I'm sorry for being late, I have been focusing on my other story since I was inspired and wanted to write down what I have in my mind before it vanishes. And that in fact got me inspired to write this chapter again, so here we go... I hope you like it, that if you're still around to read :)

I enjoyed writing this chapter too much and I know it's not too long, but I felt this is where it should end.

Let me know what you think will happen...

21. Russian roulette.

Lucas grabbed the revolver of the desk and fiddled with it in his hands, and then looked at Dan silently calling dips to start the game, "Why did you kill Keith?" He asked while pointing the revolver towards him.

He could tell right away that Dan was astonished, and it immediately filled him with pride that he took him off guard. "How did you know this?"

"No, it's my turn; I ask the questions now."

Dan gulped and nodded, "Okay, since you're not getting out of this room alive anyway, I'm going to tell you, Keith was getting in my way," he answered with a shrug.

"What does that mean?"

"I thought this was one question at a time." He smirked.

Lucas glared, "Well, that's not an answer. I want a real one."

Dan glanced at the weapon in his hands and gave a sarcastic smirk that could have fooled Lucas before, but, now that he is in control, he knows he's scared.

"Alright. Your uncle was starting to be a pain in the ass; he wasn't minding his own business, he was butting his big nose in my business claiming he can stop me from 'overtaking the town'." He said and chuckled sarcastically, "Poor thing thought that's possible and you seem to not learn from his mistakes."

"Don't be ahead of yourself, Dan." He said as he pulled the trigger but it ticked in vain.

"I'm not, son, there're certain things you grow to know are just true, once you know your true potential… getting ahead of yourself would be thinking you got it in your hands when you really haven't… like barging into my office with a kid's toy like this."

"You can't be in charge of your whole life; there ought to be a time when you're weak, when your defenses break and turn into your biggest attack."

"Do you think I got where I am by trusting in any other entity but my own power? Of course not, one of the qualities of being a leader is to know what it's going to happen before it does."

Lucas smirked, "Well, did you see this coming?"

"Now, that's a second question and I believe this is my turn." He said and extended a hand demanding the revolver and Lucas spun the cylinder himself and then flipped the revolver in his hand to point it towards himself handing it over.

Dan fiddled with it for a while in his hands, "Now, Lucas, why don't you tell me how you got in here?"

"I drugged your men; they are in dreamlands out there, and will be for a while."

Dan smirked, "You couldn't have done that by yourself; someone helped you and you're covering for him… that's a funny thing to do if you're so confident you'll win."

"I'm not. I told you it's a fifty-fifty." Lucas shrugged, "And I just answered the question of how… wither I got help or not, I think that's another question."

"You think you're too clever, huh?" Dan smirked, "Well, that's okay, I'll know, anyway." He said pulling the trigger and again nothing came out. He held on the revolver for a second longer before handing it to Lucas.

"Did you look your brother in the eyes when you shot him dead?"

Dan laughed, "What kind of a question is that?" he said laughingly, "Listen, strength has to be unlimited; you can't hesitate or let something as weak as emotions get in your way, or then, you'll never get where you want."

Lucas was trying to control his rage at the moment by gritting his teeth although he knew his eyes were saying it all, "By killing your own brother? That's inhumane."

"On the contrary," Dan shook his head, "As humans, it's in our nature to be selfish; self-preservation instinct, and that means doing whatever it takes to grantee your survival."

"He didn't put your survival at risk, you killed him so you could have more luxuries in life."

"My survival is in those luxuries." He informed him, "I cannot live any less than that, and I still got more to harvest in life. Selfishness nature."

"It's also in our nature to love our family, to care for them and to make friends… that's what makes us humans rather than monsters."

"Humans fear monsters, right?" He smirked, "Besides, that's what you say, yet here you are ready to kill your own father."

"My father is dead, you killed him." He said and then pulled the trigger wishing it would be the shot, but it wasn't.

