chapter 5: The new intern

Evelyn’s POV

Three weeks. That’s how long it took for the world to pretend nothing had happened. The papers had moved on to another scandal, the photo was buried under fresher gossip, and Alfred was smiling again the kind of brittle smile that photographs well but never reaches the eyes.

I hadn’t been back to the campaign office since that morning. The memory lingered of Julia crying into her hands, everyone else pretending to work, Alfred avoiding me for days before speaking with polite distance.

Now, the cameras, the lights, the staff all of it was coming here, to our home. A staged interview. An attempt to scrub the scandal clean. I wasn’t doing it for him, not really, not entirely. I was doing it for appearances, for the family, for the hope that maybe this performance could fix what felt broken.

The living room had been transformed. Soft lighting, strategically placed furniture, subtle bouquets on side tables. Staff moved quietly, arranging cameras, checking angles, whispering instructions. The air smelled of coffee and new equipment, electric with anticipation. I could almost laugh.

The network had called it “a candid home interview” a chance to “restore the family image.” What it really meant was opening our doors so people could believe what the cameras told them to.

Lawson was the first familiar face I saw. He was pacing near the window, tie loose, phone glued to his ear. When he spotted me, he ended the call mid-sentence and smiled too wide. “Mrs. Cole,” he said, as if greeting a guest, not the woman whose home he’d invaded. “You look wonderful. We’re just about ready for the interview.”

I nodded, scanning the small cluster of campaign staff gathered by the dining area. That’s when I saw him someone new.

He was standing by the fireplace, clipboard in hand, listening to directions with a quiet focus that set him apart. White shirt, sleeves rolled, no tie. There was something unpracticed about him too calm for the chaos around him.

He started walking towards us , Lawson grabbed his shoulders smiled faintly. “Meet our new intern. Theo Hart. Policy Grad student, bright kid top of his class.”

Theo extended a hand, and for a moment, I hesitated. His hand was warm, steady not nervous, but not arrogant either.

“Mrs. Cole,” he said. “It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve read your legal work the case you argued for the Stiles settlement? Brilliant.”

That startled me. Hardly anyone mentioned my work anymore.

“Thank you,” I said, slowly.

His gaze held mine not intrusive, not flirtatious, but searching. Curious.

“You used to be a lawyer, right?” he asked.

“Still am,” I said. “Just not practicing.”

“By choice?”

I tilted my head, studying him. “That’s a bold question for your first week.”

He smiled a small, lopsided thing that didn’t apologize. “Bold questions get better answers.”

Lawson cleared his throat. “Theo, why don’t you make sure everything’s set “

Theo nodded, but before he moved, his eyes flicked toward me again a flicker of something I couldn’t name. Not attraction exactly. Recognition.

Then he walked away, sunlight sliding over his shoulders as he disappeared into the hallway

Lawson tried for small talk but I cut it off, I wasn’t in the mood.

I stood up to go to the room for a while , but Alfred’s voice caught me before I reached the door.

“Evie.”

He was coming out of the other living room tie perfect, charm reloaded. Theo trailed behind him, carrying a stack of documents.

“You met Theo?” Alfred said. His hand landed on Theo’s shoulder in that rehearsed mentor gesture he used on cameras. “Bright future, this one. Reminds me of myself at that age.”

I smiled thinly. “Let’s hope he aims higher.”

Alfred’s mouth twitched, but he let it go. “We’re lucky to have him. He’s the future of this campaign.”

I glanced at Theo again. I couldn’t stop noticing the way he glanced toward me once, just briefly, and then returned to his task. Something flickered there curiosity, perhaps respect. It unsettled me, made my pulse uneven in a way that had nothing to do with Alfred.

When the cameras started rolling, Alfred became a man I no longer recognized but everyone else adored. His laughter, his careful hand on mine, his voice dripping sincerity for the nation to believe. I sat beside him, nodding in all the right places, smiling when cued.Just couldn’t wait to get out of there

When it was finally over, everyone exhaled in relief. Alfred launched into handshakes and self-congratulations. I stayed where I was, the lights still hot on my face.

Theo walked past, tucking his notes under his arm. “You did well,” he said quietly. Not as a compliment, but as an observation.

I looked at him , really looked this time. Young, deliberate, unreadable. “So did you,” I said before I could stop myself.

He smiled once, small, then was gone.

Later that evening, when the crew cleared out and the house fell back into its usual silence,

But in the back of my mind, I kept seeing that sunlight across Theo’s face, the quiet rebellion behind his calm. It was dangerous, that spark. Not because of what it was but because of what it reminded me of.

I didn’t mean to linger on it. But I did.

Then Clara came bounding in, her voice bright enough to cut through thought. She slid into the room like a breeze of perfume and teenage certainty, her phone already unlocked, thumbs moving too fast. Her hair was up, her eyes bright sixteen and untouched by disappointment.

“What now?” I asked, not looking up from the jewelry I was fixing

She sat right close to me, “I finally met that new intern everyone keeps talking about.”

I looked up from my glass. “Theo?”

She grinned. “He’s hot. Like, unfairly hot. I mean, the way he talks…”

“Clara.”

She giggled then continued. I listened, sorting through her words, feeling something shift in me recognition of qualities I had once prized, the subtle spark of intelligence and steadiness, the kind that reminded me of what I had lost to compromise, to marriage, to appearances.

“I’m just saying he’s got this quiet confidence, you know? Not like those loud boys in my class.” She added

“Exactly.” I stood, rinsing my plate. “He’s a man, not a boy. That’s the point.”

“Oh my God, Mom, he’s twenty-four, not ancient.”

“And you know that already?”

She froze for a second, caught. “I might have… Googled him.”

“You’re stalking him already?”I asked

“No!” She screamed out

I sighed, wiping my hands on a towel. “Enough of it. He’s not for you.”

“Why? Because Dad hired him?”

“Because you’re too young,” I said, gentler now. “You should be crushing on boys from your basketball team, your classmates and friends not older men who already know how to read a room.”

She made a face. “You make it sound creepy.”

“I’m making it sound real,” I said. “You don’t know what people want when they see the name Cole attached to you. Not everyone’s harmless, Clara.”

She crossed her arms, frowning, lower lip pushing forward like when she was ten. Her expression faltered. I reached for her, pulled her close before she could argue. “I just don’t want anyone taking advantage of my baby.”

She hugged back, stiff at first, then melted into it. “You don’t have to worry so much.”

“I always will.” She looked away, muttering something under her breath before walking off toward the stairs, the sound of her footsteps fading.

I leaned on the couch .And somewhere in that quiet, I realized that even while Alfred played the perfect husband, the perfect politician, I had begun noticing the cracks not just in him, but in myself, in the life we pretended was intact.

Deep down, I already knew the universe doesn’t bring men like Theo Hart into your orbit for nothing. It brings them to test how much ruin you still have left to give.

And I wasn’t sure yet whether I’d pass or fail. And maybe that’s why, when I closed my eyes, I didn’t see Alfred anymore.

I saw the intern, Theo