I played a role. Cooked dinners, listened to him, nodded. Until one evening.
We were sitting by the fireplace.
“To us,” he said.
“To us,” I repeated and… didn’t touch the glass.
At that moment there was a knock on the door.
I stood up and opened it.
A policeman and a private detective stood at the threshold.
— Citizen Orlov, you are under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder.
– You… You set me up?
“No,” I came closer, looking straight into his eyes. “You set yourself up. I just survived.”
Two months passed.
The life was going on as usual.
All the evidence was against him. He was sitting in a pretrial detention center, his lawyer looked dispirited.
It all seemed too normal. Too neat.
One evening I received a call from the pre-trial detention center.
– He wants to meet you.
He says he will tell you the truth – only to you.
I looked at the phone for a long time. But curiosity won out.
“You know,” he leaned closer, “you got it all wrong. You weren’t the target.
I froze.
– What?
“It was all for her,” he chuckled.
“For my sister. She knew too much. And demanded too much.
“You’re lying,” I muttered.
– Check her phone.
See who she talked to. We’ll talk later.
I returned home in the early morning. I didn’t sleep until dawn.
I opened an old tablet that belonged to his sister. What I looked inside made everything I knew upside down.
She was indeed playing a double game. Eavesdropping.
Recording. Chatting with someone under the nickname “M.O.” One of her last messages knocked the wind out of her sails:
“If she doesn’t leave on her own, we’ll have to arrange an accident. My brother needs an incentive.”
I reread these lines over and over again.
I was sh0cking.
My sister had already left the hospital, as if nothing had happened. She was smiling, baking pies, offering help.
I started looking for “M.O.”: contacts, numbers, traces in correspondence. It turned out that this is not just a person.
This is a whole system. A shadow organization that solves “problems” for money. Big money.
It turns out that my husband wanted to delete my sister, and my sister wanted to remove me.
I decided to meet with “M.O.” – under a false name, with a fictitious story.
“Did you order the disappearance?” he asked.
“No,” I answered.
“I came to offer cooperation.”
He looked at me carefully.
– What exactly?
I smiled.
— Information. Access to everyone who tried to get rid of me. In exchange — help.
We can be useful to each other.
He took a sip of coffee.
– Do you want revenge?
– No. I want to control the game. It’s over.
Now I decide who goes where.
I entered this world quietly.
“M.O.” understood: it is better to work with me than to conflict.
One night I came to her place unannounced. I sat down opposite her.
“I know about M.O.,” I said calmly. “And about your order for me.”
She turned pale.
– This… This is not true…
– It’s too late.
I didn’t come for apologies. I’m giving you a choice.
I stood up and walked to the door.
– Then you will know what it is like when the glass suddenly becomes not yours.
And she left.
The next morning she was not home.
And I looked in the mirror and realized: the old me is no longer there.
Now I was a force.
I felt power. Almost divine.
The very network I had entered accepted me – even feared me.
I began to control destinies like chess pieces. I could ruin or protect with one call. People spoke of me by other names.
My past transformed into a legend.
But one day I received an envelope without an address. Inside was a photo. Mine.
And a note. Just three words:
“You’re not the first.”
At that moment, everything destr0yed. I realized: behind this entire network, manipulation, even behind “M.O.” there is someone else.
I tried to find M.O., but he was gone.
The network started to break down. People were disappearing.
Every night I feel someone’s gaze. Phone calls without words.
It’s not paranoia – it’s a signal.
I had defeated my game… but found myself part of another – more ancient, more dangerous.
Now I live differently. Without a name. Without a past.
And I’m waiting.
