The Intern Novels & Stories

River greets, out of breath and panting like he had just ran a forty-mile race. “Uh, are you lost, sir?” The woman asks, whisking her ebony hair away from her eyes. River scowls at her tone and becomes annoyed by the probing look in her eyes. “Miss, I know I look a hot mess, but I’m not lost. I’m the new intern.” River implores, still out of breath but faultless in his own defense. “By my understanding, you’re here to interview for that internship.” The woman challenges with a sour tone.

He followed Alaric’s gaze across the room and found Rhea standing beside the young man who seemed determined to keep her entertained. Alaric’s expression tightened slightly. “I’ve never seen him at the company before. Who is he?” Matt looked at John for a moment before turning back. “That’s John. He joined recently and was assigned to Rhea’s department. He’s one of the interns.” “An intern?” There was something faintly displeased in the way Alaric repeated the word. Matt’s mouth twitched. “Yes. An intern. Unless you’ve suddenly started conducting employee interviews from across a ballroom.”

When he spoke in meetings, the entire room went still. I was the new intern. Twenty-two. Fresh out of university with a marketing degree and a desperate need to prove myself. I had long dark hair that fell past my shoulders, a body that had always drawn attention whether I wanted it or not, and a face people called pretty enough to open doors. I hated that last part. I wanted my work to matter more than my curves or my smile. Still, I was not naive. I knew how men looked at me. I just never expected the most powerful man in the building to look at me the way he eventually did.

"makes it worse.” Sebastien clicked his tongue " Ah! Integrity then. You sleep with me now and it’s just pleasure, we’re two consenting adults who wanted it. Doesn’t matter that I’m your boss and your job security is in my hands.” I scoffed, realization hit hard. “You think I’m doing this becuase I'm scared of losing my job?" He raised that infuriatingly perfect brow again. “Aren't you?" I laughed sharply. " Wow! I thought you were just an asshole. Turns out not even your face card can make up for it "

I told myself a lot of things these days. “Come in,” I called, expecting the night security guard or maybe the cleaning crew. The door opened and Ethan Kane stepped inside. Twenty-four. Fresh out of his MBA program. My new executive intern for the next quarter. HR had walked him into my office at 9 a.m. sharp this morning with the usual corporate speech about “mentorship” and “valuable experience.” I’d barely looked up from my laptop then—just enough to register dark hair, sharp cheekbones, and a handshake that lingered half a second too long.

Back then, everyone treated Floyd’s words as a joke. After all, Preston was just a junior at Stanford, busy with fraternity parties and sailing regattas, with zero interest in the law. And Floyd, though in his sixties, was healthy and full of energy. It looked like he had at least another decade of work in him. No one could have predicted that fate would rewrite everything on one rainy night. It was my fifth year with the firm. A phone call jolted me awake at three in the morning.

Panic surged through me as I fumbled for my phone and called Jeremy for help. I called over a dozen times. He did not pick up once. He used to answer instantly every time. Confused, I was about to call again when I saw Molly’s post. No wonder he had not answered. He was with her at a prenatal checkup! Molly was someone Jeremy had hired as an exception. He claimed he had developed a strange illness, an almost obsessive physical dependency on her. He said she was his cure. Every month, he would disappear for ten days to go to her for “treatment.”

After all, who would care about the lowly person-in-charge? If anything were to happen, they could put the entire blame on me, the 'person-in-charge.' Unfortunately for Jenny, she seemed to have forgotten that my identity had been deregistered. How could I, supposedly the person-in-charge, take responsibility for anything? The bewildered Jenny grabbed Edward's arm and asked, "Mr. Cooper, what should we do? I'm just a lowly intern. If I'm taken in for questioning, the company will fire me!" Edward held her hand and gulped–twice, even–nervously. He still forced himself to console her.

“You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to drag me into whatever this is and then act like I’m some outsider.” The harsh words hung between us. I thought he was going to snap at me but he didn’t. Instead, he exhaled slowly. “She’s not important,” he said. “Well, she didn’t look unimportant either.” Silence occurred again. “She’s an intern in the school.” He finally responded. I frowned. Intern? That old? Was that a trick to probably get closer to him? “When did the school start taking interns?” I was genuinely surprised. “Do you know her before she became an intern in the campus?” I asked.

His grin never faded. I wanted to scrunch up my face, but that didn’t seem like a good idea. He might think I was rude. New here? Could he be a new worker and not a guest? "I’m not sure either. I’m just an intern and I wasn’t assigned here on the farm. I was just asked to come here to pick something up. I'm not familiar with the layout," I replied calmly. Slowly, the nervousness the man had caused in me began to fade.