On the next morning when Sofia went downstairs, she was greeted by Francesco's warm smile. He hugged her tightly and she returned the hug. She missed him a lot.

Here's the thing. Francesco came back home on Wednesday night when she was asleep. On Thursday the whole fiasco with her escape from school happened. On Friday she had finally a chance to enjoy his brief presence after a prolonged absence.

"I missed you," Sofia said softly. "How was your trip to Madrid?" She asked.

"I missed you too" he replied, smiling and letting her go out of the hug "The trip was boring. Like most of the business-related things. I need to take you with me next time," he said, he was in a good mood today.

"W-wait, really?!" She asked unable to hide her excitement. He chuckled.

"Of course. At least I will be able to show you around the city" he pointed out.

"You guys are so cute I feel like puking," Valentino said bluntly while sitting on the kitchen counter and snacking on an apple.

That one knew how to ruing the moment.

"Aren't you going to say hi at least?" Francesco asked flatly.

Valentino took a bit chunk of apple and said "Yo" in a muffled voice. Sofia couldn't help but giggle at Francesco rising his eyes into the sky and probably praying for patience.

A second later Francesco's attention again focused on Sofia. "Oh, you're wearing the watch" his face lit up.

Not like I have a choice. She wanted to say but decided it's better to not start complaining right now.

"It was your idea wasn't it?" Sofia realized that's probably the case since Francesco was the tech-savvy member of their family.

"Don't sulk" Francesco advised "Alessandro wanted to lock you up in the house, so that watch is actually the best solution possible. It's for our peace of mind to make sure you won't disappear on us again"

"I won't disappear again" Sofia promised.

"You better keep your word" he warned, giving her a gentle poke on the forehead.

Sofia stupidly hoped that Alessandro will give her another chance and not force her into wearing that watch.

Spoiler alert: she was wrong!

"Alessandro, it seems like too much. You're going overboard" Sofia complained.

"Thank you for your assessment but in the future remember that I will ask if I need your input in my decision making" he replied patiently.

"What if I refuse to wear it?" It was risky to ask but she had to know.

"Sofia, I know that pushing boundaries is your natural response to a new guardian but you're not leaving the house without this watch on your wrist if you don't want to wear it homeschooling is always an option" he responded, Sofia didn't like this response.

"Wait, no, I will wear it," she said quickly.

"Arguing with me won't get you anywhere so for the future I'd advise cooperation," he said calmly and then he dismissed her from his office.

Yeah, so anyway. She was wearing that stupid watch for school. She was glad it was Friday. That day was very calm. Nothing particular was happening in classes people were shyly trying to approach her, Sofia didn't mind it at all.

When Sofia came back home she was roaming without the purpose of checking out every corner of the house like a tourist.

Well, she felt like a tourist. This house was a freaking masterpiece.

But her attention quickly shifted to her brother, Valentino. He was sitting on the couch, working on his laptop. She took a peek over his shoulder and gasped.

"What?" He asked looking over his shoulder.

"Your grades," she said terrified.

"What about them?" He asked with confusion.

"They're perfect," she said in accusation in her voice. "They can't be perfect"

"Clearly they can. Wanna look again?" He asked with a smug smile on his lips.

"No thanks," she muttered and went upstairs. Valentino gave her a weirded out glance and focused on his laptop again.

Sofia planned to study. Studying never was easy for her. She had trouble with focusing on doing one thing at a time, she was way too anxious for that.

But here's the thing she was done with disappointing Alessandro all the time, she just wanted to do something well for once and she knew he will accept only the best grade. Or maybe she just imagined that would be the case. She didn't know for certain.

This is why she decided to study for the whole night.

But around two hours after she started memorizing history the study material, Francesco entered her room.

She was about to take another sip of her energy drink but it was snatched out of her hand in a seamless gesture.

"Don't drink that, it's unhealthy" he said simply. "And get downstairs"

"Why?"

"Family dinner, remember?"

Ah, yes. So that was happening.

As she entered the kitchen, the table was full of Spanish food. For example, Sofia could see Spanish olive oil, fresh baguettes, there was a plate with pieces of chorizo, ham (probably the one that's Valentino's favourite, sausages and other types of meat) on the other plate there were all kinds of cheese.

Gazpacho was served as a first course, it was absolutely delicious but the star of the show was a paella situated in the middle of the table.

