Igor was shocked when Marina Yuryeva gave birth to a boy. The youngster, who was to be the newest member of their Slavic family, was dark-skinned, as though he had recently arrived from Africa. “How is this even feasible?” Igor pondered. His confusion gave way to mistrust, which in turn gave way to rage. He packed all his belongings and went, thinking his wife had cheated on him with someone exotic.
Trapped was Marina, who vowed to remain innocent. Physicians simply shrugged, speculating their ancestors’ genes might have been cruel. However, if their ancestry had never contained such genetic shocks, how could this have occurred?
Conjectures and Rumors from Neighbors The little community soon started to hear whispers about a local African. The general public began to suspect Fabien, a French chemist-technologist employed on contract at the nearby factory. The neighbors pointed him out with pleasure, and Igor, furious, rushed to face him. After putting on a leather jacket and grabbing a crowbar, he sped off to locate the “homewrecker” by revving the engine of his motorcycle.
The Motorcyclist, Attack, and Police Intervention But on the same day, a tragedy happened to Marina. Returning home with her child, she was the victim of an attack. An unknown person pushed her down the stairs and disappeared. Passersby found the woman, and the baby was found in a stroller in the entrance of the building. Passersby called an ambulance, and the police began searching for the assailant.
Witnesses pointed to the motorcyclist. At that time, Igor was already accosting Fabien, demanding he confess to an alleged «affair» with his wife. It was at that moment that the police arrested the jealous husband, suspecting him not only of assaulting the foreigner but also his wife.
Alibi and an Unexpected Twist The next morning, an influential woman—Natalya Rudinskaya, holding a high position in the regional Communist Party committee—came to the police station and provided Igor with an alibi, claiming he was carrying out her orders at the time of the attack. But why was the influential lady so zealously defending her driver? This question remained unanswered.
The Hospital Secret: Where is the Truth? Igor and Marina decided to find out the truth and had blood tests done. The results shocked them: the baby was not their biological child. The tests showed that neither of them could be the parents. Everything pointed to the baby being switched at the hospital.
Amid these mysterious events, Dr. Evgenia Baryshnikova, who had delivered the baby, died under the wheels of a car. Then, the body of the midwife Irina Sonicheva was found in the hospital. Staff spoke of an «intern» who had appeared the night before the attack.
Fyodor Shapoval and Uncovering the Conspiracy Detectives discovered that the mysterious intern was Fyodor Shapoval, a recidivist with a rich criminal past.
He was hired to eliminate witnesses to cover up the baby switch. During interrogation, Shapoval revealed the name of his employer—Natalya Rudinskaya.
Love, Envy, and Baby Switching It turned out, Natalya Rudinskaya was secretly in love with Igor. She devised a plan to break up his marriage, hoping to have a chance at happiness.
For this, she bribed the hospital staff and insisted on switching the babies. By pushing a dark-skinned child into the family, Rudinskaya hoped Igor would sever relations with his wife. But the situation spiraled out of control, and Natalya began eliminating anyone who could expose her.
The Denouement: Justice Prevails The court delivered its verdicts: Rudinskaya received seven years of imprisonment, and Shapoval was sentenced to the highest punishment. The Yuryevs took their real child back. The dark-skinned baby was adopted by his biological father—the French chemist Fabien.
It turned out that the child’s mother was a local resident who did not want to raise the baby due to fear of social condemnation. She abandoned the child, hiding her maternity.
Epilogue: Love Overcomes Intrigue The story of the Yuryevs is an example of how love and mutual trust can overcome any trials. Despite the malice, intrigue, and dangers, they remained together. And the child, unwittingly a part of this drama, found his family and a new life in France.
Everything could have ended tragically, but thanks to perseverance, justice prevailed.