Perish: Book Three (bxb) ✔️

28. We'll be waiting for you.

Kayax Adler

"You have confidence; use it when you're doing this."

I groaned as I twisted my hands together painfully. "If this doesn't work, I will not have another chance to prove myself. It's a huge risk."

Brutus shook his head before putting a hand on my shoulder. "Listen to me, brave one. Everyone in this situation is going through very valid feelings. You feel invisible when you need to be seen. Lennox is protecting his children from potential harm. Elijah is... okay, no one truly knows what Elijah feels. He hasn't said much. And his family is validly wary of you, Kayax. Do I think it was fair of them to form an opinion of you the way they did? No, not completely. But go change it."

"Davis is still ruining lives, and he's in prison. How did that happen? Oh, right, he made me go on TV and tell everyone he was a changed man."

"Yeah, and then he blindsided the Luna family with that dating lie. Just show them that you are capable of wearing a mask like they were. Runover the plan with me because I do believe this is your best shot."

Nodding, I glanced at Tracy, my newer security member as she drove me toward my potential doom before taking in a deep breath and looking at Brutus again. "My secret is that the person they think I am has always been a mask. The way I present myself will be the cocky, arrogant person I pretended to be. Okay, I'm a bit of a brat, but I genuinely hate hurting people's feelings." I sighed. "When I walk in, I will put on the show of a lifetime. Lennox is giving me a chance, and when I'm telling him stories, I will drop hints to sway him to see that what he's seeing is a mask that is made of steel."

Brutus squeezed my shoulder with a slight smile. "Good, and Lennox has to analyze every word you say, so goad him while it's your turn. You get five minutes to yap and drop hints. The whole reason he planned this game was to closely analyze you. He's not only getting what he wants, but he's giving you what you always wanted. To be analyzed. If you can show him that you're capable of wearing this defensive mask to protect yourself, he'll be much more likely to understand. It also keeps most of your secrets. You don't have to out and talk about the abuse you suffered. They should be able to... connect the dots without you having to say it."

I blew out a breath. "What if he doesn't guess it correctly?"

"Either way, you have to reveal your secrets. You wrote down your secret on a sheet of paper already. So, it doesn't matter--your secret will still be revealed. You'll get your moment to plead your case either way. When he guesses correctly, and he will because he is a Papa Bear, just tell them how you feel. Tell them how much you love and care about August. Make sure they know how you'd never hurt him. Tell them everything. After seeing you are nothing like they believed, they are going to be listening to figure out why you ever had to wear a mask. You're going to be okay."

Lennox invited me to play the family games and told me August would not be in attendance. The problem was that I knew these games were annual, and they had already played them back in June. Lennox organized this entire charade for me, which told me a few things.

One, August did not tell them how long we'd been dating, but August did reveal we were dating. Lennox would have never given me a chance to plead my case had he not found out. But since he somehow didn't know about their family games, I had a feeling he didn't think we'd been together long. And the last thing I knew was that August had no idea his family was doing this.

Lennox organized this as a way for everyone to figure out if I deserved a chance. Which meant, I had to put on the show of a lifetime to prove that I was just a terrified individual who wore a mask to protect myself. I had to apologize to them because they didn't know. God, how did everything get so messed up? Oh, right, Davis.