First of all, thank you for the feedback again! Each review fills my heart with joy! As you can see, I'm trying to post once a week and so far it's good and I'm managing well. I hope I can continue to post regularly like this. I wish I could post more often, but I don't want to promise something and then not keep it.

But you all should really share more of your thoughts, so I know if I'm doing the right thing or not, trust me, it's more helpful than you think. This is a longer chapter, btw, so I hope it doesn't bore you all, lmao!

Anyway, here it goes! Enjoy!

CHAPTER THREE

Regina looked herself in the mirror. She couldn't recognize the person she was seeing anymore. She was wearing a killer black dress and years ago that would make her feel like the most desirable woman in the world. She used to have a lot of self confidence, something that years and years of abuse managed to pull out of her. She used to be happy.

Regina Mills came from a traditional New York City wealthy family. She was the only daughter of Henry and Cora Mills. The family's business was horses. Creation, reproduction, competition, everything you could think of. Their animals were the most valuable in the United States. Spending most of her time with horses, Regina grew up in love with them. She started riding at a very young age and soon was a promising equestrian. She knew she could spent the rest of her life with horses and be happy. She begin competing when she was 8 and by the time she was 15 she already had a collection of medals, something that made her parents extremely proud. They wanted her to excel in everything in life, they wanted her to always be a winner, so she did all kinds of classes a young woman should do to behave well in society. She was the perfect daughter.

But Regina didn't care about any of this. She even stopped liking riding horses so much because of the pressure to be the perfect equestrian. She wanted to be a veterinarian and take care of horses for the rest of her life. She was just sorry that her parents didn't feel the same way.

On her 18th birthday, Regina was in a terrible car accident that broke her right left in several places. She could never compete again. The accident destroyed her life in many other aspects, though. She lost her boyfriend, Daniel, who was driving the car. They met when she was sixteen and he was working at her family's stables. Of course her parents didn't approve of this relationship, but she couldn't care less. They had been together for almost two years and were completely in love when Daniel promised her that they would run away, get married and spent the rest of their lives taking care of horses, their passion. They were running away when the accident happened. It was the worst time of her life.

The accident also ruined her family. Her parents, who never dealt well with money, were already on the verge of bankruptcy when it all happened and they had to spent all the rest of their money on her expenses with hospital and therapy. Until this day, her mother likes the point that she was the one that caused their downfall.

But her mother was a clever woman. She knew what she had to do to get back her life status. So she found the perfect suitor for Regina: Robert Gold, one of the most powerful men of the Country. They had already met in a few previous occasions and didn't fail to notice the way Gold looked at her daughter. At the time he was a divorced man with a son that was Regina's age. What any mother in good conscience would call an absurdity, Cora called an opportunity.

It all happened before Regina could notice. She wasn't strong enough to protest, she had lost all kinds of hope the day she lost Daniel, she was numb. Her mother insisted that this marriage was exactly what Regina needed, she was going to be a "queen" and Cora was going to restore her life status as it used to be. She was 21 years when she walked down the aisle towards a man that she barely knew.

Her marriage with Gold was loveless. Worse than that, it was a nightmare. Gold was never the caring husband, on the contrary. After just a few months into their marriage, he started to get abusive with her. He forced himself on her whenever he wanted, but who could call that rape when their were married? Then the beating started. The first time he hit her he did it because she gave some money to Neal after he begged her to help him get out of some trouble he got himself into. Regina saw in Neal the same unhappiness she was feeling, that sense of being lost in the world, so she helped him. But of course Gold found out. Regina had never seen anything like the rage she saw in Gold's eyes. He got so mad he broke three of her ribs, plus her left arm and two horrible bruises on her face, one which resulted in a scar just above her upper lip. "You think you have any say in my money or my son?!", he yelled at her.

