Chapter Text
Ilya came home that night, knowing what he would find, or at least an idea of it. He knew Shane wouldn’t be happy at the very least. Knew Shane saw exactly what he’d done to his best friend- made sure of it.
Would she be sad? Or mad? Or would she simply be a mess of emotions you couldn’t even name?
Whatever it was, Ilya didn’t care, as long as she learned her lesson and didn’t do that kind of shit again. Trying to run away. From him! Ha! Yeah right. What kind of crazy person wanted to do that?! Not Shane. Not anymore. He was teaching her what she should and shouldn’t want, and she was bound to learn it by now. If violence didn’t teach her, he wasn’t sure what would.
Ilya placed his things by the front door to deal with another time. Except for the car keys. Those he needed to put away somewhere safe. Shane might be chained up now, but she wouldn’t be chained up forever. Probably not more than overnight if she could prove she changed her tune.
After hiding the keys, he started to walk up the stairs, and he could already hear Shane. Could Shane hear him? He didn’t know, but he was pretty sure the sound of her crying wasn’t meant to be performative.
Ilya unlocked the door and stepped inside, happy to see his girl. He wasn’t happy to see her upset, but he was happy to see that she was learning her lesson.
Sometimes you had to work for good things, and Shane was a great example of that. Ilya spent a lot of time planning to take her in, making sure she would have everything she needed and that Ilya would get away with it all, too. He risked a lot taking her in, but he did it, and one day, soon, it would pay off. She was already carrying their child, now she just needed to love that reality as much as Ilya did.
“Hello, pretty girl, why the sad face?” He asked her.
Yeah, he was a bit of an ass, but it was his right.
Shane looked at him like he just kicked a puppy. Hayden Pike was far from an innocent, cute, puppy, but he supposed he also did a lot more than kick. So maybe he earned the glare in her teary eyes.
“How could you?!” She cried out, like he betrayed her. But no, that was stupid. She would have to believe he was on her side to believe he could betray her. This was just Ilya doing what he did best; whatever he wanted to do to get further in his plans.
Shane was mad and Ilya was quick to notice that was the way she was going. He just hoped she was careful and didn’t go too far. He knew she was emotional, so he’d let her have her moment. But not much more than that.
Ilya hadn’t given Shane a proper warning in her mind. Sure there were multiple times Ilya told her he’d do this kind of thing, but to Shane, it was a blindside. He walked out the door without so much as a breath after he threatened to hurt Hayden, and Shane couldn’t say anything. Now she had him here, and she had even more to say.
Shane was shaking. She’d seen Pike get hurt, heard all the people talking about how bad it looked, but not any real details about how bad it really was. All she knew was Ilya hit Pike and Pike was now headed out of the stadium on a gurney. Oh, and that it was all her fault too.
“How could I what?” Ilya asked, willing to play dumb.
“How could you send Pike out on a stretcher?! How could you put a husband and a father in the hospital just because you’re mad I’m not the girl you wanna force me to be?!”
Oh, Ilya didn’t like those words one bit.
Because she was his girl. She was just a naughty girl. And he wasn’t going to accept her saying anything like that, let alone after what she did. What she made him do just to teach her a lesson.
Ilya walked forward and smacked his hands down at the bottom of the bed, to get her attention and intimidate her. It worked.
“How could I? How could you try to leave me when I’ve told you this is where you belong now? When I told you you belong to me?! How could you not only try to take yourself away but my goddamn baby too?! Huh!?”
Shane was so overwhelmed, and scared for so many reasons she couldn’t help but take in what he said to her and react with more tears. Shane was a sobbing mess, stuck in a high-stress situation, and she never even asked for it! She just wanted to go home! Maybe now more than ever….
“Stop crying!” Ilya told her, sympathy lacking at the moment. “You got off easy.”
Shane choked on a sob and then scoffed. She knew Ilya was insane, but this insane? No, she didn’t know that.
“How is watching someone I care about get hurt getting off easy?!” Shane exclaimed. “If you know anything about me at all, you’d know that hurts far worse than anything else.”
Duh. That’s why he did it.
Ilya looked at Shane in a way that made Shane shiver. It was like he was looking inside her. Like he was claiming her, every part of her, with just a look. And not in a kind way either.
“Aren’t you going to thank me?” Ilya asked.
It was like he was on another planet. Like he hadn’t heard anything Shane said, nor cared about anything Shane did or dared to feel.
Didn’t Ilya care? Care that when Shane behaved it was because she feared him, not because she loved him? She would have thought he cared, but maybe to him it was just a stepping stone.
Shane knew the truth though. While Ilya might hope and try and manipulate her into loving him, she never would. She told him that before and she stood by it. She might have to pretend, now that she was stuck here longer, but it’d never be real.
She hoped he knew.
She hoped it killed him.
