“Your child is not welcome in this house!” her husband declared. “We’re married now! Get rid of him!”
“He’s screaming again! That noise is seriously distracting me from work. Can you do something to make that creature shut up?” Sergey stormed into the room, furious.
Arina shrank under her husband’s indignant glare. A lump rose in her throat. They had been married for only a week. Before that, he had been caring and courteous, but now it was as if he had slipped his leash. The veins in his neck bulged and throbbed, betraying his burning rage. His eyes blazed with outright hostility.
“He’ll eat and calm down. I’m sorry for bothering you.”
“You didn’t just bother me! My mother hasn’t slept for several days and has been living on sedatives. This can’t go on forever. I’m sick of it already!”
Arina felt guilty, even though she did not understand what exactly she had done wrong. It wasn’t as if she meant to disturb anyone. She always tried to soothe the baby as soon as he started crying. Vladik was only three months old. He was still so tiny.
“He’s just a little baby,” Arina stammered, but immediately fell silent, realizing that any words would be useless in this situation. She should not make the man even angrier, because he was already barely restraining his aggression.
“Exactly! Just a baby. Your child is not welcome in this house! We’re married now! Get rid of him, give him to an orphanage, for all I care. If he were my son, everyone would treat him differently, but I have no intention of tolerating the screaming of someone else’s brat. Do it yourself, or I’ll have to force you. You’ve got nowhere else to go anyway, and you’ll be forced to hand him over to the state. You’re not going to end up on the street with a baby, are you? They’d take him away from you in that case anyway.”
Arina began to tremble. She no longer recognized the man who had once been so attentive to her. He had promised her the moon. He had courted her for so long and worked so hard to win her consent. He had sworn that if she trusted him, if she only married him, she and her baby would never know hardship. Sergey had said he would become a real father to the little one, but now all his promises had been scattered to the wind. Looking at him, Arina understood that from the very beginning he had planned exactly this outcome: to force her to give up her baby. But she could not. How could she betray the tiny child who was a part of her? How could she abandon her own son?
She had nowhere to go. Arina had grown up in an orphanage and had received a small apartment when she aged out, but… not long ago, the apartment had burned down. Luckily, she and her son had been in the hospital at the time. They had not been harmed, but almost nothing was left of the home. There was no money for repairs, and living among ruins reeking of smoke that clawed at the throat was simply impossible.
To be honest, she had no money even to live on with the baby. All the benefits she had received after giving birth had already been spent. She had no maternity pay because she had worked unofficially. The pennies she got from the state could not cover even a fraction of the expenses. Her husband was right—she had nowhere to go. She had married out of desperation, swearing that she would respect Sergey for his kindness and remain faithful to him, but now she realized that it had all been an act. He had never planned to care for Vlad, even though on the day he came to them in the hospital… he had said so many beautiful words.
“Your apartment burned down. I know you have nowhere to go. Arina, you know how I feel about you. Even when you started dating my friend, I realized you had taken a special place in my heart. I will never forgive Makar for running away and leaving you while you were pregnant. If I ever found him, I’d beat him half to death… And still… now you are alone. Let me take care of you and your son. Marry me! I swear you will never regret this decision. I will surround you with love and care. You will want for nothing.”
Arina understood that if she refused, she might end up on the street. She had seen how Sergey reached out to her. He had given his word that he would accept her son as his own. Could anyone dream of a better man? Needing a protector who would share both sorrow and joy with her, she agreed. Sergey had always seemed to her a good and responsible man. She did not doubt that he would keep his promise, but she could not even imagine what his real intentions were, what plans he had been weaving while making promises he never intended to keep.
“I heard you,” Arina said in a strained voice. “I… I’ll think of something.”
“That’s my good girl. The happiest life is waiting for us. I’ll make sure you never know want and never regret your decision. Your life will be like a fairy tale. I’ll fill it with the brightest emotions. I give you my word.”
Arina only lowered her eyes, unwilling to look any longer at the man who had changed so drastically right before her eyes. Bright emotions had indeed entered her life: never before had she felt such overwhelming terror as the kind consuming her now.
She needed to make a decision quickly, but what decision? Give up her child for the sake of a better life? Could she find shelter somewhere? Could she turn to someone for help? In any case, she dared not stay with her husband any longer. Sergey had revealed his true intentions, and now Arina was afraid of him.
Just in case, she had packed a bag with an emergency supply of essentials. Arina hoped she would be able to figure everything out in the morning, when Sergey left for work, but… that day the man decided to drink. He relaxed so much that he lost all control of his emotions and behaved outrageously. He shouted and threatened that he would hurt the baby or Arina herself if she did not provide him with silence. He even raised his hand once, and in that moment the light went out before her eyes, and only one thought remained in her mind: run without looking back.
