The Talk

Their eyes snapped to mine, sharp with attention.

“I love you, Olivia,” Lennox said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t even know when it started. Maybe it was when you trailed behind us everywhere, that silly little smile on your face. Maybe it was the way you always showed up for us, even when we didn’t deserve it. I fought it–God, I fought it, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop loving you.”

A heavy silence fell over us… not tense but comfortable.

Lennox reached across the table and gently caught one of the tears with his thumb, his touch featherlight. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

Louis nodded. “So much hate, it would’ve made us capable of… killing you.”

“She told me your mother took her to a witch,” I continued. “She was bathed… spiritually, to make her more attractive to you.”

Lennox leaned down, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “You deserve to feel loved, Olivia. Cherished. We wanted to remind you of what we had… and what we can still have.”

My breath caught in my throat. My lips parted, but no words came out. I just stared at him, stunned.

I stared at him, my heart pounding in my chest, and then he dropped his gaze briefly before looking up again with a rawness I’d never seen before.

By the time dessert came–chocolate mousse with strawberry hearts—I felt full in a way food couldn’t explain.

Levi rested his hand over mine. “You’ve always been our everything. We just forgot how to show it.”

Louis squeezed my hand. “We missed you too, little bird.”

“I hated you,” I whispered, my eyes meeting theirs one by one. “I hated you so much for what you became. But now… knowing it wasn’t truly you-” My voice broke. “It doesn’t erase the pain, but it helps. Gods, it helps.”

It was the name Lennox had given me because he always teased that I was like a bird—fluttering, always circling them. And he wasn’t wrong. Back then, I was always around them.

Louis poured the wine while Lennox lit the last candle on the table. As I looked around, taking it all in, my heart swelled to the point of pain.

Realizing this didn’t erase the pain they’d caused me, but it gave it context. It made the truth bearable.

I narrowed my eyes. “Who?”

Lennox’s jaw clenched slightly. Louis looked away. Levi’s fingers tapped against his glass.

I wanted to protest, but as I thought back to how broken and angry I’d been, I knew he was right.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, my voice cracking.

Levi reached across the table again, this time taking both of my hands in his and placing a soft kiss on them.

The room fell silent.

Louis nodded in agreement. “It wasn’t even a thought, Olivia. Not until just a few weeks before she turned eighteen.”

Levi squeezed my hands gently and spoke next. “Me too,” he said, his voice trembling. “I said it was wrong… Olivia should be a sister to me, but my heart couldn’t stop beating faster whenever you were around.”

“Before the meeting with the Council,” he admitted quietly.

A puppet show, with all of us dancing on strings.

“But it wasn’t just the words in the letters that messed us up,” Levi added, looking directly at me. “Anita’s father–he got a hold of the forged letters. And he performed a spell on them.”

Levi’s eyes were glossy now, his jaw clenched tight like he was holding back a thousand words.

The Talk

That was never who they were.

The triplets I knew–my boys–they never would have hurt me like that.

They leaned in, their breath held.

Lennox stood slowly and walked around the table until he was in front of me. He crouched beside my chair, his eyes never leaving mine.

“And that’s something we’ll never forgive ourselves for,” Louis whispered.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered, my eyes brimming. “How did you even pull this off?”

“Yes,” Louis said softly. “When they discovered who you truly were, they wanted to separate us. They didn’t want us near you.”

The air shifted instantly, like the wind had changed direction.

Three pairs of hopeful, scared eyes stared at me.

Levi looked sick. “It wasn’t love. It wasn’t even lust. It was manipulation. Magic.”

They nodded and offered to fill my plate, and then we began eating in silence. I knew we had a lot to talk about, but we were waiting until after the meal.

“We didn’t know how to fix it,” Lennox said quietly. “We tried, after we found out, but you were gone. And we didn’t blame you for running. We blamed ourselves.”

And Anita… God. I knew they never really liked her. Back then, they barely tolerated her. I always noticed it. The obvious distance, the way they dismissed her opinions, never really talked to her when they didn’t have to.

“Alright, please stop,” I said with a soft chuckle, pushing the dessert slightly away. “I’m going to explode if I eat one more spoon.”

“I need to tell you something,” I said, my voice gaining strength. “Anita… she confessed to me, when she thought I was Rebecca.”

But these three? Sitting in front of me now with sorrowful eyes and raw honesty?

Then Lennox answered, his voice a whisper of guilt. “Our parents.”

I glanced between them. “What… exactly did Anita’s father do?”

They paused, all three of them. Attentive. Silent.

The Talk

And now I knew why.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, the weight of everything pressing on my chest. “How long?” I asked softly. “How long have you known the letters were spelled?”

It wasn’t them.

