Chapter 43

• "Because I don't want to be like Jose, or any other person who has hurt you. Telling only half-truths, and coddling you. I admit that I want to spoil you, and give you everything you've ever dreamed of. But, Ana, I need you to know that I respect you above all. I don't expect you to be apart of this world. You're too good for all this. Too good for me," he added, to which she shook her head, even as his continued.
• "This world can get dirty. I've killed countless men before my twenty-fifth birthday. Granted, it was in offense to me, and my family, but it was still deaths. Blood on my hands. Blood that will never truly wash off. But you're the only cleansing balm that heals me. You and no one else." For a while, the two sat in silence. It wasn't until Ana scooted closer to him, and grabbed fistfulls of his shirt in her hands did she speak.
• "Christian, I'm upset, but not for the reasons you think. I'm upset that a real threat could take you from me. I can't live without you, and I need you in my life. This world, I don't understand it, but I think I understand the man who runs it. And what I see doesn't scare me."