Dan gave a lopsided smile, "It's such a shame you're wasting this potential courage of you, Lucas. You see, brotherhood, friendship, or love, are all names weak people use… if you have any of these, you have a weak point, take you for example, you have all of them, right? Which means you're too weak, Lucas, and you realize that, that's why you're here today, you either die and avoid watching any of them getting hurt by me, or you kill me and grant that none of them does."

"You're wrong, weakness is being alone and trying to compensate that by gaining power, you terrorize people to force them to respect you, but it's not true respect then, Dan, it's temporary, and it soon turns against you. Weakness is forcing people to gather around you because you can't do it any other way."

"Power is the only way you can get the real respect, son, you have power, people fear you for their own good… now, why would they respect you if you're an equal? You run a club with your brother; can you be the ultimate boss? Do you not fight over decisions? Of course not, you're equals, neither has power over the other and thus, your club is now sinking; a ship can't have two captains."

"This is not a ship where you have to make life or death decisions; you see that's your problem, you think your life is only in power, and like I told you that's because you have no one in your life."

"And where does having people around got you? You're still here, with a failed business, ready to die for them, how weak is that? Dying for someone is the pure definition of stupidity."

"Having those people in my life granted me happiness."

"It couldn't have, it's a temporary happiness, son, you still fight, don't you? And you know why? Because you're equals."

Lucas gave a sarcastic chuckle and shook his head, "That's too pathetic! You think what you have is happiness?" He laughed humorlessly.

"Of course it is, it's pure one, I have everything I want, I'm capable of achieving whatever I want, I have the power to tame people for my own interest, what wouldn't I be happy?"

"Because you lost the basic features of life; having a real connection with someone, having mercy, being able to have fun and relax."

Dan chuckled, "I do have plenty of fun when I watch my empire being built the way I want it. Connections, mercy and your all heartfelt crap are only obstacles." He said and when Lucas opened his mouth to talk Dan interrupted, "I believe this conversation has been going on too long, it's my turn. Save whatever you have to say for yours."

Lucas handed him the revolver and Dan pointed it towards him, "Well, I don't really have a lot to ask you since the way your mind works is pretty obvious, but, here's a good one, why are you and your brother so obsessed with my life?"

"What? We are obsessed with your life?"

"Sure you are. I mean, I didn't even see you until you opened a club competing against mine, and started stealing my girls."

"Your club is crap, and you took being the only club owner in your favor, you were being too greedy, Dan, and everyone deserves to have fun."

He laughed, "Are you saying you did this for Tree Hill poor residents?"

"Partially, the other part is you don't deserve to be the only one… you don't deserve to have any power to begin with."

"See? If that's not an obsession, I don't know what is."

"It's hatred, we grew up seeing what a devil you can be, and that's before we knew everything you have done."

"You still don't." He smirked.

Lucas nodded, "I'm sure you still have other crimes, yeah, I'm talking about the ones that have to do with us."

"So, is that why you stole my girls then? Hatred?"

"They're not yours! And people aren't property, Dan. You don't steal them."

"They are when they're under you."

"Slavery is long gone, Dan."

"Power is eternal." He shook his head, "Everything we do has a motive behind it, son, there're no selfless acts, whenever you do something, it must have something for you in return, so, no, you can't go and claim you stole them to save them from me."

"Again, no one stole anyone, if it's Haley or Peyton, they left you on their own, you see, they do have a free well, and they got tired of your bullshit."

"Right, so, it's just a coincidence that you were there to receive them with open arms."

"No, it's not. There was something in it for us, you're right. But, I don't expect you to understand it."

Dan laughed, "Don't say all that love crap."

Lucas shrugged, "You're just too self-absorbed to get it."

"Well, Lucas, it really is a shame to see you waste your life, I see you have weighted boldness and nerve, but, you're too stupid, that's why you can't be a leader, and instead, you will die here for love." He said and pulled the trigger and once again it just ticked in vain.

"Apparently not yet," Lucas said and took the revolver from him spinning the cylinder before pointing it towards him, "I wonder, if you were always dead inside, Dan, I mean, weren't you once supposedly in love with Peyton's mom?"

