He stared at her blankly, shaking his head. "It isn't true. You don't love me…."

"I do love you, Erik! So much that I could have killed you for not wanting me! I could have killed you for pinning away for a woman who would never return your love. She wouldn't know how. I see you for who you really are, and still love you for it. We are the same, you and me. We both have been broken and abandoned. No one knows better than us what it is like to desperately want to be wanted and loved for ourselves. Just as we are." She walked up towards him and rested her hand on the lapel of his jacket. "I don't need you to change."

She leaned in to kiss him, but Erik moved away and distanced himself to her by putting up his hand as a barrier.

"Don't ever do that again. The action is not wanted." His voice was phantom like. He never had been in such a situation before, but he knew enough to know that he did not trust her at this moment.

Tears started to swell in her eyes. "Is that the kind of compassion Christine shows you?"

"Oh Meg, I never knew how you felt…I never felt…" He thought it best not to finish his sentence. She knew what he was going to say. He placed his hand on the back of a chair for support. "God knows how much I have hurt you."

Her tears began to fall. "You still can't see it, can you? You, who can see the beauty underneath, are blinded by glitter. She doesn't know you, Erik. She won't be here when you need her most. She left you to the mob! She'll do it again, the minute you fall short of her expectations. She did it to Raoul and she will do it to you."

He came closer to her. "Meg, I am sorry for hurting you. I am sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I wasn't there to make it clear that I would never want you to prostitute yourself for a mere park in the hopes that it would bring you closer to me. The very idea of your actions fills me with horror. I hate that I am in any way responsible and although Christine tells me otherwise, I am responsible because I never stopped to find out. I trusted the wrong people. But no more."

Meg wanted to slap him. "You still see Christine as a blameless angel, don't you?"

"You need a savior and that is what you have mistakenly titled me. That is why you think you love me, but I am not a savior. You have been living in the shadows and we are all to blame for that."

"What do I have to do to be taken seriously? What will it take for Mother to listen to me and for you to hear me? See me as a really am?"

"I see you for the first time. I see you as someone who we all ignored and abused. I want to make it up to you, Meg. You have a place here, for as long as you wish to have it. Yet your past actions can never be repeated."

"You're dismissing me and patronizing me like a child! I said I love you, does that mean nothing? Is it easier for you to act this way, so you can justify not having to at least think of what it could be like for you and me?"

Erik's frustration was building up. He had no choice but to dispel her delusions. "I'm sorry, Meg but I can't love you back. I don't expect you to understand but I love Christine. Regardless of whether she would have come back to me, it would always be Christine. She is my destiny."

"So, you expect me to stay here and watch you with her, while I am pushed aside again?"

"You have your whole life ahead of you. You will forget me and all of this. If you don't wish to stay here, let me offer you some money to help you begin a new life."

"A new life? Like your new life without Christine?"

He sighed. "You know nothing of the history I share with her. My past with Christine will forever rule my future." She can never know of Gustave. She has no right to know of Christine's sacrifices.

"You poor, pathetic fool." She scoffed. "You like misery and you refuse to be happy because having that chance, scares the hell out of you. You are a waste!" She looked at him with contempt. "I don't need your charity. I pity you, Erik. A used-up whore pities you. I'll find the means on my own. Just tell me where I can find my mother."

Erik closed his eyes, anticipating the worst. "I sent her away."

Meg's eyes widened. "You did what?!"

"I will not tolerate any behavior at Phantasma that is of ill repute. She betrayed me by letting your actions go on and never telling me about it. Had I known, all of this could have been avoided. Both of your actions put Phantasma and all the employees in jeopardy. You weren't helping Meg, you were hurting all of us."

"You stand there and judge me? You banish my mother as if she never existed? Have you forgotten who you are? What you are? Walking amongst men, doesn't mean you are better than them. It means you are just lie them, flawed and cruel. I hurt you?" She went to the door and opened it. "You don't know what hurt is Erik, but you will."

"Meg, I know you can't see it now, but I sent her away because she failed you. I want you to start a new life, where you can be happy and find something for yourself. Stay as long as you need to. You won't be disturbed but I won't have you living in some illusion or fantasy."

"You are the one who is living in a fantasy, Erik!" She turned back to face him. "You will curse the day you chose beauty over truth. I will avenge my mother, make no mistake. I will stop at nothing to protect those I love and from this moment on, you are no longer one of them. But I will leave you with this warning, it was beauty that actually killed the beast."