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The love of a bandit or an affair with a Gypsy
Valentina Basan


Moscow of the nineties is a terrible time of strong people. Survivors. The split of the USSR, perestroika, inflation and bandit groups that flooded large and small cities. And even in such a dashing time there is a place for love and true friendship. This criminal romantic story is not only about bribes, corrupt police and bandits in power, this story is about people thanks to whom the words honor and dignity have not lost their power.

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Valentina Basan

The love of a bandit or an affair with a Gypsy



Chapter 1

The fact that now May was strongly reminded of two things: the approaching of long-awaited vacation on the calendar and summer collections in stores.

Valya walked to the subway hungry, cold and angry. The devil pulled her to sit on this protein diet. The result is zero, at least on the scales, but there is an abundance of irritation and negativity. Well, it is impossible, it is impossible to starve in this climatic zone, the body must "heat" itself nine out of twelve months a year. Mom called on Viber: "It's very cold here, have you put on a hat?"

"I put it on," said Valya, pressing her icy ears alternately to the collar of her icy coat.

It started snowing. Very nice, Valya thought. Of course, I didn't take a hat, but my boots are winter! Clever. Then she thought and added: "I should get a pair of sweaters from the mezzanine, it's good that knitted socks are always at hand. The month of May, after all.

The snow was melting on the wet asphalt and it was pleasing. At least there are no snowdrifts, Valya thought, watching the unfortunate man handing out leaflets at the subway.

– Give me two, said the compassionate Valya and thought that only kind people take a leaflet not because they are interested in a discount in an intimate store around the corner, but because they feel sorry for the giver. The advertising agent beamed. His eyes read: "Well, girl! Well done! It can be seen that she takes a discount for herself and her friend! Or maybe just a good person."

The leaflets flew into the nearest trash can, but before that, tactful Valya intuitively left the promoter's field of view. Why upset a person, let him think that he is doing something necessary and useful.

The descent to the subway necessarily passes through the caste of elite beggars, where grandmothers are as sharp-sighted as a hawk, and young people have more gold than you have at home. And not Chinese. Chinese gold is also good – Valya quickly reassured herself. And suddenly an accordion started playing nearby, Valya's feet carried her to the sounds of the charming "Murka". Where Valya had a craving for Chanson and dashing 90m is unclear, but the fact that she loved it was the most inexplicable fact in the world for her husband. Valya frantically rummaged in her pockets – empty. It's inconvenient to leave, Valya thought under the heavy and unpleasant gaze of the underground artist. Valya opened her purse, something tinkled sadly. Valya began to look for the cause of the sound. Damn, the inner metal lock, not that. Valya reached into her purse, the harmonica player openly mocked her with his eyes, saying, "walking around like beggars." So, 500 rubles in one piece of paper. Hey, man, I'm sorry, I'm going to sing "Murka" so much for 500 rubles that mom will cry. And already under the pejorative gaze of the artist, Valya turned around to shamefully retreat, like the French near Moscow, when she saw 10 rubles in her pocket. Hurrah, thought Valya. And with the face of a man who invented a cure for all diseases, Valya threw a trifle into the cap. The accordion player nodded condescendingly. And a phrase from Ilf and Petrov's "Twelve Chairs" flashed through Valya's head: "I'll give you more at the best of times." Better times will come soon, however, this does not apply to street children”.

Then, without incident, Valya got into a subway car, opened an e-book and went deep into reading. The cars were steadily accelerating and braking, people were coming in and out, passengers were reading, sleeping, sitting, standing, listening to music. How warm it is here, Valya thought and saw......



Chapter 2

Is he really? Valya was sitting in a subway car of a train that was rapidly taking her to the Strogino district, but looking at Ilya's serene face, Valya was transported back to 2004.

Ilya was not a handsome man, they would rather say charismatic, cute, pleasant, but not handsome. Height 165 cm, eyes protruding, short hair with a red tint. If you compare Ilya with someone from Hollywood movie heroes, it was a degraded copy of Peter Parker, spider-Man. Natasha met with him, Valya's sworn friend and neighbor on the landing. For his sake, Natasha left the guy she had been dating for two years. It was a terrible scandal and a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare's pen. Vadim (the abandoned guy) constantly pestered Valya with stories about his heartache, about the injustice of life, that all women are corrupt bitches and in some ways he was really right. But it became simply impossible to bear it. Valya's personal life was so meager and uninteresting that Vadim's sobs turned her (personal life) into a fly in the ointment in a barrel of tar. As Vysotsky sang: "I'll come home, you're sitting there." Valya began to avoid Vadim, taught everyone to lie on the phone, including the cat, that she was not at home. And if Vadim was guarding her at the entrance to the yard, Valya climbed the fence from the other side and flew into the entrance with an invisible sniper bullet. Vadim was not discouraged, because the reason to come to Valya was Natasha, love and a corrupt bitch. She greeted him politely and walked royally to the elevator. It was precisely such meetings that Vadim, a madman in love, was waiting for, who, with the persistence of a maniac, continued to hope that all this was a dream.

Soon Natasha moved in with Ilya and came to Marino district less and less often, only to visit her mother and younger sister Nina.

But Ilya. It really was a dark horse. Natasha stopped communicating with Valya, of course, Vadim, who was hanging on Valya with a suitcase without a handle, also contributed to this. And yet Natasha has changed. If she had a bad temper before, it was still fun, cozy, reliable with her. A lot of good and kind things were connected with her, so Valya was sorry to lose communication and friendship. But you can't order your heart, each of us chooses his own path and Natalie chose her man.

A few months passed, Natasha finally stopped appearing in her home. Valya learned from Nina that it was unpleasant for Natasha to face Vadim. Fortunately, Vadim did not know Ilya's address, so Natasha began to invite her mother and Nina to her new home.

And then a terrible thing happened…



Chapter 3

Valya was returning from her regular workout. Nothing foreshadowed trouble. The air was fresh and clean.

"It's my birthday very soon," Valya muttered to herself without much enthusiasm.

Twenty years… she was afraid and waited for this date. She really wanted to make sure that life would be different, that something would change for the better, that this was the threshold, the threshold of an adult and happy life, on which she was already standing with almost one foot. And I was afraid, because somewhere deep down she was sure everything would be the same. She lives with her parents in a one-room apartment in Marino district, interrupts casual earnings, studies philology (Karl, philology, well, who in the twenty-first century goes to study to be a teacher, this is a rhetorical question) and in her personal life she has a complete failure. Well, as a failure, it simply does not exist. She's a fool, waiting for at least someone normal to prove to everyone that she's not an old maid.

– In twenty years everything will change! Valya promised herself firmly and stepped out of the elevator into the dark stairwell of the floor.

– The light bulb burned out again – Valya only had time to think when she realized that there was someone on the steps near her apartment.

If she hadn't been breathless with fear, she would have screamed at the whole house. But terror seized her throat with sticky tentacles, all she could do was roll her eyes and freeze in place to get used to the darkness. The elevator left a long time ago, judging by the sound to the tenth floor and there far away, in a parallel universe, it took away the happy residents of the house with a serviceable light bulb on the floor. And here, on the fourth floor, a girl was dying of fear, having never met the man of her dreams.

– Valyusha, don't be afraid, it's Nina, – Valentina heard a familiar voice with notes of hysteria. It can be seen Nina has been crying for a long time, and now she just howls and stutters from crying tears and nerves.

Valya almost dropped the bags from Auchan, with which she was going to fight off the maniac. She had high hopes for a jar of peas and canned pineapples, because while she was carrying bags in her teeth, it seemed to her that she had twenty kilograms of weights in her hands.

– Nina, dear, why are you sitting here? Why don't you come in? You would have waited at our house, it's so dark here. And it's scary, Valya thought to herself, but she didn't say anything, and she also had a question stuck in her throat, why, in fact, Nina is sitting and waiting for Valya here, and not in her own apartment on the floor below.

