diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 0bc0257..9fc025d 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@
     },
     "require-dev": {
         "phpunit/phpunit": "^10.5",
-        "squizlabs/php_codesniffer": "^3.10",
-        "phpstan/phpstan": "^1.12"
+        "squizlabs/php_codesniffer": "^3.10 || ^4.0",
+        "phpstan/phpstan": "^1.12 || ^2.0"
     },
     "scripts": {
         "test": "phpunit",
diff --git a/src/RawQuery.php b/src/RawQuery.php
index 47b93b4..ddc3ebc 100644
--- a/src/RawQuery.php
+++ b/src/RawQuery.php
@@ -64,11 +64,13 @@ public function set(mixed $rawQuery): self
     }
 
     /**
-     * The stored SQL fragment (empty string if never set).
+     * The stored SQL fragment. The constructor always calls {@see self::set()},
+     * which always assigns `$this->raw` in every branch, so the property is
+     * guaranteed to be initialised by the time this getter runs.
      */
     public function get(): string
     {
-        return $this->raw ?? '';
+        return $this->raw;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/RawQueryTest.php b/tests/RawQueryTest.php
index 3f9354e..be4fb71 100644
--- a/tests/RawQueryTest.php
+++ b/tests/RawQueryTest.php
@@ -63,11 +63,12 @@ public function testMixedInputIsCastToString(): void
         $this->assertSame('42', (string) $raw);
     }
 
-    public function testGetReturnsEmptyStringByDefault(): void
+    public function testGetReturnsEmptyStringWhenConstructedWithEmptyString(): void
     {
-        // The constructor always calls set(), so this only exercises the
-        // null-coalesce fall-back inside get() — useful when subclasses
-        // bypass set().
+        // The constructor calls set(''), which assigns the empty string to
+        // $this->raw. The previous null-coalesce fall-back in get() was
+        // unreachable defensive code — PHPStan 2.x correctly flagged it,
+        // and it was removed.
         $raw = new RawQuery('');
         $this->assertSame('', $raw->get());
     }