AN: Thanks for all the reviews and new story alerts! Enjoy the chapter. By the way, I have been receiving a lot of questions on when this story will be coming to an end and the answer is in about 10 more chapters? I am thinking about reworking it, but around there :)

This wasn't making sense to her. They spent a wonderful night together and the next day he goes missing? He obviously didn't know that Keith called her to check in on Lucas. Brooke was praying that she kept her cool.

"How long did you work today?"

"Seven to…whenever I got home."

Another lie. Keith called at twelve and said that Lucas had called in sick. So, where was he those other hours? Brooke didn't want to start anymore drama between the two of them. She was content in their relationship, but why was he lying to her?

"So, what's her name?"

Lucas choked on his drink and just stared at her. What the hell was she talking about? He wiped the edge of his mouth with his shirt sleeve. He wondered if it was just the hormones talking again.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes as he continued to play dumb, "What is her name?"

"Who?"

"The girl that you were with all afternoon!" she hissed.

Lucas chuckled, "I was at work all afternoon!"

She didn't understand how he thought that this was funny. Was he trying to get under her skin or was he just trying to mess with her? Either way, she didn't find it funny at all.

"It's sad," she said as she stood up, "that you can sit there and tell me that you went to work. Yet, you didn't even go today. Next time you wanna sneak around, fill Keith in on your plan."

Brooke grabbed her jacket and scowled at him. He walked over to her and gently grabbed her arm. He wouldn't have lied if he didn't have to. Why did Keith even have to call?

"I wasn't with a girl, Brooke."

"Bullshit," she hissed.

He tried to pull her towards the table, but she shook him off, "I was talking to Chris!"

She raised a brow, "You skipped out on work to talk to Keller?"

Nothing that was coming out of Lucas' mouth was making any sense. She tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but whatever he was hiding was not going to be good. Brooke gently eased herself back into her seat.

Lucas walked over to the other side of the table and sat down. An awkward silence fell over them. He tried to formulate a sentence, but nothing was coming out of his mouth. How am I supposed to come clean about something that I should have so long ago?

He ran his fingers through his golden blond hair and sighed. There were two ways Brooke could take the news, but he hoped that she wouldn't take it both ways.

Brooke could feel the tension in the room. Her eyes collided with his for a brief moment. I chill ran down her spine. What was so bad about Chris Keller?

Lucas let a tear fall from his eyes. He had been carrying this burden around for many years and knew that he could no longer pretend that it didn't happen. There wasn't a day that he wished he could go back and try to do it over, but that's not how life worked.

His thoughts turned to his mother. Partially, he did it for her. Dan had always treated her with such anger and violence. Lucas knew she was going to be disappointed in him for what he had done, but he hoped she would understand.

Once more, he made eye contact with Brooke, this is it, "Chris was trying to blackmail me."

The wind escaped from her lungs, "What?!"

He nodded, repeating himself, "Chris was trying to blackmail me."

What did he possibly have on Lucas? Brooke raised a brow as she struggled to catch on, "Why would he try to blackmail you?"

"He is in debt with the wrong people and says it is my fault he is in that position," Lucas said with a small chuckle. It blew his mind that he was blaming him for his actions. He was a big boy and needed to be mature about it.

"Why would it be your fault?"

"The company went under and it was my company," he said softly.

"Lucas, it wasn't entirely your fault and you shouldn't give him a damn penny!" Brooke snapped.

I guess it was true what they say about people changing, they never do. Brooke couldn't believe that he was trying to blackmail Lucas into giving him money. She was angry that this was happening to him.

"Does he not realize that you are basically the only one keeping a roof over me and my baby's head?! I am so pissed off!"

That was the moment that Lucas felt something in him snap. The strong front that he had on was broken. Hearing Brooke say that about him, made him feel ten times worse about the whole situation. How was he going to be able to keep the roof over their head if Chris got away with this? He was not going to let Brooke be hurt anymore.

Brooke exhaled softly, tears filling in her eyes as she walked over to him, "Don't cry."

He buried his head in the crook of her neck, "What if he gets away with it?"

She pulled away to face him, "Get away with what?"

He just stared at her, "What if he takes all that I have away from me?"

