Lena’s hand shook when her phone vibrated suddenly. A text message from the bank caught her breath: “Cash withdrawal: 45,000 rubles.” Her heart plummeted into her stomach. She read the message again and again as her hands trembled uncontrollably.
“This can’t be,” she whispered, hastily launching the banking app on her phone.
The balance displayed zero. The entire advance payment she received only three days earlier had vanished. Sitting down on a bench near her workplace—where she had been employed as an accountant for five years—Lena struggled to comprehend what had happened. Her card was in her wallet; she had not given it to anyone. Only one person knew her PIN code…
Only Igor. Her husband.
Yet the thought seemed absurd. Why would Igor use her card? They shared everything, making all financial decisions together. Therefore, it must be fraudsters—someone must have hacked or stolen her data. Frantically, she dialed the bank’s number.
“Please block my card! I’ve been robbed!” she exclaimed.
The operator calmly outlined the necessary steps, confirmed that the card had been blocked, and instructed her to file a fraud report. Barely able to listen, Lena hung up and dashed home. Forty-five thousand rubles—one quarter of their monthly budget, money intended for groceries, utilities, and mortgage payments—had disappeared.
Trembling, she keyed in the intercom code at the entrance, nearly tripping on the rug in her urgency to reach home. Keys rattled nervously against the lock as she struggled to insert them.
“Igor!” Lena cried out, still wearing her jacket. “Where are you?”
He appeared from the kitchen, calm as ever after work, with a cup of tea in hand. As a system engineer, he was used to a measured life and rational decisions.
“What’s going on? You look like you’re frantic,” he said.
“Someone stole my entire paycheck! Forty-five thousand!” Lena waved her phone in distress.
Igor placed the cup on the table and frowned. “How did they withdraw it? Where is the card?”
“With me,” Lena answered quickly, pulling out her wallet. “So they must have stolen my data or discovered the PIN. I already blocked the card and will file a report at the bank tomorrow.”
She paced nervously around the room while Igor listened silently. His silence made her stop abruptly.
“What?” she demanded, looking intently at his face. “Do you know something?”
Igor sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead with his palm.
“Lena, listen to me…”
“Talk!” she urged.
He averted his gaze, staring out the window before returning his eyes to her.
“It was me who withdrew your salary. I bought a gift for my mother. You wouldn’t have allowed it,” he confessed to his stunned wife.
Lena felt as if the ground shifted beneath her feet. She stared at Igor, barely believing what she heard.
“What… did you say?”
“I spent the money from your card on a present for my mom. Her sixtieth birthday is next week. I wanted to get her a large, nice TV. You definitely wouldn’t have agreed.”
Slowly, Lena sank onto the sofa, her legs giving way beneath her.
“You… stole from me?”
“What do you mean ‘stole’?” Igor shrugged nervously. “We’re a family; everything is shared. I just knew you’d object.”
“Sharing means deciding together! You took it secretly, without asking! Like a thief!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. She’s my mother and she deserves a decent gift for such a milestone.”
Anger surged through Lena by waves, from her fingertips to the top of her head. She sprang up.
“Your mother! The same woman who never lent us a penny during our seven years of marriage! She has savings in three different banks. And when we asked her for help with the mortgage down payment, she said, ‘Earn the money yourselves, then buy.’”
“She doesn’t owe us anything,” Igor insisted.
“But we owe her a forty-five-thousand-ruble TV?”
“Lena, calm down. The TV’s already ordered and will be delivered tomorrow. It’s a great model—sixty-five inches, smart TV.”
Feeling something inside break, Lena demanded, “Cancel it!”
“What?”
“Cancel the order immediately!”
“Lena, but…”
“No buts! You took my money without permission. Cancel it!”
Igor pressed his lips together, eyes hardening into a stubborn glare she despised more than anything.
“I won’t cancel it. She raised me alone after my dad died. She deserves a nice gift.”
“And what about the honesty I deserve from my own husband?”
“You have it. But you know how critical you’ve become toward my mother. Every word from her, you take as an insult.”
“Because your mother is a venomous snake!” Lena exploded. “From the moment I met her, she disliked me! Remember what she said at our wedding? ‘Igor could have done better.’ And during the first year we lived with her, she found a reason to criticize me every single day. Dust not wiped properly, soup too salty, arriving home late. Every day, Igor! And you said nothing!”
“She just wanted everything to be perfect…”
“She wanted to drive me out! And you know it perfectly well!”
Igor turned toward the window. Outside, streetlights flickered on, evening falling over a seemingly ordinary day which just became a turning point.
“Maybe so,” he said softly. “But she’s my mother, and I couldn’t let her down on this occasion.”
“But you could let me down,” Lena uttered bitterly. “Your wife.”
“That’s different.”
“How is it different?”
Igor remained silent. Lena looked at his profile and suddenly realized she didn’t know this man after seven years of marriage. He was capable of things she hadn’t imagined.
“I’m going to the bank,” she said quietly. “I’m canceling the payment.”
“Too late. The money’s already withdrawn and the product ordered.”
“Then cancel the order.”
