When “All Her Fault” author Andrea Mara’s middle daughter was 5 years old, she went to pick her up for a playdate. She drove to the address listed on the school directory and rang the doorbell. No answer. She rang again. Still not an answer.

Then, she peered inside the window — and her heart stopped.

“There was no furniture in the house. Nobody lived in the house. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest with fright, and I immediately thought, ‘Oh, my God, my child has been kidnapped,’” Mara tells TODAY.com.

Mara feared it was a fake playdate and her child had been taken. “I think lots of parents can probably relate to that, that your mind goes to the worst case scenario,” she says.

Duke McCloud as Milo, Sarah Snook as Marissa in "All Her Fault." PEACOCK / Sarah Enticknap/PEACOCK

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