Summery: Different take on life in Tree Hill. Peyton is a 16 year old in love with a guy who will never be good enough for her in the eyes of her father. Lucas has done a lot of bad things, living the life of a thug but is trying to change for love. Leyton all the way.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from One Tree Hill, just the situations they are in

Chapter 18:

It was freezing cold for some reason, as if someone had purposely turned up the air conditioning. The whole feel of the place was ice cold and there was nothing that could be done to warm yourself up. There was only one sole window in the place and that looked upon another room. It was so claustrophobic. It felt as if the air could run out. The walls were disgustingly dirty with no form of paint and just worn away plaster in view. Adjourning the opposite wall there was one door which was heavy as hell and couldn't be opened from the inside. This must be what hell feels like.

In the center of the room there sat one lone chair on which Peyton sat. She had been sat there for what seemed like days. She was chained to the chair and the chair was chained to the floor. She had scoured the room for hours in the hope of finding a way of escaping. It was almost impossible and she was beginning to lose hope. She realized that she couldn't escape by herself, she would need to be helped but how could anyone get to her? She didn't even know where in the hell she was.

She had been left alone for a long time and she was beginning to feel cold, hungry and lonely but at the same time she was afraid of anyone coming in the room. She had no clue how far these guys would go. She didn't even know why they took her, I guess I'll find out she thought to herself as she heard the door being unlocked from the outside. Fear took over her entire body, images of the many things they may have in mind for her and she ceased up. As she did this the door shot open and three men entered the room.

'Hello Peyton' the first man stated in the coldest way she had ever heard anyone say her name before. She refused to speak. Maybe silence will work to my advantage. He walked towards her smirking, almost a sickly smile. He was obviously the main guy since the others walked slightly behind him.

'I can't help but wonder how Lucas got such a pretty little girlfriend.' He scoffed loudly, using his finger to lift her chin and get a better look at her. Lucas she thought. What has all this got to do with Lucas? She knew she needed to speak now, she had to know what was going in. She began to speak in a sheepish voice, something Peyton Sawyer almost never did but this situation was like no other.

'What has this got to do with Lucas?' She asked, somewhat afraid of the answer. He obviously knew that question was coming and he continued grinning in his sick way.

'Well let's see. We need Lucas to do a job for us but he said no….BIG mistake. We figured we needed some leverage and that Peyton is where you come in. You see we've watched Lucas and we've heard from our sources that it's pretty obvious that he's in love with you so if you were to, oh I don't know, be in serious danger then he would do it for us.' Peyton couldn't help but be happy that Lucas was finally done with this life but now? What could he do? She knew for a fact that he would do something for them to help her or he would risk his life and try to get her. Right now she didn't know which was worse.

'Why do you need Lucas. If you have a lot of contacts then why couldn't you have just asked one of them to do it?'

'As much as you may know Lucas now, we know the other side to him and he is one of the best at what he does. So missy, no more questions. Looking towards another guy I guess we need to feed her sometime soon.' And with that all three men left, leaving her alone once again in a dark and dingy room with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company.

Across Town

Lucas sat alone at the river court. He was worried for her, he was scared for himself. He felt so helpless. There was nothing he could do to help her right now and that hurt him more than anything. When he had asked her to be his wife that meant that he would always love her, always be there for her when she needed him and most importantly he would always protect her. He felt like he had broken two of those three promises before they were even married. He had his head in his hands and had done for most of the night. It was fairly obvious to anyone who looked upon him that he had been crying but he knew in his heart that this didn't make him any less of a man. Who wouldn't cry when the woman you love is in danger and there is nothing for you to do but wait?

Lucas' mind raced as he tried to think of all the places that Peyton could be. He had worked for this guy before and knew fairly well the places in which he took people. He knew that he didn't want to kill her, at least not yet anyway and this thought gave Lucas hope. As long as she was still alive, there was a chance that he could save her. In his mind he had narrowed it down to two places that she could be and that was the abandoned warehouse or the old prison house. He knew that either one would be heavily guarded from the inside but luckily he knew both inside out. He just needed to have a way of confirming the exact place that she was being kept. He knew that he couldn't go in and start looking for her in the wrong place. That would make matters worse because he would either be killed in the first place or they would hear about it and move her or even worse, kill her.

It was the waiting that killed him the most. The man had sent him a message telling him exactly what he wanted done but he didn't want to do anything until he knew that she hadn't been hurt in any way and so he waited. Finally his cell started to ring. He prayed that this was a way for him to speak to her. He needed her more than ever.

'Hello?' He asked anxiously.

'Lucas, did you get the message I sent you?' The man asked

'Yes I did but I'm not doing anything until you let me speak to Peyton' He stated. He knew that it was risky to make demands but he had to make sure she was alright.

'Now normally I would not accept a demand but as I always liked you Lucas I will let you speak to your little girlfriend' the man laughed loudly as he walked to the room she was in and unlocked the door. By the sound of the door Lucas automatically knew where she was.

'Peyton, phone call.' The man laughed, confusing Peyton as she grabbed the phone off him.

'Peyt? Shit are you alright?' Lucas asked worried.

'Lucas I'm scared, they took me and I don't even know where I am.' She stated as tears slowly started to form.

'I need you to tell me something, did they hurt you….in any way?' He asked, terrified of the answer.

'No, Lucas, not yet. Please help me Lucas' she said, crying. Hearing her cry only made Lucas angrier and he knew he had to help her.

'Ok Peyt I need you to help me here, I'm going to ask you something and I need you to answer without giving them an idea of what you're answering. Ok?'

'Ok'

'How many men have you seen so far?' He asked and Peyton thought of a way of tactfully answering. She tapped the phone 5 times and he knew what she meant.

'Is there a window on your right, looking onto a corridor?' He asked, he she said yes to this then he would be sure of where they had taken her.

'Yes' she answered. She wondered how he knew but she just blocked it out of her mind.

'Ok I think you've had enough time now. Say your goodbyes' the man stated harshly.

'Lucas he said we have to go. I love you so much, please find a way to help me.' She said as the man walked over to take the phone.

'I love you too' Lucas said with a shaky voice.

The man laughed. 'Don't try sweet talking me Lucas' he grinned. Lucas burned with rage knowing that Peyton hadn't heard him. 'It wasn't meant for you' Lucas stated matter-of-factly and the man just laughed as he hung up the phone. Lucas felt slightly better knowing that Peyton wasn't hurt and knowing where she was, down to the room she was in. He had seen this before. This man had taken many people to that room but not many were seen again. Lucas knew that doing the job would do nothing to help Peyton. He would have to go and get her himself but doing that would be extremely difficult. He had a window of seven days for the amount of time it would take to complete the job and he would have to use his time wisely.