The Dark Moment

The cold night wind hit Roxy like a physical blow as Julian shoved her out onto the terrace, letting the heavy doors swing shut behind them, sealing them away from the gala.

"Julian, please let me explain," Roxy sobbed, stumbling slightly in her heels.

Julian stood perfectly still in the shadows of the terrace. The temperature radiating off him was absolute zero. The transformation was horrifying. He was the ruthless CEO again, cold, calculating, and completely detached.

"Explain what, exactly?" Julian asked, his voice a flat, dead monotone that cut deeper than any scream. "That you allowed me to believe a pathetic, manufactured delusion? That you sat in my penthouse, drank my coffee, and played the devoted lover while knowing I had simply bought your time?"

"It wasn't like that!" Roxy cried, stepping toward him. "At first, yes, I stayed because of the contract! The doctors said breaking the illusion would hurt you! I was trying to protect your brain!"

"You were protecting your payout," Julian corrected icily.

"No! Julian, look at me! I fell in love with you! The man you were in the penthouse, the man who cared about my music, the man who looked at me like I mattered... I fell in love with him!"

"That man," Julian said, his eyes narrowing with bitter, utter disgust, "did not exist. It was a neurological glitch. A pathetic misfiring of synapses. I am Julian Sterling. I do not fall in love with investments."

The words shredded her heart into pieces. Roxy wrapped her arms around her chest, gasping for air as the tears streamed down her face, ruining her makeup.

Julian reached inside the breast pocket of his tuxedo. He pulled out a sleek, folded piece of paper. He had brought it with him tonight to finalize a corporate acquisition.

He pulled a silver pen from his pocket, signed his name with a harsh, jagged stroke, and tore the check from the book.

He stepped forward and held the check out to her.

"Fifty thousand dollars," Julian said, his voice entirely void of emotion. "The contract is concluded. Your services are no longer required."

Roxy stared at the paper fluttering in the cold wind. It was the money she had sold her soul for. It was the money that was supposed to save her band.

She looked up at his cold, unyielding face. The rebel inside her, the girl who had fought for every inch of ground in her life, completely broke.

She didn't take the check.

"I don't want your money," Roxy whispered, her voice hollow and defeated.

Julian let the check fall from his fingers. It drifted to the cold stone floor of the terrace, landing at her feet.

"Get out of my sight, Roxanne," Julian said softly.

He turned his back on her, opened the terrace doors, and walked back into the glittering, fake world of the Gala, leaving her alone in the dark.