Bastiano Romano (The Five Syndicates, #3)

by Parker S. Huntington

I wonder how many people don’t get the one they want, but end up with the one they’re supposed to be with. —Fannie Flagg

Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty. —Stephen King

“Hatred paralyzes life.” Love releases it.

To love someone is madness, to be loved by someone is a gift, loving someone who knows you is a duty, but being loved by someone whom you love is life.

I don’t want to be loved like a shelved book, treated with painstaking, delicate care, kept pretty and pristine like a shiny trophy. I want to be used and devoured, kept near at all times, read over and over again until everything that’s in me is memorized and consumed, the pages are bent and worn with memories, and the marks he left on me can’t be erased.

That is love. It isn’t perfect. It’s finding a way to be imperfect together.

You can’t give yourself to someone else before you know what you’re giving away.”

A man truly loves you when missing you is his hobby and caring for you is his job and making you happy is his duty and loving you is his life.

“If a mistake isn’t forgivable, you wouldn’t be mulling over it. Ever since you were little, you could always hold a grudge, but you know what I realized? You hold grudges because you care so much. It’s because your love runs so deep, it takes longer for the pain in it to escape.”

To be loved is a Success. To love is a Duty. To be with someone you love is an Achievement. To be with someone who loves you is Life. —Nishan Panwar