As soon as Sergey dozed off, Arina grabbed the bag and the baby wrapped in a warm, soft blanket. She rushed outside into the pouring rain, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Waiting for a taxi there was too dangerous. She had to run farther away, hide somewhere, and call a car from there.
Time flew, yet what was happening still would not settle in her mind. Arina barely understood what was going on. Weaving through the streets and moving quickly toward the district of apartment blocks not far from the private sector where she had lived with Sergey for that short time, she prayed only that he would not catch up with her.
The rain lashed the asphalt, washing the lights of distant streetlamps into muddy puddles. Arina walked with her eyes lowered, her footsteps drowned out by the roar of the downpour. Tears, already unceasing, mingled with the drops streaming down her cheeks and neck, soaking her thin blouse that clung to her body. In her arms, pressed tightly to her chest, the baby slept—a tiny bundle of warmth in this cold, merciless world. His breathing, even and quiet, was the only thing keeping her from complete despair.
Hiding beneath the awning of a little shop where the lights had long since gone out, Arina could barely pull her phone from her pocket with trembling hands. The baby had already begun to fuss. Rocking him, the woman called a taxi. She prayed that someone would help her. The only person she could turn to now was Makar’s mother. The woman did not know she had a grandson. Although she had never liked Arina, surely she would not leave her own grandson out on the street?
Once they had recovered, Arina would definitely think of something. Maybe she would go to the village where her friend from the orphanage had settled. Anna had invited her once. She surely would not refuse to help. There is always a way out. Arina knew that for certain. There had to be.
The taxi arrived quickly. Slipping into the car, Arina trembled even harder from the warmth that enveloped her. She did not know whether Makar’s mother still lived in that house, but there was no other option. She had to try. She had no money for a hotel, and Sergey could track her down if she registered somewhere. She wanted to believe that everything would work out.
Zoya Romanovna opened the door, though not at once. She had only just gotten out of bed, was yawning, and looked at Arina in confusion.
“What happened to you? You’re soaked to the bone! And the baby? Whose child is this?”
“Please, give us shelter. Don’t turn us away. I’ll tell you everything. I beg you, let us hide here for a few days.”
Arina was ready to fall to her knees, but she was too weak and afraid she might hurt the baby with a careless movement. She barely understood how she was still standing, how she had not collapsed, because she was exhausted, and her weary arms ached terribly at the elbows.
“Good Lord! Come in, of course! Change your clothes, and I’ll change the baby myself. I don’t have any baby clothes, but I’ll wrap him in a towel. Get inside quickly.”
Exhaling in relief, Arina blinked away the tears clouding her eyes. Zoya Romanovna gave her warm clothes and told her to take a hot bath, while taking care of little Vladik herself. When Arina returned, she met the frightened gaze of the woman she might have called her mother-in-law, if her beloved had not run away…
“— He’s screaming again! That noise is seriously distracting me from my work. Can’t you do something to make that creature shut up?” Sergei burst into the room, furious.
Arina shrank under her husband’s indignant stare. A lump rose in her throat. They had been married only a week. Before that, he had been caring and courteous, but now it was as if he had come off the chain. The veins in his neck stood out and pulsed, betraying his burning rage. His eyes blazed with open hostility.
“He’ll eat and calm down. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
“It’s not just me you disturbed! My mother hasn’t slept for days and has been living on sedatives. This can’t go on forever. I’m sick of it already!”
Arina felt guilty, though she did not understand what exactly she had done wrong. She hadn’t done it on purpose; she always tried to soothe the baby as soon as he started fussing. Vladik was only three months old. He was still so tiny.
“He’s just a little baby,” Arina stammered, but immediately fell silent, realizing that any words would be pointless in this situation. She should not provoke the man even more, because he was already barely restraining his aggression.
“Exactly! Just a baby. Your child is not welcome in this house! Now you and I are married! Get rid of him, give him to an orphanage, for all I care. If he were my son, everyone would treat him differently, but I have no intention of putting up with the cries of someone else’s child. Do it yourself, or I’ll have to force you. You’ve got nowhere else to go anyway, and you’ll be forced to hand him over to the state. You’re not going to live out on the street with a baby, are you? They’d take him away from you in that case.”
Arina began to tremble. She did not recognize the man who had once been so courteous to her. He had promised her the world. He had courted her for so long, had tried so hard to win her consent. He had sworn that if she trusted him, if she would only marry him, she and her baby would never know hardship. Sergei had said he would become a real father to the little one, but now all his promises had blown away like dust in the wind. Looking at him, Arina understood that from the very beginning he had planned exactly this outcome: to force her to give up her child. But she couldn’t. How could she betray the tiny boy who was part of her? How could she abandon her own son?
