"Love at the Shot" by Alisa Korsak, summary

This book is a contemporary romance novel, published in 2009. The plot revolves around the transformation of a timid, downtrodden girl into a confident entrepreneur, as well as the complex confrontation between a man and a woman that begins with a cynical bet. At the center of the story is a chance encounter that radically changes the characters’ lives and forces them to re-evaluate their values after a series of difficult trials.

An unexpected bet and a fateful meeting

Young Klim Pankratov, a senior student, decides to have some fun on a summer weekend. He and a group of friends make a frivolous bet. The terms of the bet stipulate that Klim must spend the next night with the fifth girl to walk out of the Institute of Foreign Languages. Klim hopes for fortune’s favor, as the number five has always brought him luck. However, fate has other plans.

The fifth to appear on the porch is Alisa Volkova, raised in a strict religious family of sectarians. Her parents severely punish their daughters for any manifestation of secular life, forbidding them from wearing cosmetics, jewelry, and associating with young men. Taking advantage of her parents’ absence, Alisa puts on pink lipstick and heads out. Dasha, the younger sister of her close friend Klim, decides to play along. She convinces Alisa that the handsome, brown-haired Klim has long been in love with her and wants to meet her.

Alisa, yearning for freedom, agrees to go with the group to a country house. She’s wearing a ridiculous pleated ankle-length skirt and an old denim jacket. Klim is annoyed by her appearance but is forced to maintain decorum. At the house, Alisa accidentally breaks her glasses. Klim helps her and suddenly notices that beneath the ugly frames are stunning blue-green eyes.

The reveling guests quickly become intoxicated. Klim’s friends, as a prank, push Alice into the pool. She sinks under the water, unable to swim at all. Klim rushes to her aid and rescues her. He carries the exhausted guest to his room and puts her to bed. That night, an intoxicated Klim returns to the bedroom. In the moonlight, he sees the graceful curves of a woman’s body and the distinctive trefoil mark on her lower back. Overcome by lust, he rapes the sleeping girl.

Exile and the beginning of a new life

In the morning, Dasha cynically hands Alisa a hundred dollars, claiming Klim paid for the night. Shocked by the betrayal, Alisa hurriedly leaves. At the bus stop, she meets Zinaida, an eccentric taxi driver with a background in psychology. Zinaida sympathizes with the victim and takes her home.

Alisa’s angry parents greet her at home. Upon discovering their eldest daughter’s absence overnight, they publicly disown her and throw her out into the street. The fanatics’ only remaining loved one is now her younger sister, Melisa. Alisa returns to Zinaida, who proposes a plan for revenge. The women document the signs of violence at the gynecologist’s office and search for Klim while fishing by the river.

Alisa demands twenty thousand dollars in compensation from Pankratov. Otherwise, she promises to contact law enforcement. Klim, furious, tries to intimidate the blackmailer, but realizes the gravity of the situation. The girl is not yet of legal age, and legal action would ruin his reputation. He pays the demanded sum. Alisa and Zinaida found a company selling European clothing called "Alizi."

Ten years later and new intrigues

Ten years pass. Alizi’s firm has grown into a thriving chain of fashion boutiques. Alisa has changed beyond recognition, becoming a confident and elegant businesswoman. Zinaida, a wealthy widow after the sudden death of her elderly husband, helps her run the business. The friends plan to expand the business and are eyeing a prestigious space on Kutuzovsky Prospekt worth four million dollars.

Over the years, Klim Pankratov has taken over the vast financial empire of his parents, who died in the tsunami in Thailand. He maintains a complicated relationship with the flighty Dasha, but remains a bachelor. Fate brings these former enemies together again at the anniversary of the famous banker Remizov. Klim is astonished by Alisa’s transformation and mistakes her for the elderly birthday boy’s kept woman. He invites her to dance, showering her with caustic insults.

