Chapter Text
Ilya and Shane were tangled together in bed when Shane’s phone shattered the quiet with its blaring ringtone. He refused to silence it at night, no matter how many times Ilya complained about how obnoxious it was.
“Shit!” Ilya jolted, which only made Shane laugh, his husband rarely startled like that.
Shane leaned across the nightstand and squinted at the screen. Farah Jalali. Their agent.
He glanced back at Ilya, unease settling in his chest. “It’s Farah. Why would she be calling at six in the morning?” His stomach dropped as he answered and put her on speaker.
“Shane? Shane? Is Ilya there with you? He’s not answering any of my calls.” Farah sounded breathless, strained. It immediately set him on edge.
It’s six in the morning. I’d hope my husband is beside me, Shane thought dryly, just as Ilya spoke up.
“I’m here, Farah. What’s going on?”
“Ilya, can you take Shane’s phone and go into another room? This is private. I need to speak with you first before we address both of you.”
Shane’s eyes went wide and glossy. Whatever this was, it was bad, bad enough that Farah didn’t want him hearing it yet. His mind spiraled instantly. The world already knew they were married. Everyone knew they played on the same NHL team. Was he being traded? Cut? Was Ilya? That made even less sense, he was the captain.
Ilya slid out of bed slowly, his expression mirroring Shane’s fear, and disappeared down the hall to their spare office, closing the door behind him.
He dropped into Shane’s desk chair, because while they called it their spare office, they both knew it was mostly Shane’s.
“I’m alone now,” Ilya said, trying to steady his voice. “Shane’s in the bedroom.”
Farah’s breathing was still uneven. “Ilya… I’m not sure how to say this tactfully, so I’m going to be blunt. Do you know an Elena Ivanova?”
The name hit him like a train. It took a moment to place her, six years was a long time.
“Yes,” he said carefully. “We slept together. Years ago. When I was just starting my career. Before Shane and I were serious.” He wasn’t sure why he felt defensive, Farah knew he was bisexual, knew he’d had relationships with women before settling down.
“Ilya, Elena was arrested this weekend. I don’t have all the details yet, but she used her one phone call to leave me a message. I have no idea how she got my number.” Farah exhaled shakily. “She says you have a child together. Did you know about a child?”
“A what?” Ilya shot upright, the word louder than he meant it to be. Almost immediately, he heard Shane’s footsteps in the hallway. Thank God, he’d locked the door.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Farah said. “We don’t want this leaking before we verify anything. When was the last time you spoke to her?”
Ilya’s entire body felt numb. He thought he might be sick, right there on the absurdly expensive Italian desk Shane had insisted on ordering for a room they barely used.
“Maybe… five years?” he said faintly. “We met through Sveta, Svetlana. They are friends, or they were at the time.”
“Do you think Svetlana knows about this?”
“No. She would’ve told me. She would’ve said something.” His tongue felt thick. The room was suddenly closing in, his throat dry, his vision blurred. He hadn’t even noticed Shane trying to pick the lock until the door swung open.
Shane stood there, head tilted, worry written all over his face. Ilya could barely meet his eyes. He wanted to cry, no vomit, no both.
“Is Shane in the room?” Farah asked gently, she was always good at being able to read the room.
“Yes,” Ilya replied, forcing steadiness into his voice. He was trying to remain as calm as possible, which was hard to do. Understandably so.
“Ilya, listen to me,” she said. “I’m going to get more information. The next step is a DNA test, to determine if there’s any legitimacy to this. I’ll do everything I can to keep it out of the press, for obvious reasons. But you need to talk to Shane about this. Sooner rather than later. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”Ilya was trying his best not to cry, unsure of how he was going to navigate breaking his husbands heart. Ilya swallowed hard, fighting the sting behind his eyes.