They got off at Maxim's floor, he opened the door and politely invited his mother to go through first. Helen, pursing her lips in displeasure, entered the apartment and roamed her eyes around the empty room. From this place, the table on which she left the check for Katrin was not visible, but it was rather suspicious to immediately run to it.

Maxim casually threw his messenger bag into the armchair and pulled off his tie, and all this time he was sensitively listening to the sounds in the apartment. His heart was beating wildly. How unbearably I wanted to rush into the bedroom, hug Catherine and say: "I'm at...