Chapter 8: Trust part I
When Emma was a child, her father was framed for a crime he didn't commit. Before he died, he left her a road map for revenge that led her to the people who destroyed their lives. Sometimes, the innocent get hurt. But one by one, the guilty will pay. Nothing ever goes exactly as one expect, and mistakes are life and death; collateral damage is inescapable.
Twelve Weeks Earlier
Emma Swan, clad in a teal blue dress with spaghetti straps, is at a polo match watching Neal Mills play polo. In the distance, she can see Regina Mills and Robert Mills cheering their son on as he plays polo, she can also see Violet Mills watch her older brother playing polo. Neal is clad in a yellow and blue polo shirt as he rides his brown horse across the polo field.
Emma takes off her sunglasses in order to see Neal better and to keep up the façade that she had a crush on him. Emma fakes disappointment when Neal misses a shot.
"Emma. What are you doing over here? This area is strictly for the commoners." Tamara calls out to Emma.
Emma turns to see her friend walking over to her clad in a light orange dress.
"I like the view." She replies with a smile.
"Mm. So I see. Don't think I didn't spot you flirting with Neal Mills at the yacht party last week." Tamara chastises Emma with a small smile.
"What can I say? He's charming." She responds.
"He's dangerous. Come on. Now I assume you've been studying the Hamptons group on my Facebook page." Tamara says as she leads Emma out of the area for commoners.
"Why, is there gonna be a test?" Emma asks rhetorically.
"Every day. Welcome to the V.I.P tent" Tamara says while she grabs a glass of wine for Emma. "For you. So tell me, who is here?" Tamara questions Emma.
Tamara looks into the tent, scanning the crowd. Emma follows suit. Emma sees a lot of people most of which she knows from her own personal research but she wasn't going to let Tamara know that.
"Uhh." Emma stutters.
"Oh, come on, no one? Mm. You must remember him" Tamara states while she points at August Booth. "August Booth from the Memorial Day Party."
August true to his style is wearing a button up shirt over a bright yellow polo both with the collars popped. He tops the outfit off with a sand colored blazer. She is not sure when August became so eccentric.
"Perennial pain in the ass?" Emma retorts as she follows Tamara further into the tent.
Tamara laughs at her response. "Gold star. And that charmer chatting him up is Owen Flynn, head of Wall Street's most profitable hedge fund. You'd have to have Nolan's kind of money for him to even look at you. Ah, and of course, situated comfortably in the royalty section, we have Robert Mills and…" Tamara explains.
"Her majesty." Emma replies.
Emma looks over at Regina who is in a magenta colored dress talking to someone Emma did not know or cared to know. She is focused on the white suit clad Owen Flynn who is currently talking to August Booth. She needed to make her way over there so she could meet him.
"Class dismissed. I need to do a little networking, you'll be okay right?" Tamara asks Emma.
"Yeah, of course, yeah. Go." Emma tells Tamara.
Tamara walks away and Emma looks at August and Owen. Owen is fidgeting with dice in his hand, a habit Emma remembered well. Owen is a man she remembers very well.
Emma runs out the patio door towards Owen. He is at the patio door clad in jeans and a yellow long sleeved button down shirt. The sleeve are rolled up exposing his wrists.
"Uncle Owen! Uncle Owen!" Emma shouts.
"Hello, birthday girl." Owen responds bending down to speak directly to Emma.
"Dad, Uncle Owen's here!" Emma shouts towards her father.
Her father appears from down the porch carrying a golden lab puppy in his hands. The puppy has a red bow stuck to the back of its neck. "Look what I have here. Happy birthday"
"Oh! What's his name?" Emma asks her father excited. Her father reaches down and hands Emma the puppy. Emma excitingly grabs the puppy from his arms.
"Uh, that is up to you. What's he look like?" Her father responds.
"Like a Sammy." Emma says answering her father's question.
"Sammy. Okay. Well, then Sammy it is." Her father says.
"Thanks, Daddy." Emma says.
"David, I gotta talk to you." Emma hears Uncle Owen tell her father. Owen pulls her father away walking with him further down the porch.
"Yeah, what is it?" Emma hears her father ask him.
"It's about Mills." Emma hears Uncle Owen respond.
That is one of the last good memories she had of the man she once called Uncle Owen. Emma watches as Owen moves on from talking to August to talking to Robert, Regina, and Violet Mills. Emma just watches them buying her time.
\*****/
At the Stowaway, a local bar in Montague, Henry Jones takes his break. Henry is sitting at the bar and he pulls out his phone and texts Violet Mills "whadup pretty lady?"
Killian calls out to his little brother while walking behind him carrying two plates from the kitchen, "Henry. Little help, please. The tables aren't gonna bus themselves."
"I'm on break." Henry responds.
"Yeah, break's over. Let's keep the tables running." Their father Brennan Jones responds to Henry's comment while taking his phone out of his hand.
"You should have thought of that before you fired half of the staff last week." Henry retorts.
"Don't be a smart-ass." Killian tells Henry as he walks back behind the bar.
The phone of the Stowaway rings and Brennan moves to answer it. "Stowaway. Brennan speaking. Yeah, I got the notice. No, don't bother. I know what I gotta do."
Henry looks back down at his phone to see that Violet responded. She texted back " polo match… bored!"
"Close up after lunch and take inventory on everything we got." Brennan states as he climb up the stairs in the back of the bar to the Jones' apartment upstairs.
"What's going on, Dad? Dad?" Killian shouts at his father.
What's his problem?" Henry asks gesturing toward their father.
"We're closing up early." Killian states while looking up at the stairs.
"Oh, sweet." Henry responds.
"No, Henry. Not sweet." Killian responds with a heavy sigh.
"Yo. That mean I could borrow the boat?" Henry call out at his brother. He does not wait for a response and assumes it's a yes. Henry pulls out his phone to text Violet "boat ride ltr?"
\*****/
Violet Mills is sitting at the polo match with her parents cheering on her brother as he plays in the match. She pulls out her phone and sees she has a new text from Henry.
"Whose boat, Violet?" Adam Connor, Violet's on and off again boyfriend, asks from behind her.
"A friends." Violet responds.
"I thought we had all the same friends." Adam states.
"Yeah, well, I'm sick of the same. I want different." Violet tells him.
"I can do different. Love different." Adam responds.
Violet rolls her eyes at Adam, gets out of her chair, and walks away.
A.N. This is twelve weeks before the event that occur in chapter 1 and shortly after the events in chapter 7 to clear up any confusion. Also sorry for the abrupt end, I wanted to update but I only had a limited time to write this chapter. Hope you like it!
