Dark One's Daughter *Book One*

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

"I'm sure I can manage Sydney. Anyway, I'm doing it for Henry. He loved that place, she had no right to tear it down," Emma complained.

"She's the mayor. I'm pretty sure that means she can do whatever she wants," I disagreed.

The bell to my shop then rang and in entered a pissed off Kathryn.

"Oh, gotta go. Kathryn's here," I told Emma quietly.

"Good luck," Emma said before I rung up the phone.

"Kathryn, what can I do for you?" I asked as she approached the counter. I already knew what she wanted. Where is David?

"Where's David?" Kathryn asked. Bingo!

"I'm sorry. I haven't seen him since yesterday when-" I cut myself off, as I remembered when I'd last seen him; kissing Mary Margaret.

"When what?" Kathryn asked.

"When I went to Granny's," I managed to save myself.

"Oh, well. If you see David, tell him that I'm looking for him," She snapped, before storming out the shop.

"My, my. She's in a good mood," A certain Scottish voice said from by the coat section.

"Oh my God! Gold? How long have you been there?" I asked.

"Long enough. You're right about that Sydney character though," Gold said, walking up to me.

"You listened to my conversation?" I asked shocked.

"You weren't exactly very quiet," Gold defended.

"That's cause I didn't think anyone else was here!" I exclaimed.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, what you told Miss Swan was a very good piece of advice," Gold said smiling.

"Thanks," I said hesitantly. "Is there a reason why you're here?" I asked Gold.

"Yes, actually. I've come to collect the rent," he told me.

"That's today?" I asked. Gold nodded. "Oh, okay. Just give me a sec." I went round to the back and collected the right amount to the exact cent and came back round to find Gold nodding his head along to my shop music. "It's good, isn't it?" I asked smirking.

"Lovely," Mr Gold replied. I went over to him and handed over the money. "Dearie, that's too much."

"What? No it's not. It's the exact right amount that I've been paying for the last God knows how long," I told him.

"Didn't you get my notice?" What notice? I shook my head and he continued. "I've lowered the rent."

"Really? Granny hasn't said anything about that," I pointed out.

"I only did it for a certain amount of shops," Gold said smiling.

"Oh, ok," I said still confused. Something was off about this situation. Where money is concerned, Mr Gold isn't the most generous. Mr Gold then proceeded to hand me back what looked like half of the money. "Holy shit, Gold! Why'd you lower it so much?"

"I was feeling generous and I now have more shops so you don't need to pay as much," He replied smiling still. New shops? There's no new shops in Storybrooke, I would have heard about them. Despite that, I felt great knowing I wouldn't need to worry about it as much anymore.

"Right, well that's great," I said feeling relieved. Gold's phone then started to beep.

"Excuse me, dearie," he said, looking down at his phone. "You'll have to forgive me, Tasha. Looks like I'm needed."