Story Rating: M (For language, mature themes, violence and future sexytimes.)

AU story line set in NYC 1930's. Considered this a slow burn as this is definitely not a love at first sight story. Slight OOC for some characters introduced later on in the story.

Disclaimer: I own no rights associated with Once Upon A Time. I am simply borrowing the characters. No beta so all mistakes are my own.

Some Background Information (Feel free to ignore and carry on if you wish): So the backdrop for this story takes place in Hell's Kitchen (Manhattan-New York City) during the early 1930's. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 America has fallen into an economic depression the likes of which had never been seen. Prohibition is still in place and organized crime has benefited greatly from bootlegging alcohol in from Canada and selling it in speakeasies all around the city. Rather than reducing crime, Prohibition transformed some cities into battlegrounds between opposing bootlegging gangs. New York City saw an increase in prostitution, gambling, and racketeering that all stemmed from various mob families. Various Irish mobs have settled in Hell's Kitchen and on top of the infighting for control, Italian-immigrant based mobs also poise a threat. There is no universal governing body for the Irish Mob and the Irish organized crime groups tend to operate in association with each other, but not on a formal basis. Because of the lack of a governing body the bosses normally set there own rules, on various things like who can be a member and who can not. The story will mostly deal with two fictional families, the Nolan's and the Cassidy's. Though not based off of a specific crime family, Emma in this story represents a Street Boss to the Irish based Nolan family. Her father (David) is the current Boss (head) of the family and is grooming his daughter to take over. Though women during this time (in almost all aspects of life) were not held with much esteem to do work, this is a point with the story that I am taking some liberty with. That's not to say Emma hasn't/won't face a lot of adversity due to her gender. As the story goes on and more terms from this come into play I will do my best to leave an author's note to help clear up any confusion.

This first chapter is more of a short prologue to set the story in motion.

Trigger Warning: Implications of rape and sexual abuse

"Let go of me Robin!"

The sun was beginning to set on them, and Regina had exhausted herself crying. In one respect she was angry at herself for being so obviously terrified of Robin Locksley, and on the other hand, she felt that if she had ever earned the right to cry as much as she wanted, it was on this day. He hadn't forced himself on her, yet, which she was honestly surprised by. She'd felt him wax hard and wane soft so many times in the past few hours that she was certain her first instincts had been right. It had been along her leg at first, but he'd moved, and any hope she had that she was mistaken had long since passed. She'd been with many men in the past due to her...job, but even if they swelled to thrice the size of what she'd seen they'd be nowhere near the thing that Robin had smugly sandwiched between their bodies. At first she'd tried to reassure herself that it wasn't something the size of her forearm, but from time to time he had ground it against her against the alleyway, and her hopes of not getting hurt on that score had been dashed.

She'd tried her best to stop crying, if only because she didn't want him to have the satisfaction of hearing her weep. It was bad enough that he'd be making her cry sooner than later. So she had stopped crying, whenever she could. It didn't take very long for her to get the sense that he enjoyed her sobs. He hadn't even done anything too obscene, but when her tears slowed, he kept doing things to make them start again. And whenever she screamed or sobbed or started crying after she'd stopped, he smiled like an ill behaved child, pleased with himself for misbehaving. Regina desperately wanted to stop for good, to show him that he couldn't just toy with her like that just because she worked for him, but it wasn't true. He could and he knew it. That was, perhaps, the most upsetting thing of all.

Given what he'd done in the past few minutes alone, Regina couldn't help that she started trembling uncontrollably as he shoved her against the brick wall. The people had watched them turn the corner into the alley way with wary eyes, but none asked if she was well or needed help. Anyone could tell she wasn't, and anyone could know there was nothing to be done about it. It wasn't their inaction that made her shiver though. It was the words Robin started saying when they passed the overflowing dumpster. Things about promising Regina not to harm Henry if she just kept calm, and how people got stupid when they heard a pretty girl screaming as he took his pleasure. Her father had always said she was strong, but Regina didn't think she was strong enough for this. How could she be? This was well beyond anything Regina had even dreamed of in her worst nightmares. Her life could never have prepared her for someone like him.

Robin didn't say anything, and she barely moved, irrationally hoping that if she too kept still that they might stand there in peace until he was bored enough to give up. 'Oh Lord teach him justice, Father give me strength, Father help me make of this what I can'- for a moment Regina hesitated, for she had never prayed for another's death, but her prayer only slipped for a moment in her mind before she thought- 'Death, come to meet him.'

"What's wrong Regina? Remember when you use to beg me for this?" A wave of cheap gin and smoke washed over Regina's cheek, causing her to flinch back. A stiff hand came up to slap the young woman in the face. "Answer me bitch!"

"Robin, please... stop-" her voice barely heard. Before either could respond, a new voice interrupted.

