1 WEEK LATER
EMILY
"So I get to spend the whole day with Felix and Marzia daddy?"
Sean nods, "they'll be here in ten minutes so put on your coat and shoes."
I run out of the living room excited for my day out, it felt like forever since I got to see the two of them. Behind me dad laughs, I did get excited rather easily.
Someone knocks on the front door just as I finish putting my boots on. But before I can answer the door dad appears and gets there before me. Felix and Marzia stand smiling on the other side.
"Marzia! Felix!" I squeal and run towards the couple.
Marzia crouches down and I run into her open arms hugging her tightly, it would be nice being around a girl for a change.
"You get bigger every day Emily. Stop growing."
"Hey, kiddo."
Marzia scoops me up and Felix ruffles my hair knowing it annoyed me, just like daddy got annoyed whenever someone messed up his hair.
"Not the hair Felix, it will be your own funeral."
SEAN
I didn't want to freak Emily out but I'd been hearing disturbing rumours and I needed to see if Felix was aware.
"Felix, can I have a quick word?"
Felix nods, leaving Marzia and Emily to talk about random nonsense.
"What's wrong my Irish potato?"
"Did you hear what happened to Zoe and Alfie last week?"
Felix sighs loudly, it looked like news got around fast about the robbery in broad daylight at their new house. Alfie wasn't home but Zoe was when two masked robbers broke in and demanded money, and when Zoe refused they hit her and stole valuable items.
It was the new craze for criminals, targeting youtubers who seemed to have wealth and popularity. Dan and Phil had been mugged in London a month ago and it had the YouTube community on edge.
"No one would be stupid enough to make a move when we're in public Sean. Marzia and I will keep an extra eye on Emily and us. Just worry about getting your work done on time."
"I guess I'm just playing the overprotective parent card, Felix. I do trust you two with Emily, I just don't want anything bad to happen because Emily's been through enough."
Felix pats me on the shoulder putting me at ease. Maybe I was just overreacting.
"See you later daddy."
"Have fun, Emily."
Emily waves in my direction before Marzia carries her out of the front door followed by Felix.
~Time Skip~
EMILY
"This ice cream is really good, why is it so good?"
I swing my legs on the bench Marzia and I were sitting on eating ice cream while Felix walked the dogs up and down the boardwalk.
Marzia laughs, "Because it's some of Brighton's finest Emily. Here you have some around your mouth."
She pulls out a tissue and wipes the chocolate ice cream from around my mouth. I finish my cone and we get up to put the tissue in a nearby bin. We'd pretty much spent the day walking around cute little boutique shops and being silly when Felix vlogged.
"GIRLS! WATCH OUT!"
I glance towards Felix who shouts at us and begins running towards us. Why was he shouting?
"Get off me!"
Turning back around I see Marzia struggling with a masked man, he picks her up with ease before tossing her into the back of a van I hadn't seen before. I start to run towards Felix but another masked man picks me up and throws me in the van as well.
"FELIX!" Marzia screams fear evident in her voice and the tears pouring down her cheeks. We were in a bad situation.
The door of the van locks and a few seconds later the van pulls away from the curb roughly sending me sprawling across the van.
"Marzia what's happening? I'm scared."
I crawl into Marzia's arms and she hugs me tight, "I think we've been kidnapped, Emily. But don't worry Felix and your daddy will find us."
I scrunch my eyes up not wanting to cry, one of us needed to stay strong. Hopefully, daddy would find us soon because I wanted nothing more than to go home.
"Emily do you have panda or Sam on you?"
I open my backpack and pull out panda. Marzia motions for me to give it her quietly and I do.
"What are you doing?" I whisper.
"I'm going to put my phone on silent and hide it inside panda. Then hopefully the Police can track the phone and find us quicker."
I watch as he swiftly undoes some of pandas stitches and sticks her phone inside before handing him back to me with a weak smile. I guess it was now down to me to keep panda on me at all costs.
"They will find us Marzia, I believe in them."
Marzia chuckles, "you're a good kid Emily."
We snuggle against each other as the van continues to speed to god knows where. Why did these people take us? Why did they want us? We weren't special.
FELIX
Sean was going to kill me. I hadn't just lost Emily but Marzia had been ripped away from me as well. The Police officer had asked me to come to the station with them while a crime team checked out the boardwalk for any hints of the kidnappers.
"We will do everything in our power to return the girls safely home. Do you have any information that could help our investigation?"
I shake my head and continue to stare at the metal table in front of me in the investigation suite, I felt like a criminal almost like they were partially blaming me for the kidnapping.
"Only that a few of our other YouTube friends have been mugged or robbed in the past month. I don't think the people were ever caught, the mugging was in London and the robbery was in Brighton. Does that help?"
Officer Hall writes stuff down on a notebook while her colleague stands behind her constantly talking into a phone much to my annoyance because I felt like they could be out there trying to find the girls.
The door bursts open and Sean runs in looking dishevelled and close to tears.
"Hello again Officer Hall, do you know anything yet?"
I stare at Sean, how did he know the officer? She smiles and motions for him to take the seat next to me which he does.
"I told you to call me Kate, and sorry we don't know anything yet. Your friend here was telling us about other youtubers who'd been mugged or robbed recently. I will bring Emily home to you Sean and I will bring Marzia home to you, Felix."
It all clicks, this had to the officer who told Sean she was putting in a recommendation that he adopted Emily.
Officer Kate gets up and leaves the room followed by her partner. I chew my lip and dare a glance at my friend, feeling like I'd betrayed his trust making me feel awful.
"I don't blame you, Felix, because they took Marzia as well. We have to find them soon, I don't want to think about the terrible things that could be happening to them." Sean stutters, and then sniffles.
I hated seeing anyone cry so I pull my friend into my arms and hold him. We both needed each other's comfort right now.
MARK
"What's wrong Mark? You look like you've seen a ghost." Wade jokes, continuing to pack my things into boxes for the move.
I slump down on the sofa and drop my phone letting it clatter to the floor. Both Wade and Bob look at me with concerned faces.
"That was Sean, Emily was spending the day with Felix and Marzia when Emily and Marzia were kidnapped in broad daylight."
"Holy shit!" Bob gasps.
Wade sits down next to me as I start to cry, I didn't want anything bad to happen to either girl but we'd all watched enough crime shows about kidnapping to know that if they weren't found in forty-eight hours the chances of finding them alive were slim.
"You need to be in Brighton Mark, Sean and Felix need you."
Wade was right, I needed to comfort my best friend and boyfriend. I couldn't even imagine the anguish and hurt they were going through right now. I had to get on the first flight to London and then travel to Brighton.