The Night I Walked Out of the Holloway House
Chapter 01 - The Night I Walked Out of the Holloway House
## chapter 01 - Ask Him Where I Was Last Night
At 2:17 in the morning, I walked through the front doors of the Holloway mansion looking like a woman who had crawled out of someone else's nightmare.
My champagne satin dress was streaked with mud. One strap had torn loose. My cardigan hung from one shoulder, soaked from the rain, and there were shallow scratches across my arms from the thorn bushes I had pushed through in the dark.
I did not cry when I entered.
I had done enough crying on the six-mile walk back.
Diane Holloway came out of the dining room first. My mother-in-law was still wearing the cream dress and pearls she had worn to the charity dinner the night before.
"Lena?"
Behind her stood my husband, Grant, pale and confused.
His father, Walter Holloway, appeared last.
That was when I knew.
Walter was not surprised to see me alive.
He was disappointed to see me standing.
I went upstairs without answering anyone. Ten minutes later, I came down with my suitcase in one hand and my old brown duffel bag in the other.
Grant stepped toward me.
"Where have you been? We've been calling hospitals."
I kept walking.
Diane raised a trembling hand.
"Please. Don't leave like this."
I stopped at the open glass doors. Rain blew across the marble.
"You should have believed me," I said.
Grant stared at the scratches on my chest and arms.
"What happened to you?"
I looked at Walter.
For twenty-two months, I had tried to convince Grant that his father was not the man he pretended to be.
For twenty-two months, Walter had smiled, called me emotional, and told everyone I had trouble adjusting to "their world."
The night before, he had finally stopped pretending.
I looked back at my husband.
"Ask him where I was last night."
No one moved.
Walter's face changed for half a second.
That was all I needed.
I pulled my suitcase into the rain.
"Lena, wait," Grant called.
I kept walking.
Then Walter finally spoke.
"Let her go."
I stopped.
Not because of the words.
Because of the relief in his voice.
Grant heard it too.
When I turned, my husband was no longer looking at me.
May you like
He was looking at his father.
And for the first time since our wedding, Grant Holloway looked afraid of the man who had raised him.
