Oleg remained silent. A golden son, thirty-eight years old, a department head at a logistics company, he turned into an obedient boy at the sight of his mother’s tears. Lyudmila had long understood that arguing was useless. She just waited. Waited for her mother-in-law to get a new apartment and finally move out.
That evening, Zinaida Ivanovna didn’t go to the kitchen to interfere with the cooking but disappeared into the bedroom under the pretext of a headache. Lyudmila was glad for the break and focused on chopping. Potatoes, carrots, cucumbers—everything was going according to plan. Mayonnaise in the fridge, ‘doktorskaya’ sausage on the table.
And then a shriek came from the bedroom, so loud that the knife fell from Lyudmila’s hands.
— Son! Sonny! Olezhka! Come here, quickly!
Oleg jumped up from the sofa where he was watching football and rushed to his mother. Lyudmila wiped her hands and froze by the kitchen table, listening.
— What happened, Mom?
— Her! She hid money! Seven hundred thousand! Here, look, in an old bag on the top shelf of the wardrobe. I found it by accident. I wanted to get my shawl.
Lyudmila closed her eyes. Everything fell into place. That same bag. An old leather one she had put away after buying a new one. The bag that contained seven hundred thousand. Money Oleg didn’t know about.
The thud of footsteps, and her husband flew into the kitchen. His face was red, his eyes burning with righteous anger.
— Lyudmila! What is this money? Seven hundred thousand! Where did it come from? Do you realize what you’re doing?
Lyudmila slowly placed the knife on the cutting board and turned to her husband. Behind him stood her mother-in-law with a triumphant look on her face, clutching the old bag to her chest.
— Oleg, calm down and think. Just explain to me, where do you think I could have gotten that kind of money?
— I don’t know.
— You tell me. Seven hundred thousand doesn’t just appear out of nowhere.
— Indeed, — Zinaida Ivanovna chimed in. — Lyudochka, tell us, where did such a sum come from? Maybe you sold something we own jointly? Or worse?..
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