– Valyusha, I didn't want your parents to see me in this state. I wanted to wait for you and talk. – Help me! Nina cried again and hung on Valya's shoulders.

– Nina, get ready, let's go in now, wipe your tears if you don't want to report to my mom why you're upset.

These words magically had an effect on the girl. She straightened up, straightened her hair, dusted off her clothes. She knew that Valya's mother was still that psychologist-psychiatrist. Maria Semyonovna loved to ask, clarify, so to speak, collect information. Maria Semyonovna used to work as a primary school teacher, but the second education of a psychologist did not give her peace of mind. Five years ago, she quit school and now with pleasure and knowledge of the case, she received lost souls in her private office. Valya and her father jokingly called Maria Semenovna a lie detector and a special agent. She frowned for the sake of appearances and made a serious face. But she was actually very pleased.

While Valya was ringing the doorbell, Nina with an effort pasted a smile on her face.

– Dad, why don't you ask who, they came in and started taking off their shoes.

– Hi, Valechka, how's your day? Oh, Nina, good evening, come on in, girls. Valyush, yes, I know that you're ringing the door like that, as if on fire, – joked Nikolai Fedorovich and stomped into the living room in worn-out slippers, that's how the Kotenko family proudly called their only room in the apartment. Since there was nowhere to go, they went to the kitchen. All Valya's friends used to arrange gatherings in the kitchen and knew that this was her room and parents would never unnecessarily disturb young people.

– We'll eat less – the parents joked. This was Valentina's kingdom, there was a locker with her favorite books, there was an aquarium with fish on the windowsill, and Valya always carried her small laptop with her. Once upon a time, the Kotenko family of three people: Maria Semenovna, Nikolai Fedorovich and ten-year-old Valya moved to noisy and huge Moscow from a small provincial town in southern Russia. It was a terrible 1994, there was no work, a series of economic cuts took place in the city, Valya's father and mother were fired and the family was left without means of livelihood. Maria Semyonovna tried to sell pies on a busy highway that connected neighboring larger cities. Valya helped mom while Dad was working in the garden, so as not to be left without supplies for the winter. So they lasted a year, money was sorely lacking for food, there was nothing to say about clothes and shoes. At a family meeting, it was decided to sell the house and move to Moscow in search of work and a better life. The Kotenko family was very lucky, the buyer turned out to be a Muscovite who had been looking for a good brick house in an ecologically clean area for a long time, but this was not the main reason for a quick purchase without bargaining. The Muscovite, as it turned out later, was a bandit and tried to take his beloved wife, mother and two sons away from criminal squabbles as soon as possible. At the same time, Egor, no matter how strange it may sound, turned out to be not only a decent person, but also a good friend in relation to Valya's family. He instructed his lawyers to help arrange an apartment in the Marino area, called the school principal and effortlessly got Valya's mother a job. It turned out to be more difficult with dad, since the engineering profession was absolutely not in demand in the 90s, so Egor arranged for dad to be an administrator at his restaurant. Dad didn't have it easy at first, but he quickly got used to it, controlled suppliers, monitored waiters for fraud, learned how to make menus for banquets with the head chef and helped throw drunks and rowdies out of the restaurant.

All the money earned over 10 years, mom and dad changed into hundred-dollar bills and put them in a stash. It was for Valya's apartment. Wise parents decided not to spend money on expanding housing conditions, but to give their daughter, albeit a small, but their own, personal apartment, especially since the daughter, according to her mother, was already marriageable.

That's how Valya lived in the kitchen for all ten years, waiting for a prince on a white horse who would take her to a one-room apartment given by her parents. Valya was afraid to dream about a prince with his own flat. Where can she, with her gray mouse-like appearance, compete with Moscow beauties. There are not enough princes with apartments, there will not be enough for everyone, Valya for sure.

The girls went into the kitchen and sat down on a comfortable Ikea sofa.

– Nina, coffee, tea? Valya asked out of politeness, and herds of wild mustangs were already jumping in her stomach.

– No, thanks.

– Well? – Valentina began to lose patience. – If it's difficult for you to start, start with the main thing!

– Valya, I am pregnant with Ilya's child, – said fourteen-year-old Nina and wept bitterly.



Chapter 4

If Nina, from shock and lack of intelligence, did not yet realize the full scale of the tragedy, then Valya, crushed by the news, like a bag of manure, was terrified of the upcoming consequences.

And while Valya was sitting in a silent stupor, Nina began her story, worthy of the Russian programs "Let them talk" and "Windows".

It all started from the very first day of Ilya and Nina's acquaintance. Natasha brought her new boyfriend home and enthusiastically described her, as it seemed to her, final and only choice to her mother and sister. Mom, Tatiana Sergeevna, reacted calmly to Ilya, she liked Vadim more, she got used to him and called him practically her son-in-law. But she did not hinder or condemn her daughter's decision to separate from him. Ilya on the first evening was cheerful, sparkling, polite and charming.

He was far from Ostap Bender, but it was clear to the naked eye that there was something of a crook in him.

While Natasha and Tatiana Sergeevna were setting a festive dinner in the kitchen in honor of their acquaintance, Ilya went into the small bedroom of the two-room apartment, which served the girls as a bedroom, a nursery, and an office. The room had a comfortable two-story white bed, a desk and a pink sofa. The desk, pathetically forged in walnut, served the girls as a dressing table and a night table at the same time. There was a small make-up mirror on it, several bottles of perfume from popular brands from the famous store, two cosmetic bags (bigger and smaller) and a box with jewelry. Ilya noted with an experienced look that the girls are not spoiled with jewelry, expensive cosmetics and perfumes. Nina was sitting at the table and writing something in a pink notebook.

– Nina, won't I disturb you? – Ilya quietly entered the room.

Nina visibly became nervous and blushed. By the bright blush that appeared on his cheeks, it was clear that the teenager was flattered by the attention of a twenty-five-year-old man. Nina looked up from her notebook and smiled:

– I'm preparing an essay on literature, I need to write my thoughts about Bunin and his "Dark Alleys", although for me it's complete bullshit.

Nina tried to look cool, modern and express herself accordingly.

Ilya came closer and sat down on the edge of the sofa. He looked with interest at the girl, who had already begun to turn into an adult woman. She had beautiful skin and bright blue eyes framed by black eyelashes, her hair was more dark brown than light, but still, in general, her face created the image of a young light girl. The figure, not yet collapsible, but having every chance to turn more than one guy's head, was still being formed, as was the feeling of self-confidence at the sight of a male representative. She and Natasha were very similar in their habits and manner of conversation, both calm, not too talkative, even secretive, they talk about such things on their own minds. And if Nina's appearance was bright, then Natasha, the eldest, turned out to be a faded copy. Although the girls had hair of the same color, Natasha often tinted them in lighter tones, and she got gray eyes from her father, less expressive, with the same gray and expressionless eyelashes. Tatiana Sergeevna's husband and the father of Natasha and Nina's sisters was a very good, gentle and kind person. Konstantin Vladimirovich Zotov worked all his life at an enterprise in the Kapotni district, Konstantin Vladimirovich died when Nina was a year old, and Natasha had just started first grade. Tatiana Sergeevna didn't tell the girls much about her father, tried to translate the topic, but she never got married a second time. She worked as a dentist in a public institution, and then moved to a private clinic because of a higher salary, where she remained on a permanent basis. She spoke little about her late husband, but positively. And if you ask the girls what they remember about dad, none of them will really say anything except the general phrases of their mother.

Ilya looked at Nina for a long time until she lowered her eyes to the notebook and blushed up to her neck.

– And I really like Bunin's work "Dark Alleys", there are many stories about love, disappointment and hatred in this collection, – Ilya said softly and put his hand on Nina's knee. The girl twitched as if from an electric current, but did not remove her hand, but on the contrary leaned towards Ilya with her whole body.

