"So." Xander pointed their fork at me. "Should we call you stepdad now? Dad's trophy husband?"
Wine splashed over my glass rim.
"Xander," Algerone warned.
"What? We all know why we're here. The big relationship reveal."
"Which isn't exactly news," Xavier added. "Some of us have seen things we can never unsee."
"Perhaps we could discuss this like adults," Algerone suggested.
"Fine." Xander set down their fork. "We're listening."
"Our relationship has evolved beyond something professional. Maxime and I are together."
"Evolved," Xander repeated. "Is that what we're calling it?"
"What? Dad's sleeping with the guy who kept us from him for twenty years. It's objectively weird."
"You helped kill our mother." Xion's voice sliced through the noise.
Silence crashed over the table.
"I've spent years pulling apart engines," Xion continued, eyes locked on mine. "Learning how systems fail. How one component breaking destroys everything downstream. You were the broken component. You threatened our mother when she was already fragile. Pushed her past what she could handle."
Boone's hand moved toward Xion's arm, then stopped.
"You didn't pull the trigger. But you loaded the gun. Put it in her hand. And now you're sitting here making meat pie like that fixes something."
"He's not wrong," Xavier added quietly. "Facts are facts."
"Enough." Algerone's voice cut through. "Maxime has acknowledged his mistakes."
"With pot pie?" Xander's laugh held no humor.
"Nothing fixes it." I met Xion's eyes directly. "Nothing excuses what I did. The meal isn't atonement. It's an acknowledgment. I know what I am. I know what I did."
Xavier studied me. "Then why are we here?"
"Because you're important to Algerone. He loves you. And because you deserve honesty instead of more manipulation,” I said. "I'm not asking you to like me. I'm asking for the chance to coexist. For his sake."
"A blood truce," Xion stated. "Not peace."
"Yes." My shoulders loosened. "A truce."
Xander exchanged glances with their brothers.
"We'll consider your terms," they said finally. "But understand that we're a package deal. Hurt one of us, deal with all three."
"Understood."
Leo took a sip of wine. "At least the food's good."
"There's another reason I called you here tonight." Algerone's hand tightened on my knee.
Xavier's fingers stilled. Xion leaned forward. Xander glanced at Ash.
"The Oklahoma attack has changed everything. Lucky Losers can't continue as it has been,” Algerone said.
