Chapter 198

• "Staci, I can't...If I do this, I'm no better than David. I don't have much left to me, but my conscience won't let me do this. If your marriage is so horrible, then leave him. Go divorce him and find someone to make you happy. There's too much history between us to overcome. Too much animosity and bad blood for us to ever get over. Your dad is going to destroy me or I'll destroy him. There is no other way."
• "I'm tired of you hurting me Staci. You have to understand I'll always love you. All this time, all this pain, all my pretense of hating you. It's killing me, Staci. I won't ever forget you, but I need closure between us. I need to be able to think of you as my friend, despite what is about to happen. If we continue tonight, I promise you that you'll hate me, or I'll hate you for the rest of our lives."
• My explanation was the catalyst for her crying jag as we continued to hold each other.