"Fate No. 5" by Tatyana Korsakova, summary

Created in 2011, this book is a fast-paced novel about the collision of two different worlds, harsh lessons in survival, and the long road to mutual forgiveness. The text describes the transformation of a naive girl into a pragmatic entrepreneur managing a multi-brand chain of boutiques. The novel is part of the author’s "Sentimental Prose" series and is the third book in the series (other books include "Crystal Heart," "The Backstreet Millionaire," "Deadly Tango," and "You, Me, and Paris").

Bet and Exile

Twenty-two-year-old student Klim Pankratov makes a cynical bet with his friends. The bet is initiated by seventeen-year-old Dasha, the younger sister of his friend Viktor. Dasha is in love with Klim and tries to attract his attention with capricious behavior. Klim considers the number five his lucky number, so he vows to spend the weekend with the fifth girl to emerge from the institute building. The fifth girl turns out to be seventeen-year-old Alisa Volkova. She is being raised in an extremely religious sect; her parents force her to pray for hours before a lamp and cruelly punish her with starvation for misbehavior. Alisa wears a long skirt and hides her face behind glasses.

Alisa, tired of being so controlled, agrees to go out of town. At a country house, the gilded youth openly mock her, dismissing her as a silly little mouse. The guests ply her with champagne and then push her into the pool. Unable to swim, she sinks to the bottom. Klim jumps in and pulls her to the edge. He gives her his shirt and leaves her in the guest bedroom to dry.

That night, a drunk Klim enters the room and finds Alisa sleeping. He notices a trefoil-shaped scar on her lower back. Klim takes possession of her. The next morning, Dasha gives Alisa a hundred dollars from Klim. Alisa leaves in a taxi.

At home, her parents, upon learning of what happened, accuse their daughter of adultery, destroy her belongings, and throw her out onto the street. Alisa’s only salvation is the taxi driver Zinon, a tough, chain-smoking woman with a psychology degree.

Starting a business

Zinon takes Alisa to the doctor to document the assault. The taxi driver hatches a blackmail plan. Alisa meets Klim by the river. She demands twenty thousand dollars, threatening criminal prosecution. Pankratov hands over the money and takes a receipt.

Ten years pass. With the proceeds, the women open a company called "Alizi." They begin by importing inexpensive goods from Poland, gradually diversifying the business, adding Turkish jeans and moving into high-end European clothing. Zinon makes a successful marriage to a wealthy, elderly businessman from the Caucasus. Two months later, her husband dies, leaving her luxury real estate, a vegetable empire, and a large fortune. Zinon resells the vegetable markets profitably to her husband’s relatives. The friends invest in new retail space. Alisa receives a correspondence degree in economics. The company generates a steady profit.

The company needs a space on Kutuzovsky Prospekt to expand its brand. The property is priced at four million dollars. Zinon asks his lover, banker Boris Remizov, for a loan. Meanwhile, Alisa’s younger sister, Melisa, asks for fifty thousand dollars, ostensibly to buy out her stake in the business. Zinon conducts an audit and discovers that Melisa gambled the money away to local gangsters at a casino. Alisa buys out her sister’s debt, but Melisa takes the rescue as a personal insult. The situation is complicated by Olgerd, the financial director. The Nordic pedant makes a formal proposal to Alisa, but she refuses.

Fire and competition

At Remizov’s anniversary, Alisa and Zinon unexpectedly encounter Klim Pankratov, who has arrived with the scandalous Dasha. Klim inherited a banking empire after his parents’ deaths in Thailand. He learns of Alisa’s plans to buy the store and, seeking revenge for the long-standing blackmail, intercepts the deal. Dasha throws a jealous tantrum, suspecting Klim of rekindling his affair with Alisa.

The situation deteriorates rapidly. Remizov dies of a heart attack. A paid article appears in the tabloids, blaming Zinon for the banker’s death. That same evening, Zinon falls from a fifth-story window, sustains serious injuries, and falls into a coma.

Alisa arrives at Pankratov’s office and begs him to give up the store. She hopes the long-awaited purchase will provide incentive for Zinon to return to life. Klim rudely refuses, suggesting Alisa find another elderly patron. In response, the girl slaps him.

A few days later, Alisa and Klim meet at a fashion show by designer Vitaly Topilsky at the underground club "Blindage." A massive fire breaks out. The crowd forms a bloody stampede at the blocked doors. Alisa beats the flames off the young singer Diana’s clothes with her bare hands. Klim drags the women into a storage room. The young man smashes out a window with a board, but a steel grate prevents evacuation. Vitaly Topilsky drives Klim’s powerful SUV outside, attaches a cable, and rips out the bars. Klim pours twenty liters of water on the burning door and saves the women.

The Double in the Looking Glass

Pankratov pays for Diana’s plastic surgeries. He regularly visits the clinic where Zinon is being treated. At night, the banker experiences strange dreams: Zinon appears to him as a giant bat, smoking, and giving cryptic clues. During one of his visits, Klim encounters Alisa. The girl behaves aggressively, and most importantly, Klim notices that the trefoil-shaped scar on her lower back is missing.

The banker activates his security team and personally goes out of town. It turns out that the person in front of him is Melisa. The girl conspired with Olgerd, the spurned financial director. The lovers threw Zinon out of a window, faking a suicide attempt. Melisa dyed her hair and locked her sister in an unfinished country house with mirrored walls. The conspirators tortured Alisa with bright flashes of light from the ceiling, demanding that she reveal the passwords to corporate bank accounts.

Klim finds the mirror house and confronts an armed Melisa. The criminal aims a gun at the banker’s chest. At the critical moment, designer Vitaly arrives and hits Melisa on the back of the head with a piece of rebar. The men tie up the impostor, break down the heavy basement door, and find an exhausted Alisa. Melisa, who has regained consciousness, attempts to escape in her sister’s car, but loses control on the winding road. The car plunges into a deep ravine, killing the criminal. Olgerd is captured by Klim’s security guards as he leaves his own apartment.

Revival

Alisa undergoes complex neurosurgery. Zinon awakens from his coma, abandons his gloomy image, and accepts the advances of his assistant, Alexander. Klim re-registers the store on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, hands it over to Alisa, and departs for a long-term business trip to London. An insulted Dasha finally breaks up with Pankratov.

In London, the banker suffers from loneliness and insomnia. Vitaly Topilsky regularly sends him emails with photos of Alisa with her hair cut short. Klim can’t take it anymore and returns to Moscow. Vitaly is preparing for his wedding to the recovered Diana. At the pre-wedding bachelor party at the Toska club, Klim, after drinking strong alcohol, announces to his friends that he will marry the fifth woman to enter the room.

Alice is the fifth to enter the room. She learned of the dispute from Vitaly and came to the club specifically to end the feud and take control of her own life. The couple gets married in a small village church on a frosty winter day, recognizing their mutual affection as their true destiny.