Arina was the only and favorite daughter to the head (King) of the largest Gypsy clan.
Perst, that was his real gypsy name, but people other than gypsies called him Peter. He accepted and acknowledged the only child as his. The most beautiful and beloved wife Dana gave a birth to that girl.
Perst was afraid of Dana's mother, a hereditary witch, so in front of the entire tribe he announced that Dana was his only wife, and the daughter that Dana gave birth to in the first year, Ara was the only heir.
Perst was a real gypsy of the hottest blood. Already at ten, he slaughtered a young man (in the Soviet and post-Soviet criminal world criminals like Perst called such people “friars”) in the market place.
When he was sixteen went to collect his tribe, 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 proclaimed her to be the only recognized and legitimate daughter to receive all movable and immovable property after his death.
The times were dashing, and there were many young and zealous candidates for his throne. Traitors were punished by the King, 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 in the drugs selling and decentralizing the influence over the Moscow beggars who, in their turn, brought a lot of cash in the common fund. The new heads of his armies tried to create their own brothels for the clients who came from all over the world.
The King feared every day that he would die, leaving little Ara alone to be devoured and torn to pieces by the hungry wolves of the pack. He could trust to only one person, his Deputy, Sul Kaisarov, the leader of the Gypsy mafia who instructed him to take her abroad to the United States.
"Sul, you are responsible for Ara with your head, and if something happens to her, none of your family is going to stay alive. You know me.
– Yes, my King, I understand – Sul 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 am sending her overseas.
– Yes, Master.
"I'll let you know when things quiet down here." But for the next ten years you are not going to come back here. It will be rather hot here.
Sul 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. Everything was ready Ara’s coming to the US: citizenship, house, medical insurance and a place in a private school. Sul was supposed to control the American branch of the King's people.
At parting Perst embraced Sul, whom he loved as his own son. For a long time he looked into Arina's night-black eyes, stroked the raven hair, and called her Dana.
"Daddy, I'm Ara.
"I know, my flower, I know, I know, my soul. Your mother always looks at you from heaven. She died when giving birth to you. She is your angel-guardian who always keeps you safe. I will always keep you safe.
A terrible and cruel bandit who punished by killing and gave orders to take young girls as prostitutes, collected tribute from young children beggars, cried bitterly for the second time in his life. The first, when his beloved Dana died in childbirth.
And all the guards, even the heartless Sul had tears in their eyes.
Arina 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 Moscow. Next to him stood strict and untouched by the years Sul.
"Daddy, maybe try Switzerland medicine services?" 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 through all the property documents at the place of Sul’s wife. I have money in my Swiss account that will be inherited by you, lawyer Jorik Rosenberg manages all my finances, you heard of him. He settled all the problems without telling you when you lived in America. The documents for the Restaurants here and abroad have already been drawn to your name. But you know that. Come closer to me. Sul, wait outside the door.
When they were alone in the room, Perst took his daughter's hand and finally said:
"Your grandmother Vada was a witch. The entire tribe knew and feared the power of her curses. It could destroy the fruit, send a pestilence, or kill a whole herd of horses from a neighboring tribe. 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 heart and soul. Vada, having lost her daughter in childbirth, cursed all her gods and asked them to take away all the dark forces from her. But our gods were merciful and returned dark strengths to you… I kept the secret of Vada for a long time, but when you turned eighteen, Sul mentioned that he felt strange aura 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 wasn’t me he did it 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, Vada said that in exchange for your gift, which the gods returned to you, they would take the most precious from you. You will always be barren.
"What?" Dad? Daddy?! Ohhh!!! Nooo!!!
Sul 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, now 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 business.
Having appointed Sul their right-hand man, they hired a staff of the best lawyers to open new, absolutely legal businesses in the field of IT. Arina graduated from the US University with a degree in modern computer programs and websites, so after the research of Russian market, she invested part of her inheritance in IT development.
