Page 90 of The Obedient Lie
Luca’s voice broke the silence. “Why are you flying with them?”
I shrugged, trying not to sound like I cared that he cared. “It’s just routine. Griffin books the plane, the squad goes together, Caplan family foots the bill.”
Bastion stepped closer, slow. “You could’ve flown with anyone.”
“It’s not that deep,” I said. “We’ve done it every year.”
One of them—Luca, maybe—cut in, voice quieter, but no less sharp. “Yeah, but this is thefirstyear you aren’t his golden girlfriend. Betrothed. Soon-to-be fiancée.”
I froze.
The room went still around me.
My hand hovered over the zipper of my bag, the silence stretching so tight I thought it might split me open.
Then I straightened.
“Why not take one of your planes?” Bastion asked, his tone soft but pointed. “Or fly commercial. Something neutral.”
“Because then it makes me look bothered,” I snapped, meeting their eyes one at a time. “And I’m not. Griffin and I are over. The family merger is over. And Irefuseto look like the pity ex-girlfriend trying to scramble for dignity.”
Luca’s brow twitched, but he said nothing.
I kept going, heat rising in my chest now. “You think I want to sit on a jet with Griffin and his cousins pretending like nothing happened? Like they didn’t already replace me with someone else who looks good in Caplan blue?”
Bastion’s eyes narrowed. “You think we’re judging you?”
“No,” I said. “I think you’re used to seeing me as someone who gets moved around like a pawn. But not this time. I’m not going to beg for space I already earned.”
They didn’t speak.
Didn’t move.
Just watched me like I’d cracked in half—and maybe I had.
I turned away first, reached for my charger, shoved it into the bag like I wasn’t unraveling under their stares.
But then I felt it.
The bed shifted beside me—weight sinking the mattress gently as Bastion sat down, close enough that the heat from his body brushed against mine.
I kept my head turned, but he didn’t let me stay there.
His fingers reached up, slow and deliberate, brushing my hair off my shoulder like it was second nature. Like he had every right to touch me like that.
“Come with us,” he said, voice low, almost coaxing. His fingers threaded through the ends of my hair, lightly, like he was memorizing the strands. “Fly with us.”
I swallowed. The scent of him—cedar, something darker.
“You two don’t even seem like you’re going,” I whispered, blinking at the wall in front of me.
There was a pause. A long one.
Then Luca’s voice from behind, steady. “We weren’t.”
I turned slightly, eyes narrowing. “What?”
Bastion’s thumb brushed the back of my neck, featherlight. “Doesn’t matter now.”
