Shattered Crystal, Broken Love

ughter, a ghost of her small footsteps. I spent the day after he

piled together. A worn-out teddy bear with one button eye, a floppy-eared bunny, a small, colorful unicorn. I picked up the bear, it

st mourning her loss, I was reliving her last moments. The terror in her eyes, the sound of

s channels were full of Ethan and Chloe. Pictures of them at the gala were everywher

Tech Visionary Ethan Hayes and Mentor Ch

"spiritual path." It painted Chloe as a wise, benevolent figure. They tal

is wife. No mention of hi

ked our child in a dark room until her heart gave out. I saw the woman he did it for. The

ached. He treated emotions as messy, inconvenient data points that disrupted his perfectly ordered world. His "spiritual journey" wasn

mind works differently. He' s under a lot of pre

monstrous. He didn' t just neglect his family; he saw us as obstacles to his immaculate

Mrs. Hayes, standing on the porch. She was a stern, elegant woman wh

. "I heard about... the accident. With the crys

scanning the silent house. "

word "hysterical" bounci

ing down on the sofa. She opened her purse and took out a checkbook. "I know he

e table. I glanced down at it. It was for a stagge

elf something beautiful. I know this doesn't fix a

nadequate for the enormity of what had ha

it was buried under a lifetime of enabling her son' s behavior. She was trying to smooth t

e check bac

nt your money

"Sarah, don' t be p

ice shaking slightly. "It' s not someth

rce? Sarah, think about this. A scandal would be d

h escaping my lips. "Your son killed my daugh

t. The words just came

e went pale. "Wh

e locked her in the meditation room. As a punishment. For b

he air between us,

ith a dawning horror. She seemed to spee

her. I couldn' t bear to be

y' s room. I closed the door behi

he. It was a storm, a hurricane of agony that ripped through me, leaving nothing but wreckage behind. I sobbe