"Come on! Are you kidding me?
– No, you're kidding! You bring me an unconscious girl with signs of alcohol poisoning, starvation, dehydration, and a nine-week period and yell at me. My shift ended three hours ago, at exactly 21: 00. Can I go home, and the nurse will write a referral for tests and registration?
– Stop! Roofing! What are you doing? What is the account?! Sorry! Sorry, friend, – Oleg from excitement began to stutter and drawl words, – I can't register it, Ara will find out, I'm finished, Arina and I are finished.
The doctor took off his robe and sat on the leather sofa in the office. He rubbed his tired eyes for a long time, then sighed and asked:
– Oleg, what do you want from me?
The lover hesitated only for a moment, then said quickly:
"Give her the pill." The term is small. It's okay, she won't notice. I can't. I don't even like her. So, a young fresh body. A good woman, especially after Lyalka married, – Oleg sighed, thinking about something of his own.
– So, good-bye, Oleg.
– Stop, Tolya, please! Help me, save me. For me and Ara.
Anatoly weighed it for a few seconds, then said wearily.
"Don't involve me in crime. I will not spare anyone from anything. Tell her. She will decide what to do. This is her body and her life.
– Tolya, and if she wants to give birth? That's from me. Ara will not forgive me, she barely forgave me Larysa, a man grabbed the hands of the doctor, in the eyes natural tears.
– My friend, now she is under a drip with vitamins and saline, I leave her here at night, I need to saturate the body with liquid and trace elements and wash the alcohol. Talk to her. If you want, convince her that you don't need a child, especially since Ara is infertile. Talk and decide together. What happens between you is your own business. This does not concern me if it does not pose a threat to life or physical discomfort.
Oleg entered the room, wiping his sweaty palms on his suit. At the creak of the door opening, the girl opened her eyes and tried to smile faintly.
– Olezhek, hi, my love…
"Hush, cat, hush. Don't worry, it's fine. You're with me, you're safe. Everything will be fine.
– I love you darling – She held out her little white hand to the man.
– And I you, cat, listen, here me your doctor, Anatoly Ivanovich said, that you are pregnant…
"I – I wanted to tell you, but later, later," she said, her eyes filled with the bitter tears of a hurt girl.
"Cat, you have to do an abortion. No objection. You and I have just started our relationship. You've moved into a nice place, you've got a career, you're not even twenty-five. Besides, I don't need children. I'm dating you to love you, and you're giving me these tricks.
Vera lay there, silently swallowing her tears. She crumpled the sheet that covered her with icy hands.
– Cat, if you want to continue to see me, love, and be with me about any child can not be a question, – the last words Oleg spat out with such anger in the face of his mistress that she stopped crying, and just nodded.
In the morning, Vera went to Anatoly Ivanovich and asked for a referral to a gynecologist to sign up for an abortion.
"Vera, are you sure?" Are you sure you've weighed everything? the doctor asked the question softly, but it hurt her ears.
"Doctor, yes, thank you," the girl murmured uncertainly.
– Vera, you are young, strong, the fact that you drank wine and weakened will not affect the child in any way. If you are worried about it. A child is formed by many factors, the main of which is heredity and the absence of genetic diseases, and not a glass of wine at an early stage.
"No, Anatoly Ivanovich, that's not why I'm here. Oleg just said that he would leave me…
"Do you want a baby?"
– I love and want Oleg, if he leaves me, I have no reason to live.
The doctor gave her a long, searching look.
– It is your body, your life, and your decision to make. If that's what you want, I can't stop you.
She breathed a sigh of relief and even smiled.
– Thank you, Anatoly Ivanovich, Yes. I'll have an abortion at your clinic. Where do I go now to get tested and sign up?
Oleg was so happy about the abortion that he decided not to leave Verochka yet. He treated her with care and attention, and when she recovered, he took her on a two-week trip to Europe. They skied, drank mulled wine, and made love in front of the fireplace, where the wood crackled. The girl was so in love that she never thought about those terrible days before the hospital and after.
The relationship more or less took a stable character, she saw Oleg almost every day during the break, they had lunch, sometimes managed to stop in her flat, sometimes just chatted in the restaurant. A couple of times a week he stayed overnight and these were the happiest days and nights in the whole world.
Vera looked at the sleeping lover with tenderness and reverence, she stroked his hands and hair, hugged him, smelled his skin. Trying not to look at the wedding ring on her right hand, she looked at her hand, at her empty ring finger, and dreamed, dreamed, dreamed…
– Hello, Vera. Hello, can you hear me?
