Page 134 of The Obedient Lie

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She’d be climbing into this bed. Every night.

Betweenus.

No more armchair curling.

No more different shower routes.

No more pretending we didn’t notice her slipping away like she hadn’t carved her name into both our chests.

This bed was the final word.

And I wanted to watch her process that.

Wanted to see her eyes flick across the room, realize hers was gone.

Then ours.

Then that this frame—the king-sized, custom-ordered, one-mattress answer toeverything—was right there in the center.

Whereshebelonged.

Wherewebelonged.

I wanted to see her lips part.

Wanted to see her take that slow step forward, already unraveling under the weight of it.

Because this?

This wasn’t furniture.

It was a statement.

You’re ours, baby.

You told us you couldn’t choose.

So we didn’t give you the option.

And if she thought that bed was just for sleeping?

She had no fucking idea what we had planned.

Chapter Thirty-Five

EMILIA

I pushed open the dorm door, tired, cold, and already irritated.

But what I saw made me stopcompletely.

My bed wasgone.

No — not just gone.Vanished.Like it had never existed. Like the space it occupied hadn’t once beenmine. In its place stood one massive bed — centered between their sides of the room, dressed in fresh sheets, crisp corners, and black pillows.

I blinked.

Once. Twice.

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