“Don’t worry, Mom! She won’t get a penny,” her husband boasted, unaware that his wife was eavesdropping.

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  Marina was coming home, exhausted. It was an ordinary autumn evening—weekday, damp. In her bags: bread, milk, a pack of buckwheat, apples. In the stairwell, as always, it smelled of mildew and boiled cabbage, and the bulb above the second floor flickered in its nervous rhythm, like an alarm signal. Climbing to the third … Read more

I can’t stand these early-morning raids anymore!” the daughter-in-law shouted when her mother-in-law once again showed up at six in the morning with her key.

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Good Lord, what on earth is going on?” Marina jerked awake to a crash in the kitchen. The clock on her nightstand read half past six. Sunday. The only day in the last three weeks when she could have slept at least until eight. Kitchen supplies She threw on a robe and stepped out of … Read more

You’ve become a bitch!” shouted her husband when he realized his wife was no longer going to save him.

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  Marina sat on the edge of the couch and counted her breaths so she wouldn’t snap. In the bedroom—a wheeled suitcase; in the hallway—Alexei’s jacket, smelling of someone else’s perfume. Behind the wall, their son was asleep. The apartment was breathing silence, like a hospital ward before an operation. Alexei was carefully folding his … Read more

We’re not going to the restaurant for your birthday, I’ve already cancelled everything,” said his wife, leaving her husband alone with his gifts.

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We’re not going to the restaurant for your birthday. I’ve already canceled everything,” Marina said, neatly folding the wrapping paper into the box. Groceries Her voice was even, almost flat, but there was something tired in it. A birthday should have been a reason to celebrate, but instead of anticipation she felt irritation mixed with … Read more

So that my husband’s relatives wouldn’t eat us out of house and home, I decided not to make a scene. I handed Viktor a list, and he went off to the markets, quietly swearing to himself.

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Olya will cook something, like always…” Viktor’s voice rang out as he answered his relatives, staring at the empty fridge. I didn’t start cooking—I decided to make a record of the food that had been eaten. I opened the fridge and froze for a moment, peering into the emptiness. On the middle shelf stood a … Read more

No, I’m not going to cook for you. If you want, I can pour you some water,” I calmly told my husband’s relatives, who had shown up without warning.

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“Valera, you’ve got visitors!” Irina called out when she heard the doorbell ring on Saturday morning. She had just sat down to check her eighth-graders’ tests, spreading the exercise books out on the kitchen table. Sunday was tomorrow, and on Monday she had to submit the academic performance report. Off to the side lay a … Read more

My 89-Year-Old Stepfather Lived with Us for 20 Years Without Spending a Single Penny. And After His Death, the Lawyer Said: “He Left You Everything — Even What You Didn’t Know About.”

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When I got married at thirty, I didn’t have a penny to my name. No, I wasn’t poor—I just had no savings, no inheritance, no financial cushion. My wife, Anna, came from the same kind of family, where every kopek was accounted for. Her only close relative was her father, a quiet, taciturn man in … Read more

I’m the one paying the mortgage, and for some reason your mother has decided she has a share in this apartment,” I glared angrily at my husband.

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Do you have any idea how I feel when I come home and see that everything’s been moved around?” Polina stood in the middle of the living room, looking at her husband. Her voice was tight with tension. “I’m the one paying the mortgage, and yet your mother has somehow decided that she owns part … Read more