– In this collection there is a wonderful story about how a young man had to marry one sister, but secretly loved another. Nina, read at your leisure, it will be very interesting for you.

Apparently hearing Natasha's footsteps, Ilya took his hand away, straightened up and pretended to be looking at the Backstreet Boys poster, while Nina stared at her notebook with an unseeing gaze.

– How are you guys getting to know each other better? Nina, Ilya is so interesting, tell me?

Nina nodded and pretended to be busy with her lessons. Ilya smiled broadly and stood up:

– Natasha, well, is everything ready? You're such a hostess. I can't even imagine what you're going to surprise me with today, honey. Ilya took Natasha's hand, kissed her on the cheek and let her go ahead to go to the kitchen. But before leaving the room, he turned around and winked at Nina, who was staring at his back with all her eyes.

Tatiana Sergeevna was sitting at a set table and was putting salad on plates for the girls and the guest. There was a bottle of inexpensive red wine on the table, Ilya noted to himself.

– Nina, go eat! Tatiana Sergeevna called loudly. Nina went out and sat down at the only empty seat next to Ilya. The kitchen was small and everyone was sitting very closely at the table, sometimes touching elbows with each other. Ilya gallantly poured wine into glasses and made the first toast: "To your amazing daughters, Tatiana Sergeevna."

The poor woman had no idea that it was that evening at the table in her own apartment that the beginning of the end started.

Nina blew her nose loudly into a napkin and continued…



Chapter 5

After dinner and meeting Ilya, Tatiana Sergeevna could not fall asleep for a long time. She decided to talk to Natasha and quietly knocked on the girls' bedroom door.

– Mom, come in, Nina has been sleeping for a long time, and I'm still reading …

– Natasha, are you really sure about this man? It seemed to me somehow suspicious, slippery.

– Mom, well, Ilya is so good, reliable and he says such nice things.

– Natasha, who do his parents work for? I asked him, but he only mentioned his mother, he didn't say anything about his father at all.

– Mom, I don't know, to be honest, I didn't even ask, but I'm not interested. What difference does it make if I love this man and want to marry him. For example, you didn't tell Nina and me anything about our dad. We only know his first name and the last name we carry. And what was he like, what did he love, what did he do, what was his hobby? You've never told us anything. All you keep saying is that he was kind, good, sensitive and responsive, but that's not enough for my sister and me! We also want to know more about our father!

Tatiana Sergeevna jerked as if from an electric discharge.

– Daughter, you would not hurry to get married, your relationship is developing too fast.

Tatiana Sergeevna, hunched over, went to her room, and Natasha heard her mother's restrained sobs and sobs until morning.



Ilya began, allegedly by accident, to run into Nina near the school, in the store, in the yard, and a week later he became the best friend. Nina complained to him about teachers, about stupid classmates, about the hardships of the ninth grade. Ilya listened attentively to all the girl's complaints, nodded sympathetically and understandingly, smiled sweetly, always bought ice cream, and once even took her to the cinema for a matinee. Nina was over the moon with happiness. He seemed to her so grown-up, serious, romantic, beautiful, the best on earth. Compared to him, her classmates were not even gray mice, but something in between an infusoria-slipper and an amoeba. Nina began to make up her eyes, lips, trying her best to look more mature. One day she asked Natasha for high-heeled shoes. The older sister replied with an angry refusal, because the shoes were expensive and branded. But Nina did not give up and when Natasha ran away to work, Nina calmly took her shoes in her bag and changed her shoes before meeting Ilya. Today they have an important date, Ilya takes her to a cafe and she needs to be grown-up and beautiful. She didn't even think about what a ticking time bomb their secret meetings had become. Neither mom nor Natasha even suspected what was happening to the child, where she spent time after school and why her behavior and appearance had changed so much over the past few weeks.

As if nothing had happened, in the evenings Ilya walked with Natasha, whom he picked up from work near her house. He gave flowers to the girl and showered her with compliments. Natasha often went to visit Ilya, where she stayed overnight.

Such evenings Nina just went crazy with jealousy, hatred and anger. Poor Tatiana Sergeevna tried to talk to her daughter, shouted, persuaded, cried, but Nina was as if under hypnosis. The mother begged her to go to the doctor and take all the tests, which only confirmed that the child was absolutely healthy physically. And then Tatiana Sergeevna took Nina to a psychologist, where it turned out that her daughter was in love, and mood swings were just hormonal background of puberty, that there was absolutely nothing to worry about and that all teenagers were like that. Everyone calmed down, but in vain. In fact, it was worth worrying.

At nights, when Natasha stayed with Ilya, Nina dreamed of death, no, not her own, Natasha's. She imagined poisoning her older sister at breakfast in the morning by pouring poison into her coffee or pushing her off the fourth floor when her sister was washing windows. These thoughts calmed Nina, she stopped whining soundlessly and thinking that right now he was hugging her waist and drawing her to him, kissing vile lips, skinny neck and chest, stroking her lifeless hair, they were making love together in bed all evening, night and morning. And at parting, he makes her breakfast and sends her home by taxi so that she has time to take a shower and change before work.

Yes, Nina hated Natasha from the first evening of acquaintance, from the very moment when Ilya put his hand on her knee in the room with the Backstreet Boys poster.

One day, while waiting for Ilya at the agreed place, on the farthest bench of a huge park on the embankment, Nina had a sober thought: she thought for a second about the terrible situation in the epicenter of which she found herself. She secretly meets with her older sister's fiance, lies to her mother, wishes Natasha death. And Ilya? Why did he create this situation? Why does he need a fourteen-year-old Nina?

But the sober thought immediately disappeared when He appeared on the horizon. He became for her the universe, the center, the most important, native, close, idol, god. Nina was ready to pray for him, worship him and do whatever he said. It was her drug and her religion.

Ilya kissed Nina in a brotherly way and sat down next to her on a bench. The girl's cheeks turned purple. At those moments Nina was so happy, his smell intoxicated her brain, his face was for her the most beautiful on earth. If she was ordered to give her life for him, she would only ask how exactly she would sacrifice herself on the altar of the deity Ilya.

– Hi, baby, how are you, my good kitten? Your eyes are so red, have you been crying again? Naughty baby, daddy forbids crying to such beautiful eyes! – Ilya began stroking Nina's shoulder.

– Normal… uh… Hmmm… Nina was afraid to ask this question, but having gathered her courage, she decided. – Natasha spent the night with you yesterday… again .... – Nina's eyes filled with tears, she looked like a rubber toy for the bathroom with water that will flow, if you just press on it.

– Silly, my little one, why are you upset? Well, come here, Daddy will feel sorry for you … Ilya transplanted Nina to his lap and hugged her waist.

Nina forgot about everything in the world, buried her face in Ilya's shoulder, his smell, voice, tenderness drove her crazy. At such moments, she was ready to share him with anyone, with Natasha, Glasha, Masha and ten other women, if only sometimes, at least occasionally, he would be only hers.

His voice brought Nina back to life from the love frenzy:

– Baby, aren't you tired of living in cramped quarters with Natasha? You are already two mature marriageable girls. Ilya laughed rudely.

– Ilyusha, my mother is saving up for my apartment, saving all the money she earned. We have a hiding place at home, only Natasha and I know about it. Mom promised to buy an apartment for each of us for the wedding, it's like dad left us an inheritance after his death … Nina gently looked at her idol and stroked his hair.

– I see, kid, but do you know where the hiding place is? Or maybe mom is putting noodles on your ears, hoping that you will find richer suitors and blame them on all four sides"

Ilya laughed out loud, and Nina did not even pay attention to the insult to her mother and the strange, inappropriate question.

– No, dear, she's not lying, I myself saw how Mama hid her and Natasha's salary there again....

Chapter 6

Ilya yawned lazily and reluctantly noticed:

"Don't call me cute anymore. It annoys me, you know.

