The desk monitor glowed with a cold light. I clicked the mouse feverishly and opened the Recycle Bin — it was empty. The folder I had been working on for months, containing the main plan for the rural club, had simply vanished. I suddenly pulled open the lower drawer of the desk:
the backup hard drive case lay open, and the disk itself had disappeared without a trace. The cloud storage password wouldn’t grant access.From behind me came the soft shuffle of slippers. My eight-year-old son, Matvey, was fiddling with the edge of his house shoes:
— Mom… is grandma really going to buy me that big geared bike? It’s our secret, right?For nine years, my stepmother, Taisiya Pavlovna, had seized every opportunity to remind me that a girl from an orphanage had no place in their “decent” family. For years, she tried to undermine me.
Now, however, it seemed she was intent on taking a final step. She simply didn’t realize how tough I had become over the years in the orphanage.Only four days remained until the huge order had to be submitted. This was my personal Everest. The proof that I could create something on a grand scale,
not just patch up others’ work like I had learned in childhood. The office reeked of overworked processors, burnt coffee, and warm plastic.My husband, Denis, stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, displeased:— So, you saw the time, Sofia? Tomorrow we’re going to my mother’s for lunch,
and you’ll be there again, tired.— Denis, I’m finishing the final corrections — I replied, my eyes on the complex blueprint. — If the client doesn’t approve, we’ll lose the contract, the one that could let us buy a small apartment.At the Sunday lunch, Taisiya Pavlovna acted as usual.
The apartment smelled of stale soup and household soap. She piled a hearty portion of meat and potatoes onto Denis’s plate; mine remained empty.— Yesterday Olesya called — she began talking about her daughter. — Boris arranged the seaside trip.
And what about you? Denis is tired at the factory, you just press buttons. You’re no use at all. Of course, “your place is on the district heating!” if it weren’t for our son being adopted.Denis ate silently. I gripped the fork harder, trying not to react, slicing the bread meticulously.
In the following days, Taisiya Pavlovna seemed to have changed. She came almost every day, bringing sweets and building blocks for Matvey.— Come to grandma’s — she purred in the hallway. — And is mom still working? Show her, Matvey, how to turn on the computer.
I firmly stopped these visits. She became dramatically offended, clumsily knocked over my printed materials, then left, lips pressed together, haughty.On the decisive morning, our nanny called with a hoarse voice: she had a severe cold and couldn’t come. I had an important meeting across town in two hours.
Such a meeting couldn’t be postponed.— I’ll stay — Denis said unexpectedly. — I’ll take a day off and watch our son.— Don’t let anyone in. No one. Especially your mother — I warned. — One wrong move, and everything is gone.At four in the afternoon, I returned home.
The hallway was filled with grandma’s old, powdery scent. Denis was bustling around, clattering cups loudly.— Sofia, don’t get upset. Olesya’s bathroom pipe burst, she panicked and called, Boris fixed it. And your mother was here with me, bringing vitamins for Matvey. I couldn’t stop my own mother.
I ran to the office. The monitor was blank. The hard drive case was empty. The cloud password had been changed. From the hallway, I could hear Matvey laughing on his bike.— Denis! — I shouted, my voice almost gone.He hid, his gaze averted.— Where’s my project? What did your mother do?
— She was sitting with our son! — he tried to justify himself.That evening, he slapped a stack of papers onto the kitchen table. He had cobbled together material from the internet. Poorly patched screenshots, ridiculous content with my face and a claim that I had asked for taxi money.
I felt sick from the falseness.— Look at the date — I said calmly. — The thirteenth, nine in the evening. That’s when we created the authorization together.Denis blushed, turning toward the window.— There’s no smoke without fire. My mother isn’t lying. They just intercepted it.
I understood everything. The forgery was a convenient explanation for his own treachery.— Pack up! You have one hour to leave my apartment — I said firmly.Vadim arrived quickly. He inspected the office, then went to the router. Inside were a microchip, microphone, and memory slot.
— Funny little device — Vadim laughed. — It sends data to your relative’s server. We’ll download the logs.The next three days became a survival marathon. I worked with two assistants. We slept for two hours on the living room floor. Empty pizza boxes piled up. Our necks were stiff, our eyes gritty.
We redrew the plans, reconstructed the budget from memory.Vadim methodically examined Boris’s server. On Wednesday evening, I listened to the recordings. My grandmother’s triumphant voice said:— “Your place is on the district heating!” — she laughed. — I pressed the red button, everything deleted.
Thursday morning, I sat in the client’s office. Lev Abramovich flipped through the folder.— I heard a rumor — he began. — There are problems with the work.— The project is completely ready; we optimized the irrigation system, budget reduced — I replied.The project was approved.
Seven months later, the court awarded damages against my stepmother, Olesya, and Boris. She had to sell her beloved summer house.Denis approached me cautiously. He had lost weight, his shoulders slumped.— Sofia… I was wrong. Can we start over? For Matvey.
— Only on weekends, strictly on time — I replied firmly.Three years have passed since then. We live in a new apartment with our son, and my office has tripled in size. Sometimes I remember the empty screen. And you know what? I’m not angry at my stepmother.
She tried to make life bitter, but she proved I can’t be easily shaken. I created my own place.
