Four months later, when she returned home, she found a strange woman’s shoes in the bedroom, while the smile suddenly disappeared from her husband’s face

I approached the half-open bedroom door and saw the outline of a human body beneath the blanket. I had been away from home for four months, but at that moment I felt as if it had been waiting for me here, in this corridor, all my life.

I was still holding the small elephant-shaped thermos that Niko had given me before I left. The miniature bell attached to the lid jingled with every movement. Now that sound resembled my breathing — small, nervous, and desperate.

“Sandro?” I called quietly.

There was no answer.

The blanket moved slightly. I grasped the doorknob, but my fingers became wet. Then I noticed that the room smelled of women’s perfume — sweet, strong, completely unfamiliar. And my pillow was no longer on the edge of the bed. A pink satin pillow lay in its place.

“Niko?” My voice broke. “Son, are you home?”

Silence answered me.

I opened the door wider. The woman beneath the blanket turned her head and opened her eyes. She was about thirty, with blond hair and such calmness on her face, as if she had woken up in her own bedroom. First she looked at me, then at the thermos swinging in my hand.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“This is my house. And you are lying in my bed.”

The woman sat up. Her low-heeled shoes were lying by the door, exactly the pair I had seen upon entering. One of the heels had dried mud trailing along it. I saw that small stain with strangely perfect clarity and realized that all this time I had been looking precisely for such details — something that would tell me this nightmare was not real.

“Call Sandro,” she said.

“Why should I call my husband when you are in my bed?”

The woman pressed her lips together.

“You probably do not yet know what happened.”

At that moment, the sound of a key came from the corridor. The thermos bell jingled again. Sandro entered the room, holding two paper cups in his hands. He saw me and stopped.

His face turned pale in one second.

“Clara… you were not supposed to come today.”

“I notice that.”

He looked at the woman, then came toward me.

“Calm down. Everything is not as you think.”

“Then tell me, where is Niko?”

Sandro put the cups on the floor. One overturned and coffee spilled across the white ceramic tiles.

“Niko is at my mother’s.”

“I have not seen him for four months. Why did you not call me by video?”

“You yourself said that you were overloaded with the project.”

“I called you every day.”

The woman lowered her legs from the bed.

“Sandro, perhaps you should tell her everything first.”

“Be quiet, Elene.”

That name lodged in my heart like a shard of glass. Elene stood up and put on a robe. Something fell from the robe’s pocket — a silver key on which the number of our apartment was written.

I looked at Sandro.

“She has our key?”

Sandro could not answer.

At that moment my phone lit up in the corridor. I received a message from an unknown number: “If you are looking for Niko, look behind the wall clock.”

I slowly turned my head. An old wooden clock hung in the living room, which Niko stopped every morning so that he would be late going to school. Sandro stepped toward me.

“Clara, do not go there.”

But I was already standing by the clock. I raised my hand, touched its cold wooden frame for the last time, and then Sandro grabbed my wrist……

Sandro was gripping my wrist so tightly that the thermos bell jingled again.

“Let go of me,” I said.

“Listen to me first.”

“You deceived me for four months. And now you ask me to listen?”

Elene stood by the door and watched us with a pale face.

“Sandro, this cannot continue,” she said. “Tell her where the child is.”

Sandro released my hand. Behind the clock I found a small wooden box. Inside there was only one sheet of paper and Niko’s small plastic bracelet. The paper said: “If you see this, do not believe his words.”

My knees gave way.

“Is this Niko’s handwriting?” I asked.

“No,” Sandro answered very quickly.

“Then why is his bracelet here?”

Elene covered her face with her hands.

“I thought the child was safe.”

“Where is he?” I shouted.

Sandro looked toward the door. At that moment, the sound of car brakes came from outside. Then someone knocked several times.

The camera attached to the door flashed red.

Sandro took out his phone and said in a whisper:

“They have already arrived…”

And behind the door I heard Niko’s voice……

Niko’s voice behind the door was so quiet that for a moment I thought I had imagined it. Then he called me again.

“Mom, do not go in alone!”

Sandro rushed toward the door, but I stepped in front of him. Elene put her hand on the handle and opened the door. Niko stood on the threshold, and beside him was my brother Irakli, holding a black folder.

Niko ran toward me. Four months seemed to collapse in one second. I hugged him and his hair touched my face. He still had the same soap smell that I used to buy in his childhood.

“Mom, Dad told me that you would not come back.”

Sandro shouted:

“Niko, go back into the room!”

“I will not believe you anymore,” the child said and clung to me more tightly.

Irakli put the folder on the table.

“Now you must learn everything, Clara.”

“Where was my son?”

“With me. For two weeks.”

Sandro lunged at him, but Irakli stopped him with his hand.

“One more step and I will call the police myself.”

I opened the folder. Inside were the apartment sale agreement, a forged signature in my name, and bank statements. During the last four months, money had been transferred from my account to Elene’s company.

“This is not my signature,” I said.

“I know,” Irakli replied. “That is why I began investigating.”

Sandro gave a short laugh, but the laughter stopped immediately.

“Everything is Clara’s fault. She abandoned the family and I needed money.”

Irakli put his phone on the table and turned on a recording. Sandro’s voice was heard:

“Niko must not return from school on Monday. I will tell Clara that the child is at my mother’s. If we sell the apartment, she will not be able to take anything from me.”

The air disappeared from the room.

Sandro stared at the recording as if he were hearing his own voice for the first time.

“It is edited,” he said.

“No,” I answered. “It is from the camera in your kitchen.”

Sandro looked toward me. He did not know that before leaving, I had stored the security system’s backup recordings in my personal storage. It was from there that Irakli found everything.

Elene slowly sat down.

“Sandro, you told me that Clara was signing the sale.”

“You knew what you were doing too.”

“I did not know that you were hiding the child!”

Niko covered his ears with his hands.

At that moment Irakli’s phone rang. He listened for several seconds, then turned toward me.

“Clara, the police have already received the report. But that is not the worst part. Today at noon your husband was supposed to prove in court that you are a danger to Niko. For that he submitted one more piece of evidence……