– But she always calls you cute, even on the phone!

Nina tearfully remarked and pouted her plump lips.

Very good appearance, Ilya thought briefly, not like a colorless and spineless sister. Oh, you wouldn't be a teenager…

Ilya stroked his back appreciatively and noticed a beautiful smooth curve, the result of dancing lessons from the age of six, the chest is undeveloped, but still ahead, the face is almost perfect.

– Baby, and let's go to my house?

Nina chewed her tongue in her mouth, mumbled something inarticulate, but she had the willpower to shake her head negatively.

– Well, silly, don't be stubborn. Let's sit for a while, watch a new movie "Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban".

– "Prisoner of Azkaban" is correctly spelled with a "z", Nina automatically corrected, but neither for her nor for him it did not matter in principle.

The hunter saw that the victim had swallowed the bait and he didn't care about all consonants, no matter ringing or deaf.

The victim has already realized that she will go. She knew it from the very beginning, but common sense, strangled by stupidity, still tried to resist. The second passion, besides Ilya, were books and films about Harry Potter. Nina was waiting for the release of each new book as a holiday, so common sense realized that he had no chance, lay down and died.

– How far do you live?

They were walking briskly towards the Marino metro station. Nina tried to take her lover by the hand, but he pretended to straighten his clothes.

She's obviously worried about my reputation – she whispered, like stupidity whispers to dead common sense.

When Nina repeated her question, Ilya replied that he was not far away, on Rimskaya Street, near the Rimskaya metro station. Ten minutes walk.

After the subway, they walked not ten, but all forty minutes. Nina was tired because she hadn't eaten or drunk anything after school. They approached an old, five-storey Khrushchev house without a combination lock and the guy, still playing the role of a gallant cavalier, opened the front door to the entrance.

Nina was sharply hit in the nose by a distinct smell of ammonia, human urine and (or) cat urine, but from the fact that the door to the entrance was prudently closed, although not locked, the smell apparently stood here all year round. Ilya lived on the fifth floor and Nina went through four circles of hell with him, with vomit, a lying drug addict, whom Ilya simply stepped over, and Nina practically carried over him. On the fifth floor, where all the cigarette smoke was rising, Nina realized that the first floor with a breath of fresh air was not so smelly anymore.

They went into a corner apartment with a door lined with red dermantine.

– Please go to the bachelor's lair! Ilya optimistically turned on the light and Nina immediately saw two cockroaches that disappeared somewhere in the direction of the kitchen.

The poor one-room was so cramped that Nina already saw the window of the room on the left from the corridor, and the kitchen window on the right. In the middle of this creation of human insanity called "housing", the island "toilet \ bathroom" stood proudly, which divided the kennel into sleep and devour. The furniture was very poor from the distant fifties: a sideboard on thin legs with a rectangular door in the middle, which became a table for no clear reason, and at the top there were two glasses that moved apart towards each other, and if it was necessary to get a service or documents, then he grabbed one glass with his fingers and gently "pushed" it towards his friend. At the same time, the whole service rattled, the glasses rattled, and on the porcelain cockerel, in which most men hid vodka so that their wife would not guess, the lid threatened to break. Two chairs with thin legs were pushed to such an extent that it seemed that if you sat in them, you would need all the physical form to get back up. And the crown of the furniture was a huge couch in the middle of the hall, thoughtfully covered with a clean sheet. The sheet smelled fresh and Nina realized that it was the only thing she liked in this house. Nina sat down right on the sheet, but not because she wanted to make love, but because it was the only pleasant and clean place in the apartment.

Ilya, obviously unaware of Nina's true intentions, visibly winced.

– Baby, wait, take your time, but what about your jailer?

Nina shuddered:

– What jailer, Ilyusha?

– Well, Harry Potter.

– Yes! Nina jumped up and clapped her hands.

What kind of stupid kid are you, Ilya thought with bitterness and resentment, and added under his breath:

– Really, very beautiful …

– What, Ilyusha? I didn't hear, Nina took off her denim jacket and hung it on the back of the chair.

She was beautiful in a dark school skirt and a light shirt, loose hair beautifully framed her face, wide and thick eyebrows added depth and expressiveness to her bright huge eyes.

– And why aren't you twenty, – Ilya thought, and added aloud:

– Baby, I'm going to find a CD and bring something to chew and drink.

Nina was so happy that she forgot two of the most important things before going to visit a stranger. But Ilya has been a close friend lately, you will say, and you will be right.

Yes, even if Nina remembered two golden rules of behavior in an unfamiliar apartment:

(1. Warn anyone mom, sister, girlfriend, neighbor, but so that at least one living soul knows who you are with. 2. To name the address of the stay.), then she wouldn't have done it anyway. She was too carried away by Ilya, the adventure, the upcoming premiere for her, Nina Konstantinovna Zotova, will be a screening of a film that has just been released on the screens of Europe and America.

In the early noughties, cell phones were gaining popularity exponentially. Therefore, in 2004, even the modest Zotov family had a fairly large but reliable Nokia 3310. And if Nina had not ridden a sea horse through a dubious "lair", but sent her mother or sister an SMS with the address, then many terrible events could have been avoided.

If common sense had risen, he would have asked stupidity where Ilya went to look for the disc if all the television equipment consisting of a poor silver Funai and a video recorder for him was here, near the bed of love. There was no smell of a disk drive anywhere, but we'll omit it.

Common sense was dead and there was no one to ask questions.

Nina settled down with her feet on a clean sheet, the couch creaked with exhaustion. The girl was afraid to stretch her legs back, thinking that she had broken a rarity. One side of the couch was leaning against the wall, on which hung a large brown and burgundy carpet that reached from the door of the room to the window itself. Nina tried to lean on him, but when she touched him, she disturbed such a cloud of dust that she coughed.

Ilya returned to the room in strange dirty shorts and with a bare torso. The ninth-grader has not seen her god in such an outfit yet. But he was still good. The first impressions of the entrance and smell have passed. Sitting on the sofa, Nina watched with a sinking heart as Ilya approached her with a tray.

There was a bottle of open Soviet champagne on the tray (although there was no sound of the bottle being opened, but would Nina have paid attention to it?), two pot-bellied glasses made of dark, colored glass filled to the brim with sparkling drink, three quarters of an apple with bones lay in a plate forlornly, the fourth was chewed by Ilya.

– Baby, help yourself, a wonderful wine for a beautiful girl!

– Thank you, Ilyusha! Nina broke into a smile and took the glass in her small hand, obviously expecting a toast. But since the guy waved his glass in one gulp, the girl took a little sip from her own.

Nina rarely tasted alcohol, her mother allowed her to drink a glass of wine on New Year's or birthday. Therefore, Nina was not a black sheep among her classmates, she knew the taste of alcohol and could take a sip at the disco. But she never got drunk in the trash and did not vomit in the school toilet, like some girlfriends who had an iron curtain at home, and at school discos they broke loose and drank everything in a row. Then the parents of such girls came to school with terrible scandals, blamed teachers who forced their children to lap up swill.

Nina knew the taste of Soviet champagne, but this one seemed too bitter to her.

– Silly, for love to the bottom! – Ilya literally guided the stem of the glass until it was empty.

Nina felt bad right away. First the room floated, and then Ilya floated. He bent down to ask something, smiled, but the drugged girl no longer heard anything. Her eyes could still focus a little on objects, but sense of hearing was completely gone, as if the sound in the room and in the whole world had been turned off. The hungry young organism, not poisoned by toxins, passed out instantly, once Nina in a semi-conscious state hung down from a clean sheet to vomit, and then the sound turned on again. Ilya yelled and cursed, called her very bad words, and she just smiled stupidly and kept wanting to remind her that "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is written and read with a "z", not a "s". It was getting light outside, Nina opened her eyes and moaned. The headache from the light was so strong that the girl almost lost consciousness. After catching her breath a little, she stirred. Nothing hurt except my head. Once in her childhood Nina had a concussion, she was constantly sick and vomiting, in the hospital they put her on a bed and gave her medications and strictly ordered her to remain completely calm.