After that night, Gold said he was terribly sorry and would never do it again. Regina didn't believe him and she was right to trust her feelings. The second time he hit her, he did it because she was on the phone with an old friend called Archie. Gold got insanely jealous, called her the most horrible things, beat her and kept repeating that she was his. He also cut any form of contact with her friends.

Then, the wrong look or response could send Gold in a rampage. Regina learned through the years to be the submissive wife her husband and mother wanted her to be. She stood quiet and only did things of her husband's approval. She was a prisoner. And she only wanted to find her old self again, that happy young girl with dreams and hopes. And she knew, deep down, she was still that person.

They've been together for almost 15 years now and Regina was thankful that the beatings had decreased. Either he's getting old or he knows I'll never really leave him, she thought. It's not like she didn't want to leave him. In fact, she tried more than once. But he caught her every single time and made her regret her decisions. At one point, Regina simply gave up.

Regina was thankful for Granny. Mrs. Lucas had been Gold's housekeeper for a very long time now, even before their marriage. On the night Gold hit Regina for the first time, Granny found her lying down on the bedroom floor, blood all over her face. She was horrified, she knew Gold was dangerous but she didn't know what he was capable of. Since that day, they've been close, caring for one another. Regina loved her like a mother and Granny loved her like a daughter. Granny is the only person that knows about Gold's abuse, always taking care of Regina after the beatings. She's not a fool, she knows she's not getting younger and her job is getting more difficult with time. But she also knows that she could never leave Regina.

Regina cut her thoughts and stopped rolling her wedding ring around her finger while lost in memories. She sighed and looked at herself one last time in the mirror before getting out of her room.

She looked at the clock on her way out and realized she was late. It wasn't her fault. The maid accidentally ruined the dress she was going to wear, so she had to come up with a different one. But Gold was going to be furious nonetheless. She hurried to the front door of their mansion, where her driver was waiting.

When they got there, the driver ran to open to door for Regina and she took a deep breath and got out of the car. She quickly made her way to the saloon and when the guard opened the door, she saw an ocean of faces looking at her. She spotted Gold and he came towards her, giving her his hand so she could come down the stairs.

Regina turned her head slightly as her husband kissed the side of her neck.

"Be a good girl", Gold whispered in her ear.

She wanted to make a disgusted face, but new better than to cause a scene, so she forcibly smiled. A smile that didn't reach her eyes, though. Anyone playing close attention could see that the happiness she showed with her lips were hiding a sadness in her eyes. But no one paid close attention and she was good at hiding her feelings. She had to master using a mask to pretend to the whole world that she was fine. Better than fine, actually. Anyone looking at her could see a confident woman, lucky to be married to such a man as Robert Gold.

Gold guided her to a few men he was talking to earlier.

"Mrs. Gold", an older man said while grabbing her hand and leading it to his mouth to kiss, "What a pleasure."

"Leopold, how are you?", she faked a smile. Any friend of Gold's wasn't worth her spit. Regina noticed he had a very young blonde woman next to him, one that wasn't her wife, might she add. She simply nodded to girl politely.

"Is it possible that you are getting more beautiful each time I see you?", he said shamelessly.

"I ask myself the same question everyday, my friend", Gold interfered while squeezing her waist.

"You are one lucky man, Robert", Leopold said again to which the men all nodded.

"Don't I know it?", Gold smiled while kissing Regina's cheek.

Regina could only keep up with her fake smiles. All these interactions make want for vomit. After half an hour of pretending to be pleasant, she needed some air. She looked outside at the balcony and excused herself.

xxxxx

From across the room, David, Killian, Emma and Ruby kept staring at Regina. What had just happened?, Emma thought to herself. She turned to David, he looked crushed. She felt incredibly sorry for him. The man spent weeks and weeks thinking and talking about this woman just to find out she's their boss' wife. And from the little she knew of Regina, she now gets it why David felt so hypnotized by her, she was stunning, not to mention a lovely person. Emma touched his shoulder to get his attention again. "David?", she asked.

"What now?", he said with a sad voice, "What do I do?"