Soon after, Remizov suddenly dies of a heart attack. A scurrilous, paid-for article appears in the press, accusing Zinaida of orchestrating the banker’s murder for the sake of his inheritance. Then comes another tragedy: Zinaida falls from the fifth-floor window of her own apartment. Thanks to the entrance’s trump card, she survives, but falls into a deep coma. Alisa is certain her friend was assisted in her fall.

Conspiracy against the sisters

Left without Remizov’s financial support, Alisa tries to salvage the deal to purchase the premises on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. However, Klim, seeking revenge for an earlier humiliation, buys the property to use as a new office for his bank. Alisa comes to his office and begs him to give up the building. She explains that buying the boutique was Zinaida’s greatest dream, and this news could bring her friend back to life. Klim responds with a firm refusal, earning a slap in the face.

Meanwhile, Alice is trying to deal with her twin sister’s problems. Melisa claims her boss offered to buy her a stake in the company for fifty thousand dollars. In reality, she lost the entire sum at a casino and is being targeted by dangerous creditors. Alice secretly pays off her sister’s debt, hoping to save her from reprisals.

Melisa, however, feels no gratitude. She’s been harboring envy for her sister’s success for years. Teaming up with Olgerd, Alizi’s financial director, Melisa hatches a plot. It turns out that Olgerd was the one who pushed Zinaida out of the window while she was drunk. The criminals kidnap Alisa and lock her in a mirrored room at Olgerd’s country house. They demand that she transfer her bank accounts, planning to kill Alisa in a staged car accident. Melisa cuts her hair short and dyes it to match her sister’s, intending to completely take over her position at the company.

Fire and Rescue from Through the Looking Glass

Before being kidnapped, Alisa attends a fashion show by the talented designer Vitaly Topilsky at the Blindage club. Klim is also there with his fiancée. In the midst of the event, a massive fire breaks out in the underground space. Panic ensues, and the only exit is blocked by the frenzied crowd. Klim helps Alisa rescue the young singer Diana, whose clothes have caught fire.

The heroes find themselves locked in a cramped storage room. Klim breaks down the window, but the steel bars prevent them from escaping. Vitaly, who has survived, comes to the rescue. He brings Klim’s car and uses a tow rope to rip the bars out of the wall. Klim pulls Alisa and Diana out, but he himself passes out from carbon monoxide. Alisa returns to the burning room and pulls Klim out into the fresh air. After the fire, Klim brings Alisa to his country house, where they have a passionate reconciliation. However, in the morning, Dasha causes a scene, and Alisa leaves, determined to finally sever ties with the past.

A few days later, Klim visits the injured singer Diana in the hospital. There, he encounters a woman who looks like Alisa. When she bends over, Klim notices the absence of the trefoil-shaped scar on her lower back. He realizes she’s an impostor. Recalling his strange dreams, where Zinaida pointed to the Looking Glass, Klim suspects the substitution.

Exposing criminals and finding happiness

Klim studies Alisa’s file and learns of her twin sister. He begins following Melisa and follows her to Olgerd’s unfinished cottage. There, Klim confronts the impostor, who threatens him with a gun. Vitaly comes to his aid, knocking the criminal unconscious with a piece of rebar. Klim descends to the basement and finds an exhausted Alisa in a room with mirrored walls.

Melisa regains consciousness and attempts to escape in a car, but loses control, falls into a deep ravine, and dies. Olgerd is detained while attempting to flee abroad. Alisa is taken to the hospital, where renowned neurosurgeon Polyansky performs a successful operation to remove the hematoma. Zinaida also awakens from her coma. Klim donates the boutique on Kutuzovsky Prospekt to Alizi.

After these upheavals, Klim leaves for London for three months. He tries to forget Alisa, but constantly stares at her portrait. Zinaida recovers and begins an affair with Alexander. Vitaly and Diana plan their wedding. On the eve of the celebration, friends throw a bachelor party at the Toska club. Klim bets the fifth unmarried woman who enters the room to marry him. The fifth guest turns out to be Alisa. It turns out she arranged the meeting herself with Vitaly’s help. The affair culminates in a wedding in a quiet village church.