Nina remembered where yesterday she could have fallen so hard that she again received such a terrible concussion from which she felt sick, constantly wanted to vomit, and the headache was close to torture. Then she noticed Ilya sitting next to her, enthusiastically reading the contents of her phone.

– Oh, baby, you are awake! Well, you're my silly, you got drunk yesterday, like the last pig, behaved madly, and also attacked me. Practically raped me.

A church bell was ringing in Nina's head. The tongue has stuck to the lower palate and to part of the lower teeth. There was a taste of bile and a rotten egg in her mouth. She tried to open her mouth, but then slowly got up and walked along the wall to the toilet.

The toilet was so small that it was possible to sit on the toilet only with the door wide open. The walls of the toilet were plastered to the ceiling with naked beauties with appetizing forms. But looking at the toilet bowl, the poor women on the posters could only sympathize, because they poor, had to sniff the rusty, leaking sewer for years, the brown toilet bowl, which in its distant youth was white and immaculate, and the layer of feces that the unfortunate busty girls from the posters not only sniffed, but also contemplated.

Nina threw up without closing the door behind her. Bent double with her legs, she was standing in the hallway, and her face was over the toilet. There was no strength to go to the bathroom and wash, Nina fell on the bed.

– Do you like to ride, love to carry sleds, there was nothing to get drunk and rowdy yesterday, baby. By the way, here's a jar for you, go pee in it and bring it to me, I'll do a pregnancy test. And then you tear up all the time. You're not using protection, are you? Don't you take any pills?

Nina shook her head and mumbled something inarticulate. There was a small bulldozer in her head, which was going to dismantle the skull.

– Go, go, baby, here's a jar. Faster.

Nina stood and stared at the two strips. Jump out, jump out, jump out from the fifth floor, so that it all stops at once. She wanted to kill two birds with one stone: to put an end to this monstrous headache and the shame of drunken copulation, which she does not even remember.

Ilya brought Nina to Rimskaya metro station, kissed her on the cheek and asked the question: Baby, are we going to give birth or what?

Nina shook her head.

– Well, smart girl, if you want Mom and Natasha not to find out anything, you have to take out the whole cash for me. This, of course, is not enough for everything, but I will add. Understand?

Nina nodded her head. The horror of her mother and sister finding out about her adventures drove her to hysterics. And then she realized that no one since yesterday knows where she is, with whom and whether she is alive.

Ilya saw the rebirth of sober thoughts in the helpless eyes of the girl and added: – Baby, if you just tell your mom or sister that you were with me, then I will tell them in all the details what you did you do to me, understand?

And so Nina sat in front of Valya in the small kitchen, red, sobbing, trembling and unhappy. And Valya, clenching her teeth, was afraid to come up and smack with all the dope on a stupid and tear-stained face.



Chapter 7

Valya leaned over to Nina and asked in a loud whisper:

– Did you call your mother? I'm asking you, did you call your mother? The whisper became threatening and resembled the hissing of a disturbed snake.

Nina shrank into a ball and seemed even smaller, younger, thinner and more unhappy.

– No.

– Are you a fool? No, I'm asking you, are you a fool or are you just pretending? Although why am I asking when it is necessary to assert that you are a fool! You were sitting on a dark floor and waiting for me while your mother and sister were calling morgues and hospitals, perhaps they had already written a statement to the relevant authorities. And now the police are questioning your classmates, teachers and the director.

If the girl's emotions could be represented in the form of certain decorations (as sometimes happens in cartoons or movies), it would look something like this: four little men in white coat knocking on the door with the inscription "Brain". The door is overgrown with cobwebs and poison ivy. Paramedics actively cut off ivy and cobwebs, pull the handle and the door slowly creaks on rusty hinges. The small room is dark, stuffy and very messy. There are scraps of Backstreet Boys posters lying around, which were replaced by Harry Potter in time. Harry Potter books are everywhere. A couple of lipsticks, high-heeled shoes, school notebooks sticking out of the trash and photos of Ilya everywhere. The whole tiny room (which symbolizes the brain, you know) is covered with different photos with Ilya. Where he is alone or with Nina, a heart is placed with a red marker, and where he is with Natalia, the older sister, a skull and a wish for a speedy death (to Natasha, of course) is drawn with a black marker. In the middle of the room is the corpse of a little girl with glasses and Bunin's book "Dark Alleys". Doctors began intensive therapy without words. A brisk "Did you call your mother?" came through the skull, a discharge, once and the girl had a pulse on the floor, "mother and sister called the morgue," another discharge, the pulse quickened and breathing appeared, the heart was started.

The doctor: "The brain is not hopeless, colleagues, we will resuscitate further!" The phrase "the police interrogate the whole school" forced the Brain to open its eyes. She was weak, so weak. She kept muttering…

– Idleness hit me on the head with a book, Anger and Fear did nothing, just watched. I passed out before I got to the subway. And what happened? The doctors looked with wise eyes:

– Brain, come to life and get to work, life is a complete kick-ass without you. We will neutralize idleness now, let him sit a little with Fear. He's always hiding in the ass. So she's going there, too. And you, Brain, dear, be strong. You can't go to the ass! Your goal is to survive, you know? You will be felled more than once, but you, like a phoenix bird, will always rise from the ashes.

The Brain began to move, began to tear off all the photos, put them in garbage bags, she was vacuuming, mopping the floors, after a few seconds the room was shining, yes, it was empty, but the Brain had already given the command to the subconscious according to the list of literature.

The resuscitation of Valya's words helped Nina to recover. For the first time in months of acquaintance and friendship with Ilya, a thought appeared in her brain. Then the second, the third. It was an unusual feeling for Nina to move her Brain, but she liked the micro-girl with glasses inside her head too.

– Valentina, you're right! I need to call my mother immediately.

But then, Nina's eyes filled with tears.

– What about pregnancy? What am I going to tell Mom? She'll kick me out of the house! I am a disgrace to my family and school. I'd rather go and die under the fence.

Valya climbed onto a stool and took out a huge shoe box from under women's boots. There were so many medicines in it that it was easy to cure several villages in Africa at once. Pregnancy tests were here too. Nina looked questioningly at Valya, who nodded.

– Yes, mom's patients also feel bad sometimes, mom has different methods of treating mental and psychological diseases. The reaction to the test sometimes shows the essence hidden deep inside. Mom, of course, does not apply this technique to everyone, but it helped a couple of times.

Here's a jar of mayonnaise, take it and go to the toilet. Of course not here, bring the can of urine here, just be quiet, otherwise my mother, a psychologist, will cure you quickly.

Nina stared blankly at the test. One strip. What nonsense.

Valya was sitting with the face of a man who showed Columbus in which direction America was.

– Nina, you were cheated like the last sucker. You realize that you couldn't get pregnant and the test would instantly show a positive result. It's impossible. It should take time for the body to understand itself, to receive a signal about pregnancy. In general, you will learn more on anatomy. Listen, and you are this.... Ilya didn't rape you by any chance? Do you have any burning, itching, blood, stains on your underwear?

Nina shook her head in fright.

– Valyusha, no, I'm fine, physically, I mean. I think Ilya was squeamish, I smelled so much vomit.

And Valya thought to herself: "Your bastard Ilya was afraid to go to prison for rape and child molestation, this is a terrible sentence, article and term. It's not like you're trying to get money out of a stupid girl."

Nina reached into her backpack in search of her cherished phone.

– Do you have a charger? – she said in a barely audible voice, – because my phone is dead.

– Now. Wait a minute.

Valya silently retreated out the door.

The phone greeted the negligent hostess affably and showed the main screen. Nina dialed her mother's number several times.. At first there were long beeps, and then the phone stopped answering at all. The plastic tube insisted that the subscriber was out of reach.