"I'm so sorry, buddy", she said. "If we had had any hints that your Regina was Gold's Regina", her eyes went wide just thinking of this scenario, "We would certainly have said something."

"How can I compete with that?", David asked gesturing to Gold.

"You can't", Killian said honestly. "And something tells me you also shouldn't", he warned.

David fell silent for a minute, pondering. He turned to the couple again and looked at Regina. His heart skipped a beat. He knew what he was feeling for her wasn't ordinary. He couldn't simply let that go. It could most certainly cost his job, he thought, the job he fought so hard to get. He then saw her walking alone towards the balcony outside. He didn't need to think twice. He made his decision and followed her. He couldn't even hear his friend's protests.

"This is gonna end badly", Ruby whispered and looked at the two lawyers.

Killian and Emma looked at each other after not stopping David to go outside . It's not like David was a child that needed to be told what to do or not to do. But as Ruby said, they knew this would end badly.

David got out into the balcony and spotted her in the corner. He looked back at the room and was thankful that people couldn't really see them outside and, better yet, weren't even paying attention. Regina had his back to him, her hands on the glass railing, she was looking at the view of the city at night. He saw as she took a deep breath and sighed.

"Beautiful view", David said approaching her.

She jumped slightly at the sound of a man's voice and turned around.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you", he said.

"It's ok", Regina smiled and looked down. She followed David with her eyes as he approached her. "Do I know you?", she asked trying to remember where she knew him from. She could swear she recognized those blue eyes.

"Uhm, yes, we met on a coffee shop a few weeks ago", David said trying to sound like he was sorry. He could see Regina still didn't remembered him. "I'm out of town, was newly employed", he continued, but still nothing. "I bumped into you?"

"Oh! Yeah, I remember you. David, right?"

They laughed. "Yes, that's me", David gestured his right hand up to grab hers, "David Nolan".

Regina looked down at his hand and put her right hand with his, surprising herself when he took her hand and brought it to his lips. He gently kissed the top of her hand, never letting her eyes scape his. It's funny how just moments before Leopold had done the same thing to Regina and it made her disgusted. David, however, made the moment completely intimate. Regina almost felt the air escaping her lungs. Those eyes could hypnotize her.

"Regina", she responded, not wanting to say her last name. She swallowed hard, "Regina Gold".

David almost flinched at her last name. He still didn't want to believe it. He dropped her hand, even though he wanted to keep holding it.

"It's nice seeing you again", Regina said honestly. She then remembered their short yet wonderful encounter at the coffee shop. "So how is that dream job of yours?", she asked trying to sustain a conversation.

"It's going really well", David replied, "I believe you might know a thing or two about it."

Regina have him a questioning look.

"I work at Gold Law, along with Emma and Killian", he continued.

"Ah", Regina sighed, "You work for Robert?", she asked while David nodded. "That was your dream job? To work with my husband?", she arched her eyebrows.

"I didn't know he was your husband then, otherwise I would probably not even have taken the job offer", he smiled.

Regina blushed and smiled, looking at her feet. Is he flirting with me?, she thought.

"Trust me, I got very disappointed tonight when I learned that he's your husband", David smiled charmingly.

"Trust me, when it comes to that, no one's more upset than me", Regina said honestly, surprising even herself. She was so used to wearing her mask to hide her true feelings, she had become an expert at that. But here she was, being completely honestly about her life with a man she barely knew. In fact, it was surprising that, somehow, for the second time, this man was making her feel like the woman she used to be. She felt different with him and yet she barely knew a thing about him. That was new.

Suddenly it hit Regina, she shouldn't have said that. What is wrong with me?, she thought. She could see that David was very surprised with her revelation too and he was about to say something, but she cut him.

"So you're a lawyer", Regina said quickly.

David could see something was wrong, he just couldn't say exactly what. But her sadness was now hidden, that made his heart ache. He wanted to help her, but for now he would go along with the talk they were maintaining. "Yes, yes, I'm a lawyer."