She had nowhere to go. Arina had grown up in an orphanage and received a small apartment when she aged out, but not long ago the apartment had burned down. Luckily, she and her son had been in the hospital at the time. They were unharmed, but almost nothing was left of the home. She had no money for repairs, and living among charred ruins that still reeked of smoke and burned her throat was simply impossible. To be honest, she didn’t even have enough money to live on with the baby. All the payments she had received after giving birth were already gone. She had no maternity benefits because she had worked unofficially. The few pennies she got from the state could not cover even a fraction of the expenses. Her husband was right—she had nowhere to go.
She had married out of desperation, swearing that she would respect Sergei for his kindness and remain faithful to him, but now she realized it had all been an act. He had never intended to care for Vlad. And yet, on the day he came to see them in the hospital… he had spoken so beautifully.
“Your apartment burned down. I know you have nowhere to go. Arina, you know how I feel about you. Back when you started dating my friend, I realized that you had taken a special place in my heart. I will never forgive Makar for running away and leaving you while you were pregnant. If I ever found him, I’d beat him half to death… And still… now you’re alone. Let me take care of you and your son. Marry me! I swear you’ll never regret this decision. I’ll surround you with love and care. You will want for nothing.”
Arina understood that if she refused, she might end up on the street. She saw how Sergei reached out to her. He gave his word that he would accept her son as his own. Could she have dreamed of a better man? Needing a protector who would share both sorrow and joy with her, she agreed. Sergei had always seemed like a good and responsible man. She had no doubt he would keep his promise, but she could never have imagined what he had truly intended, what plans he had been making while giving promises he had never meant to keep.
“I hear you,” Arina said in a strained voice. “I… I’ll think of something.”
“That’s my good girl. The happiest life awaits us. I’ll make sure you never know want and never regret your decision. Your life will be like a fairy tale. I’ll fill it with the brightest emotions. I give you my word.”
Arina merely lowered her eyes, no longer wanting to look at the man who had changed so dramatically right before her eyes. Bright emotions had indeed entered her life: never before had she felt such intense terror as the kind that gripped her now. She needed to make a decision quickly—but what decision? Give up her child for the sake of a better life? Could she find shelter somewhere? Could she ask someone for help? In any case, she no longer dared remain beside her husband. Sergei had shown his true intentions, and now Arina was afraid of him.
Just in case, she had packed a bag with an emergency supply of essentials. Arina hoped she would be able to solve everything in the morning, when Sergei left for work, but that day the man decided to drink. He relaxed so much that he no longer controlled his emotions at all and behaved outrageously. He shouted and threatened to hurt the baby or Arina herself if she did not give him silence. He even swung at her once, and in that moment the world went dark before her eyes and only one thought remained in her mind: run without looking back.
As soon as Sergei dozed off, Arina grabbed the bag and the baby, wrapped in a warm soft blanket. She ran outside into the pouring rain, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Waiting for a taxi there was too dangerous. She needed to get farther away, hide somewhere, and then call a car.
Time flew by quickly, and what was happening still would not fit in her mind. Arina barely understood anything, weaving through the streets and moving quickly toward the neighborhood of apartment blocks not far from the private sector where she had lived with Sergei for that short time. She prayed only that he would not catch up with her.
The rain lashed the asphalt, washing the lights of distant streetlamps into muddy puddles. Arina walked without lifting her eyes, her steps swallowed by the noise of the downpour. Her tears, already endless, mingled with the drops running down her cheeks and neck, soaking her thin blouse, which clung to her body. In her arms, pressed tightly to her chest, the baby slept—a tiny bundle of warmth in this cold, merciless world. His breathing, even and soft, was the only thing keeping her from complete despair.
Sheltering beneath the awning of a little shop where the lights had long since gone out, Arina could barely pull her phone from her pocket with trembling hands. The baby had already started fussing. Rocking him gently, she called a taxi. She prayed someone would help her. The only person she could turn to now was Makar’s mother. The woman did not know she had a grandson. Even though she had never liked Arina, surely she would not leave her own grandson out on the street? Once they had recovered, Arina would definitely think of something. Maybe she would go to the village where her friend from the orphanage had settled. Anna had once invited her there. She certainly would not refuse to help. There was always a way out. Arina knew that for sure. There had to be one.
The taxi arrived quickly. Diving into the car, Arina began to tremble even harder from the sudden warmth surrounding her. She did not know whether Makar’s mother still lived in that house, but she had no other option. She had to try. She had no money to pay for a hotel, and Sergei might track her down if she registered somewhere. She wanted to believe everything would work out.
Zoya Romanovna opened the door, though not at once. She had only just gotten out of bed, was yawning, and looked at Arina in confusion.
“What happened to you? You’re soaked to the skin! And the baby? Whose child is this?”
“Please, take us in, don’t turn us away. I’ll tell you everything. I beg you, let me hide here for a few days.”