"Dad would be laughing at me right now if he knew that robots bring me money.
Sul silently smiled in the next seat and adjusted his holster out of habit.
– Mila, who's next? Arina asked her Secretary over the phone.
– Oleg Bryantsev, a post-graduate student from Moscow State University with the project "the Future of computer technologies".
Vera regained her consciousness in the clinic room. The aching head was heavy and splitting. Her eyelids didn't open. She fumbled for the nurse's call button.
A few minutes later, the doctor entered the room.
– Doc, what's wrong with me? Why I'm here. Can I have some water?
"Yes, sure Vera. The nurse will bring you some water and dinner.
"Dinner?" Is it evening?
"You've been here more than a day. Another surgical intervention was necessary.
"What? What happened? Doctor, I felt very well. I had excellent tests. It's been so many months, what's the problem?
– Dear Vera, I am very sorry to inform you that you can no longer have children. Inflammatory processes in the uterus caused fever and dizziness. You passed out in the restaurant bathroom. You were discovered by Oleg's wife Arina. She was the one who brought you in her car. You should be grateful to her now and then. I don't know how it would have ended if she didn’t take you here…
Vera couldn't believe her ears. The tears were streaming down her cheeks. Nightmare. Nightmare. She pinched herself painfully, and her vision went dark.
"I don't understand, I don't remember…"
"That's a normal state at a high temperature. It happens so that to save energy, the body shuts down for a more important, in simple terms, fight. Now everything is fine, have a good rest. The discharge papers will be ready tomorrow, and today you will take another blood test, and the nurse will measure your blood pressure and temperature. If everything is all right, you'll be home by tomorrow night.
Oleg's phone was disconnected or out of network coverage. Vera dialed the number she knew by heart over and over again with a stubborn, stupid persistence until she was exhausted.
– Hello, Vika, hi. It's alright. Can you come tomorrow before two I'll send the address? No, nothing is serious. I'm being discharged from the clinic. Thank you, see you tomorrow – last word was said hysterically, the voice wavered and she instantly hung up.
Vera didn't want to feel sorry for herself, she was afraid to start and then not stop. She texted the address of the clinic to a friend, plugged the empty battery phone to the charger, answered to her worried mother twenty messages "mom, a lot of work, I can't call for a few more days, we rent objects, love, and kiss, hello to dad", turned to the wall with unusual patterns and silently howled.
Vika was here colleague and a friend. She was a strikingly well curve shaped, tall, blond, green-eyed, and as precisely accurate as a Swiss watch. Filling the clinic's lobby with the aroma of fresh pastries, coffee, and expensive perfume, she gave Vera a businesslike look, introduced herself as a sister, and received all the documents and statements. Vera, like a faded carnation on a monument, leaned against the reception desk, suddenly noticed a familiar silhouette in the distance along the corridor. The girl went to the head doctor's door, but the secretary halted her into it.
– Sorry, the Doctor is busy right now.
"I'm sorry, I…"
– So, Vera Klimova. The Doctor has already signed the documents for your discharge.
"I just wanted to say thanks and say goodbye."
– The doctor has a consultation right now, I'm sorry, you can't see him.
Vera had already turned to leave when the communicator on the secretary's desk asked for two coffees in the voice of the chief doctor.
"And juice, please, I need fresh juice," the voice on the speakerphone said with a loud laugh.
– Daria, bring two coffees and fresh orange juice, please.
– Of course, Doctor.
– Vera? – the secretary has already left the table and addressed the girl, – Can I help you with anything else?
"No, no, thank you. Tell me, who is in the Doctor”s office now?
– This is closed information, – Daria shrugged her shoulders and danced to make coffee and fresh orange juice on perfectly long and straight legs for her boss and Arina, Oleg's wife.
Vika made herbal tea with berries, put the tray on the small coffee table, and sat down on the sofa next to Vera.
"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"Are you going to be silent for a long time?" What happened?
