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They say that in the old neighborhoods of Dubai, people still whisper about the story of a couple — Marina and her common-law husband Oleg. They came to the UAE to “make some extra money” from gullible tourists: small-scale fraud in the field of crypto investments, which brings easy money. Over time, Oleg went further — he began to “rent out” Marina to wealthy men, as if she were part of his business. Marina liked it and kept quiet.
Once, at another private party, Oleg came to pick up Marina, but the house was silent. There was no one in the living room, but through the half-open bedroom door came the sounds of slaps and noises similar to those made by people undergoing a gastroscopy procedure with an endoscope.
Oleg, feigning indifference, sat down on the sofa and turned on the game console. Suddenly, his gaze fell on the coffee table: there was a notebook, a closed laptop, a cold crypto wallet, and a pile of white powder. He wasn't interested in the powder, but he was interested in the old, worn notebook and wallet.
The wallet belonged to a local adult film director whose wealth was unimaginable. Opening it, Oleg flipped through a few pages and suddenly froze. On one of them was a neatly written seed phrase.
Looking around, he quickly tore out the entire sheet, grabbed the wallet, and hid it in his shorts pocket. Without waiting for Marina or asking what was happening behind the bedroom door, he rushed out of the house and disappeared into the night air of Dubai.
The sounds of strangulation in the bedroom subsided. A short, balding man appeared in the doorway — the same director. His gaze slid over the table: the notebook was open, the sheet torn out, the crypto wallet gone. A grim smile slowly distorted the man's face.
He turned on his laptop and reviewed the CCTV footage, and then he understood everything. He picked up his iPhone and dialed Oleg's number. His doubts were dispelled when the phrase “Subscriber out of range” sounded in the receiver.
Three years passed. One morning, a woman with haunted eyes and barely alive was found near a garbage dump. However, she did not look hungry. It was Marina.
Later, in the hospital, she whispered about a sterile, dimly lit basement, furniture and devices bolted to the ceiling and floor, and a chain embedded in the wall. She talked about how day and night were indistinguishable there. And about how she never saw the faces of those who came.
Latex masks reliably hid the lecherous smiles of male visitors and women, who always left a heavy trail of cheap perfume behind them. But no other detail could hide from the video cameras in her pink room.
And Oleg never got in touch. His phone number was no longer connected to the network. The same cold wallet containing 990 bitcoins did not appear either.
In some neighborhoods of Dubai, you can still hear stories about a man who stole someone else's wallet and his wife, a woman with haunted eyes.