"Now tell me what we want to know or this is going to get painful" said the kidnapper in her ear but Miranda merely turned her head and closed her eyes. He laughed as did several of his colleagues, "We always did prefer the hard way".

…..

The morning before …

"Andrea" floated through the office making the chosen girl wince wondering what horrible impossible task she had ready for her this time. She stood and quickly walked into the office knowing that if she took too long then she would be signing her death certificate. "Yes Miranda" she asked quietly praying that the task wouldn't be too horrible. She stopped before the desk her notebook in her hand ready waiting to be told the latest impossible task. "Go to the twins school, pick them up and take them home" the editor, "Then you will wait with them till I return, that's all" and sent waved her away. "Dibbed for babysitting?" Emily questioned happily silently thanking Miranda for not picking her again. Andrea just glared before gathering her belongings and striding towards the elevator.

20 minutes later …

"Hey girls" Andy called over to the twins as they walked out of the school gates. When the girls were seated and the car moving she filled them in on the plan. "It means mum is going out on a date" Cassidy (or maybe Caroline she thought) explained shaking her head. "Ever since Stephen left she has been so much happier and now she is going to ruin it all again" the other twin said. Andrea just sat back against the seat pondering. She didn't, no couldn't think of Miranda dating, it didn't seem like the sort of thing the cold editor would do.

Meanwhile …

"I have reservations for two at 5:00" he said down the phone as he waited outside Elias-Clarke, leaning against his car waiting for Miranda for to make her way down. "Yes that's us" he confirmed before flipping the phone shut. "Anyway" he whispered to himself "if all goes to plan then we won't be in there for very long". As Miranda approached the car he stood and opened the door for her, she bestowed a smile on him as she climbed in much to the surprise of onlookers.

Back at the Priestly household …

"I will be in the lounge if you guys need me" Andy called up the stairs before setting her laptop up. Knowing that she had a long night ahead of her (she had been filled in on the details of Miranda's last date by the girls) she went to work on sorting out schedule for the run through tomorrow.

Suddenly she woke from her doze, her laptop in screensaver mode and the clock flashing. "Oh my god, I fell asleep" she muttered stretching her back. She stood and walked over to the clock to get a closer look at the time. When she realised that it was no longer Friday she went to check on the girls, glad to see that they had both put themselves to sleep, she walked back down to the lounge and packed up her laptop and papers before wondering into Miranda's study. There was no clue that the editor had come back, no coat hanging on the rack just outside the room, no bag on the table and the desk was undisturbed. Wondering where the older woman was she walked out into the hallway and up to the front door, she looked out and not recognising any of the cars parked along the road shut the door and went to go back to the lounge when she saw the letter on the floor. There was no other post and when she had arrived with the twins yesterday there had been no post on the floor. She picked it up and read it on the way to the lounge, grabbing her phone as she sat down. "Nigel, we have a problem" she muttered quickly once he had picked up the phone.

2 hours later …

"What do you mean she's been kidnapped" he yelled glad that Miranda's study was soundproof. He carried on pacing around the room knowing that Andy and Louisa from publicity were staring at him, the only reason that Emily wasn't there was because she was stuck on a flight to Texas. "All I know is that the letter was dropped off sometime between 12 yesterday evening and 2 this morning" she explained again trying not to lose her patience knowing that the twins were still upstairs asleep and that they would have to be woken up soon. "Miranda never came home from her date" she carried on now looking at Louisa who was writing everything down in her notebook, "Ok, well obviously we will have to contact the police" the woman explained standing up, "But for now I want both of you to act like normal so that people don't start to panic, I mean there are lots of explanations, it could be a personal thing like an ex just trying to scare the children or it could be business related because Miranda knows all the bank details for Runway, but let's not jump to conclusions" she finished. She nodded at the two other adults and walked out of the room.

Neither of them moved until they heard the front door shut before turning to each other. They both jumped when the phone rang, "Miranda?" Andy said with her fingers crossed. "No and if you want to see your precious editor again you will do exactly what I say".