– Nothing. All right.
Vika nodded and went into the hall.
"Where are you going?" Vera got up weakly from the sofa and threw off the blanket, shivering, although there was no temperature.
– Home.
– Vika, wait, and tea?
Always temperamental and cheerful friend exploded like a bomb:
– Tea? What kind of tea, Vera? You're in a clinic, you've had fainting spells, surgery, and abortion, which, by the way, is not listed in this statement. It's listed in the history of your medicine cabinet. What the hell, friend? Are you a normal person? Why don't I know anything?
Vicka's green eyes burned with righteous fire. She was standing in the corridor in one boot and an unbuttoned raincoat. She was angry, brave, and beautiful.
"Vic, I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you, it's embarrassing and painful.
"So I'm a stranger to you?"
– No, not a stranger, sorry, – Vera sighed and trudged to the sofa, she took the cup and took a small sip, then resolutely took a deep breath.
Vika listened with her mouth open, still sitting on the sofa in her raincoat, her boot in her hands, having forgotten to take it to the corridor. Vera told about Oleg, about their secret affair, which lasts more than a year, told about the abortion, about travel, about calls from his wife, meeting, and events of the last days.
Twilight faded into the late evening, and then into the night. The girls were sitting on the sofa, one occasionally crying and falling silent, while the other only nodded sympathetically and shook her head.
Vera finished her story and covered her face with her hands. She felt ease and lightness as if a heavy stone that had been pressing her to the ground fell from her shoulders. A secret affair with a married man was no longer just her secret.
But for some reason, Vika was more interested in his wife’s charitable actions than in Oleg.
"Vera, dear, this is not the worst thing, believe me. We all make mistakes. You're still young, but I'm five years older than you, and I once slept with a married man.
Vera looked at her friend gratefully. She knew that Vika was telling all this to comfort her, but saint Vika, the mother of an equally fair four-year-old beauty daughter and the wife of a famous Moscow lawyer, could not be….
– Yes, before I met Misha, I worked as a designer in Novosibirsk, you know, but you don't know why I moved to Moscow. My boss, Roman, was an elementary womanizer and freak. But that doesn't mean it's not my fault. I am guilty, of course, guilty as a sin. I was naive twenty-year-old fool who fell for the sweet speeches, words, and velvet chatter of an elderly ladies ' man. Naturally, at the corporate party, it happened right in his office. It was later that I found out that all our women's team had been there before me, including the accountant Valentina, his age, with whom he had had affairs twenty years ago when both were young and hot. His wife, who had long endured his infidelities and debauchery, for some reason went berserk with me. Not only did she make a scene at my house in front of my parents, but she also brought her children to work so they could see "daddy's new whore." The entire team was in shock, each with fear thought that in my place could be it. But many of our women also had families and children. My affair with Roman ended with a couple of times of dubious quality of comfort in the office before it had time to begin and flourish. The hero-lover cowardly suggested that I write of my own accord, which I did with great pleasure. My parents calmed me down and blessed me for Moscow. And I am happy that I came here. Here I met Misha, my love, my happiness. But he has not yet shown me his documents and passport with an empty column about marital status, I even forbade him to kiss. We're still laughing. He, by the way, that's why he married me, said that he had never seen anyone like me. And I told him that I had vowed never to have any personal dealings with married men in my life.
Vera never talked to her friend about her personal life. She knew their family, sometimes went to birthday parties, but always alone. Vera was silent about her married lover, and Vika pretended not to notice her secretive personal life. Vera did not know that in the past, Victoria had such an instructive and difficult story, although with a happy ending. And Vika, in turn, having heard her friend's story, felt that the situation had gone too far. Vika realized that Vera had already lost this battle. The main thing was that Arina in this unequal struggle felt sorry and let go of the stupid fool. Although in the back of her mind, something told Vika that Ara did not take prisoners and shot them on the spot.
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