Chapter 6 - The Eviction
When our SUV pulled onto our quiet suburban street in Plano, Tiffany’s white Lexus was parked in the driveway.
Sitting directly behind it was a marked Collin County Sheriff cruiser. Deputy Walker, a broad-shouldered officer with a stern mustache, stepped out of his car as we parked.
“Mr. Holloway?” Walker asked.
“Yes, Deputy. This is my ex-wife, Dr. Kelly Holloway, and our daughter Maya.”
Deputy Walker looked down at Maya, his expression softening slightly. “You stay in the car with your mom for a few minutes, sweetheart. Your dad and I are going to handle this.”
I walked up the front walkway beside Deputy Walker. My heart pounded, but not with fear. For the first time in months, I felt completely in control.
I unlocked the front door and pushed it open.
Tiffany was in the kitchen, casually slicing strawberries while talking on speakerphone with her sister.
“—and then Greg had this total breakdown because I asked the girl to do some light chores,” she was saying, laughing dismissively. “Honestly, Brenda, men are so pathetic when it comes to parenting—”
She froze as Deputy Walker and I stepped into the kitchen.
The phone slipped from her hand, bouncing onto the marble island.
“What is this?” Tiffany demanded, her voice instantly high-pitched. “Greg, what did you do? Why is there a police officer in my house?”
“Mrs. Holloway,” Deputy Walker said, pulling a folded legal document from his tactical vest. “I am serving you with a Temporary Ex-Parte Protective Order issued by the 429th District Court of Collin County.”
Tiffany stepped back, hitting the edge of the counter. “What? On what grounds?”
“Child endangerment and domestic harassment,” Deputy Walker recited professionally. “Under the terms of this order, you are required to surrender your keys, gather essential personal belongings, and vacate these premises immediately. You are prohibited from coming within five hundred feet of Greg Holloway or Maya Holloway.”
“This is absurd!” Tiffany shrieked, her face turning purple. “This is my house! I am on the lease! Greg, tell him! You can't just throw me out on the street because Maya didn't want to mop the floor!”
“You have forty-five minutes to pack two suitcases, Tiffany,” I said, my voice deadpan. “Deputy Walker will supervise you.”
“I’m calling my lawyer!” she yelled, reaching for her phone.
“Call whoever you want,” I said. “Marcus Vance is already in touch with Hailey’s father, Mark. Mark has already seen the security footage of you deliberately sabotaging our home and using our funds while neglecting the girls.”
At the mention of Mark, Tiffany’s bravado cracked. The shrill confidence vanished, replaced by sheer panic.
“You showed Mark?” she gasped. “You had no right! That footage is private!”
“It came from the cameras you installed to spy on my daughter,” I replied coldly. “Every single minute of it is now part of the court record. And Deputy Walker has a copy in his vehicle.”
Deputy Walker checked his watch. “Forty-three minutes, ma'am. Bedroom first. Let’s move.”
While Deputy Walker escorted a trembling, cursing Tiffany upstairs, the front door opened. Kelly walked into the house, holding Maya’s hand.
Maya looked around the entryway. The damp floor had dried, leaving faint streaks of dried soap where she had been forced to stop scrubbing.
Kelly walked straight to the master bedroom closet. She ignored Tiffany, who was hysterically stuffing designer dresses into a duffel bag under Deputy Walker’s watchful eye.
Kelly reached up to the top shelf of the closet, pulled down the three leather-bound sketchbooks Tiffany had confiscated, and walked back out.
She knelt before Maya in the hallway and handed them to her.
“Yours, baby,” Kelly said softly.
Maya clutched the sketchbooks to her chest as if they were made of gold, burying her nose in the paper. “Thank you, Mom.”
Thirty minutes later, Tiffany was escorted down the stairs, carrying two overflowing suitcases. Her makeup was ruined by streaks of angry mascara, and her hair was disheveled.
At the front door, she stopped and turned to look at me, her eyes burning with venom.
“You think you won, Greg?” she spat. “You’re a weak, pathetic man who lets his ex-wife and a spoiled brat dictate his life! You’ll be alone forever!”
“I’d rather be alone for the rest of my life,” I said, looking her directly in the eye, “than spend another second sharing a roof with a monster who makes a child clean on her knees.”
“Time to go, ma'am,” Deputy Walker commanded, taking her elbow and steering her out the door.
We watched through the front window as Tiffany shoved her luggage into the trunk of her Lexus and sped down the street, disappearing around the corner.
The house was suddenly quiet.
The toxic cloud that had suffocated this home for months was gone.
Maya walked over to the entryway, picked up the gray plastic bucket and the scrub brush, and walked out to the garage trash can.
We heard the heavy plastic lid slam shut.
May you like
When Maya walked back inside, she was standing taller. For the first time in six months, she looked like my daughter again.
***