"Can I have some?" Sofia asked when Francesco was pouring Rioja (Spanish wine) into Alessandro's glass, he quickly glanced at their oldest brother seeking permission.

"You may" Alessandro replied taking a sip of his wine.

"Really?" Sofia said surprised. Alessandro looked at her with amusement.

"You're getting special permission, don't take it as an invitation to drink without my knowledge" Alessandro warned and Sofia nodded eagerly.

Here's the thing: sometimes Sofia was mad at how extremely reasonable her brother is when it comes to his rules, she noted that rather than doing generic parenting stuff he was mostly prioritizing her safety.

"How do you like the wine?" Alessandro asked politely

"It's the best I ever tasted," she said and the moment later she realized she just admitted to her brothers that she was drinking before.

Oops.

Alessandro just smiled knowingly and shook his head. Apparently, he was not planning to scold her for her slip-up. Instead, he shifted his attention towards Francesco and asked him about the details of his business trip.

Sofia tuned out of the conversation and focused on finishing her half-eaten plate of paella. She was enjoying the food at first and then after she felt too much happiness a pant of guilt appeared in her chest.

She didn't deserve to laugh with them and be happy after she almost took her own life. Her brothers would be so hurt over this, she knew that if not Anastasio they wouldn't be sitting here eating, drinking and laughing.

As she thought about that she felt how her eyes brimmed with tears and she had to force herself to hide her emotion before she bursts out crying.

"Fia, is everything okay? You stopped eating" Francesco pointed out, concerned by the change of mood that she tried to cover so much.

"Yeah, everything is fine," she said quickly and took a spoonful of coloured rice to prove that she's still eating. "You know I've been wondering-" she hesitated from speaking further but everyone was listening to her by now.

"Yes?" Alessandro asked.

"How many brothers do I have?" She asked and her face instantly became red. She was embarrassed because the question sounded ridiculous to her."

Everyone stiffened. They knew she was asking about Denaros and it must've made them uncomfortable. Sofia felt bad all of sudden.

"Sorry, you don't need to tell me if you don't want," Sofia said quickly, scared that she ruined the mood.

"You don't need to apologize, it's only natural that you're curious about them" Alessandro replied. "It's a funny coincidence but you also have three brothers on Denaro's side: Rosario, Emilio and Alessio"

"How old is Emilio?" She hoped that she has at least one younger brother. That would be cute.

"He's 26, Rosario is 29"

Just like that Alessandro wasn't the oldest brother anymore. And she remained the youngest in both families.

"Let me guess they have a company too" Sofia added.

"More than one. Just like we invest mostly in the real estate industry, they invest in entertainment and hospitality services like restaurants, nightclubs and hotels. They also own a winery that's what they're most known for despite the fact that this business might be the least profitable of all of the ones I just named" Alessandro explained.

"So they're loaded like you," Sofia said dryly. So she had no normal family to escape to, only insanely rich, shady families.

"You're related to the richest people living in Sicily. Also through your mother" Alessandro pointed out to confuse her further.

"Wait. Mother?"

"You're Sanzaro. Her brother, Salvatore, moved from the city to Palermo, where he married a daughter of a powerful man and he took over their family business, from what I've been told"

"Do you have contact with him?"

"He hates us. The only reason why he left Catania was your mother. He couldn't deal with the fact that she was being married off to our father, he never liked him as we were told. But what added insult to the injury was our father forcing Catarina to leave the country, abandon her family completely"

"Why? Why couldn't she just move to another city?"

"Because father wanted to punish her for cheating. The idea of letting her be happy has never crossed his mind" Francesco said bitterly.

Sofia's mother story was truly a sad one. Sofia was mad at herself for not knowing all these things. Mother wasn't speaking because it was too difficult for her, Sofia could relate to that. She was the same.

"Hey, since we've eaten all this delicious Spanish food shouldn't we watch a Spanish movie?" Valentino dropped the idea, breaking the silence and suddenly the mood lifted. He knew how to distract people well, what nice skills.

"Yeah, let's watch something"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to join you. Remember to not stay up long because tomorrow you will have another sleepless night" Alessandro announced.

Right. Tomorrow, in the morning she will have a session with Felice and then, when she comes back home she will prepare for the first in her life charity banquet.

Dear Readers,

Sorry if this chapter isn't good I was trying my best but that's all I could come up with, I should be asleep like two hours ago. Sorry for any grammar mistakes.