Page 73 of Papers Don't Lie

“I think I love him,” I murmur, touching the ring continuously.

“I told you!” Victory claps her hands.

“What?” Naveah asks.

“I knew it,” Raven murmurs under her breath with a smile.

“Why are you all so surprised? She’s his wife. Of course she loves him,” Lacey huffs, and we all burst out laughing.

Kai is just… perfect, and I can’t believe I said I love him out loud before even processing my own feelings first. How does loving him change things? I’m not the type to be ashamed of emotions, but that might be the case if he doesn’t feel anything for me.

“Lacey, what if we go spy on your brother?” Ilory wiggles her eyebrows at her and takes her outside. I mouth a thank you, and she winks at me.

I drop down on the chair, sighing. “What do I do now?”

Naveah laughs. “What do you mean? You’re married. There’s nothing you can do.”

She doesn’t understand. “We kissed once and…” My cheeks flush at the memory, my insides clenching.

“And what?" Raven cocks a brow.

“And… I don’t even know how to explain this,” I admit, covering my face with my palms.

How do I tell my sisters we kind of had sex through clothes but not really?

“Hmm, let’s see. Masturbated in front of him? Intimately touched each other? Dry-humping?” Victory asks, and I’m surprised she knows this much already.

I freeze, peeking through my distanced fingers with a shaky smile on my face. Maybe my sisters have had this conversation before, but I wasn’t for sure involved because I was still at home, unmarried.

Now that has changed.

“Oh, I see.” Victory straightens her back, dropping on her knees next to me. “I take it you two haven’t had sex?”

I shake my head. “We haven’t been married for long, you know? We just started knowing each other.”

It’s her turn to shake her head at me. “Girl, it’s sex first, talk after. In that order.”

My sisters laugh, and I can’t help but join them. After the laughter fades, they all lower themselves next to me, a knowing smile on their faces. Naveah is the first one to talk.

“So here’s how this is going to go.”

There’sa knock on my door, and I suck in a breath, still with my eyes glued to the mirror in front of me.

“Come in,” I say, then twist my legs and look at myself from over my shoulders. This dress is absolutely stunning. It’s almost as if it was perfectly tailored for me.

When I return to a straight position, I see my mom in the reflection, staring down at me with her judgy glance—only one eyebrow lifted high enough to cut yourself into it if you dared to touch it, pursed lips, and crossed arms.

I sigh, the moment taking me back to when I was supposed to marry Carter, or more exactly, when I thought she actually cared before she proved the contrary.

“Girls,” Mom says, throwing quick glances at each one of us, but she focuses her entire attention on me.

Raven squeezes my arm from beside me, whispering in my ear. “Just say the words, and I’llaccidentallycut her dress,” she says, carefully stressing each word.

I shake my head, smiling. It’s true something like that would make the perfectionist in my mother despair, and she would end up crying on her way to a store where she could buy a new dress, but then she’d need new shoes and another hairstyle.

Yet I don’t want to turn into a mini version of her.

“Esmeray, you look…” she tries, opening her mouth and closing it a few times.

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