“Olya, hi! I’m so glad you picked up. Are you home?” Liza’s call caught Olga off guard. Her brother’s wife rarely called her. The unusually friendly tone of her sister-in-law’s voice made the woman wary.
“Hi. I’m home with the kids, Vlad’s at work. What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing, we were just driving by and thought we’d drop in for a visit.”
“A visit? My brother didn’t say you were heading our way, and we spoke on the phone just yesterday,” Olya sighed heavily, asking again. She’d been to the dentist that morning, but her tooth was still aching, so this news didn’t please her at all.
“Andrey didn’t know either. I told him this morning, when he was leaving for work.”
“So, you’re coming alone, without your husband?”
“Yes, with the kids. We wanted to stay overnight at your place. I thought it would be nice for the children to spend time together — they’re cousins, after all, and they see each other so rarely.”
“Well, I don’t mind,” Olya said reluctantly, “it’s just that I’m not feeling well. I had a difficult tooth pulled this morning, my gum is swollen, and my head aches. The medicine isn’t helping. I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep you cheerful company.”
“Don’t worry, Olechka. The kids will find something to do on their own. And don’t worry about food. We’ll stop by the store and buy something.”
“Don’t worry… Olechka… We’ll stop by the store…” — such talk was entirely unlike Liza. Never in her life had she spoken to her sister-in-law that way, and now a whole stream of niceties was pouring from her lips. Olya immediately sensed something was off but decided not to refuse Elizabeth’s request. If her brother’s wife wanted to bring the children so they could spend time with their cousins, she had no objection.
When Liza and the kids arrived, Olya felt even more uneasy. Her sister-in-law wasn’t known for generosity, yet today she was extraordinarily magnanimous. Andrey’s wife brought two bags of groceries and even ordered several pizzas and sushi.
“Wow, that’s a lot!” Olya exclaimed, taking the bags.
“I told you not to worry. How are you? How’s your tooth? Does it still hurt?”
“Terribly! The doctor said it happens, that it will pass.”
“That’s good,” Liza smiled, looking oddly nervous. At that moment Olya realized Liza’s kindness and courtesy weren’t for nothing. She clearly wanted something from Olya. “Listen, would you mind if I went away for a couple of hours? I wanted to meet a friend. I haven’t seen her since Andrey and I moved away.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Olya hesitated. The idea didn’t appeal to her. “I told you, I’m not feeling well. I won’t be able to watch the kids.”
“Oh, come on, what’s there to watch? They’re not little!”
“Not little?” Olya chuckled, glancing at her four-year-old nephew sitting on the floor with his building set. “My kids are independent, but yours need constant supervision.”
“Then maybe I should hire a nanny?” Liza unexpectedly suggested. “She can stay with them until nine in the evening, and then I’ll come back.”
“All right, call her,” Olya said with a dissatisfied wave of her hand. She figured if Elizabeth was ready to spend money on a nanny, she must really want to see her friend. Why not let her leave the children at their place?
Liza was delighted when her sister-in-law agreed. She thanked her a hundred times, then changed clothes, freshened her makeup, and left.
The nephews didn’t cause Olga much trouble, especially since the nanny looked after them all the time. Elizabeth and Andrey’s children were lively, but they liked playing with their cousins.
While Liza was enjoying herself at the bar with her friend, Olga lay in her room, trying to fight the toothache with medicine. Around seven in the evening her husband came home. Vlad was surprised to see a nanny and two extra small children in the apartment.
“What are your nephews doing here?” he asked Olya.
“Liza came over. She wanted the kids to spend time together, and she went to meet a friend.”
“And where’s Andrey?” Vlad was even more surprised. His wife’s brother had been living in another city with his family for years, but they never visited separately.
“He stayed home. He’s working.”
“I see. And when is Liza coming back? It’s already eight, and it’ll be dark soon.”
“She said in the evening.”
Olya truly believed her sister-in-law would return as agreed, but at nine, ten, eleven o’clock, Liza still hadn’t shown up. The nanny had already helped the children have supper, wash, and go to bed.
