He'd killed him.
Gold had expected to feel bad that he did so, but the guilt never came. And why should it? The man hurt a child, he deserved no sympathy.
It was simple; he had knocked on the door, introduced himself as someone from Child Protective Services and the man as trusting enough to let him in. That was his own fault. And then when Gold asked if he'd hurt Emma, the man paled and stammered and the guilty look on his face was all Gold needed.
So he shot him. He wasn't going to stand for children getting hurt because of adult stupidity. He hadn't allowed it in the Realms and he certainly wasn't going to allow it now.
Especially where their savior was concerned.
He should've just run away and hidden somewhere with Emma and raised her like she had been meant to be raised had that idiot woodcutter and blue fairy not gotten involved.
But no matter how many times he told himself that he should've left with her or should've done whatever, it all ended the same.
It wouldn't have benefitted him in the long run. Right now his greatest strength was that Regina didn't know.
She would come to town in 22 years. He could openly keep her safe then. Until then he would have to stay hidden and in the shadows. This was the only way he would be able to atone for letting Regina have so much power that she could rip away everyone's happy endings with the curse that he created to find his boy.
It didn't occur to him until he was driving back home that Emma might be the one to find the body.