Status Updates From Bloody Heart (Brutal Birthr...

“I love you, Simone. I have always loved you, and I will always love you. I’m never going to stop. Wherever you go, whatever you do, you have my heart in your hands.”

“She betrayed me. That’s why I’m so angry. I was willing to accept that Simone left me. I could forgive her for that. All the pain it caused me could be washed away by having her back again.
But this . . . nothing can give me those nine years back with my son.”

“I never stopped loving you, I never could.”

“Do you know what I did to try to forget you? I abandoned my family. I joined the military. I flew halfway across the world and fought in a hellscape. I killed a hundred and sixty-two men, just to numb the pain of missing you. And none of it worked, not for a second. I never stopped hurting. I never stopped wondering how you could leave me, when I couldn’t let go of you even for a second.”

“So I guess the question I really want to know the answer to is, Why didn’t she love me anyway? Why didn’t she love me as much as I loved her?
I thought she did. I looked into her eyes and I thought I saw my own feelings reflected back at me. I thought I could see inside of her, and I knew exactly what she felt.
I’ve never been so wrong.”

“I couldn’t get away from her. There was nowhere I could hide. I hated Chicago, my work, even my family, though it wasn’t their fault. I hated all the things that made me unworthy. I didn’t want to be myself anymore the man who loved her and wasn’t loved in return. So I joined the military.I flew across the world to the godforsaken desert, just to find a place where I wouldn’t have to see her face.”

“They were just men.
Dante is “the man.” The one who first formed my conception of what a man should be. The one who first made me fall in love. Who took my virginity. And who gave me a son.
The others were barely acquaintances by comparison.”

“I threw myself into the work, because that’s what I do. I steer this family. I execute the plans. I make sure everything goes off perfectly—no mistakes, no failures. I keep everyone safe, happy, and successful.
And when it’s done, I feel exactly the same as I did before . . . empty.”

“All the years before we knew each other, we were two asteroids in space, on two separate paths with a single trajectory. We were always destined to collide.”

“because my family is important to me, too. They’re a part of me, as much as my height or the color of my eyes.”