“We said we would meet again but we made no arrangements. Not out of any bad feeling between us, but because I felt it had all been said, or not said but understood, and she probably did too. To know she was there was enough, and for her to know I was around was probably too. Sometimes that's all people ever really need. Just to know.”

“That's the difference between us {the poor} and them {the rich}, I thought. We know all of what's bad because we can't keep from it. They live in their big houses and the walls are thick enough around them to keep the bad out.”

“You know what your problem is? You got too many scruples. One or two is okay, but you get too many of them, and it clogs everything up."What she said made no sense at all, but was probably right."I got some scruples," Lula said, "but I know when to stop. There's a point where you have to say enough is enough and screw scruples.”

“You're the strangest person I ever met, she said & I said you too & we decided we'd know each other a long time.”

“You'll beat this. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you will. You're a survivor.""I don't want to survive it.""I know that, too," Nell had said. "And it's fair enough. But sometimes we don't have a choice...”

“Plus, you're the last Dragomir. You're always going to be in the spotlight. Who’s she? Just another Ivashkov. There are tons of them.''Probably because all the guys like Adrian and have all sorts of illegitimate children.''Adrian doesn’t have any children.''That we know of,' I said mysteriously.”