A woman has hidden a plea for help in a pizza order while she was allegedly being held against her will by her boyfriend.

Cheryl Treadway, 25, from Florida, says she was being held hostage at knifepoint by her ‘abusive’ boyfriend Ethan Nickerson when she convinced him to let her order a pizza from Pizza Hut on Monday night.

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Her boyfriend had reportedly taken her phone off her but allowed her to use the Pizza Hut app to order the meal.

The mother-of-three cleverly included “please help. Get 911 to me” in the special requests section and added “911 hostage help” in another section.

As a local customer of the Pizza Hut, employees recognised her name and address and immediately called the sheriff.

“Upon arrival at the home, deputies were greeted by [Ms Treadway] carrying a small child in her arms,” police said.

Police then escorted Ms Treadway and the child off the property and proceeded to talk to Mr Nickerson through a closed door while the other two children remained in the house.

After 20 minutes Mr Nickerson was persuaded to come out.

The two children inside were unharmed.

The Pizza Hut employees couldn’t believe the message when they saw it.

“I’ve been here 28 years and never, never seen nothing like that come through,” manager Candy Hamilton said.

Police were impressed with Ms Treadway’s quick-thinking.

“If I’m standing there with a knife in my hand, sharpening it, and look at you in a menacing way and make a statement that ‘I’m going to kill you’, and I’ve already done some violence to you, you know how are you going to take that message?” said Lieutenant Chris Ludden.

Her boyfriend was charged with aggravated assault with a weapon without intent to kill, battery, false imprisonment and obstructing justice by depriving communication to law enforcement.