They had been arguing for a long time, and to no avail. Sylvia wanted a divorce because she saw no future in the marriage, while Vasil wanted them to stay together forever because he loved her so much that ... he was prepared to kill her rather than let another man have her. He could not bear the thought of her leaving him—he saw her as an inseparable part of himself.

Vasil realized the solution to the problem while they were driving home from work. The pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place in his mind. Sylvia was determined to get a divorce and she had a lover, which meant that ... she had to die. He decided to kill his wife and immediately set his plan in motion, driven by the rage raging in his soul.

They were in the family Opel. Vasil was driving. Sylvia had slumped into her seat and was staring blankly out the window, avoiding the feverish eyes of her husband. She was trembling with nerves, yet at the same time she was glad that the end of this pointless marriage was finally approaching. She was also grateful they had never had children who would suffer because of the divorce. She was only thirty-one years old; her whole life lay ahead of her...

Sylvia had not fastened her seatbelt, and perhaps it was that very fact that spurred Vasil into action. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, then jerked it sharply to the right and drove the car straight into a roadside tree. He had aimed carefully and crushed only the right side of the vehicle, protecting himself as much as possible. He would say that a stray dog had suddenly darted onto the road and that he had swerved right in an attempt to avoid it. No one would suspect a thing.

When he regained consciousness after the violent impact, Vasil turned his head toward his wife. She sat in an unnatural position amid heaps of twisted metal. Her face was pale and sore, her eyes closed. Yet she seemed to be still breathing.

Vasil climbed out of the car and sat down on the asphalt. He wondered what to do. One thing was certain: he was not going to help the wretch who had ruined his dreams. His chest hurt and he felt sick.

His wife groaned, then muttered something and fell silent.

At that moment Vasil burst into tears. He felt as though all the sorrow in the world had seeped into his heart. He suddenly wanted to end his own life as well.