Leaves son with ego shattered (4)
I believe the answer is:
goes
'leaves' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'son with ego shattered' is the wordplay.
'son' becomes 's' (**).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'shattered' is an anagram indicator.
'ego' is an anagram of 'goe'.
's' put after 'goe' is 'GOES'.
(Other definitions for goes that I've seen before include "Departs; operates" , "Moves" , "See 4" , "Functions" , "Leaves; operates" .)