Sofia woke up in the hospital room. Francesco was sitting there too.

"You really gave us quite a scare, we couldn't wake you up," Francesco said with a worried expression.

"I'm sorry," Sofia said embarrassed, and covered her face from the ray of sun entering the hospital room.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he stood from the armchair to stretch his legs.

"Fine. Just a little tired" she sighed quietly as if tired of her own weaknesses. "How long was I asleep?"

"9 hours"

"And you were here all this time?" No way he was looking fresh and perfect after 9 hours of sitting on the hospital chair.... Wait. Not a chair. It looked like a very comfortable and soft armchair. Sofia definitely wasn't in a public hospital the room looked way to fancy and the bed sheets were a bit too soft.

The armchair had installed a mini table where Francesco's MacBook Air was placed. Her brother was wearing round glasses with black frames, he probably needed to use them for reading because Sofia was sure that previously she has seen him without glasses. He used his hand to brush his golden-brown hair and looked at her.

"Where have you been staying the past few days you've been reported missing?" He questioned.

"Um... I didn't really have money for accommodation" Sofia muttered playing with her sheets. A shock crossed Francesco's face.

"Don't tell me you were sleeping on the streets last night?"

Sofia remained quiet, not looking at him.

"Sofia? Why?" He asked, firmly. It felt like his concern shifted into demand for answers. He looked at her with furrowed brows.

"I just... I spent all my money on plane tickets"

"When was the last time you ate?" He continued his questioning

"Only several hours, it's not a big deal"

"You have a concerning nutrient deficiency, you must have been getting not enough food for quite a while"

"After mom died I had some troubles with an appetite," Sofia said, what she didn't tell us that for most of the time she just didn't have the energy to get up from bed and start doing something. On top of that, Sofia was literally forced to live with her mother's killer. But she didn't want to tell her brothers what he did. They certainly were capable of a lot and she didn't want them to get themselves in trouble for harming Paul. He was a dangerous man.

"Sofia... tell me. Why did you run away from home?"

"I- I just really wanted to find you and Paul would let me" technically, it was true. Sofia decided that she's not ready to reveal that Paul is her mother's murderer. She only just met Francesco and she was a person with some major trust issues.

"Francesco?"

"Yes?"

"Can I leave this place? I don't like hospitals" this place smelled like... death. She hated to think about it. How fleeting human life is.

"We're getting out as soon as possible. First, you need a check-up"

The doctor showed up soon after that. He checked Sofia's vitals. It seemed like he took his time to fill in her new medical chart. Sofia wanted to leave now.

Eventually she was released, after about an hour of torture (okay, it wasn't that bad).

Sofia was surprised to learn that Francesco had prepared fresh clothes for her, it was very thoughtful of him. It was a casual white T-shirt and black leggings both a little oversized but it was fitting her well and she was grateful she didn't have to wear her smelly clothes anymore. Now the one thing she dreamed of was a shower.

"Alessandro had to go back home to deal with some business and Valentino... well Valentino can't sit in one place for a long period of time" Francesco explained her brothers' absence. As they were in the parking lot Sofia looked with shock crossing her face at the car she was about to get into. It was an SUV in electric blue color.

"Woah is this your car? I mean... what?" Sofia pointed at the... the thing. Sofia couldn't explain well what she was seeing it was like from automobile magazine she would never read because she didn't care about cars at all. "Wow?" She could still appreciate interesting design though.

Francesco smiled, sincerely amused "Thank you. I received it as a bribe" he winked and chuckled when he saw Sofia's shocked expression. He opened the car doors and invited her with the chivalrous hand gesture "Ladies first"

"A bribe? Who was trying to bribe you?" Sofia asked curiously getting inside the vehicle.

"Father and I disagreed about my career choice. I wanted to pursue engineering, he envisioned a business school for me but being a CFO was not the height of my aspirations. At some point conflict was so bad I moved out of the house"

"So how did you resolve this?" Sofia asked feeling invested in hearing out the whole story.

"Double major. I can be stubborn at times"

"That's... wow. Impressive. But your father shouldn't force you to study something you don't want"

"Our family, Sofia, is quite traditional. You don't do what you want you to do what you're told"

Damn. That sounded constrictive and Sofia didn't know how to feel about it yet. She was definitely more of a free spirit.

For the rest of the ride Sofia was actually focused on admiring the landscape. She could see the sea as they were driving down the road, it was amazing. The conversation moved naturally towards her past experience with Italy. She never visited the country before, it was her first time so Francesco felt obligated to explain the existence of every tree next to the road. Sofia decided that her brother would be an excellent tour guide with all the stories about the city he could pull from his sleeve unprepared.

Because Francesco was so invested in speaking about Catania Sofia naturally assumed that the huge, historical villa they're parked in front of was a place he wanted to show her. She was a little tired but maybe it was a short tour. She didn't really mind since the place was so breathtaking. Sofia had a strange obsession with old mansions and this place was everything she could ever dream of.

Along the road leading to the villa there were cypress trees planted. The front yard right beneath the stairs had a fountain. Fancy.

The villa was a three store building made of greystone, the windows had green shutters installed, it was a very typical feature of Mediterranean architecture.

Of course Sofia knew that her brothers' luxury cars meant that her family could afford a lot of things but surly they wouldn't own this beautiful historical building, that's what she assumed.

"Wait. What an awesome place. Do we need to pay for a tickets?" She asked in excited voice.

"Tickets? Sofia, this is our house"

@slycntrygirl for coming up with the new title for this story! ❤️