Arina was ready to collapse to her knees, but she was too weak and afraid she might hurt the baby with a careless movement. She barely understood how she was still standing, how she had not already fallen flat on the ground, because she was exhausted, and her tired arms ached terribly at the elbows.
“Good Lord! Of course, come in! Change your clothes, and I’ll change the baby myself. I don’t have any baby clothes, but I’ll wrap him in a towel. Come inside quickly.”
Exhaling with relief, Arina blinked away the tears clouding her eyes. Zoya Romanovna gave the woman some warm clothes and told her to take a hot bath, while taking care of little Vlad herself. As soon as Arina returned, she met the frightened gaze of the woman she could have called her mother-in-law if the man she loved had not run away.
“This boy… he has exactly the same birthmark on his shoulder as Makar. Could he really be…?”
Arina nodded and silently sat down beside her. To her surprise, her son was sleeping, and she was terrified that he might get sick after such an ordeal. But staying under the same roof with that beast would have been far worse.
“But how did this happen? Why didn’t we know anything?”
“Your son ran away before he found out I was pregnant. He didn’t even bother to explain himself—he just called me and in an icy voice said that I had to go on living and find happiness on my own. After that, I could never reach him again. He simply disappeared from my life.”
Arina told her how she had coped with the pregnancy and then with little Vlad, how she had trusted the wrong person and become Sergei’s wife. Zoya Romanovna listened quietly. From time to time she sniffled, though she tried hard to hold back the tears that welled in her eyes.
“This is horribly unfair. My son wanted what he thought was best, but he didn’t even know what he was giving up. He didn’t stop loving you—he left in order to protect you. He didn’t want you to know the truth.”
Zoya Romanovna explained that on the day in question there had been a raid at Makar’s workplace. Someone had framed the company, but it was Makar, as the financial director, who had been arrested and taken into custody. He understood that he would not be able to prove his innocence and would end up behind bars for at least five years. He did not want Arina to waste her best years waiting for him and then become the wife of a man with a criminal record. It had been a selfish decision, but he could think of nothing better.
“Sergei,” Arina whispered. “He told me Makar had давно had someone else, that he had left with her. Did he know? Did he know about the imprisonment?”
“He knew, because I’m sure he arranged all of it. He had long been jealous of Makar. I told my son that nothing good would come from their friendship, but he wouldn’t listen to me. And this is how it all ended. I have no proof. Right now my son is serving an undeserved sentence. My heart bleeds, but there is nothing I can do.”
Arina fell into thought. There were too many coincidences. It was as though Sergei had deliberately arranged everything in order to get her consent. And that fire in her apartment, where everything had been perfectly fine before. He had left Arina no way out, forcing her to marry him. She had thought him a benefactor, but now she was sure it was all a lie. She needed to find a way to expose him. But exhaustion won out. Arina fell asleep beside her son and slept until morning, until Vlad started fussing and demanding to be fed.
After discovering that she was gone, Sergei began calling Arina and threatening her. He vividly described what he would do if she did not return to him. Obsessed by a feeling that no normal person would ever call love, he shouted and repeated that Arina belonged only to him.
All the conversations were recorded, but threats alone were not enough. Zoya Romanovna wanted to help the mother of her grandson, so she found an acquaintance in the investigative authorities who was willing to assist. Arina agreed to meet Sergei, knowing that they would be watching and listening in on the conversation.
The man had no intention of restraining himself. He looked awful, and even from a distance he reeked of alcohol. Like a madman, he lunged at Arina and tried to kiss her, but she dodged him.
“I did far too much to make you mine, so I won’t let you ruin everything. Do you think it was easy to frame my righteous little friend, the one who never made mistakes? I had to work too hard and buy off too many people to fabricate evidence of his guilt. And all of it was to get him out of the way, so he wouldn’t stand in the path of our happiness. Setting your apartment on fire was the easiest thing I did. And now you want to say it was all for nothing? That you won’t be mine? I won’t allow that.”
Just as Sergei was about to grab his wife again and force her back home, police officers seized him. They had practically obtained a full confession from him.
It took quite a long time to annul their marriage. It took even longer to prove Makar’s innocence. All that time, Zoya Romanovna did not tell her son who was helping secure his release. Hollow-cheeked and emotionally drained, he walked into the house, was startled when he saw Arina, and she rushed into his arms and burst into bitter tears.
Makar begged Arina to forgive him for making the decision for her, believing it would be better that way. He was overjoyed to learn that they had had a child, but he bitterly blamed himself for all the suffering Arina had endured because of his attempt to leave her and make her happy. Of course, such things cannot be let go all at once, but love is capable of overcoming much. Arina gave Makar a second chance, because she had never stopped loving him, and together they were raising their little son. Sergei was facing a considerable prison sentence for his crimes, though there was also discussion that first he might have to be sent to a psychiatric hospital, because he had completely lost his mind and would not stop repeating that Arina belonged to him alone.”