"Are you on the good guys' side? Or the bad ones?", she teased him.

David chuckled. "I'm on the right side", he replied, "I never defend someone I don't believe in."

"That makes sense", Regina said.

"And may I ask what do you do, Regina?", David desperately wanted to know her better.

"Nothing", she looked down. Robert never allowed her to work. "I stay at home most of the time, but it's not so safe to be alone with my own thoughts that much", she chuckled, "So I often spend time at our stables, it's one of my favorite places in the whole world", she smiled thinking about her time with the horses.

David was enchanted to hear her talking, he could spent her life hearing her talk. "You like horses?", he asked.

"I do", she replied with love in her eyes, "They make me happy." Regina took a deep breath. "I used to be a professional rider, you know? Yeah, I won a lot of medals", she laughed as if she was talking about another person.

"Used to?", David asked. Regina nodded. "Why you're not anymore?"

Regina paused for a moment, thinking if she should relive those painful memories. And David cursed himself when he saw her eyes getting wet, clearly he was out of boundaries.

"I was in a very serious car accident", Regina said softly, "It took me months to recover". A tear started to fall on her cheek.

David raised his hand to her face and caressed her tear away with his fingers. Regina closed her eyes while he continued to caress her soft skin. It felt so good to receive affection like that, she almost didn't remember how it was.

"I'm so sorry", David said with hurt in his voice. He wanted to take her pain away.

Regina sighed, regaining her senses. "It's okay", she pulled away from David, "It was a long time ago". Regina wiped away the rest of her tears, recomposing herself. She wanted to spend the rest of the night with David's hand on her, but she knew she couldn't. She turned to look at the party. She knew she had to get back there, she just couldn't find her strength to do so, especially now that she had David's company.

Her gesture made David look at the party too. They could see Gold chattering with his old friends. Then Gold started to look around, searching the crowd for someone. It was obvious he was looking for his wife. Regina saw when he arched an eyebrow and sighed heavily. This is not good, she thought to herself, she had pushed her luck.

"I have to get back there", Regina said still staring at Gold.

"Regina, you don't seem happy to be here", David said.

Regina turned to look at David. "That's because I'm not", she simply said and started walking towards the room again.

David's heart ached again as he watched her walk away. She clearly was an unhappy woman. What happened to make this beautiful woman feel like this? But he wouldn't let her go this time.

"Regina, wait", David said while quickly making a small run towards her and gently grabbing her arm, making her turn to him. "When am I going to see you again? Like this, I mean, alone, with nothing and no one to interfere us?"

Regina gave him a questioning look, but deep down, she had butterflies all over her stomach.

"I mean", David slid his hand and was now holding her left hand, "You can't tell me that I'm the only one that's feeling that there's something here".

Regina looked deep down his pleading eyes. She wanted to say that he wasn't alone, that she too was feeling something for him. Something that she didn't even quite knew yet. But it was like they knew each other from past lives. He seemed to understand her and care for her in a way that no one ever did. Of course she felt the connection. But she was smarter than that, so she denied herself. "It doesn't matter what I feel."

"Of course it does!", David said caressing her hand, "It's the only thing that matters".

Regina looked up and met his eyes. She spent her life hearing that her feelings didn't matter, that she didn't matter. And now here was David telling her the complete opposite.

Regina turned her gaze to the party again, she was worried that someone was going to see them. David noticed her concern and led her to the front of the balcony again, where they were a little more hidden from curious eyes. Since there was no light in the balcony, it was easier for someone outside to see the inside of the room than someone from inside to see the outside.

He took her other hand. "Look, I'm gonna say something now and I don't want you to be scared, you don't even have to say anything", he said as he looked deep into her dark eyes. "I fell in love with you the moment I saw your face for the first time. And I have been killing myself all this time because I couldn't find you. And seeing you this evening was the best thing that's ever happened to me since we first met. I know we hardly know each other, but that's ok, because I feel like I've known you my whole life, maybe even other lives, if there is such thing. And I know I probably look like an insane person right now and all of this sounds out-of-this-world crazy, but I can't stand to watch you walk away again without telling you this", David was breathing heavily now.

