Twisted

“She’ll be its ruin. She’ll be my ruin. Unless I become the man she marries.”

In the enemies-to-lovers trope that guides the romance arc, Julian initially sees Yasmin as a threat. His calculations early in the novel lead him to consider marriage as the means to achieving his ambition. The fake betrothal, arranged for access to Sultans rather than mutual affection, turns into real affection—another cherished trope of the romance novel.

“I’m under no illusion that Baba is an upstanding citizen. His morals are flimsy at best and nonexistent at worst.”

Although she is not directly a criminal, Yasmin doesn’t condemn acts that are cruel or illegal, inured to this behavior by her understanding of the tactics her father (whom she calls Baba) has used to build and maintain his business. This flexible moral stance will allow her to understand, accept, and fall in love with Julian.

“Trophies, if you will. A reminder of all I had to sacrifice in order to get where I am.”

This passage captures and makes sympathetic Julian’s perspective as the villain. He is capable of crimes like torture and murder, but he sees these as the price of advancement; his tattoos, reminders of each life he’s taken, are “trophies,” showing that he’s won these contests for power. This viewpoint reflects the somewhat amoral outlook of the novel, which romanticizes criminality.

“He’s an important man, and important men have lots of enemies.”

The dangerous world that Yasmin’s father and Julian inhabit casts a shadow of suspense and introduces a background of conflict into the setting of the book, contributing to Yasmin’s acceptance of criminal activity from the men she loves. This passage describes her father but could equally apply to Julian, whose aura of violence and danger enhances his sexual allure.

“You’d think that knowing someone was in my corner would calm me down, but Julian Faraci is about as calming as a fire alarm, so it’s having the opposite effect.”

Yasmin’s presumed need for Julian’s strategic thinking becomes a plot device that draws the couple together, setting the romance in motion. Their emotions and reactions to one another are frequently described in images high in tension, like a fire alarm, which is intended to signify the precipitous level of sexual attraction between them, part of the enemies-to-lovers arc.

“Emotions lead to messy decisions and stupid mistakes, and I don’t have time for either.”

This scorn for emotion shows Julian’s coldness and hard-heartedness before he is softened by falling in love. The belief that even the most broken heart can be healed by love, and the power of love to redeem a troubled soul, is the appeal behind many dark romances.

“I didn’t understand fully back then that it was my mother who was actually causing the deepest wounds. I only knew that she was mine and that meant I had to take care of her, because that’s what you’re supposed to do for the people you love. You choose them. You put them first.”

Julian’s backstory suggests that part of what has twisted Julian’s nature is the abuse he received from his mother as a child, which fused conflicting feelings of loyalty, hurt, and guilt. The idea that his mother belongs to him touches on Julian’s possessiveness and need for ownership; his need to be chosen represents the internal wound that motivates him.

“She was brought up with decorum bred into her bones, and she usually holds her tongue well, but once she came home from college, I noticed a shift. A spark that’s simmering just beneath the surface, begging to be let out.”

As part of the romance arc, Julian helps Yasmin find her strengths; here, in the image of the spark he sees inside her, Julian notices her wish to speak out, which validates Yasmin’s own frustration with being silenced. This demonstrates his fitness as a romantic partner and shows how he aids in her character evolution—he will stoke this spark into a fire.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m not his choice. I’m my own choice, and I’m the only person who’s never let me down.”

Speaking to the theme of The Power of Making and Being a Choice, at the beginning of his character arc, Julian insists he is self-sufficient and frames his ambition as being something he has decided to pursue, making himself his priority. This priority changes, of course, once he falls in love with Yasmin.

“‘You can make me wear your ring,’ I hiss, ‘and parade me around with your last name, but I will never bow for you.’”

This statement proves an ironic sign of Yasmin’s lack of self-knowledge at the beginning of her character arc; once she becomes sexually involved with Julian, she will discover that she enjoys submitting to his dominance and discipline. She will be proud of his ring as a sign of his ownership since she feels she belongs to him. Her declaration that she will never bow to him is borrowed from the Disney animated movie Aladdin, one of several such lines in the novel.

“He may have tied me to him in name, but I’ll die before I let him take my father’s company.”

This passage points to the conflict that makes the characters enemies: Yasmin resents Julian’s participation in Sultans and wants to ensure he doesn’t get complete control. This competition between them disappears when she feels tied to Julian by love instead of compulsion, showing how romantic feelings change the stakes of their relationship.

“There’s always been an incessant need inside me to please other people, to make sure that I’m well liked and that everyone around me is taken care of and happy.”

Yasmin realizes that her need to please others, especially her father, as a character flaw that has eroded her sense of self. In contrast, her antagonism toward Julian is liberating—she doesn’t feel the need to please him, at least not initially. This freedom, the goal Yasmin longs for, leads to growing romantic feelings. After they become sexually involved, as demanded by the conventions of the romance, pleasing Julian becomes Yasmin’s primary goal.