Vera paused with the phone at the kitchen window. She knew that voice; she would have recognized it from hundreds, from thousands of voices. She had heard that voice from his phone for almost nine months, when she made him coffee, when she vacationed with him abroad, when she lay in bed with him, and each time two snakes somewhere deep inside raised their heads and hissed furiously.
There was no point in hanging up; Vera knew it was Her.
– Yes. Hello, I can hear you.
– This is Arina, Oleg's wife. Can I meet you and talk to you?
Chapter 5
Vera was sitting at a table in a restaurant and nervously swiping the Instagram. Today, in particular, she was not interested in stars, and in general, the children of her fat classmates. Her photo from Courchevel received a huge number of likes and comments, at first she was pleased, even flattered that so many friends from her town are jealous of her beautiful and rich life. But even they today did not warm the tormented soul of the night before the conversation with his wife.
"Good afternoon, Vera. My name is Arina. I don't think you forgot.
Across the table sat a beautiful woman in her mid-thirties, a striking brunette. A black bob accentuated high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes, and pear-shaped diamonds glittered on long fingers. Arina smelled of wealth and paradise. The white blouse revealed a chic cleavage that was barely contained by lace and sexy as hell bra.
Vera had never felt so pathetic in her life. She did not understand Oleg and understood herself by contacting him.
– Good day, Vera! Nice to meet you! – Arina so sincere and radiant smile that Vera was not alone. In another situation, she would have admired the woman and tried to win her trust. But not now.
Strange feeling, Vera's lower belly ached so much that she thought about her period. Ah, no, it was a week ago, there were no problems after the abortion, and the tests were excellent. But a twinge of pain twisted Vera in the ram's horn.
"Is something wrong?" Arina raised an eyebrow, feigning sympathy.
– No.. Vera, barely breathing, got up from the table and hobbled to the toilet on half-bent legs.
Down below was dark and cool. The concept of light on the walls made the lighting near the toilet mysterious, even mystical. Vera tore out the tomato juice and vodka and took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding. After flushing the water, she went out to wash. Redwater flowed from the tap.
– Ahhh! Vera yelled and jumped back to the wall. Empty bathroom only answered with an echo. The toilet was underground, on the floor below, so the sounds of vomiting, love, and water draining were not heard by any of the visitors.
The girl went to the tap, the pain in the lower abdomen did not subside, there was a fire as if someone had impaled the uterus and fried it from all sides.
Vera turned on the tap and made sure that the water was the usual clear color. She washed her face with cold water for a long time, and then raised her head. Instead of her face, a three-month-old fetus with no visible organs or body parts stared back at her, as if a textbook image had been placed on her head. The embryo nodded at her and seemed to shake a semblance of ahead.
Vera woke up in a familiar clinic. The drawing of the white walls would not be confused with any drawing in the world. Anatoly Ivanovich opened the familiar door and said Hello.
– Well, Vera, how are you feeling?
– Good day, Anatoly Ivanovich! What happened?
"Should I ask you why you've been brought in the unconscious for the second time?"
"I, I don't know.
– Fortunately, ArinaPetrovna called me and we saved you in time.
At the name of Oleg's wife, Vera had such a painful spasm in the lower abdomen that she again lost consciousness. It was only in her delirium that it seemed to her that a tall and devilishly beautiful brunette with a bob was hugging her doctor, kissing him, and taking off her medical gown.
Chapter 6
ArinaPetrovnaZlatykh was the only and favorite daughter of the head of the largest Gypsy clan.
Perst, that is his real gypsy name, but not gypsies called him Peter Zlatykh, accepted and acknowledged the only child from the most beautiful and most beloved wife, Dana.
Perst was afraid of Dana's mother, a hereditary witch, so in front of the entire camp announced that Dana was his only wife, and the daughter that Dana gave birth to in the first year, Ara – the only heir.
PerstZlatykh was a real gypsy of the hottest blood. Already at ten, he slaughtered a young man (in the post-Soviet criminal world they call them “fraer”) in the market, and at sixteen went to collect his camp, in other words, organized a criminal group in the South of Moscow City. Perst was about fifty (although no one knew how old he really was) when he took the eighteen-year-old Dana, who was his last and favorite wife.
As soon as Ara was born, Perst has registered her as ArinaPetrovnaZlatykh and translated into the only recognized and legitimate daughter, and all movable and immovable property.