"Don't be silly, Luke, there is no way that he could do that!"

Brooke looked into his puffy eyes and saw the worry behind them. This overwhelming feeling that there was something else going on washed over her. She took a deep breath as a tear escaped her eyes.

"I did something when I was younger that I am not proud of."

"Okay?"

"I should have never done it, but I was so angry as a teenager…"

She took a seat next to him and gently placed a hand on his arm, "We can get threw it together…"

Lucas took a deep breath, feeling a little more comfortable, "I started the fire at Dan's Dealership."

"What!"

He nodded, watching her body movement, "I was walking home and it was a bad day for me, so I burned it down."

Brooke was in shock. She didn't know what to say to him. When the dealership was burned down, Nathan and his family had to try to find another source of income. They were devastated that someone would do that to their business.

She remembered the hurt that was on their faces when they came back to the ashes. Brooke remembered talking to Nathan all night because he was just so upset and angry.

She sighed, anger building in her chest, "What would compel you to do such a thing?!"

He flinched, here it comes, "Dan is a fucking asshole, Brooke!"

"That doesn't give you the right to take away someone's place of business!"

"You don't get it!" Lucas snapped as he banged his hand on the table.

Brooke jumped, "Explain it to me."

He just looked at her for a moment, she was remaining relatively calm, "Dan was never there for me. He was rude to my mother—you know the story, Brooke."

"So, you go to see a therapist, Lucas. You don't burn a building down because you were angry…"

Lucas rubbed the back of his neck. He knew that she would never understand the pain and the emotions that went deeper. He knew that he was wrong, why did she think he left?

"I know, I know, I was wrong for what I did," he hissed.

Brooke rolled her eyes, "You should have manned up and told him the truth."

"Why?" Lucas questioned. "So, that I could be in juvenile and leave my poor mother to fight for herself?!"

"Fight for herself?"

"Dan used to be abusive to my mother," he revealed softly.

Flashbacks ran through his head and he could remember the look on her face. Dan never helped her and didn't want to help her. His mother was abused by her first love, and the father of her child.

The hair on Brooke's arms raised, "Lucas, I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, "I didn't get the father that Nathan had. I was robbed of a father and my mother was robbed of everything that she deserved."

He wiped away a tear from his eye as he finally got the courage to look at Brooke. She looked devastated, but no longer angry at him. Slowly, he reached his hand out to hers.

Brooke gave him a soft smile and took his hand, "I can understand why you did it, but it still doesn't make it right."

Lucas nodded, "I know."

They sat there for a moment as they each tried to collect themselves. Lucas couldn't help but think about the worst possible scenario, jail time and leaving Brooke behind. Brooke just wanted the whole situation to go away, hadn't they been through enough?

"We should get to Dan before Keller does," Brooke suggested.

Lucas took a deep breath, "Alright, let's go."

Brooke decided to drive. There was no way that Lucas could focus on the road and the last thing she needed was an accident. She turned to face him, he was looking out the window thinking. She tried to remain calm, but she couldn't help but hope that Dan would be reasonable.

She pulled up to the house and took a deep breath. She watched as Lucas unbuckled himself and walked up to the house. Brooke couldn't bring herself to move, all she could do was watch him make his way to the door.

Lucas knocked on the door. The door flew open and two men grabbed Lucas and threw him down on the ground.

"That's him!"

"Lucas!" Brooke screamed as she ran over to him.

The cops began to cuff him. Brooke tried to force them off, but it was no use. She felt so helpless trying to help him and figure out what was going on.

She looked up and saw Dan with Chris, "Help me, Dan!"

He shook his head and continued to watch, "This is what I call justice, sweetie."

Brooke felt like she had been slapped in the face. How could he have his own son arrested? She tried to get one last hug in but the police man threw out his arm to keep her away. She screamed.

"It's okay, babe," Lucas whispered as he was thrown into the back of the cop car.

"Lucas!" Brooke yelled as the veins popped out of her neck.

She collapsed on the floor and watched him drive off through teary eyes. Brooke felt her whole body shake. What was she going to do now?

AN: hope you liked the chapter (minus the ending). :( Thanks for reading and reviewing. Until next time :)