All Chapters of Gold Behind Closed Hands: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

1I had just tucked the gift list away when the front door burst open.Caleb Brooks stumbled in, a little tipsy, and plopped down next to me."You were gone for a few days. I bet you thought you wouldn't come back."However, you missed me too much, didn't you? You just had to come back."He almost said out loud that I returned just to con him out of his money.Maybe he's always seen me as just a girl after his cash.Without even glancing at him, I scooted away, avoiding the arm he tried to drape over me.He looked at his hand, then at me, confused.He figured I was just upset about the $2,000."I'm a little thirsty from all the drinking. Go fetch me some lemon soda," he said.He was always like that, bossy and dismissive.However, when he first pursued me seven years ago, he pretended to be poor.He had me completely fooled."Jess, I've got nothing, and I can't promise you a future."However, we can work hard and make a good life together."I believed his honest face ba

"Caleb, you really should end the lease next month. You can't keep letting strangers mooch off you."Or maybe Jess should put it in writing. That seems fair."If it was not against the law to hit people, I would have loved to slap them both.However, if I did, they would surely try to squeeze money out of me.Rich folks lacking class loved playing nasty games.Seven years was enough. I was done with this charade."I won't put it in writing. If you want money, go ahead and sue me. Let's see if the court takes your side."I won’t be staying in the house anymore, Ms. Smith. Since you're so keen on spending the night, don't forget to pay Caleb the rent."Otherwise, you'll just be another moocher."I was about to walk away when Caleb grabbed me. His teasing look was gone, replaced by a stern warmth."Jess, do you have to be like this? Nevaeh and I were only joking."Think about it. If you leave, you'll never find a place as nice as this again."I was so wrong, so incredibly wron

Everyone glared at me like I was the bad guy, and the mean words just kept coming.I glanced at Caleb. He did not seem to care at all.It almost felt like Nevaeh was saying what he was thinking, and that made me feel even worse.I forced a weird smile onto my face.I was about to say something when Caleb grabbed me, acting all nice like he was trying to smooth things over."Forget about it. What's done is done. I'm not hurting for cash."The next time you need money, just ask me straight up. No need for stories."Caleb's words made everyone even madder. They thought I was being ungrateful."Right, Mr. Brooks is loaded. Just ask him for money. There’s no need to make up such a sad story.""Making up stuff about your own mom for cash? That's just wrong.""I can't believe Jessica would do something like this. I thought she was careful with money and I even used to share my snacks with her.""She's the kind of person Mr. Brooks should dump. She’ll find out how just tough it is i

A glimmer of bitterness flashed in Nevaeh's eyes, but she hid it just as quickly."Caleb, without the job you gave Jess, she wouldn't even be able to stay in the capital."Even if her mom passed away, it's not the end of the world. She can't keep using that as an excuse to mooch off you."If you go to her now, you'd just be letting her throw a fit. Trust me, women know women. Jess is just playing hard to get."Caleb glanced at her and suddenly felt like he did not recognize Nevaeh.I knew how good I was, and so did he.Thanks to my hard work, the company had soared in value over the years.However, Caleb had been undermining me all along.To Nevaeh, it seemed a human life was worth next to nothing.Caleb had just been reflecting on our shared history.He had not spent a dime on me and there was no truth to the accusations of me being a gold digger.It looked like all my past outbursts and explanations had been twisted by Nevaeh's words.In his mind, the image of me as a gol

It would be a lie to say I was not touched. He was so busy and could easily have brushed me off with any excuse.I changed my clothes and went with Yael to the fish pond."Your fish pond is huge, but you should keep the water about eight feet deep. For every section, you need to toss in 330 pounds of special lime to clean the water. However, right now, your pond isn't deep enough for raising fish."I scribbled in my notebook and nodded as I asked, "Do the fish need anything special?"Yael paused to think before he replied, "Well, for a pond as big as yours, you'd usually have about 2,000 carp, 1,500 silver carp, and maybe 20 large-headed carp. However, since you're just starting out, you should go with fish that are tougher and can survive easier."Don't worry about finding workers. I'll hook you up with some folks who know what they're doing," he added."As for that fancy fishing spot you want to set up, you've got to split the pond into different zones. You can't have newbies a