“Sorry you had to stay longer,” Olya said, handing over money for the extra hours.
“It’s all right. Call me again if you need me.”
“Hopefully I won’t,” Olya replied, closing the door behind the nanny.
“Maybe you should call Liza?” Vlad suggested.
“Yes, I was just about to,” Olya dialed her sister-in-law’s number, ready to scold her for being late, but Elizabeth didn’t answer. First, there were long rings, then the phone was switched off altogether. “What on earth! Is she a teenager, behaving like this?”
For two hours Olga tried to reach Liza, but it was useless. She began to seriously worry. It was already late. What if something bad had happened to her? With this in mind, she called her brother, who was half asleep and didn’t immediately grasp what was going on.
“I’d like to know where your wife is!”
“What do you mean, where’s Liza? She’s with the kids at your place. Isn’t she?”
“The kids are asleep, but your wife still hasn’t come back from her friend’s. I keep calling, but her phone is off. Andrey, I’m starting to worry. Who knows what might have happened to her at the bar or on the way home. Maybe we should call the police?”
“The police?!” her brother exclaimed, suddenly wide awake. “Wait. I’ll try to reach her myself…”
Just like his sister, Andrey’s attempts to reach his wife were also unsuccessful. The man was already in despair. He was in another city and didn’t know what to do. It was already three in the morning, and his wife’s phone remained unreachable.
Olya was in exactly the same state. The worst thoughts crept into her head. She was terribly afraid that in the morning the police would knock on her door with terrible news.
“Go to bed, darling. Nothing’s happened to that Liza. You know what she’s like — she’ll have her fun and come back,” only Vlad managed to sleep peacefully, waking up from time to time to reassure his wife.
“That’s the point — I do know her, which is why I’m worried. Liza was always looking for adventure. Maybe she found it tonight?” Thinking about the worst-case scenario, Olya switched from painkillers to sedatives.
But as soon as she took a pill, her sister-in-law suddenly resurfaced. Liza reached out only at six in the morning. She sent Olya a photo of herself along with a message: “Hi. I stayed a bit longer with my friend. I’ll be home soon.”
That carefree, casual tone infuriated Olga. She didn’t even bother replying to Liza. Instead, she forwarded the message to her brother, adding a few angry emojis.
Two hours later, Liza returned home. Vlad, already up for work, opened the door for her. Olya heard everything but didn’t even think about going out to meet Liza. She pretended to be asleep until her brother’s wife gathered her things and left with the children.
After that incident, Olya never again let relatives stay overnight — especially not leaving their children in her care. She stopped talking to her sister-in-law altogether. And Liza herself never called. Her brother’s wife didn’t even apologize for what had happened.
At first, Olga thought Elizabeth was too ashamed of her behavior to get in touch. But later it turned out that she and Andrey had separated.
“You’re getting divorced? Why?!” The news stunned Olya.
“She found someone else. Remember that story about her friend? Back then I didn’t believe that Liza could stay in a bar with a classmate until morning, so I followed my wife. It turned out she’d been secretly meeting an ex.
I’m sorry you had to be dragged into it by accident. If I had known why she was going to visit you, I’d never have let her go.” Her brother’s voice was very sad.
“Oh, Andryusha… That’s awful,” Olya listened to her brother and wept. She felt hurt for him and for the children. Elizabeth had always been a flighty woman, but no one could have imagined she was capable of such a thing.
A lot of time has passed since then. Andrey had long recovered from the divorce and even started seeing another woman. Yet Olya still remembered that treacherous story.
She never forgave Elizabeth for her vile act. But the worst part was that the innocent children suffered the most. After the divorce, Liza took them with her and, together with another man, moved to a city a thousand kilometers away.
Since then, neither Olya nor Andrey had seen the children in person — they only communicated by video calls. Despite a court ruling, Elizabeth remained categorically opposed to the boys meeting their father face to face.