“Everything is a negotiation, and there’s no true good and evil. The separation is an illusion created by those of us in power to keep the masses at bay and feeling as though there are people fighting for what’s right.”

This worldview, which negates the idea of moral absolutes and substitutes a relativistic approach that circumvents the binary of good and evil, defines Julian’s outlook on the world. This attitude allows him to engage in behavior that is cruel and illegal without remorse; Yasmin shares much of this perspective, which allows her to forgive and love Julian regardless of his actions, seeing his choices as a necessary part of how their world works.

“The depth of her stare makes me uncomfortable, like she’s peeling back layers that I didn’t mean to expose and trying to find the broken little boy that’s buried underneath.”

This image of being emotionally flayed indicates how Yasmin is seeing into and learning more about Julian. Part of what makes Julian vulnerable to Yasmin, which advances the romance between them, is her interest in his past and his character, which no one else in his life demonstrates. This interest in the inner lives of others is also illustrated through her love of photography.

“I’ve built my reputation and turned Sultans from just another company into the empire it is today by being cold, aloof, and stubborn, and I have no interest in changing my ways.”

Julian embodies the isolated, lone-wolf trope—a man impervious to love. This makes Yasmin’s victory all the more notable; when she conquers his heart, she wins a powerful, wealthy man who loves and adores her. This transformation illustrates the redemptive power of love and follows the reformed-rake romance subgenre, suggesting, as this trope has it, that a man starved for love will be all the more passionate when he finally falls. The ironic twist McIntire maintains is that Julian doesn’t reform in his behavior, only in his need to isolate himself.

“He’s the only person who’s seen me lacking and not just handed me whatever I need but given me the chance to learn it myself. It’s different from what I’m used to, and I like the way it feels.”

Another moment that adds to their emotional bonding and progresses the romantic relationship is Julian’s offer to give Yasmin driving lessons. He supplies her with something she needs and has never before had: an avenue toward independence. This becomes evidence that he is her ideal romantic partner, as he has insight into her that no one else has, not even her father.

“I revel in his screams while I bathe in his blood, and eventually he quiets for good.”

The episode where Julian tortures and kills the police officer who insulted Yasmin shows Julian’s disregard for external authority and his protectiveness toward what he considers his. The prolonged depiction also highlights that, while he has begun to develop tender feelings for Yasmin, Julian has not lost his enjoyment of torturing and killing others, confirming that he still retains his villain status even while he is falling in love.

“It [Yasmin’s touch] feels like comfort. Like a warm blanket on a cold night. Like I don’t hate it at all, which makes it a very big problem for me.”

Part of how Yasmin signals she is the ideal romantic partner for Julian is that her touch is not abhorrent to him. She is the only person he will allow to get close, proof of their bond and the power of her affection, another convention of the romance.

“So you see, I wish she would die. To free me from this guilt that lives inside me, festering like an infected wound, knowing that if maybe I had just never existed, she wouldn’t have had so much strife.”

Julian’s confession to Yasmin about the abuse he received as a child is a moment of emotional vulnerability and connection that leads to passionate sex, further advancing their relationship. This backstory also reveals how Julian connects pain and pleasure, the origins of his obsession with ownership and possession, and the guilt he feels for being, as he sees it, the cause of his mother’s suffering—all expressed in the image of a wound that won’t heal.

“Being his means letting go of everything else, and I’m just not willing to do that.”

Yasmin’s attitude toward calling herself Julian’s possession marks the progression of their romance. In the early stages of their relationship, she refuses to admit she is his, which causes him to withhold attention and affection. By the end, she submits to his desire to see her as his possession, knowing it pleases him and happy to furnish this evidence of her love.

“She’s the only one who’s seen my darkest parts and still decided I was worth a shit.”

In defiance of the customary redemption trope, in which the love of a good woman redeems the broken man, Julian doesn’t intend to change his ways if even Yasmin does love him, and Yasmin doesn’t require that he end his criminal activities—another subversion of the conventional love story.

“Somewhere along the way, things shifted for both of us, changing from something that I had no escape from to something I ache to escape into.”

As her feelings for Julian change, Yasmin’s mental imagery shifts from thinking of her marriage as a prison. Instead, Julian offers her freedom to fully be herself, the private world of their relationship becoming her escape and refuge. Her choice to be with Julian shifts the stakes and terms of their relationship for him, completing the romance arc.

“Men like me don’t get into heaven and we don’t get second chances.”

Julian’s view of himself suggests that he doesn’t really want to be redeemed or turned into someone else; he accepts and even valorizes his status as a villain in the narrative. Yasmin’s love, in contrast, feels all the more precious to him because he’s never been loved and has always felt undeserving.