They stood quiet for a few moments and silence was killing both of them. David felt relieved to get all of this out of his chest but he also knew that this could push Regina away, he knew it was insane.

After what felt like hours, Regina finally spoke. "I can tell you one thing. It's not crazy", she smiled. "In a strange way, I understand everything that you're feeling." She couldn't believe what she was saying. She didn't know if it was her needy heart talking louder or if she really did share his feelings.

Those words restored hope into David's body. He let out a breath of relief. He raised his hand to caress her face again, but Regina stopped him midway by putting her hand on his arm. He gave her a questioning look.

"But listen, I'm married. To your boss, nonetheless", she said with sadness, revealing once again she wasn't happy with Gold. She took a step back and prepare herself to bring them both back to the real world, "This", she gestured to the both of them, "Can't happen. Won't happen. Ever. You should just forget everything that we said here".

Just as David was about to step forward and take her hand again, they were interrupted by someone.

"Regina, dearie, I was beginning to worry about you", Gold said coming closer. Both David and Regina jumped slightly at the voice they heard.

"Robert!", Regina swallowed hard, "I was just taking a bit of fresh air", she said with a shaky voice, making David look at her again, worried about her change of behaviour.

Gold raised his eyebrow to David. "I didn't know you knew my wife, Mr. Nolan", he narrowed his eyes.

"He didn't", Regina quickly replied, "He was just keeping me company for a bit".

"How thoughtful", Gold said sarcastically.

Gold approached them and grabbed Regina by the arm. He wasn't violent, but David could see that it was too hard of a grip and it was probably hurting her. "Next time, ask me to keep you company", Gold said to her.

"Oh, I didn't want to interrupt your conversations, darling", Regina replied trying to make an excuse.

"You are always my priority", Gold said looking her straight in the eyes. "Now come, you haven't talked to George yet", he said while dragging her towards the door. "Mr. Nolan", he nodded seriously to David.

Regina turned one last time to give David a sad smile. Oh, how he wished he had punched Gold right there and then. He then realized he was clenching his fists.

David watched them go and sighed heavily, releasing his hand. He turned to the city again, supporting his weight on his arms on the rail of the balcony. He looked down and scratched the back of his neck. Again, he felt helpless and didn't know what to do.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. It was Killian.

"So, what happened?", Killian asked. "I saw Gold coming your way, but it was too late to try to stop him from seeing something he'd might not like."

"Nothing happened", David said disappointingly, "Except that now I know for sure that I'm in love with her. And I think she might have feelings for me too", he smiled. "But she's stuck with that man", he said like it was poison in his mouth.

"That 'man' being our boss, let me remind you", Killian completed for David.

"I think he's no good for her, Killian, I'm serious. You should see her fear when he got here, and how he simply grabbed her. Something's very wrong there."

They both turned to look at the couple in the room. Gold had his arm possessively on Regina's waist while they were talking to another one of Gold's friend, George, and his wife. He could see the uneasiness on Regina's face, although she was masking it very well.

"Alright, just don't do anything you'll regret later, ok? He's still your boss", Killian said, "And nothing good can come out of this situation."

David didn't answer. He simply walked into the room again, followed by Killian.

He turned to his friend. "You know what, I'm gonna go home, I feel like walking a bit. You say goodbye to Emma and Ruby for me, will ya?", David said patting Killian on the back, to which he responded with a nod.

David got up the stairs to the door and gave one last look to Regina. She was now talking to Ruby and a few other ladies. She was laughing at something Ruby was saying to her. She looked beautiful. Just when he thought she wouldn't see him, she turned her gaze up and met his eyes, flashing him a smile. Now he knew he was screwed.

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