She's No Beauty Queen

Lily was polishing off the last of her cookie when they pulled up in front of the house. Aria ran out to greet her enthusiastically and reached up to be held. She picked up her niece and continued walking.

"Mommy?" the little girl asked hopefully, which broke Lily's heart.

"No sweetie, it's Lily. Remember me?"

"Yes," she said a bit sadly before burying her face in her aunt's shoulder. It was clear as day she had thought her mom finally came home and got her hopes dashed. Poor baby.

Eddie was standing by the door when they walked up and a pained look crossed his face seeing Lily hold his daughter. He was probably thinking of Angel because they looked so much alike. That broke her heart more. This little family had been so affected by her absence.

Lily didn't understand how her twin could leave her family behind so often to go on publicity tours and such. If Angel didn't come back in the next month she would have to take a couple days off of school to go on one in her stead in another part of California and she really, really didn't want to have to do that.

How could beauty pageants be more important to her than her own child? She didn't know what sort of relationship Angel and Eddie had so she couldn't make any judgments on leaving him so often but Aria was just a baby. She needed her mother.

"I'll take her. You need to get ready," Eddie said quietly as Lily passed him.

He held his arms out and cradled his daughter against him despite her initial unwillingness to let go of the woman that looked like her mother. Aria burst into tears and buried her face in his neck after a minute of struggle.

"Daddy, Awi wants Mommy!" she sobbed.

Eddie tightened his hold on her and kissed the top of her head. "I know princess. Me too."

Lily's heart sunk as Mark grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from that depressing scene. He didn't seem to be affected by the sight of his boss being so miserable at all. Not when they had a schedule to keep.

And to think she had thought he was considerate for bringing food he thought she would like earlier. He was only considerate when it didn't mess with his work.

This time the stylist put her in a fitted blue and green plaid flannel shirt, dark wash skinny jeans, and brown ankle booties. Her hair was done up in a crown braid and she somehow managed to look glamorous despite her casual attire. She supposed that was the power of makeup.

Since last night Mark had done some social media research on exactly where and when Darcy and Angel had met before so Lily would know how to answer basic questions and gave her information on their way out the door. She felt slightly better armed with some sort of knowledge even though it probably wouldn't help her much.

They were nearly to the car when they heard something break back inside the house and Aria came running out sobbing and clinging to Lily's leg. "Daddy mad!"

Ever the dutiful assistant, Mark rushed back inside after telling her to stay with Aria and went to see what was going on. Lily crouched down and petted the little girl's head reassuringly even though she had no idea what was going on.

He came out a minute later with a hard expression on his face. "We need to go."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you in the car. Aria I put a movie on for you in the living room so go back inside, okay?"

Aria was hesitant but did as she was told and pulled the door shut behind her. Lily looked at Mark expectantly once they were in the car and he let out a heavy sigh. "The video footage the hacker sorted through showed Angelina having an episode in the parking lot after the event and getting taken away by a man in a hoodie carrying a camera bag. There wasn't a clear shot of his face.

"Right now the hacker is trying to look through the earlier footage to place him and potentially try and do facial recognition. It could take a while and she's already been with whoever took her this long…

"I've heard that the first seventy-two hours after an abduction are the most crucial and those passed while we thought you were Angelina. The chances of finding her alive now are incredibly slim.

"I'm going to get you through this by volunteering with you and then I'm going to come straight back here and see if there's anything more I can do for Mr. Todd right now. He threw his phone and shattered a vase after ending the call with the hacker. That's what the breaking sound was."

Lily had a hard time wrapping her head around what this meant. "Why won't he call the police now?"

"Because if Angelina is still alive he thinks she won't forgive him for ruining her career," Mark said grimly. "That's why you have to keep up the act too. For now we have to proceed under the assumption that she's out there and is going to come back."

Wasn't her life more important than her career? What if the police could find her faster? Someone needed to talk some sense into that man!

How on earth was she supposed to focus right now? She had been concerned about getting through this volunteer work anyway and now she had to do it while overcome with worry for the twin she had never met, her niece, and her sort-of brother-in-law? Pulling this off would be a miracle!