Anna wrote Igor a short note saying the keys were in the mailbox. She added that the list of items she had taken had been given to her attorney. Then she pulled the door shut, dropped the keys in the box, and let out a long breath of relief.
In the car, Katya said she had ordered hot pizza to the new apartment to celebrate the move. Anna thanked her sincerely for all the help and moral support. She also learned that Katya had already spoken to Anna’s worried mother and reassured her.
The new rental apartment welcomed them with light walls and the smell of fresh paint. The movers had already brought in the furniture, and Anna enthusiastically started deciding where everything should go. An hour later, they were all eating pizza together, sitting on the couch.
Katya raised her paper cup of juice and proposed a toast to a new, free life. Anna smiled happily, looking out the window and feeling, for the first time in a long while, truly at home. The next morning she woke to silence broken only by the rustle of leaves.
Her phone was full of missed calls and angry messages from Igor. He accused her of stealing his money, conveniently forgetting that they had mostly lived on her paycheck. Her mother-in-law had sent another round of insults too, calling Anna shameless and ungrateful.
Anna laughed when she read the complaint that Igor “needed a wife to take care of things.” She calmly blocked those numbers and went to enjoy her first free weekend. Then the phone rang again from yet another unknown number, and it was a furious Galina Petrovna.
The woman hysterically demanded that Anna come back immediately, threatening all kinds of consequences and public embarrassment. In an icy tone, Anna told her not to speak to her that way again. Then she hung up and happily opened the door to Katya, who had arrived with breakfast.
Over fresh croissants, Anna showed her friend a photo of the CD paperwork she had found. Katya swore under her breath, realizing how deeply Anna had been deceived about the bathroom repair loan. The two of them went over the next steps in detail and prepared for the meeting with an experienced attorney.
Igor sent another message asking her to stop being childish and come over for a calm conversation. He even claimed his mother had settled down and had never meant to hurt anyone. Anna replied firmly that the divorce was happening and told him not to contact her again.
Then she made a list of things she wanted for herself now that she was free to choose. At the end, she made herself one solemn promise: never again to become a compliant victim. That evening, Katya called laughing about Galina Petrovna’s failed attempts to pry Anna’s new address out of people.
Anna smiled as she listened, sitting in a nice restaurant with a glass of good wine. She ordered her favorite chocolate raspberry cake, the dessert Igor had always hated. Enjoying every bite, she mentally prepared for an important conversation with her parents.
When she called her mother, Anna told her honestly about the three years of constant humiliation and mistreatment. She admitted that her husband had always silently enabled his overbearing mother’s behavior. Her mother listened with growing anger and fully supported Anna’s decision to divorce…