– Maybe it's discharged? Nina said awkwardly, looking at Valya?

– Get a sister! Valya commanded.

– Uh, well, I don't seem to communicate with her…

– Nina, I'm going to punch you! Dial your sister immediately! Are you crazy? Do you even know what you've done?

– Natasha, hi, don't yell into the phone. What about Mom? I can't reach her.

The girl's tense face showed that the news were sad. She tried to justify herself, began to sob excitedly, Nina began a form of hysteria.

Valya did not hear the conversation, but she realized that something very terrible had happened. Nina hung up and said:

– Mom's in the hospital. She has a suspected heart attack.



Chapter 8

– Mom, Mom… My dear. Please, God, make Mom get better. Please, Lord, I will never leave her again, I will never worry, please, You are the Almighty. Please help Mom, please heal her. Please, please, please.

Nina muttered a prayer to herself and out loud, kissed her cross, washed her face with tears, while Valya in the front seat pointed out to the taxi driver where it was better to park near the hospital.

Natasha, wearing a white robe, was already waiting for the girls on the first floor. When Natasha saw Valya, she looked at her with such gratitude and love, with which she did not look at her own sister.

– Valentina, thank you for coming and… Natasha awkwardly thanked Valya, but her eyes were – instead of a thousand words, full of tears, pity and sadness.

Valya quickly put her hand on Natasha's shoulder:

– Natalie, what are you doing? Calm down! How is Tatiana Sergeevna? How is her health? What do the doctors say?

– They say that this is an acute coronary syndrome, a pre-infarction condition. It is necessary to undergo treatment now, then complete rest and rest. No nerves, you know. I came home from work in the evening, my mother is nervous, she says, go look for Nina. I tell her, Ma, she's sitting somewhere with her friends or she's stuck in a food court at the mall. After 22:00, the guards will expel them all, don't worry.

I took a shower, ate and just passed out, I was on my feet all day, I had no strength. At 5:00, my mother woke me up, pale as death herself, said that she walked around our neighborhood all night, Nina is nowhere to be found. The phone is not answering. I jumped up, called the police, but they didn't accept the application. They said, let the time pass, your teenager would show up, and they would not issue an application ahead of time in vain. I called the hospitals until 8:00, I didn't dare to go to the morgues, I just didn't raise my hand. Yes, you know I called to all the hospitals in Moscow.

We ran to school, we thought maybe she was scared, but she would come to school in the morning. Like nothing happened, and my mom and I were ashamed to make a row in front of classmates and teachers. I asked off at work, said I was on sick leave. We spent several lessons with my mother in the school yard, and from there she was taken away by ambulance. I was so scared for my mother that I was no longer up to the loss. I came to my senses in the evening when this fool dialed me herself.

I spent the whole day running for medicines, collecting bed linen, slippers, and a bathrobe for my mother. While I was running, our doctor said that the crisis was over. They applied on time, they didn't let lie down at home. And if they had gone home to "lie down", it is unknown what would have ended up. It's good that I called my mom's friends in dentistry, they immediately found a place in the hospital and a wonderful cardiologist.

Valya, I was so scared, I thought my mother was dying," – Natasha said through tears. All the stress, horror and fear that Natasha so courageously kept to herself all day broke through the dam of bitter tears. The girls were sitting hugging, on the first floor, two friends who had never been exes. It's just that life separated them for a while, but in difficult times it became clear that each of them remained a person, a good person.

– Natasha, dear, while Nina is with her mother, I'll tell you something… Don't be nervous. But we have to make a decision.

Valya told everything: from Nina's meeting on the floor to her arrival at the hospital.

Natasha was sitting neither alive nor dead. Fear for her sister, hatred for Ilya, the disclosure of the main motives of his interest in the family finished off Natasha. Clutching her mouth with her palm, she flew like a bullet to the toilet. Natasha came back wet and cold, her teeth were chattering, it seemed that the girl was dipping into the washbasin with her head, or maybe it was. Valya could not keep silent about Nina, who foolishly almost killed her mother, and maybe she herself would have lost her life from intoxication of the body, nor about the bastard plan that the bastard endured like a native child.

Natasha told her friend that Ilya began to behave too nervously, hinted at a wedding, against which the girl basically had nothing, but there was one nuance. Ilya stipulated that after the wedding, he and Natasha would move into a two-bedroom apartment (with his residence permit, of course), and Tatiana Sergeevna and Nina would go to live in Ilya's one-bedroom apartment. For Natasha, this was a strange condition, she sincerely did not understand and tried to convince her beloved. She was flattered that he wanted to improve their living conditions, the only thing that confused her was the improvement at the expense of her family. Natasha convinced him that he could take out a loan and calmly change his apartment for two, or even three. Hearing this, Ilya went berserk, he yelled at the bride for a long time and called her a fool for the first time. Natasha was sobbing, sitting on the couch, on which her sister almost poisoned herself later. The doorbell made her come to her senses, through the closed door to the only room, Natasha realized that the landlady of the apartment had come to claim the debt and threatened eviction with the police. Strangely, Ilya promised to repay the debt exactly after the wedding date.

It was the last date of the future newlyweds. Natasha was an adult, working girl, she silently put on her shoes, dressed and closed the door behind her. Ilya, of course, did not stop her. She was bitter, disgusted, disgusted. Natasha walked to the subway intuitively, not taking apart the road. She did not cry, but only bit her lips until they bled and blinked her dry eyes often, often. She really wasn't offended by the smelly bedbug with the ever-soiled toilet bowl, which she honestly filled with everything she could find from Domestos to sulfuric acid, but it only had to be burned. Not for the money he borrowed from her, and she paid off the debt with a salary and a credit card. Not for strange acquaintances and eternal secrets in SMS and phone conversations. She was hurt because she really liked him. He had a zest, he could be funny, courageous, gentle and very personable. He knew how to throw dust in her eyes, and behind all this storm in a glass of water, Natasha trusted and did not see the main thing – falsehood from beginning to end.

After telling Valya her bitter truth, she covered her face with her hands.

– Natasha, I'm sorry, please… Nina came out of her mother's room and hugged her sister.

The girls sat hugging and crying. Two sisters, two blood relatives, two closest people almost lost each other.

Valya delicately stepped aside and looked at the display, 1 missed "Vadim".

– Natasha, Vadim called me. Do you mind if he visits Tatiana Sergeevna tomorrow? – Valentina, of course! Thanks. I'm also has blame before him, I'll explain. I hope we will remain friends.

– Girls, what about the hiding place? Ilya told me to bring everything to the metro station tomorrow morning… – Nina uttered a phrase and fell silent, she was ashamed, but now and forever she spoke only the truth, too terrible a lesson was the result of her lies.

– Nina, what time is it in the morning? – Valya smelled prey and made a stand.

– First I have to write to him that I have the "giblets", it means the contents of the cash, Ilya called it that," Nina answered to Valya's raised eyebrow in question.

– And then? – Natasha was biting her nails.

– Then he will tell me which metro station to bring all the "giblets" to.

Valya no longer listened to about the metro station and Nina's courier delivery, she dialed the number:

– Egor Ivanovich, I need your help, my sister got into trouble, a bad person offended her, and now she is trying to give him all her money. Good. Thank you. I'm waiting.



Chapter 9

Egor Ivanovich Levin, born in 1954, a native of the Tver region, was the namesake of the character of the classic Leo Tolstoy from the novel Anna Karenina, but at the beginning of the terrible and dashing nineties he was known as Gosha Tverskoy. By the age of forty, Egor had a karate school "kyokushinkai", two young sons Vladimir, twelve years old and Valentin, six years old, a beloved wife, dying of cancer mother, and enemies in the wonderful city of Tver. Egor stopped paying "tribute" to the servants of the vile bandit Anatoly Podnebesny a few weeks ago. It was August of the ninety-second, Egor was returning home after training, half of the children did not pay again.

