All Chapters of The Governor’s Wife, His beautiful ruin: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Evelyn’s POVThe moment I walked into the event hall, I felt something tug at me. It wasn’t dramatic. Just a quiet pull, like someone’s attention stuck to me before my eyes even scanned the room.And of course it was Theo.He didn’t try to hide it. He didn’t pretend he was looking somewhere else. He stood across the hall, surrounded by volunteers and equipment, and still managed to stare at me like he’d been waiting for me to show up. Not in a creepy way. More like he had something sitting in his mouth that he couldn’t spit out unless we were alone.He had that look again the one he gives me whenever he wants to talk privately but the entire world is watching. And the way he held that stare… at some point I felt myself almost reacting. Almost walking toward him. Almost asking him what exactly he needed from me.But I held myself still.His staring didn’t bother me. It didn’t embarrass me either. What it did, and what I hated, was how it made my heart jump a little. Just a stupid littl

Evelyn Clara barely looked at me when she grabbed her backpack off the counter, mumbling something about running late before dashing toward the door, her shoes slipping a little on the polished floor because she didn’t slow down long enough to process anything, not her untouched toast or the empty place at the head of the table or the fact that Alfred never came home last night and the house felt heavier for it, the kind of heaviness that settles in a family room meant to be warm but instead feels like everyone’s pretending not to see what’s missing.I didn’t call after her. I just stood there with my coffee cooling in my hand, watching the door shut behind her, and then I checked my phone again even though I already knew there was nothing waiting on the screen. No call or text . Not even a simple update from Sam. I was expecting him over to show him the new task. By the time the intercom flashed and Sam arrived at the front entrance, I was already halfway there, opening the door be

Evelyn I was already in my nightwear when Alfred walked into the room without knocking, the door swinging open hard enough to brush the stopper on the wall. I had taken off my earrings and set them on the vanity in a way that showed I was done for the night, brushing my hair back with slow, steady strokes because I was trying to settle myself, trying to put the entire day behind me without letting my thoughts slip anywhere dangerous. I kept my back to him, kept brushing, refusing to look up, even though the shift in the air told me exactly what kind of mood he had walked in with. He stood near the doorway, not moving at first, watching me the way he always did when he wanted a reaction. “Why aren’t you dressed?” I didn’t turn. I kept brushing even though the brush had already passed through my hair a dozen times. “For what?” “The gala,” he said. “We’re leaving in an hour.” “I’m not going,” I said, still brushing even though I didn’t need to. “I’m not feeling well.” He started w

Theo’s POVMira didn’t give me a second to breathe after I walked inside she stepped right up to me, slid her hands beneath my shirt, and kissed me with an urgency that should have pulled me in, her mouth moving against mine like she wanted to remind me of something we used to be. She pressed her body against me, fingers tugging at my hair, her breath warm against my cheek as she tried to get a response out of me the way she always had before.But nothing in me reacted.My hands stayed at my sides, and even when she kissed me again, slower this time, trying to draw me into the moment, my mind drifted without my permission. Instead of seeing her, my thoughts pulled up an entirely different face, one I had no business thinking about - the curve of Evelyn’s mouth when she tried not to smile too openly, the steady way she held eye contact when she wanted answers, the warmth in her gaze when she let her guard fall for a second too long.It hit me suddenly and hard, the way her look lingere

Evelyn I spent most of the afternoon sitting at my desk with papers spread out in front of me that had nothing to do with Alfred’s campaign and everything to do with my escape. Financial plans. Private accounts. Trusts. A list of people I could rely on without it getting back to him. Every strategy I mapped out felt both brilliant and impossible because that was the nature of leaving a man like Alfred you had to be quiet, smarter, two steps ahead, and ready to burn the ground behind you if necessary. But my mind wouldn’t stay steady. Every few minutes, it drifted back to Theo. Back to the way he looked at me in his dining room, the way he stood so close the air between us had its own pulse, the way his voice had dropped lower when he said he’d do anything for me. I kept replaying that moment where we almost crossed a line, where the world felt very small and very loud and completely focused on the space between us. It kept happening without my permission, without any effort, just