Dan laughed out loud, "She already spilled the beans, didn't she? Wow, she's always been too dreamy that girl." He shook his head.

"It's one of her qualities."

"Oh, come on, even you should know that this is one of the worst weaknesses; being dreamy will get you falling face down in the real world."

"She's not stupid, she's ambitious, but she knows how to take care of herself pretty well."

"Is that how you justify to yourself leaving her behind to die here?"

"No, that's how I know she doesn't need anyone to make it on her own."

"That's not true; Peyton doesn't know how to live alone."

He raised an eyebrow, "As far as I know, she has been for the last few years."

"If it wasn't for me, she would have been rotten long ago."

"Is that what you tell yourself to feel needed?" he smirked.

"I don't need to feel needed; I'm needed."

Lucas sighed and shook his head, "You never answered the question."

"Because it's a stupid one. Of course, I never loved her. That's the thing about women –and sometimes young men like yourself- they can be easily fooled under the name of love… it's all they want, they completely forget they have brains in exchange for a couple of nice words."

"No wonder that's your idea of love."

"I'm giving you the truth here, son, although you'll never get to use those valuable lessons sadly, but, love is a huge trick, I mean, look at your mother, Nathan's mother, Peyton's… all I had to do was tell them how beautiful they were and how much I miss them when they were gone… I got to spend a couple of nice rendezvous if you know what I mean, and some more cash in case of Peyton's mother, and what did they get? Karen and Deb were stuck with you and your brother, with Deb even more miserably dying, just like Anna." He said boasting.

Lucas gave him a disgusted look, "You know the trick wasn't love here, it was you."

"It's all the same; love brings you down… one way or the other."

"What are you trying to say? Are you responsible for the death of Deb and Anna too?"

"I had no business wanting them dead, they were not a threat, Deb could have just been a pain in the ass if she was still alive, she wasn't so keen of accepting the truth like your mother, but she went on and died on her own. Anna was already sick and would have died eventually, I just saw an opportunity, swept in and gave her a few good last days of her life and took care of her late husband's business for her and told her I would take care of her daughter after her tragic departure."

"But you never cared for Peyton."

"Even though that's too many questions, but, I'll tell you… of course not, I care for no one, I thought that was already established; I just needed Peyton to stay this obedient nice girl so I can peacefully run the business." He told him and smirked at the hateful look Lucas shot him, "Now you can pull the trigger." He said and Lucas did once again hoping to see a hole in his head, but, there wasn't.

"So, Lucas," He said receiving the gun, "What would you do if you killed me? How are you planning on going on with your life?"

"Live it happily…"

"That's naïve." Dan smirked, "Do you think you're capable of that?"

"Why not?" he shrugged.

"Because you don't have it in you. You can't take being responsible for taking someone's life lightly."

"You're not just someone. You're the man who has been harassing my family for as long as I remember, and the one who killed the only father I knew, you're the one who sent people to beat me up, and you're the one who put my brother in jail falsely, and you're the one who has been using and taking the girl I'm in love with for granted, and you also have kidnapped one of my friends threatening to kill him if I didn't fail my business. I think I'll be pretty fine with killing you."

"That's a pretty impressive list, thank you for putting it that way." He gave him that annoying smirk of his, "But, for someone who believes in all the love and friendship crap, you'll not be fine killing your own father, even if you don't think of me as one, I still am."

"Who believes in love shall also believe in hate, and no one deserves hatred than you. Being a father isn't about giving birth, and yes, it's the truth that I didn't have anything to do about, but, I'm willing to correct it."

"By killing me?"

"Or dying." Lucas added, "Either of which will serve the purpose of not ever accepting you as a father."

"Then it's dying, Lucas. You can't kill me."

"I haven't hesitated once to pull the trigger, have I? You still being alive is just luck."

"So are you."

"Then I guess we're both lucky… until now at least."

"Then let's see if you still are." Dan sad spinning the wheel and pulling the trigger and watched as Lucas' lips curled in a smile,

"Obviously it still is."

