“We were just following orders, Vladimira,” Igor added.

After this conversation, I never saw my former guards again. But even without them, I had something to do and something to think about.

I spent my nights now with Dyusha, now with Vitka. They really made a schedule, which terribly infuriated me, but no one took my objections seriously. The only good news was that from the third day of our stay in the flock, we spent these nights already in a new house, which I almost instantly fell in love with, as soon as I went in and looked around.

On the ground floor there was a huge living room,...