“Lena…”
“Cancel it or I’ll report this as fraud. I’ll go to the police, too. Stealing funds from a bank card is a criminal offense.”
Igor faced her with a cold and determined look.
“Try it.”
Lena hesitated, staring at the man she had shared her life with for seven years, shared a bed, and built plans for the future. Suddenly, he was willing to stand against her for the sake of a mother who never liked her.
“Fine,” she whispered. “I’m changing all my banking passwords and card codes right now. You will never access my money again.”
“As you wish.”
“And you’ll be sleeping on the couch.”
“As you wish,” Igor repeated.
Lena retreated to the bedroom, locked the door, and sat on the bed, tears streaming—hurt, anger, and the pain of watching everything collapse before her eyes. She changed her passwords on the phone and contacted the online store, but they confirmed the delivery couldn’t be canceled—it was already en route.
Morning found Lena with swollen eyes. Igor had already left for work; a crumpled pillow and blanket lay on the couch. A note on the kitchen table read, “Sorry, but I couldn’t do otherwise.”
She balled the note and threw it in the trash.
At work, she confided in colleagues, who gasped and urged her to get a divorce immediately. Lena wasn’t ready for such a drastic step yet. After all, Igor was her husband and father of her future children. Maybe they could resolve things with a calm conversation.
That evening, Igor brought her white roses, her favorite flowers.
“Lena, let’s talk,” he said, offering the bouquet.
“Did you cancel the order?” she asked without taking the flowers.
“I can’t. The TV was delivered to my mom.”
“I see. Then there’s nothing left to discuss.”
The ensuing days passed in icy silence. Igor slept on the couch. They greeted and said goodbye like neighbors. Lena felt a growing wall rise between them, thicker and taller each day.
The following Saturday was her mother-in-law’s birthday. The day before, Igor asked,
“Will you go tomorrow?”
“No.”
“Lena, enough. It’s a family celebration.”
“For you, family means you and your mother. I’m an outsider here.”
“Don’t say nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense. You made your choice. Now live with it.”
Igor went alone. Lena stayed home, binge-watching a series and contemplating the end. Living with someone who doesn’t treat you as an equal, who makes decisions against you, wasn’t possible.
Late that night, Igor returned. Lena was awake in the bedroom, hearing him rustling papers and searching for something. Then he cracked the door slightly.
“Lena, are you awake?”
She did not answer.
“Mom was very happy with the TV,” he said quietly. “She even cried. Said now it’s like being at the cinema.”
Lena remained silent.
“Lena, I know I was wrong. But…”
“But you don’t regret it,” she said without turning around.
“I’m sorry it happened this way. Sorry we argued.”
“But you would have bought the TV anyway.”
There was a long pause.
“Yes,” Igor admitted honestly. “I would have.”
On Monday, Lena took a day off to visit a lawyer, then proceeded to file for divorce. That evening, Igor saw official papers on the table and read them silently.
“Are you serious?” he finally asked.
“Did you expect me to stay with someone who doesn’t respect me?”
“I do respect you.”
“Respect means asking for opinions, not stealing money at night.”
Igor sat across from her at the kitchen table, worn and aged.
“What now?”
“Now we divorce. We’ll sell the apartment, pay off the mortgage, split the rest.”
“What if I disagree?”
“That’s your right. But we won’t live together anyway.”
He nodded and stood.
“There’s one more thing,” he said at the door. “I took a loan for the TV. I returned the money I took from your card.”
Lena looked at him, surprised.
“Why?”
“I realized you were right. It wasn’t right of me. Here,” he pulled a bank statement from his pocket. “Your 45,000 rubles are back.”
“And the TV?”
“It stays with my mother. I’ll pay the loan.”
Lena looked over the document confirming the return of funds.
“This doesn’t change anything,” she whispered.
“I know,” Igor nodded. “I just wanted to do the right thing now.”
He went to lie down on the couch. Lena stayed at the kitchen table for a long time, staring at the statement and reflecting on how understanding sometimes arrives too late.
Within a month, the divorce was finalized. Igor moved temporarily to his mother’s place. The apartment was put up for sale. Lena rented a small one-bedroom apartment nearby and quietly started a new chapter in her life.
Occasionally, she wondered if things could have been different. What if Igor had said honestly that evening, “Lena, I want to give mom a nice gift. Let’s discuss it.” Maybe they could have found a compromise, agreed on a lesser amount, or taken a loan together.
But he chose deception and lies, choosing his mother over his wife. A choice Lena could not accept.
Meanwhile, the enormous sixty-five-inch TV stood in her mother-in-law’s apartment. Igor told friends how pleased his mother was with the gift. Yet he still faced the burden of loan repayments, and living in his mother’s cramped apartment was far from comfortable for a grown man.
He had made his decision and now lived with the consequences—alone, with his conscience and a huge television for his mother.
To conclude, this story illustrates the deep fractures that arise when transparency and mutual respect in marriage break down. Financial decisions made unilaterally, especially involving shared resources, can lead to betrayal and lasting damage. Building a partnership founded on trust and openness is essential to prevent conflicts that may ultimately threaten the core of a relationship.