As her anger grew, she continued to have the will to fight. Should she be? Was it smart? Probably not. But since when was Shane smart? Especially when fueled by emotions. She used to be so hidden, she never understood people with such strong emotions. Now she understood it all, for good or for bad.
“Thank you for what?!” Shane asked, bewildered. “For hurting my best friend?!” For all the things he gave her she never asked for or wanted….
“How about for not hurting him worse?” Ilya explained.
Shane swallowed. “I don’t even know how hurt he is….”
And how could she? She knew as much as everyone else. Because the moment she became Ilya’s wife, she stopped being Hayden’s best friend. Not by choice, but by force. Not in his heart, but in the pure distance they had between them now.
“He will live,” Ilya waved off the concern like it was nothing.
Shane frowned. Did he really know that, or was he just assuming? Ilya might have been the one to hit him, but did he know the power he held? He couldn’t hit him and predict exactly what happened after it.
He did have a phone though. And some hockey connections. Did he get an update on Hayden that nobody else had?
Shane needed to know. But she couldn’t trust Ilya. So she had to ask for something. “I need to see him.”
“No,” Ilya almost laughed at her. “Absolutley not.”
Shane should have known, did deep down, but she still had to ask.
“The fact you even ask for that after the stunt you pulled early is disrespectful as hell,” Ilya told her. “You do not deserve to go anywhere, nor would I trust you to.”
Shane was happy to disrespect him, but she supposed she shouldn’t. Not if she was going to try and bargain for something else. SShe couldn’t go without anything. The anxiety would eat her alive.
“Can I at least call him?” Shane begged.
Ilya looked like he was thinking about it, and that was at least something. It was better than his reaction to her asking to see him.
“I won’t say anything bed, I promise,” She continued to try and persuade him. “I know better now, now more than ever… please.”
Ilya looked at Shane, trying to study her. Did she really need this? Would it be good for her? Would it be good for him? And most of all, what did he gain from it?
It wouldn’t make Shane happy, because the situation wasn’t a happy one, but it might give her some relief. Believe it or not, he didn’t like to torture her, not when he didn’t have to. And he supposed he didn’t have to say no to a short phone call, just so she could hear her friend and know he was alright.
Shane probably deserved to know that he was okay. Like it or not, Shane cared about Hayden, and was in distress about if he was okay or even alive. That couldn’t be good for the baby.
And Shane would be good during the call. Ilya knew he would be. Because he knew now that the threat of hurting someone was real. Ilya had done it once, Ilya would do it again if needed. Would even go to the hospital and hurt Pike again before he even healed if he must.
So if it wasn’t dangerous, and it wasn’t bad, and it even helped Shane, then maybe he should say yes.
But of course, only in the way that gave him something in return.
“Okay,” Ilya said, hearing Shane sigh in relief before he could even finish his thought. “But, you must earn it.”
“Earn it?”
“Yes,” Ilya said. “You were very naughty, and you deserve nothing at this point, not until you earn it again.”
Shane’s insides twisted. “What do you want me to do?” She was nervous, but at the same time, at peace. Because what could he make her do she didn’t already do, or worse? She could do it. She believed in herself.
“You be good girl, on best behavior for next two days,” Ilya held up two fingers as he explained, having her undivided attention now. “And I let you call Pike.”
She was sure the call would be limited and have conditions. She was sure she’d have a lot to explain to Hayden that she couldn’t tell him. But that was later Shane’s problem. Right now, all Shane wanted was to know he could call her friend.
So she nodded her head, agreeing to whatever he wanted. Be a good girl. She could do that. She’d done it before. It might suck, it might not be so bad, she didn’t know. She just knew she was going to do it. She needed that call.
“Shane,” Ilya looked at her. “Words please.”
“I-Oh-Yes,” Shane agreed.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I’ll be good for you, I’ll…I’ll be your good girl,” His face flushed in red tones from the words, still not used to them, even in non-arousing circumstances.
Ilya smiled. “Good, is good start.”
How could Shane be good? How could she earn it? The last thing Shane wanted was to do all the work of being good for two whole days only to be told she didn’t do enough. That would be cruel, but not beyond what Ilya was willing to do. She had to be so good it was impossible for him to deny her.
Even if it meant swallowing more of her pride, or whatever’s left of it.
She knew what she could do now, even if it killed her in a way. “....thank you.” She didn’t meet his eyes.
“Thank you?” He asked.
“For the opportunity,” Shane said. “And-and for not hurting Hayden worse.”
How twisted that was, even more so coming out of her mouth, there was no words for it. How Ilya accepted it like it was normal, there were no words for that either.
“You are welcome,” Ilya dared to smile.
Shane took a breath, like she could relax a bit. All that she could do was wait, and while she hated waiting, she’d have to try. She’d be busy, distracted too the next two days, trying to be the perfect wife for Ilya anyway.
She could do it.
She could be a good girl and she could survive.
She had to.