The times were dashing, and there were many young and zealous candidates for his throne. Traitors were punished by the Baron, who himself sentenced them to death, and the sentence was immediately carried out. But in their place came new leaders who demanded a greater share of the sale of drugs, influence on businesses from beggars. The new heads of his armies tried to create their own brothels from prostitutes who came from all over the vast homeland.
The Baron feared every day that he would die, leaving little Ara alone to be devoured by the hungry wolves of the pack. He trusted only one person. To his Deputy, SuleymanKaysarov. It was the leader of the Gypsy mafia who instructed him to take her abroad, to the United States.
"Sulik, you are responsible for Ara with your head, and if something happens to her, none of your family will be left alive. You know me.
– Yes, PerstStevovich, I understand-Suleiman was always stingy with words, so he only adjusted his holster with a gun.
"The documents are ready. According to them, you are the father of Ara, she is only five, but she knows everything and understands why I send her overseas.
– Yes, PerstStevovich.
"I'll let you know when things quiet down here." But for the next ten years, keep your nose out of it. It will be hot here.
Suleiman sniffed. He left his sworn father and boss at such a difficult time to babysit a girl in a distant country, which he saw only in pictures. There, a house, insurance, and a place in a private school were already registered in Ara's name. Sulik was supposed to control the American branch of the Baron's bandits.
At parting, Perst embraced Suleiman, whom he loved as his son. For a long time, he looked into Arina's night-black eyes, stroked the raven's hair, and called her Dana.
"Daddy, I'm Ara.
"I know, my flower, I know, I know, my soul. Your mother looks down on you from heaven, she died when she gave birth to you. But she always keeps you safe. I will always keep you safe.
A terrible and cruel bandit who punished by shooting gave orders to take young women as prostitutes, collected tribute from young beggars, yes, he cried for the second time in his life. The first, when his beloved Dana died in childbirth.
And all the guards, even the heartless Suleiman, had tears in their eyes.
ArinaPetrovnaZlatykh returned to Moscow exactly twenty years later.
On the threshold of his death, Perst was saying goodbye to his beautiful daughter, who was sitting at the head of the bed in one of the most expensive clinics in the capital. Next to him stood the unchanging Suleiman.
"Daddy, maybe Switzerland?" Ara uttered the words with emphasis and with a trembling voice.
"My flower, I am going to my beloved. Don't stop me. Before I die, look, all the property documents are at the home of Sulik's wife. I have money in my Swiss account that will be inherited by you, lawyer Jorik Rosenberg manages all my finances, you know, he helped you when you lived in America. Restaurants here and abroad have already been transferred to your name. But you know that. Come closer to me. Sulik, wait outside the door.
When they were alone in the room, Perst took his daughter's hand and finally said:
"Your grandmother Vadoma was a witch. The entire camp knew and feared the power of her curses. It could have destroyed the fruit, sent a pestilence, or killed a whole herd of horses from a neighboring camp. I also turned to her for help more than once, she gave me a long life, but with the condition that I had to give something in return. But I didn't know then that the dark forces would take my Dana, my soul. Vadoma, having lost her daughter in childbirth, cursed all her gods and asked them to take away all the dark forces from her. Her gods were merciful and returned them … you… I kept the secret of Vadoma for a long time, but when you turned eighteen, Suleiman began to say that he felt strange around you, that you could read minds and get into heads. He also said that the Professor who taught you history jumped out of the window…
"Daddy, it's not me… himself… he just pestered me after lectures.... – Arina was on her knees near her dying father and wept…
– Light of my eyes, I don't blame you, you are my soul. Forgive me.
"For what, daddy?"
"Before she died, Vadoma said that in exchange for your gift, which the gods returned to you, they would take what was most precious from you. You will always be barren.
"What?" Dad? Daddy?!Ahhh!!!
Suleiman ran into the room to the screams, disheveled, tearful, and barefooted Ara tried to shout to the helpless old man.
Only for a moment did the Perst open eyes that had once been black and transparent with age.
– Dad!
– Dana, my Life, I have been coming to you for so long…
After a lavish funeral of the criminal business legend, Ara received an inheritance and lived the life of a rich, fashionable lady. She wasn't interested in drugs, prostitution, or begging.
Having made Suleiman their right-hand man, they hired a staff of the best lawyers to open new, absolutely legal businesses in the field of IT technologies. Arina graduated from the American University with a degree in modern computer programs and websites, so after understanding the Russian market, she invested part of her inheritance in their development.