The smell of cinnamon and vanilla fills the air as I nervously pull the cheesecake out of the oven. My hands tremble slightly as I check the recipe yet again, even though I know it by heart. This time it has to be perfect, I think to myself.

“Andrei, the guests are waiting for dessert!” His voice rings from the living room, impatient and condescending as always.

I carefully cut the cheesecake, adding fresh raspberries for decoration. Each move is deliberate, my anxiety heightened by his words from the last family dinner echoing in my mind: “As usual, clumsy hands. Can’t even cut a cake properly.”

When I enter the living room, I’m greeted by polite smiles from his family—his parents, sister, and her husband. Only his mother eyes me with her usual disapproving squint.

“Ah, here’s our little chef!” Andrei announces with a smirk that cuts deeper than any insult. “Let’s hope she didn’t surprise us with another disaster this time.”

I place the plates silently, avoiding their gazes. Andrei is the first to try it. The moment stretches as I hold my breath.

“Hmm…” he begins, grimacing dramatically. “This? You call this a cheesecake? Dry as a bone! Haven’t I told you a hundred times—160 degrees, no higher. It’s not that hard, even for you.”

I mumble an apology, but he cuts me off.

“Honestly, how hard can it be to follow a recipe? Sometimes I think I should’ve married someone who knows her way around a kitchen.”

Laughter erupts—awkward, subdued, but laughter nonetheless. My grip tightens on the tray as I stand frozen, heat rising in my cheeks.

That night, as the house grows quiet, I stand before the mirror in our bedroom. The woman staring back at me is unrecognizable. Her face is pale, her shoulders slumped, her eyes lifeless. Where did the bright, cheerful girl who once dreamed of love and happiness go?

From the living room, Andrei’s voice carries, smug and dismissive:

“Can you believe it? She messed up the cheesecake again. I don’t know what to do with her.”

Inside, something snaps. Quietly, yet irreversibly.

That night, I barely sleep. For the first time in ten years, my thoughts are clear. A plan begins to form—simple yet terrifying.

The next morning, Andrei wakes up tied to the bed. His voice is sharp and full of disbelief.

“Masha, have you lost your mind? Untie me!”

I stand over him, calm for the first time in years.

“You know, Andrei,” I say, tracing a finger along his cheek, “ten years is a long time to endure your cruelty. But it’s also enough time to learn a few things. Like how to make a perfect cheesecake.”