Egor was a patient and kind man, he allowed poor families to train for free, and some children, whom he caught stealing, forcibly brought to school for training. He forced the children to "work out" the crime, one of such loyal and devoted students was a Gypsy. The coach caught the fifteen-year-old kid stealing at the central market, where he sold grown vegetables in the summer season. The kid stole a man's wallet, and he was literally kicked to death if it wasn't for Egor.

– Guys, guys! Good. You'll kill the kid," he yelled, grabbing the unconscious body.

– This scum cut my wallet, let him die! – feeling the blood and excitement, the victim hissed.

– I'll answer for him. Now he's walking under me," Egor said, taking a club from behind the counter.

Looking at the size of the guarantor, the two insulted and humiliated spat on the bloody body and turned around and went.

Egor dragged the kid behind the counter and ran to the phone.

– Vovik, is your car on the move? Come to me, thank you, brother.

Together with his best friend Vladimir, whom he considered a brother, Egor dragged the guy's thin body into the car and drove home. Svetlana the wife was scared, but quickly got her bearings. The family knew that it was impossible to call an ambulance, the police would intervene, and nothing good could be expected from it. The guy was washed, the abrasions and bruises were bandaged, they gave him broth from the cheapest bones through a tube, they ate it themselves, and the body slowly transformed into a live wolf cub. Only his eyes were burning on his face, but it was clear that any movement gave him hell of a pain. Egor introduced him to his family, wife, mother, sons and a friend. The boy didn't speak well, but he listened attentively. Egor took him to his first training session a month later and realized that he had found a great student. The gypsy, so called the kid, did not know his first and last name, judging by the short stories, alcoholic parents threw him into the Tver orphanage from which he escaped. For a couple of years he lived with homeless people and stole what he had to. Egor taught him manners and behavior for a long time, how to go to the toilet without smearing anything around, but he liked something about the kid that he realized in training. The gypsy was burning with passion and love for sports. He poured out all the pain, all the sorrow and sadness in the gym. He looked at Egor as a God, and this was really his religion. The Gypsy, with the help of Egor, graduated from nine grades (the certificate was written out behind his eyes, because the director's chubby son also practiced karate and the Gypsy often protected him from local punks, as a fellow trainee). According to the documents, it was Ivan Ivanovich Tsygankov, working as an apprentice at the factory. In life, he was the best fighter of Tver, Moscow and other regions. On that ill-fated evening, he trained hard in the gym. Egor rented the basement of a neighboring house from the housing department, which was conceived as a parking lot, a Gypsy lived there, looked after the equipment and always brought brilliant cleanliness. The gypsy carefully rolled up a huge poster of Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of the Japanese Kyokushin karate school, and "chinden" – a hieroglyph that became the symbol of the school, i.e. "The Union of Seekers of Absolute Truth." It was a small Japan in the middle of impoverished, criminal Tver.

And on this hot August evening Egor was returning home with heavy thoughts. The market does not bring anything, only ten people go to school, everyone has left for the holidays in the villages, what to pay for the rent of the hall, utilities and, most importantly, what to buy food for the whole family.

An open door on the second floor in a five-storey building did not bode well. Egor taught everyone to close the doors tightly, the first ordinary "dermantine", and the second wooden, heavy with an iron bolt. The bolted door was ajar. Yegor silently descended to the first floor and took a stick for knocking out mailboxes. Silently entering his apartment, he heard the sound of water and moans, slipping into the bathroom, Egor saw his own wife slurping water from the brimming bathroom, where she was dipped with her head, a vile ex-convict drug addict was standing behind her and viciously lifting her robe. Sveta on her bent legs, tried to push off with her hands from the bathroom, but it was her few seconds.

Egor hit his legs with a stick, the convict broke like an aspen. Before he could recover, the fighter hit the bald skull with a stick with such force that pieces of the brain flew across the peeling walls of the old bathroom. Wiping his wife 's face , he asked in a whisper:

– How much?

– Two, – Sveta sobbed, – Egor, the boys …

But Egor was already standing under the door to the bedroom, silently opening the door, he saw that the children were alive. The elder kissed bandit's hand in tears, the younger one peed and there was a huge puddle on the floor under him. Before the children could utter an exclamation of joy, Egor wrung the neck of the second. Instantly grabbed the home phone and said:

– Brother, trouble. Take the gypsy from our training hall.

Under the cover of night, three male figures loaded two bags of potatoes into the trunk of an old Vladimir's car.

They returned in the morning, tired, with burning eyes.

Neither Yegor, nor Volodya, nor the Gypsy, nor the family ever remembered this terrible August evening, as if it had never happened. Egor's mother slept under the influence of sleeping pills in a small room, and when she woke up in the morning, she asked Sveta and the children not to be sad, and that she would definitely recover.

In September, exactly a month later, Anatoly Podnebesny, the head bandit who was looking at Tver and the Tver region, was stabbed in his own market, where he was collecting tribute. The killer in the hood was buying apples from a merchant, and when Podnebesny with his retinue caught up with the counter, the killer allegedly accidentally scattered apples, distracting bulls (security guard) and sixes (servants) and plunged a sharpener right under the heart. The mafioso died instantly, but the killer did not see it, easily jumped over the counter, dived into the warehouse and disappeared through the back door. At the exit from the warehouse, they found gloves and a black, long hoodie with a hood.

On this day, the Gypsy lost a fight on the tatami to Egor when he saw that people who should be afraid entered the hall.

Egor knew one of them, the bandit Kolya of St. Petersburg was a supervisor of a large district in Moscow, and they met at competitions and trained together to pass for a black belt, the first dan.

He didn't know the other two, but he guessed that thieves in law were interested in him.

– Let's get acquainted, nice person. They say you've filled up a lot of Dirty stuff… and finished two of his sixes at home?

– Who's talking? Egor asked calmly.

– Our ears and eyes speak, the source is true. Here they wanted to ask you, did you teach your fighter or did you go to the market to cut a pig yourself? – he coughed, but he didn't take the cigarette out of his mouth, – You see, the damned consumption, I've already leaned back for a long time from the prison, but it's a bitch paw, it's eating me.

– Yes, okay, Gray-haired, you'll live another hundred years, – the third, the most terrible, hoarsely remarked. A short fifty-year-old man, in a beautiful crimson jacket, and in his hands a black leather raincoat. But the eyes. Those eyes burned with a black fire of hatred and malice, as if you were looking into the eyes of the devil himself.

And from the outside it seemed that five men were talking to each other, peacefully discussing the weather and their sores. But only a knowledgeable person understood that after talking with these three, there were blood stains on the walls, shell casings on the floor and heavy black garbage bags.

– I only killed two, they tortured my wife and children, I buried the corpses in the forest, I did everything myself, I didn't touch Podnebesny, I know that he sent the sixers, to take tribute from me, but I don't have money. Children pay for training when they can. Our factory have been closed, everyone has been reduced, families have nothing to eat, they cannot pay for children. And I'll get a little for rent. This is my truth. And you decide whether to believe or not.

– Do you know that your Gypsy failed him?

"I don't know," Egor answered honestly.

The gypsy, who was standing behind and heard everything, came forward:

– I slaughtered a pig, a little dirty. This bitch sent scumbags to the Coach's house. And the Coach, he's for me… like a father… more… and my mother is there and my brothers.... If it weren't for the bulls, I would have crushed this bitch with my hands until his vile blue tongue fell out.

The gypsy made this speech, the longest in his entire life.

And Kolya of St. Petersburg smiled: "Well, well, it's good to shake your snot on your fist, like women blurred, let go of another tear, asshole, look what a sentimental killer, he also chose a noble goal, a mother. Straight Bruce Lee against the Japanese.

– The Japanese are stronger, – said the Gypsy.

– Talk to me, puppy. Silence, grown-up uncles says.

