An Unnatural Vice (Sins of the Cities, #2)

by K.J. Charles

Just to be seen, even in such a way, even by such a man, because the recognition was so much better than invisibility.

When a man announced he was a scoundrel, one should take him at his word.

“It must be wonderful if you can afford to do the right things.

You know when you think you’re doing the right thing, and it turns out you weren’t. Turns out there isn’t a right thing to do, and whatever you did wasn’t it, and then you feel like shit. You know that feeling?”

He’d always wanted to stand alone; he’d always thought of reliance on others as a house of cards, a fragile structure that could be pushed over at any time. And that was true: people betrayed, and left, and died. He hadn’t been wrong. Only, he hadn’t considered that a card on its own couldn’t stand at all.