“My heart is a compass, and it always leads me back to you.”

“She made the beast rear its ugly head. Stirred fantasies in my mind I would have never otherwise entertained. Owning her wasnt enough. Controlling her didnt douse the inferno blazing inside me.”

“Was it cruel if someone asked for it? Begged for it, even? She always begged. Even now, I could hear her whimpering for me. Christ, those noises she made. A one-way ticket to heaven.”

“The last five years had been a series of carefully orchestrated events. Every move, every strategy had been poured over in painstaking detail before it was set into motion. Pieces on a chess board....”

“She was the only antidote for the bleakness that lived inside of me. My goddess. My deity. I wasnt a believer in any religion, but Id make an exception in this case. Id get down on my knees and wor...”

“Even when she was on her knees- filled with my darkness- she was still shining bright. My Sirens song, my exposed nerve. She lured me in and made me feel. And then she left me to perish.”

“I bought salvation from a man on the street. He said, "Go down to the beach and let the waves wash your feet.”

“We all have those things that help us carry on through life. It is important that these things upon which we depend for daily strength are healthy for our character rather than harmful. We must ask...”

“God made you for His pleasure. And He made you intrinsically needy and dependent on His unspeakable joy. If you are struggling with sin our addiction, dont try to kill your appetite for pleasure. I...”

“Wars fought over a face like this, he murmured like he was talking to himself, my heart stopped beating and his thumbs moved lightly across my cheeks. A man would work himself into the ground for i...”

“Okay, first of all, I didnt sleep with you to make amends. I slept with you because I wanted to.He still didnt say anything, and she pointed at him again. And you know what? It was your own damn fa...”

“And I wake up happy, baby, because I possess beauty and I own that beauty in all the forms it can take and the least important of those are physical.”

“But because of you, I learned to love and not fear. Because of you, I can be loved and not be tormented. Because of you, I feel like a woman and not a victim.”

“Scusi mia bella*, but it runs in the blood of all Italians to be skillful lovers. So you have to get used to this.”

“You can't push me away, mio cuore. You can't!”