Khrystyna answered the phone, forcing lightness into her voice that she did not feel. Her husband’s anxiety was leaking through the speaker like static. “Call me the second you leave the notary,” Mykyta said for the tenth time that morning. “I’ll lose my mind waiting.
”
“Of course, my love. The moment I have the documents, you’ll be the first to know. ”
She ended the call and stared at the wall clock. Two hours until the meeting.
Two hours of waiting to claim the inheritance her godmother Nadia had left her — fifteen million hryvnias. Nadia had been everything: mother, teacher, protector. She had taught Khrystyna to bake apple pie, pressed classic novels into her hands, and promised her repeatedly, “You deserve the best life, girl. One day everything will change.
”
Today, that promise was coming true. The notary, a grandfatherly man named Mykhailo Borysovych, handled everything with quiet efficiency. Forty minutes after she walked in, Khrystyna walked out onto the noisy Kyiv street, clutching a plastic folder against her chest. Inside lay the certificate of inheritance — unconditional proof that she now owned a fortune.
Her first instinct was to go home and wait for Mykyta in the comfort of their apartment. But she pictured him at his important presentation: checking his watch, sweating, barely holding himself together. His office was only twenty minutes away. “I’ll surprise him,” she decided, and smiled at her own reflection.
She parked at the business center, touched up her makeup, and walked past the guard who nodded at her with a friendly smile. The fourth floor was silent — most of the staff were at lunch. Her heels clicked against the polished tile like a metronome. The door to Mykyta’s office was slightly ajar.
She raised her hand to knock, and then she heard her own name. “… should be calling any minute now. Finally, everything will be settled, sweetheart.
”
Sweetheart. A girl’s voice answered, high and playful: “Mykyto, I’m so nervous. What if something goes wrong? ”
Khrystyna’s blood turned to ice.
She knew that voice. Karyna. The new marketing assistant with the doll-like face and enormous brown eyes. “It will be perfect, kitty.
We’ve thought of everything. The second Khrystyna brings the money, I take it. I tell her I’m driving to the Carpathians to close the hotel deal — and I come straight to you. We fly to Dubai.
”
“You’re such a cunning fox,” Karyna purred. “I had to wait for the right moment,” Mykyta said. “And now it’s here. Fifteen million, legally my wife’s.
She actually believes I love her and want to run a business together. Can you imagine the stupidity? The only woman I’ve ever wanted is you. ”
Khrystyna pressed her back against the cold wall.
Her legs were trembling. Seven years — seven years of marriage, of shared dreams, of believing she was loved — collapsing into dust. “So you never wanted the hotel? ” Karyna giggled.
“The hotel? Please. That was all her infantile fantasy. I just played along.
You have no idea how many years I’ve tolerated her endless talk. ‘Let’s open our own business, Mykytko. ‘ ‘I found a beautiful plot in the mountains, darling. ‘ It made me physically sick.
”
The wet sound of a kiss drifted through the crack in the door. “Go back to your desk now,” Mykyta said. “She’ll be calling any moment. I’ll see you tonight.
”
Something cold and sharp formed in Khrystyna’s chest. She wanted to burst through the door, to scream, to destroy everything in that room. But she didn’t. She turned and walked to the elevator on legs made of rubber.
In the safety of her car, the tears came. Hot and bitter, they poured down her cheeks and ruined her mascara. A faithful little dog, he had called her. Imperceptive.
Naive. Seven years of sleeping beside a stranger — an actor who had played the role of devoted husband flawlessly. Her phone rang. Mykyta.
She wiped her face with the back of her hand, breathed in, breathed out, and answered in a voice that sparkled. “Darling! Everything is done. The certificate is in my hands — fifteen million.
And the cash for the deposit, just as we agreed, is already in my bag. I’m going home to cook a celebration dinner. I can’t wait to see you. ”
“So soon?
” His voice trembled with barely concealed greed. “I’ll try to leave as early as I can. ”
Khrystyna gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles went white. She knew exactly what to do next.