Kolya finished this light skirmish with the Gypsy and defused the situation a little.

The third spoke and everyone fell silent.

– Egor, you will now be Gosha Tverskoy. Drove yours forever. You will walk under me. I'm holding Moscow, my guys control all the districts, I'm responsible for the general staff. I didn't like Tolya Dirty Podnebesny for a long time. There were a lot of complaints about him. He got involved with scumbags, he left too much dirt behind. He brought down one good, honest cop, now serious people have taken up arms against our inner circle. In general, your Gypsy did us a favor. But it was also not put by the last people, so your kid can get to be dead at any time. Take care of him, if he does not get caught, he will become an important person, according to concepts.

Next, train the children. My guys will come to you in the gym, take care of them. I don't take money from you, prepare good fighters for me. They will be engaged separately.



After this terrible ninety-second came the stage of formation and ascent. Egor started taking children to competitions, then founded a couple more schools in the region. When the hall in the basement in Tver could no longer accept those who wished, Egor moved to Moscow and opened the largest Kyokushin Karate school in all of Russia. Studying with Gosha Tversky was a matter of honor for all self-respecting authorities and fighters. Gosha put his friend Vladimir to train children's groups up to 15 years old, and he studied with adults. The school was wildly popular. He honestly gave part of the money from competitions, fees and certifications to the general bandit's staff, for this there have never been inspections and authorities in his schools. All teenage children from policia families to State Duma deputies dreamed of getting into Egor Levin's fight school, but the coach immediately cut off the spoiled, arrogant and drug addicts. Some offended parents came to deal with the arrogance of the coach and why the driver brought the stoned teenager from training ahead of time, but Egor immediately showed a legal document, a contract signed by the parents that alcohol and drug intoxication were not allowed in the section. Moreover, he had such a "roof" that he would have done without documents. For the fact that now his family was safe, he paid faithfully to the main Moscow bandits. Now, when the eldest studied at an elite lyceum, the youngest went to kindergarten with an English-speaking nanny, his mother had an operation and the tumor was removed (doctors predicted at least another ten to fifteen years of life), and his wife was smart and beautiful, opened her beauty salon on Tverskaya Street, symbolic for them, and dreamed of a daughter. The family did not know that every day their father and the head of the family could not come home alive. He went to all the major showdowns, participated in shootouts and changed cars affected by bullets. His family was guarded by fighters who were trained by Egor himself. Volodya and Gypsy always took turns being next to the family and Gosha Tversky.

At gatherings, former convict authorities shunned him because he was not sitting in prison. But communicating, watching the courage of the fighter, the training of youngsters, which he was engaged in, counting the money that the fighting business brought all over Russia, even the most inveterate and frostbitten were imbued with respect for him. Gosha Tverskoy became an authority without prison, soldering and sharpening.

In the ninety-fourth, an attempt was made on him and his family, he took the family to the south of Russia, bought a house from the Kotenko family, met Valya's parents, Valya and helped them move to Marino district in Moscow, but they did not lose the Levin and Kotenko family ties. While Egor's family lived as hermits, Valya's parents often visited them in the summer, Egor ordered to build a guest house for Valya's family, which was cooler in terms of amenities and decoration than their own. And he said that they could come to visit at any time. Valentina quickly became friends with Vova and her namesake Valentin, who was younger. When the family was safe, Egor returned to Moscow. With his army of guys, he dealt with everyone who tried to kill his family. A few years later, he had buildings in the center of Moscow, restaurants, hotels and markets in his hands. Had given his friend and brother Volodya the entire sports business and the management of schools, Egor and his faithful shadow Gypsy began to move away from the criminal business. Egor began to legalize objects, to formalize "clean" law firms, where Ivan Ivanovich Tsygankov was the founder. The time of wringing out and lawlessness was coming to an end and Egor quickly realized that the power of papers, legal documents is more important than the power of machine guns and bombs. Egor sent his army of loyal guys to study at the best economic schools in Europe. He and the Gypsy flew all over America and Asia, of course with his family. Returning after a year of traveling, Gosha Tverskoy got a breath of fresh breath, seeing the new world with his own eyes, he realized that the future is in development, growth, knowledge. Egor invested all the money he earned in franchises of enterprises. Foreigners, seeing that an era of development was coming in Russia, willingly negotiated with him. The guys who received training headed construction companies, restaurants, hotels and key management positions. The era of fighters is over – the era of brains has begun. Egor took loans for his companies from foreign banks, shopping centers grew like mushrooms. Every self-respecting brand tried to buy a place in the mall under construction in advance.

Egor bought a mansion on Rublevka, moved his family there, but did not remove the guard for old times' sake. A person from the nineties will never trust the calm of the noughties.

– Yes, Valentina, – Egor loved the Kotenko family, in the corrupt and rotten world of overindulged millionaires, this is the only family he respected, and which categorically refused to accept his financial assistance. – Why don't you come to visit, Vovka missed you, the little too.

– Egor Ivanovich, I need your help. My sister is in trouble. A bad man offended her, and now he's trying to throw money at her.

– Valya, are you all right, are you okay?

– Yes, I am okey, everything is fine.

– Now the Gypsy will arrive, give me the address.



Chapter 10

Nina walked to the subway, dragging her feet. The life left the bright, cheerful girl, as all the air left the balloon. During this night of waiting, Nina has matured by at least ten years. Now it was not a young, gentle, light ninth-grader who looked into your eyes, but a sophisticated, experienced, adult girl who was poisoned, betrayed, abandoned, and then, she almost lost her mother through her own fault. Nina remembered this lesson for the rest of her life, crying at night in the hospital over her mother. They say that children are cruel and selfish, it's true. The older they get, the more they appreciate and understand, the more often they pay attention to how their parents are aging, how valuable it is to be around, to feel like a child while the mother and father are alive. And the parents.... parents end their lives, they begin preparing for a long and painful exam "were you a good parent for your child". And they, sparing no effort: take them to mugs, check (hammer) with lessons, help to get a diploma, worry about work, worry about family life, help with the purchase of housing, nurse grandchildren and teach how to properly educate. And this exam for parents lasts a lifetime, because they stop living for themselves and thinking about themselves. There are exceptions. But you and I don't know such people, right? (The author sneakily giggles into the iPhone screen, the author knows such people and wholeheartedly feels sorry for these unhappy, angry, lonely people).

Nina's mother was sure that she had not passed her life exam, that she had not brought up her daughter correctly, if she was still alive. Looking for Nina at night in the metro area, parks, sleeping area, Tatiana Sergeevna mentally drew the dismembered corpse of her girl at the trash, or in the river, or near the bushes. Her heart was pounding, a stone hoop was squeezing her chest, it was getting harder to breathe, and her mother wandered around until dawn and howled only one thing: Nina, Nina, my girl, Lord have mercy, for what? Now Nina was taking the exam, she must prove to her sister, her sick mother and herself that she is strong, she is brave, she is smart and she will atone for all mistakes at the cost of bravery and courage.

Gypsy, Egor's right-hand man, was so professional in his field, solving problems, that he overdid the organization of the operation according to the forces involved.

At the age of twenty-five, the Gypsy knew and was able to do much more than some forty-year-old men.

In those far terrible nineties, Egor pulled him out of the pit and practically saved him from death, and for this the Gypsy paid him with his devotion and his life. No one knew how old he really was, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five. The doctor and part-time friend of Egor determined the age of the internal organs of development by fifteen to sixteen years, but no one knew how long the boy was starving and completely slowed down in development physically. Then showing his psychiatrist friend, Egor was extremely surprised by the results. Alexander Alekseevich Samokhin, a psychiatrist, observed all of Egor's fighters, then opened his practice with his help, but he did not trust anyone with admissions to competitions, issuing belts, certifications and examining all of his friend's wards.

After examining the Gypsy and talking with him, Alexander asked the boy to wait, and invited Egor to his office.





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