Every Time He Goes Cold, My Fortune Grows

Wynne's POV: Killian Rourke hasn't spoken a single word to me in ten whole days. It all started when I was tidying the study and accidentally spilled water, soaking a scenic postcard that Kendall Kesswick had sent him. He swept his cold gaze over me then, eyes sharp as shards of ice. "Get out, Wynne Kincaid." I didn't try to explain. I kept my head down, left the room quietly, and even closed the door gently behind me. Killian has an overwhelming need to be in control, and his favorite way to punish me is the silent treatment. He wants to see me panic. He wants to see me tiptoe around him, trying so hard to please him. He wants to watch me lose myself completely. What he doesn't know is that my fear is all an act. Every single day, he gives me the cold shoulder. His personal assistant transferred twenty thousand dollars to my secondary card, calling it "compensation." Ten days. Two hundred thousand dollars in total. I stared at the deposit alert on my phone, unable to stop a smile from spreading across my face. I changed my clothes and headed straight for the oldest and largest jewelry store in the city center. "Ma'am, please make me forty solid-gold beads, pure gold, and make them nice and round." The woman behind the counter, who knows me well, smiled and took my card. In less than half an hour, forty plump, gleaming gold beads were resting inside my velvet pouch. When I stepped back out onto the street, the sunlight was bright and sharp, but I felt lighter and freer than I had in ages. I returned to the house, this cold, silent mansion perched on the hillside that felt more like a mausoleum than a home. I locked myself in our bedroom and pulled out a large custom glass jar I'd hidden deep in my closet. A thick layer of shining gold beads already lined the bottom. I tipped my new batch in on top and listened to the clear, ringing sound they made as they settled against one another. What sound could possibly be more beautiful than this?! ***** I've been with Killian for three years now. In all that time, every time he ignored me, I went and had more gold beads made. I know what it's like to have very little, so I know better than most that feelings are the most unreliable thing in the world. Only gold always holds its value. And besides, I learned the fine craft of gold smithing from my grandmother when I was growing up. In my spare time, I take all that gold and design and shape it myself into simple bands, small lockets, and delicate pieces of jewelry. That skill is the foundation I can always stand on, no matter what. My goal is to save up to one thousand gold beads, or in other words, ten pounds of pure gold. Once this glass jar was full, I'd take my craft and all my gold and move to a quiet little town down south where nobody knew me. I'll buy a house with a garden, open my very own gold shop, and live out the rest of my life in peace. Right now, I'm just three hundred beads away. Footsteps sounded outside the door. I quickly locked the jar in my safe and put on a face of quiet sadness before stepping out of the room. Killian was standing by the living room floor-to-ceiling window, holding an unlit cigarette between his fingers. He didn't even turn around when he heard me. "Do you understand what you did wrong, Wynne?" His voice was low, sounding like he was looking down on me from above. I lowered my eyes and made my voice soft, almost trembling. "I do, Mr. Rourke. I never should have touched your things." He turned around and looked me over, searching my face for the hurt and regret he expected to see. I did exactly what he wanted, my eyes glistened just a little. He seemed pleased with my reaction and tossed a black card onto the coffee table. "Kendall is coming home next week. Pick out something decent to wear, and you'll come with me to the airport." I looked at that unlimited black card, no spending limit, no need for a PIN, and my heart raced. "Yes, Mr. Rourke." I picked it up, and my fingers shook a little with excitement. Killian thought I was trembling because I felt so lucky to be seen with him in public. He let out a short, quiet laugh and walked upstairs. He had no idea, I was shaking because I could already see piles of gold beads waving right back at me.