Lucas knew that this game was nerve-wracking; with every pull of the trigger being deadly just from the suspense, when you hear that click it's a big relief, but only for a part of second, because then, you know there's still the same fifty-fifty chance the bullet in there is gonna land in your body.

And he knew that Dan's nerves were getting seriously wrecked, even if he's trying to appear calm and collected; Dan's biggest fear was death, and that could take several forms for him now, losing power or losing control was a form of death to Dan, and right now, he was facing both hypothetical death and the actual one, so, that was why he was trying to discourage Lucas and bring him down looking for a moment of weakness to take advantage of.

But, unfortunate for him, Lucas was ready for all of it, he wasn't going to let him have that, not unless he's really dead.

"You know what I think now, Dan?" He started with a smirk as he took the revolver from him, "You're scared."

"Scared? Of you?" he gave a sarcastic chuckle but Lucas didn't miss on the bit of nervousness in it.

"Yes, you are." He pushed, "You don't wanna die."

"I'm not gonna die."

"I'm sure that's what everyone you've killed thought."

"I killed no one but weak people."

"You're the weak one, Dan. Solving your problems by simply killing is nothing but weak."

"Funny coming from you when you have a gun pointed at my head."

"Oh, I tried the other ways! Don't compare me to you, Dan, I'm nothing like you, killing you would be an actual life or death situation, you're willing to kill my friend you're holding hostage… and you won't hesitate to kill everyone I care about just to hurt me."

"I told you love is a weakness."

"It's a strength. But, you'll never know that."

"I hate to remind you that you're the one who came in here creating this life or death situation, Lucas."

"No, you created it long ago… when you gave birth to me and left."

"I only planted a seed, your mother brought you to life, be mad at her instead of me. I never wanted kids, why would I want something that would hold me back?"

"Funnily enough, here I am."

"Please, you're not going to hold me back. I told you, you won't be able to live with it, you're not a leader… just like Julian, he's the one who helped you here, right?" he smiled, "He too was never but a follower, and I knew he's getting to be no good lately when he started getting soft towards Brooke Davis."

"He's just another one who saw you like you really are and is refusing to put up with it anymore."

"How lovely to see you defend him now, you know he's also responsible for a lot of your pain."

"Everyone deserves a second chance once they prove they earned it."

"Another weakness of yours. This is all so pathetic, love, friendship, second chances… all of that crap is why you always lost and I always won."

"The fact that you're competing against your own sons is the pathetic fact, Dan."

"I told you I never wanted sons."

"I don't think that's true. You want someone to pass your precious empire to, that's why you promised to care for Peyton, that's why you made Julian your second man, and that's why you made Nathan work for you in exchange of his freedom, and that's why you're having this conversation with me right now."

Dan stared back at him for no longer than a second but it was enough for Lucas to know he's right, "You're wrong," he denied, "I'm having this conversation with you because I was bored, but you know, what, it's getting really old." He said standing up and Lucas stood up instantly as well,

"Sit back or I'll shoot."

"You can keep shooting until you find the bullet," Dan said and swiftly, pulled out a gun of his own pointing it towards Lucas, "Meanwhile, I shoot just once and you're dead."

So, there they were father and son standing facing each other and pointing guns to the other's head with only the desk separating them.

"You think I'll just let you shoot me?" Lucas challenged.

"You don't have much of choice here, son."

"I'm not your son."

"You're right, you're not." He said, "My son wouldn't be stupid enough to come in here thinking I'd let him kill me first."

"Your son would let you kill him, but I'm not." And with that, he jumped forward across the desk taking him down as he dropped the useless revolver in his hand in the process buying himself some more time.

Just outside the door of Dan's office, the two men exchanged a look, "We need to get in now. He won't be able to open the door."

"If we try to tackle the door he'll shoot him."

"What are you saying? We would just let him like that?"

"Just wait,"

And then they heard the noise that indicated a collision between the two men, "I'm not waiting anymore." Nathan said as he took a few steps backward before running to the door to push it with his leg but nothing happened as he tried again while the DA was calling backup.

