"So?" Deb asked nervously. "How do I look?"

She twirled around as her husband's eyes stared appreciatively at her still svelte figure. Like a fine wine, Deb's looks just seemed to get better with age.

"You my dear, look absolutely stunning."

He kissed her hand and gave her the million dollar smile that had made her fall hopelessly in love 26 years prior when they were just teens away at college. The union had had its problems over the years but somehow they had weathered all the storms.

Both had quit school to raise Nathan and Dan, accepting a loan from Deb's wealthy parents had used the money to finance the opening of his dream, a car dealership. A dealership that had multiplied into a multi million dollar enterprise. Actually, it was someone else's dream. Dan knew absolutely zip about cars and didn't care to. It was his older brother, Keith, who harbored the knowledge and the vision…it was the cash he was seriously lacking on and Royal and Mae were all too apprehensive about investing in yet another project of their oldest son. So Dan had developed his master plan…

He hadn't been born devious. In fact, he was a good boy. The polite child that teachers loved, the kid who looked out for all the elderly neighbors on the block, the one donated toys to the less fortunate. He was a dream son, the pride and joy of his parents, Royal and Mae Scott. Not that Keith was a bad person but how could anyone measure up to the perfection of "Danny"? A straight A student who not only was a stand out golfer and the star of the basketball team, the boy that frequently picked wildflowers for his mother on his way home from school and always saved his allowance so that he might make others happy on birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.

Dan secretly looked up to his brother. Keith was a good guy who just marched to the beat of his own drum. He never had a problem standing up to Royal when the older man pushed too hard. And when basketball got to be more of a chore than good natured fun, just like that, Keith was able to walk away and never look back. How Dan wished he had half the sack his older brother did and that was one of the primary reasons he revered him so much.

Sophomore year of high school, Dan Scott fell in love with the pretty captain of the cheerleading squad, Karen Rowe. She was petite and nice, a smart girl who came from one of Tree Hill's working class families. They were the two of the most popular students and soon became the school's premiere "It" couple. Dan loved her…but so did his older brother.

The unspoken plan was that Dan and Karen would marry in college after high school, have kids, live in a huge mansion and live happily ever after. The fairytale ended before it even started. Around graduation, a nervous and crying Karen had told her boyfriend that she was pregnant. Dan had never known such fear. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. What about his scholarship to Duke? In an unpredictable and callous move, he had instructed her to "get rid of it". When Karen refused, Dan made the decision he felt would benefit his life best. So in the Whitey Durham gymnasium of Tree Hill High School, Dan told Karen that he would be moving on to Duke without her or the child. From that moment on he had wanted nothing to do with either one of them.

At Freshman orientation, a cute blonde with a sweet smile had captured Dan's eye. Her name was Deborah Woods but everyone called her Deb for short. The talked and flirted and dated and eventually reached "exclusive" couple status. Deb was a great girl and Dan really liked her but it was someone else he loved. His heart belonged to another, the pretty brunette back in Tree Hill, the one carrying his love child. It was all too much pressure. School, basketball, Deb, Royal…and Dan couldn't take it anymore. He wouldn't.

During a game against chief rivals, UNC, Dan had suffered an injury to his right knee. It was reported that the damage was irreversible and sports of any kind were out of the question. The Superstar prodigy was finished. Only two people knew the truth…Dan and his mother, Mae. The injury could have been rehabbed but together they concocted the lie they would stick to for years to come. With basketball and Royal's hounding seemingly out of the way, only one thing stood between Dan and the true love at home awaiting him. He didn't want to hurt Deb but he owed her the truth. They made plans to meet but before the words could escape his lips, she had a secret of her own. She was pregnant!

Dan made a choice. His heart really belonged to Karen but with Deb he saw a financially secure and successful future. He based his choice on convenience, not love and walked away from Karen forever. It was Tree Hill's own dirty little secret, the one people gossiped about behind closed doors. Poor Karen, kicked out on the streets by her parents, alone and knocked up. It was Royal who gave her the money to get her own apartment but it was Keith who helped her find it and move in. It was Keith who helped her and took care of her, Keith who was there to hold Lucas Eugene Scott when he was just minutes old. And it was Keith who would be there for mother and son for the next 18 years.

For years Dan sat back and watched Keith do the job he should have been doing. Why did his older brother always have to do the right thing? It made Dan angry and that anger festered into an uncontrollable rage that borderlined hate. He would get Keith back one way or another. And as Keith's dream was to open his own dealership, Dan saw the chance. It felt good to take that away from him, to see the hurt and disappointment in his eyes. It felt good to take the competition by the throat and squeezed the life out of it, even if it was his own flesh and blood.

