But he still worked at StroyGarant. Every evening, around seven, he left his office parking lot. And she decided to ambush him.
She drove to his office building half an hour before the end of the workday. She parked her car so she had a good view of the parking lot exit but was not easily visible herself. She sat in the car, feeling neither fear nor doubt.
Only cold determination. She rehearsed in her head what she would say. What she would do.
At exactly 7:10, his car drove out from behind the barrier. Anisa started the engine and followed, keeping her distance. He didn’t drive toward the new house.
He turned toward the old district, toward their former apartment. Why? But then she saw him drive into a courtyard and stop at the entrance where his old friend, almost a brother he had grown up with, lived. Probably couldn’t stand Kira’s constant presence and was looking for an escape.
That suited her. A conversation on the street was much safer than in the lobby of an elite residential complex. She waited for him to get out of the car.
And when he, head bowed, headed for the entrance, she intercepted him. “David.” He flinched as if struck.
He turned around sharply. Seeing her, he froze. His face expressed a whole gamut of feelings—fear, shame, surprise, and a strange, pathetic hope.
“Anisa? What are you doing here?” “I was waiting for you,” she said in an even voice. “We need to talk. Now.”
“I… I can’t right now,” he stammered, looking around. “Let’s not do this here.” “Right here,” she cut him off.
“It won’t take long.” She took out her phone. Opened the photo of the newspaper clipping.
And silently handed it to him. “Remember this.” He took the phone distrustfully.
He looked at the screen, at the small print, at the headline, “Missing.” And in that moment, his composure, the mask he had worn all this time, crumbled to dust. The color drained from his face.
The phone in his hand trembled. He looked at the photograph as if he had seen a ghost. “Where… where did you get this?” he whispered.
His voice was hoarse. “From the newspaper archive. Five years ago.”
“The same week Kira supposedly died in a car accident. Funny, isn’t it? In one week, one person dies, and another disappears without a trace. Especially if that other is the main enemy of your company.” She looked him straight in the eye, not looking away. And she saw the last defensive barriers crumbling in his eyes.
He was broken. Completely. “Let’s get in the car,” he said hollowly.
“Not here.” They got into her car. He slumped heavily into the passenger seat and covered his face with his hands. His shoulders shook.
But this time, these weren’t the fake tears of repentance like in their kitchen. This was the real, animal terror of a cornered man. “It was an accident,” he began, not taking his hands from his face. His voice was choked.
“We didn’t mean to kill him. I swear to you, Anisa.” She was silent. She let him talk.
He spoke confusedly, incoherently, jumping from one thing to another. But gradually, a monstrous truth began to emerge from this chaos of words. “Filatov… he was digging up dirt on me.”
“He found out that I… that I was taking money from the company. Inflating material costs. He put together a file on me.”
“All the evidence. He came to me and said, either I pay him a huge sum for his silence, or he takes that file to the prosecutor and my bosses.” “And that would have been the end. Prison.” David spoke, and Anisa listened, and everything fell into place in her head.
That’s where the money for the luxurious life, the expensive trips he had vaguely mentioned, had come from. It was theft. Embezzlement.
“I agreed to pay. I had no choice. I gathered everything we had.”
“We agreed to meet late at night at his dacha, on the river. I was supposed to bring the money, and he was supposed to give me the file.” “I was going to go alone…”
“But Kira… she insisted on coming with me. She said she didn’t trust Filatov, that he might cheat me.” He fell silent.
Breathing heavily. “We met at his pier. He was already there, on his boat.”
“I gave him the bag with the money. He counted it. And laughed.”
“Said it wasn’t enough. That he would be milking me for the rest of my life. And he didn’t give me the file.”
David paused, as if gathering strength for the worst. “An argument started. We were shouting at each other.”
“And then Kira… she was like a madwoman. She was always quick-tempered, but that evening, I had never seen her like that. She grabbed a small anchor from the deck, the kind used to tie up a boat, and… and hit him.”
“Hit Filatov on the head.” He was speaking in a whisper, staring at one point. “He didn’t make a sound.”
“Just… swayed and fell overboard. Into the dark water. There was a splash.”
“And that was it. Silence.” “We waited, thought he would swim out.”
“But he didn’t.” “We were in a panic. In shock.”
“We realized what we had done.” There it was. The truth.
Dirty, terrible, bloody. There was no illness. There was murder.
Or at the very least, manslaughter and hiding a body. “Kira came up with the plan,” David continued, his voice almost inaudible. “Her mind started working immediately.”
“She said no one had seen us. That we had to leave immediately. And that she needed to disappear.”
“Because if they found Filatov’s body, an investigation would start, and they would eventually get to us.” “She said she would fake her own death. Leave, lie low until everything settled down.”
“And I was supposed to stay. Tell everyone she died in an accident. And manage our… our money.”
“Wait for her return.” He looked up at Anisa, his eyes full of tears and despair. “I was horrified.”
“I was ready for anything. I agreed. I loved her, and I was afraid of prison.”
“I did everything she said. I lied to everyone. My parents, friends, and then I met you.”
“And I… I really did fall in love with you, Anisa. You were like a light. Like salvation.”
“I wanted to start a new life. I almost believed she would never come back.” He fell silent, emptied by his confession.
Anisa sat, digesting what she had heard. The picture was complete. But it was missing one last detail.
“Why did she come back now?” she asked quietly. “And why is she doing this to me? To all of us?” David gave a bitter laugh. It sounded like a moan.
“Because that’s who she is. She’s always been like that. She takes everything she considers hers.”
“And destroys everything that stands in her way.” He looked at his trembling hands. “She came back because she needed money.”
“A lot of money. And because she realized the danger had passed. Filatov’s case was long closed as an accident.”…