"Come on!" Nathan grunted as he pushed harder and then attempted to try again when he stopped in his track losing his balance to collapse on the door when he heard it.

A single gunshot coming from inside, followed by silence.

"Lucas?" He called with wide eyes. It can't be him. He should have never gone along with this plan.

XxXx

Karen walked down the stairs as Brooke, Haley and Millie gave her questioning hopeful looks and she shook her head apologetically, "She said she's not hungry."

Haley sighed, "She has barely eaten anything since that day."

"Yeah," Karen said heavily as she joined them, "she's waiting for Lucas." She said and took a deep breath, "Why is he so stubborn?" she shook her head.

"Because he's caring." Brooke whispered out, "He doesn't want anyone else to get hurt."

"But, that's not the way to do it."

"Yeah, it is not." Brooke nodded. "Well, I can try again."

Karen shook her head, "No, give her time, this time around she didn't even open the door… I think she's crying."

"We can't leave her alone." Millie said with her own puffy eyes.

"We barely got her to stay; she wakes up every day wanting to leave to her own house." Haley said and they nodded.

Ever since that night in the club, Peyton has distanced herself from everyone else, she wanted to be alone, Lucas was nowhere to be found –or so said Nathan and Skillz- and the only thing that kept her there in his room was holding on to the hope that he'd come to his senses and come back.

But, sure enough, he never did. It has been three days, and they still haven't heard from him or from Dan, so as far as they were concerned, both were alive and so was Mouth… but for how long?

Nathan said he's working on a solution but never said what it was though.

Brooke managed to make Peyton eat a couple of times, and Haley and Karen once, but other than that, no one was able to reach her.

Suddenly, erupting from the silence, there was a harsh knock on the door and they all looked at each other alarmed as it sounded again more persistent.

Hopeful that it'd be any good news, Karen jumped up towards the door as they heard the door open from upstairs and Peyton also rushed downstairs with the same hopeful look as she stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"Marvin?" Millie jumped up upon seeing him and quickly hugged him as he winced, "Oh my God, are you okay?" she asked letting go.

He was pale, and he had bruises, but he was there. Alive.

"My boy is fine." Skillz said patting his back. It took everyone a while as they made sure he was fine before settling down to ask all the running questions.

"What happened?" Karen asked directing her confused look to Skillz.

He looked at their faces as Peyton has made her way over to stand there among the curiously, from their confused looks, Skillz realized they still didn't know what happened, which means that as expected, he was the first one there,

"Nathan ain't here yet?"

"No, he's not. What did you do?"

He took a deep breath and exchanged a look with Mouth whom he just has explained the plan to on the way over. "The plan was for me to go get Mouth and come over here." He started, "They're supposed to meet us here, so they'd take him to the DA to take his testimony."

"I don't get it? Who's taking him? Why didn't you go to the police right away?" Brooke asked sensing that there was more to it that Skillz wasn't letting on, after all, she knew him the best and she knew this tone he's using. "What's going on, Skillz?"

"You know we can't trust the police. We're heading straight to the DA."

"You mean Nathan talked to him like he planned?" Karen asked.

"Yeah, he did."

"Wait, where's Lucas?" Peyton spoke for the first time, "Does he know? Because that means it's over, right? He doesn't have to… do anything."

He gave her an uneasy look, "Lucas knows." He nodded.

"You found him?"

"Look, we couldn't say anything, that was part of the whole plan, I'm sorry."

"You mean you knew all along where he was."

"We did. We went to the DA. It turned out he wanted such an opportunity to get Dan, and so, he chose the few trusted policemen and the rest depended on us, since all we need is evidence."

"What does that mean? Where's Nathan and Lucas?" Haley asked now knowing the 'plan' was bigger than it appears.

Skillz sighed, "Look, it's only one shot that we got. Julian is with us, and if we failed, it would have meant Julian is exposed in front of Dan, and then we would have lost everything… so, we worked on different aspects…" he said and they all looked at him with big eyes waiting for his revelation, "I was to go get Mouth and come wait here as I told you. There's a policeman watching over the house by the way. Julian is trying to get some written evidence from several of Dan's places… Nathan, Lucas and the DA are with Dan."