It was the birth of a monster. The day Dan had to relinquish his true feelings for Karen was the day a piece of his soul died. And when that happened, his heart became frozen. He could be the ruthless, manipulative, lying, dastardly, heartless son of a bitch. He could hurt people he was supposed to love without feeling pity or remorse. He became the ultimate narcissist determined to get whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted no matter who or what stood in the way. And anyone that ever wronged him, no matter how petty or severe would pay dearly…

Deb stood quietly in the middle of the best room at the Chatley Resort. How she loved the view and she and her husband had spent many a romantic weekend there since the beginning of their marriage. Before the heart attack, the couple had been on the brink of yet another divorce with Dan's behaviour seemingly more and more out of control. Then he had collapsed and she had found him near death. They had almost lost him but fate, the doctors, God…someone had given him a second chance. Since then he had become a new man. Courteous and polite, attentive and loving. He still had his moments but for the first time in a long time, it seemed he was actually human again.

"These red roses are for you and they look almost as beautiful as you do in that red dress", Dan smiled as he presented his wife with the bouquet. "We have dinner reservations in an hour, your favorite restaurant of course."

"You, Dan Scott, are the sweetest man…", she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Nothing is too good for my bride. Deb, I know I put you through a lot over the years and I'm sorry. I want to spend the rest of our days together making it up to you. We used to be such a happy family…you, me, and Nathan. I want that again. I want that with Nathan, Haley, Aidan and Tristan and Luke, Brooke and Harmony. I want to sit on the porch with my sons and their wives and you and watch our grandchildren play."

"I love you, Dan. And I've missed you…the man you once were. Welcome back, sweetie", she kissed him.

"Let's always be like this, Deb."

Their kiss was interrupted an annoying ring.

"…Until you turn your cell phone back on", Deb teased as she playfully smacked his behind.

"I'll only be a minute, darling. Please excuse me…Dan Scott."

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to turn their phone back on."

"Now is not a good time."

"You're wrong. Now is the only time."

"I am…"

"You're at the Chatley Resort in Charlotte with that blonde wife of yours that still has the nice rack after all these years. Trust me, Scott. I know where you are at all times. Now I need to see you and I need to see you now. This can't wait and it won't. Meet me in the bar in five minutes."

Dan cursed under his breath as the phone went dead. Straightening his tie, he approached his wife.

"Sweetheart, something has come up."

"Dan…"

"I won't miss our dinner but I have to step out for a while. Business. I won't be long, I promise", he said, pecking her cheek.

In record time he was at the bar, rolling his eyes as he saw the man drinking at the back corner table.

"Dan the Man. So nice of you to join me."

"Felix, what in the hell are you trying to pull? Coming here? Risking being seen with me?"

"Relax, Pops, we're safe. I just came to tell you something I should have told you a long time ago. I'm out, man. This plan of yours? I won't do it. It's not right."

Dan laughed a cold, hearty laugh.

"Is it me or did my son knock a few screws loose when he pummelled you the other night? Listen and listen good, you little punk. The plan is still on and you're still in. No questions about it."

"I can't do it, man. Brooke, she…"

"What about the tramp? Don't tell me you're honestly falling for her?"

"Don't call her that. She's a good person and I really like her. She's been through a lot. She doesn't deserve this."

"Wow. The ass must be as good as it was written about on all the school's bathroom walls", Dan chuckled, sipping whiskey.

"I wouldn't know. It's not like that with Brooke and me."

"You seemed to have a good stay your six months in London Felix, but you might want to go back and see if you left your balls there. What the hell is the matter with you?"

"I just want out, man."

"No dice. You're in this one until the end."

"I'm not Nathan or Lucas. You aren't calling the shots on this one."

"Oh but I am or did you forget? Well, let me refresh your memory. Your bastard of a father embezzled millions from several corporations throughout Texas. We met, did a few favors for each other and I kept his dirty little secret. The old fuck is dead and gone and hopefully rotting in pieces now which leaves you, his only heir since your mother remarried, to wallow in the fruits of his good fortune. But what Dan giveth, Dan will taketh away, my friend. One phone call, one favor and you are done. Daddy's money is gone, his company will go bankrupt and your reputation as well as the family name is down the toilet. Now if you're willing to risk it all for some dame that wears too much make up and has a voice more annoying than the Nanny, them be my guest."

Felix sat quietly taking in all the information. He was trapped and he knew it.

"Fine, man. I still don't understand why you're doing this."

"Not that it is any of your business but I do things simply because I can. One day you wish you could be so powerful. Family is just as important to me as it is to you. I have to protect the Scott future. Haley isn't a threat but little Miss Know It All definitely is. I gave her the option to stop the divorce but she wanted to do things the hard way. It's time Miss Brooke learns that when you play with fire, you do get burned. Once she's out of the picture, I'll have my sons and my grandchildren and the money and life will be grand. And I will be the patriarch of a dynasty."

"You are a sick and evil man."

"Flattery will get you nowhere. You just remember what you have to do and take care of it. Understand?"

Felix nodded and bit his lip. He wondered what he had gotten himself into. He had sold his soul to Satan himself and now there was no way out.

"Understood."