All Chapters of The Governor’s Wife, His beautiful ruin: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Evelyn’s POVOnce my driver pulled into the driveway, I knew something was off. Noise spilled out before I even opened the door. It wasn’t the usual sound of staff moving around or Clara talking in the living room. The volume told a different story. It sounded reckless and out of place.I stepped inside and followed the noise. Bass thudded through the floors. Voices rose above the music. It felt like someone had invited a crowd I didn’t recognize into a home that wasn’t meant for this type of chaos.The trail led to the lounge beside the pool. A group of teenagers and early twenty-somethings were scattered everywhere, about ten to twelve in total. A boy poured alcohol into the pool like it was a joke. A few girls danced on the couch. Someone dumped chips across the center table. Shoes, jackets, cups, and bottles were spread across the tiles with no care for anything around them.Nathan stood among them, drink in hand. He looked relaxed, laughing at something someone said. He didn’t ev

Evelyn’s POV Alfred fell asleep quickly that night. He always did when he had a long day. He lay on his usual side of the bed, facing away from me, one arm thrown over the pillow like he was claiming the entire corner of the mattress. His breathing settled into a steady pattern. He didn’t snore, but his breaths had a rhythm I’d learned to recognize over the years. I lay beside him with my eyes open, staring at the ceiling. The house was quiet. The kids were in their rooms. The staff had retired. Even the gardener’s dog outside had gone still. My mind wasn’t quiet at all. The string of phone calls he received during dinner kept replaying. The number of times he stepped away. The way he kept shielding the screen whenever the phone lit up. It wasn’t new but it was peculiar He didn’t used to hide anything from me. Not his work calls. Not his political meetings. Not even his cheating habits or even the things I should have been angry about. Somewhere along the line, he began pulling pi

Evelyn’s POVI barely slept through the night. Every time Alfred shifted beside me, I opened my eyes thinking he’d reach over and ask a question I wasn’t ready to answer. He didn’t. He slept like a man who believed he had nothing to hide, nothing to lose, nothing trailing behind him. I lay there counting the hours until morning, waiting for the moment I could finally move.His alarm went off just after six. He groaned, stretched, and swung his legs out of the bed. I pretended to adjust my pillow, as if I had just woken up. He walked across the room, picked the tie he wanted for the day, and straightened his collar while I watched from beneath my lashes.He didn’t say much. He rarely did in the mornings unless he needed something. He clipped on his watch and checked his reflection, then leaned over and kissed me on the forehead the same way he always did. Nothing in the gesture hinted that he suspected anything. If anything, he looked relaxed.“I’ll be back late,” he said. “Long day ah

Evelyn’s POV With Alfred’s official campaign launch, there were so many things to be done and one of them was pretending to the public he was charitable and how else could that perfect picture be painted if I wasn’t at the fore front of it. The charity run started early, too early for anyone who didn’t live under the scrutiny of the public eye. The campaign team had been at the site since dawn setting up tables, banners, cameras, and donation bins. By the time I stepped out of the car, people were already lining up mothers holding children, older men with worn jackets, teenagers who looked like they hadn’t slept properly in weeks. The press gathered near the entrance where they’d get the best angle of “the Senator’s wife doing what she always does.” Alfred wasn’t there. He never attended these smaller outreach programs. He called them “optics warmers.” His absence meant today was for me and whatever image they wanted to push. I knew the drill, smile, shake hands. Look compassionate

Evelyn’s POV “Mrs. Cole, can you take the left line?” The request hit me the second I stepped out of the car. A coordinator rushed toward me with a stack of labels, his voice strained as he tried to keep the volunteers in order. I gave a short nod and slipped on the gloves he handed me. The charity grounds were already crowded boxes stacked everywhere, volunteers shouting instructions, kids running around with clipboards like they were saving the world. I moved past them and headed toward the table covered in canned food and meal packs. The entire space buzzed with activity, the kind of restless pace that always came with these events. Every corner had someone rushing, arguing over packing lists, searching for missing donations, fixing banners, setting up cameras. These charity days always turned into performances, and today was no different. I barely placed my bag down when I heard a voice behind me. “Can you lift this side?” Theo. And he wasn’t talking to me. I turned my he