"Is there a problem here Locksley?" A voice, Irish in origin by the sounds of it, broke up whatever torment Robin had in store. From the side door of the opposite building there appeared to be three of them; men all dressed in slick looking tailor suits and light scruff adorning their faces staring down both Regina and Robin. The man closest to them seemed to be affected the most by what was going on. His eyes darted back and forth between Regina and Robin as he pieced the scenario out in silence. Regina thought his features battled between open hostility and anguish at what was he was witnessing. The man who had spoken up had dark hair pushed back off of his forehead, blue eyes that almost twinkled with mischief despite the time of night and a smile that seemed all too malicious. He was not someone Regina would have wanted to come across all by herself in the later hours of the day. And the third man was much harder to read. He appeared to be the biggest in bulk of the trio and yet the other two looked like much more of a threat just by how they were standing. What surprised Regina more than the appearance of the men was how quickly Robin managed to turn around to face the group.

"No-no problem here." Suddenly, Robin was all smiles as he finally put some distance between himself and Regina.

"That's not how I see it, Locksley," The dark haired man spoke up once more. "Looks to me as though you're getting real handsy with this dame back here. I might not be some hotshot egg-head like Booth, but from the looks of it, I don't think she too happy about that. What do you think Booth?"

"Sounds about right Killian," the man to his right replied.

"No honestly, this is all just a misunderstanding. Right Regina?" Robin looked to her as though she was her saving grace. And when she didn't answer quick enough his grip on her arm tightened just so to elicit a small gasp of pain from the brunette. "Right, Regina?"

"Right," she replied, her current terror clouding her ability to cover up the obvious lie she was forced to tell.

"I'd let her go if I was you," a softer accented voice said. Regina should have been prepared for all of the Irish immigrants that roamed the streets of Hell's Kitchen. This was their stomping grounds after all. It was a natural gathering place for all the Irishmen who got off the boat after weeks of travel at sea. What Regina hadn't been expecting was a woman to come out from behind the barricade of men. And in a man's suit no less. The articles of clothing hung to her body almost like a second skin- very much different from the boxy cuts the men wore these days- and her long blonde hair was pulled back in some sort of braided pony tail Regina had never come across before. Despite the very masculine -and bizarre- choice of apparel, there were still enough touches of femininity for anyone to see when they looked at the blonde. The woman who had been lingering in the back tossed her cigarette butt to the ground without so much as looking to where it landed. Her steps crunched the ground beneath as she broke past the line of men and wormed her way in between the two groups.

"E-"

"You don't get to call me that Locksley," the blonde cut off. "Especially since you know better than to show your face around here Robin."

"It's not what it looks like," he pleaded.

"That's what they all say." The woman tucked her hands into her pocket and nodded her head towards Killian and the other unnamed man. It was quick, but the two guys grabbed Robin by his upper arms and slammed him up against the hard brick wall. The sound of his skull hitting the wall was loud enough to draw Regina out of her stupor. She inched away as best as she could from Robin, but her legs shook from underneath. The fact that she was still standing was a miracle in itself.

"Come here," The blonde beckoned. When Regine refused to make a move the other woman gave her a warm smile of encouragement. "Don't be shy, I don't bite. Why don't you tell me your name?"

"Regina," she muttered, taking a few tentative steps away from Robin and closer to the blonde.

"Just Regina?" she teased. Strange to think this smiling woman was the same woman who made Robin so nervous. "Must be nice just having one name. Much easier to remember."

"Regina Mills."

"Well Miss. Mills, tell me the truth. Was Locksley here, giving you a hard time?" Regina gave a quick glance over towards Robin. He struggled to escape the hold of the other men and the brunette's nerves were on full alert once again. A pale finger against her chin guided her attention back to the blonde woman. "He's not going to hurt you over there love. You can tell me the truth."

Regina drew back slightly from her touch. "I work for him," she said, offering it up as though it was an excuse. "It's not unheard of-"

"Doesn't make it right from where I come from." The blonde cast an icy glare towards Robin that could have gone right through him. Without looking back, she gave an order to one of her men. "You make sure Miss. Mills gets home safely Humbert. We're just going to stay here and have a nice little chat with Locksley."

"Yes Boss." Humbert placed a rough hand along the brunette's shoulder and before she could gather herself, Regina ushered into the back seat of a car without another chance to speak up. The last thing she was able to see as the car peeled out was Robin being pushed down onto the concrete. By the looks of it 'chat' was a very loose term for what Robin Locksley was about to go through. She would have felt some sense of justice if this wasn't going to come back and bite her in the ass. Once Robin was free of that woman and her men he would just come right back to Regina. And when that happened there was no telling what sort of trouble she'd receive. Or what he would do with Henry.

"Where to Miss. Mills?" Humbert's voice interrupting her thoughts once more.

"56th and 8th," she paused for a moment before gathering the courage to ask the man up front a question. "Your boss is a woman?"

Humbert merely nodded in response before pulling away from the action about to take place in the back alley. The brunette noticed that unlike his companions, 'Humbert' had spent most of his time staring at her during the altercation, rather than linger on the man abusing her. Even now the man's eyes peered through the rear view mirror to get a better look at the battered woman in his backseat. The tone of his voice took some of the edge out of Regina's mood when he decided to finally speak up again. "Emma Nolan and her family are people you want on your side. They have a lot of influence on what goes on in this neighborhood. She isn't someone you want to rub the wrong way Miss. Mills." Sitting now in the back of a car driving away from the Robin and what ill fate awaiting him at the hands of Emma Nolan and her crew, she could see that there was truth in Humbert's claim.

Emma Nolan certainly wasn't someone you wanted to provoke.