"What the hell do you mean with Dan? What is Lucas up to?" Peyton frowned not liking where this is going.

"Nothing, it's all just a stall… and to try and get some confessions from him. So, you know, if one of us failed somehow, there's still other evidence…"

"Antwon," Karen started, "How exactly are they planning on taking confessions from Dan?"

"Well," he started uneasily, "You see it sounds dangerous, but it's really fine, it's just-"

"Antwon?"

He looked at her and sighed, "Alright, it's basically manipulating Dan… Nathan and the DA are there just behind the door to listen to his confessions, and they have backup too…"

"Why don't you stop with your introductions and just say what the hell Lucas is doing?" Peyton said with a frown.

"He's playing Russian roulette with Dan." He said uneasily.

"He is what?" Karen screamed standing up.

"Well, that came out wrong…" he said, "Relax, I mean pretending to. To get him to talk. Even the bullet he has is fake."

"And you think Dan is unarmed?" Karen exclaimed, "Oh my God, how can you do this? How can you let him do this? I need to go."

"They're gonna be fine, that's why the DA s there with backup. I mean, I didn't even have backup and I was facing his men, Julian does because he's visiting several places and they're just facing Dan. Only him."

"Yes, idiot, that's why there's backup. He's the devil." Brooke exclaimed wrapping her arm about Peyton who was once again just listening speechlessly.

And then the door knocked again.

"You see? That's them."

Karen has already rushed to the door and then entered a policeman with Julian who looked pale, "Um, good, you're here."

"Julian?" Skillz said with a frown, "Did you do it?"

"Yeah. All good." He nodded, "We're here to bring Mouth in."

"You?" He asked looking between them and Mouth who was still shaken, "It's supposed to be Nathan." He said skeptically.

"Nathan couldn't come now, I'm here with Julian instead." The policeman said and apparently it wasn't the first time they meet as Skillz nodded, "Are you okay to go?" he addressed Mouth.

"Yeah, let's do this."

"Wait, where's Nathan and Lucas?" Karen asked stepping in front of the man.

"They're going to be fine. You may want to come with us, we will need everyone to testify, you've all had encounters with Dan Shaw, right?"

"Yes we did. But, what do you mean they are going to be okay?"

Julian sighed as he looked at her uneasily, "Dan got away."

"But, thankfully we now have what could bring him and also some of the corrupt police forces to court; it's only a matter of time until we find him."

"Yeah, but what about Nathan and Lucas? Are they hurt?"

"I'm afraid Lucas is, they are currently in the hospital, I wasn't told where he was shot, but, it's not fatal. He's going to be fine." The man informed them, "Now, please, come with us."

And what else could they do but follow the man outside.

Julian couldn't help but glance at Brooke and he quickly averted his eyes to the ground when he saw her looking too… Julian has really taken Nathan's advice and was really trying to do the right thing, he didn't know if what he just did now would make up for all the horrible things he caused before, or if it would keep his family safe, or if Brooke would ever give him a second chance… but, it was liberating, for the first time, he was thinking for himself and taking a personal decision of doing the right thing.

Millie and Mouth held each other's hands as they walked in silence seeking the comfort and looking forward to the better chances now that everything will be fine eventually.

Karen was pulling herself together and telling herself that it must be fine, he said it's not fatal, her son isn't supposed to die… not now… not like this. She told herself that she would have felt it in her heart something was bad, but no, she has to believe now that he's going to be fine.

Haley and Brooke were not much better, they were torn between being scared for Lucas and Nathan for what it matters and for having to be there for Karen and Peyton who must be taking the news the hardest, and Brooke also felt the more confusion of seeing Julian on their side, she didn't believe it until now, and she didn't know what to think of it… it wasn't even the time to think anything of it.

Peyton woke up only hoping to find Lucas and get him to change his mind, but now, she was left wondering if she'll ever see him again, now, she's the one ready to put a bullet hole in Dan's head.

But, right now, she just needed to see if Lucas was okay first.