Her first stop was a novelty shop. She bought every pack of souvenir banknotes they carried — realistic-looking bills stamped with the words “NOT LEGAL TENDER. ”
Back in the apartment, she locked herself in the living room and went to work. With careful, methodical hands, she wrapped the fake bills into fat bundles, secured them with rubber bands from her husband’s desk drawer, and arranged them on the oak table.
They looked, from every angle, like a fortune. At exactly seven o’clock, the key turned in the lock. “Khrystu, I’m home! ” Mykyta burst into the living room, loosening his silk tie, a showy bouquet of red roses clutched in one hand.
His eyes were fever-bright. “How did it go? I’ve been going crazy all day. ”
“Perfect, my love.
I’ve prepared everything for your arrival. ”
She gestured toward the table. He froze. Stack after stack of bundled cash, neat and overwhelming.
“This… this is all ours? ” His voice dropped to a reverent whisper. “All ours, darling.
” She smiled her softest, most adoring smile. “I know how long you’ve waited for this moment. ”
“My sunshine! ” He crushed her in a hug so tight she couldn’t breathe.
“You have no idea what kind of life is waiting for us. The hotel in the Carpathians — I’ve planned it all. Ten rooms in modern Hutsul style, a restaurant downstairs, a wooden terrace overlooking the mountains. And you, in a white dress, walking through the hills.
Can you imagine? ”
Khrystyna could imagine exactly how much of that was true — none of it. She watched him, radiating cold fury beneath her warm smile, as he didn’t bother to examine the bills. He simply scooped them into his leather backpack by the armful, hands trembling with greed.
“I need to go now, love. ” He zipped the bulging bag. “The landowner in Yaremche called — there’s another buyer. I have to deliver the deposit before morning.
I want to start negotiations at dawn. ”
“But what about our celebration? ” She pouted. “The moment I’m back with the signed papers, we’ll have the biggest celebration of our lives.
Champagne, oysters, everything you love. I’ll call you every hour, I promise. ”
She kissed him goodbye. She waved from the doorway.
She locked the door and leaned against it, heart hammering, and then she poured herself a glass of red wine and lowered herself into the armchair to wait. The phone rang three hours later. “Khrystyna, what the hell have you done? ” Mykyta’s voice was a strangled shriek, high and wild.
“What do you mean, my love? ” she asked innocently, settling deeper into the chair. “Did something happen with the landowner? ”
“What landowner?
I stopped at a currency exchange to break the bills and they’re — they’re fake! Souvenir junk! The cashier hit the alarm. Police are here.
They’re arresting me for fraud! ”
“Souvenir bills? ” Khrystyna repeated, letting the words hang. “How fitting.
Cheap and fake — exactly like your love. Exactly like our seven years of marriage. ”
Silence. Heavy, suffocating silence.
Then, in a voice gone small: “What are you talking about? ”
“I’m talking about my visit to your office today. I heard everything, Mykyta. The tickets to Dubai.
The apartment. How stupid I am. How sick I make you. It was very educational.
”
“Khrystyna, please — let me explain —”
“No. You’ll listen. ” Her voice was ice. “Seven years.
Seven years I lived with you, believed every word, shared every dream. And you were just waiting for the right moment to rob me and run away with your little doll. Your plan failed. ”
“Please—”
“The real money is in my bank account.
Safe. You will never touch it. What I gave you is exactly what you deserve: colored paper, a worthless imitation, just like everything you ever gave me. ”
“They’re putting handcuffs on me!
”
“Then call Karyna. Let her help you. Maybe she can take out a loan. ” Khrystyna smiled into the phone.
“Actually, I should thank you. If not for your greed, I never would have seen who you really are. Goodbye, Mykyta. All questions about the divorce go to my lawyer.
”
She hung up. The tears came then — hot, cathartic, streaming down her face. But she was smiling. A real smile, growing wider by the second.
In the morning, the inheritance would be hers. Completely, legally, irrevocably hers. And with it — a future built alone, on her own terms. She picked up the certificate, ran her fingers over the embossed seal, and looked out the window at the starlit sky.
“Thank you, godmother,” she whispered. “You didn’t just leave me money. You gave me back my life.
“
