“It’s good you inherited that apartment in the city center,” Maria’s mother-in-law, Anna Petrovna, said calmly while stirring her tea. “I’ll live there. I gave my own place to Lena.”
Maria froze mid-sip.
“But that was my grandmother’s apartment. Sergey and I were planning—”
“Planning what? Sell it? Rent it?” Anna cut her off. “I sacrificed my comfort for my grandchildren. Now it’s your turn to help me.”
Sergey walked into the room, clearly having heard everything.
“Mom, we haven’t decided anything about that apartment.”
But Anna insisted she had nowhere to go—and that they owed her.
That night, Maria tried to stay calm.
“Sergey, your mother chose to give her apartment away. Now she wants to move into mine without even asking. Why can’t Lena take her in? She has a three-bedroom now.”
Sergey hesitated. “Maybe just for a few months…?”
“And then what? You think she’ll ever leave?”
The next morning, Anna called, already shopping for a sofa for “her new place.” When Maria told her no, Anna exploded about “disrespect” and “ingratitude.”
Sergey’s father, a quiet man living alone, later told his son:
“Your mother planned this from the start. She never waits to be asked—she decides for everyone.”
Maria’s friend put it bluntly:
“She created the problem herself, and now wants you to solve it. If you let her move in even temporarily, you’ll never get her out.”
A week later, Anna simply arrived at the apartment with a suitcase.
Maria blocked the door. Sergey stood firmly behind her.
“Mom, you can’t live here,” he said.
Anna stared at him in disbelief.
“So you choose her over your own mother?”
“I choose my family—Maria and our future children.”
She left furious.
Months passed. Maria and Sergey finished renovations and moved in. Anna’s stay with Lena turned into chaos, and soon Sergey’s father made a surprising offer:
“I asked your mother to move in with me. Maybe it’s time we try again.”
Eventually, Anna appeared at their door, subdued and hesitant.
“I came to apologize,” she said quietly. “I crossed the line. Victor helped me understand that.”
She admitted she had no right to claim Maria’s inheritance and that she wanted to mend things.
Maria nodded.
“You’re welcome to visit us. As a guest.”
When Anna left, Sergey hugged Maria.
“Do you think she’s really changed?”
“I don’t know,” Maria said. “But she’s trying. And that’s something.”
They stood in their new home—together, finally on their own terms.
