, Olga caught Sergey and his mother talking in the kitchen. She stopped behind the door and listened.
“Well, Seryozha, didn’t I tell you?” came her mother-in-law’s voice. “The main thing is to put everything in your name first. Then we’ll decide who lives where.”
“Mom, don’t say it like that,” Sergey replied quietly. “If Olya hears you, the plan is finished.”
“And the loan goes on her, Seryozha. Don’t forget that,” Galina Petrovna’s voice rang with steel. “You understand, a man has to be the master of the house. If the house is in your name, nobody can throw you out onto the street with your bags.”
Olga walked into the kitchen.
“Good evening, family,” she said sweetly. “What are tonight’s topics? Loans, real estate, how to deceive a wife?”
Sergey and Galina Petrovna were caught off guard.
“Olya… it’s not what you think…”
“Oh, come on,” she said, looking straight at her mother-in-law. “I think strategic planning is in full swing here. There’s just one problem — I’m not signing on to your script.”
She announced that the very next day she would go to the bank to check all the accounts and revoke any powers of attorney.
Three days later, Sergey moved in with his mother. A week later, he suggested they meet and “talk calmly.” Olga agreed to meet, but only at a notary’s office.
At the office, Sergey and Galina Petrovna tried to persuade her again.
“Olya, we’ve been thinking… Maybe we shouldn’t act so rashly? After all, a house outside the city is a dream,” Sergey began.
“Oh, I see you’re still counting on my altruism,” Olga said with a smirk, pulling out a folder. “There’s just one detail. The apartment is now registered in my name alone. And listen carefully — I’ve already sold it.”
“What?! When?!” Sergey turned pale.
“Yesterday,” Olga replied calmly. “At market price. And without your schemes.”
“You… you decided that without me?!”
“Without you, Seryozha, I now decide a lot of things,” she said coldly. “And yes, here is your notice of divorce.”
Galina Petrovna gasped.
“How dare you?! We’re family!”
“Family?” Olga leaned toward her. “Family doesn’t plan how to throw one another out onto the street.”
Sergey slammed his fist on the table in fury.
“You’ll regret this! You’ll have nothing left!”
“You’re wrong,” Olga said with a smile. “I’ll have freedom. And money.”
She walked out of the office. Sergey ran after her, trying to stop her.
“Olya, wait…”
She turned around and looked him straight in the eyes.
“Seryozha, the shop is closed.”
And she kept walking, into her new life.