“Do you love us, Olivia?” he said gently. “Do you want to give us a chance to date you? To try… and pay for what we’ve done? To love you the way you deserve?”

This makes sense now…

So, when they started acting obsessed with her–kissing her, claiming her–it was like watching strangers in their skin.

Lennox leaned back, his brows drawing together. “No wonder…”

They wouldn’t have mocked me, humiliated me, broken me piece by piece with their actions, their hate, their cruel affection toward someone else.

The ones who called me little bird because I never stopped fluttering around them, always clinging to them.

It cracked something wide open inside me.

These were my triplets.

Levi smiled gently, his gaze never leaving me. “We did all this throughout the day.”

I blinked, confused. “A spell?”

I frowned, my heart clenching. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”

The men who hurt me weren’t mine. They were ghosts–twisted reflections of the ones I loved.

I remember thinking it didn’t make sense.

I stared at the three men before me and could see it plain as day. The regret. The guilt. The pain of their mistakes. It wrapped around them like a second skin.

There was a pause.

And then Lennox asked the question.

The Talk

That name. That damn name.

I nodded and flashed them a weak smile. “Let’s eat. The meal is getting cold.”

“Because,” Levi said, leaning forward slightly, “you wouldn’t have believed us, Olivia. Not then.”

The silence was heavy and thick. Finally, Levi spoke, his voice low and grave. “He found the letters, Olivia. The ones that tore us apart. We’ve found out who really forged them.”

Yes, I was hurt by them, by their actions, but these men were victims, too. They wouldn’t have hurt me the way they did if they weren’t manipulated.

I swallowed hard. My shoulders trembled as I looked down at our joined hands, then up at their faces.

“And guilt,” Louis added. “We kept thinking we owed her something, because she was always… there. Always sacrificing. Or so we thought.”

It was a spell. Manipulation.

“We want to make up for everything,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Every day for the rest of our lives, if that’s what it takes. We’ll show you how sorry we are, Olivia, if you’ll let us.”

I closed my eyes, trying to breathe past the storm brewing in my chest.

Lennox interrupted, his voice full of guilt. “I know. We didn’t kill you physically… but we killed you with our actions, with our words, over and over again.”

They kept refilling my plate with my favorites, urging me to eat more, drink more.

My throat closed, and my hands trembled as I pulled them away to wipe the fresh tears on my cheeks.

Tears gathered in my eyes, but I couldn’t help but smile. The boys I loved with everything I had were here now, pouring out their hearts to me.

My eyes widened. “Your parents forged those letters?”

They all smiled, watching me with that same soft admiration. But underneath the warmth, I could feel they were tense.

The Talk

“A dark one,” Lennox said, his voice hard. “It was meant to twist us, to make us hate you.”

“I still love you. All of you. I never stopped.”

“I wouldn’t have believed you,” I whispered, more to myself than to them.

“I know you guys probably have a lot to say,” I murmured, folding my hands on the table. “But let me start.”

If it had just been the forged letters, they might’ve ignored me, maybe even distanced themselves. That would’ve hurt, but not the same way.

Tears fell, slow and silent, streaking down my cheeks. I didn’t wipe them away. I let them fall, because for the first time in what felt like forever… I wasn’t crying alone.

“We want to date you,” he said softly. “No rushing. No pressure. Just… the way it should’ve been. We want to do it right this time.”

The ones who used to sneak me candy when I was grounded by my parents, the ones who taught me how to ride a bike, fought off bullies at school, and stayed up whispering stories to me whenever I fell sick.

I gasped, but I wasn’t shocked. If he could set up my father, he was capable of far worse.

Louis exhaled shakily, his eyes shimmering with tears. “You were the only one who really saw us, not the Alpha heirs, not the future leaders, but us. You knew us better than we knew ourselves, and we destroyed you for it. But I never stopped loving you, Liv. Not for a second.”

“I heard what happened to Anita… and her family.”

“What?” I asked gently.

“I don’t know what’s right anymore,” I whispered. “But I do know one thing.”

Levi reached across the table, placing his hand over mine. “Luckily, Olivia, we didn’t.”

They exchanged glances. It was Levi who finally spoke.

They might’ve disliked me, but they wouldn’t have crushed me.

Silence fell again, heavy but no longer suffocating.

The Talk

Until I spoke… “I missed you. All of you. So much it felt like dying.”

“That’s when it started,” Lennox said, his voice tight. “That strange… pull. That desire. We thought we were losing our minds, but we didn’t know it was spell-induced.”

He exhaled slowly, rubbing his jaw. “The first time we actually touched her… it was confusing. Off. We became friends with her to hurt you, yes, but sex? That was never part of it.”