Monster Billionaire Husband, Let Me Go

Chapter 8: Shattered Glass

The scene that met me when I ran into the room cut straight through me.

Broken glass sparkled across the floor like cruel confetti, pills scattered in every direction.

Percy stood barefoot in the middle of it all, blood dripping from his feet, dark red blooming across the hardwood like ink in water.

"Why her?" he rasped, voice raw and cracking as he glared at Helen.

"Why not you?"

He grabbed my sleeve with shaking fingers, holding on like I was the last solid thing in the world.

"I don't want anyone else," he whispered. "I just want you."

I said nothing, just poured a glass of water and held out a pill.

He took it without protest, eyes closed as he swallowed, long lashes casting soft shadows on his cheeks.

"Why are you so fixated on me?" I asked quietly.

His eyes flicked up to mine, something vulnerable swimming just beneath the surface.

"I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"That you'll hand me off to someone else." His voice dropped to almost nothing. "That you'll leave me."

My chest tightened.

Somehow, he knew. Knew there was a handoff happening—knew Helen was supposed to take my place.

"From now on... only you," he said, tugging on my sleeve again, stubborn as ever. "Promise me."

I looked into his clear, childlike eyes and lied.

"Okay. No changes."

Only two weeks left anyway, I told myself.

He broke into a smile, like a kid getting his favorite candy.

He didn't even seem to notice his bleeding feet. Or the sympathy that flickered across Helen's face.

Everyone knew I was leaving.

Except him.

That afternoon, I stepped out into the sun-drenched garden and ran into Emily Thompson.

She was staring up at the second-story window, where Percy's silhouette moved behind the curtains, the sound of his piano floating softly through the air.

"Could you give this to him?" she asked, handing me an old piece of sheet music, its edges yellowed and worn. "He's been looking everywhere for it."

I took it, confused. "Why not give it to him yourself?"

"He won't see me," she said, offering a small, sad smile.

It hit me then—how long it had been since she last visited the Sullivan house. Even the silver ring she always wore was gone.

"Mrs. Reynolds," she said suddenly, "you know I love him, right?"

I nodded.

The look in her eyes said more than words ever could.

"I first saw him at a music festival," she murmured, her voice soft with memory. "Everyone was with friends, but he stood alone in the corner—looked like a lost fawn."

"His phone had died, so I offered him a ride home. He was... different. But that innocence, that stillness—it pulled me in."

Her fingers ran over the sheet music absently. "When I heard you were divorcing, I felt this rush of hope."

She looked at me directly.

"I've always thought you and Percy came from two different worlds."

She hesitated. "He and I... we talk for hours. About music, about everything. I get him. I can take care of him."

Then her voice dropped.

"You know what he said when I told him how I felt?"