"Why did you let her go?" Francesco asked quietly, looking at his brother with betrayed expression.

"If I made her stay she would have to watch Valentino getting hurt. This would kill her. I asked Raul to follow her quietly without intervening in case she..." Alessandro replied. He made this decision with a heavy heart, he could see in Sofia's eyes how desperate she was and he knew no matter what choice will he make it would end badly.

He was worried about her and he really hoped she had at least some minimal experience with driving a vehicle. Kids in the US were getting driver's licenses at 16 after all.

"I can't believe she didn't take the helmet". Francesco said with a hollow voice. "Her reckless behaviour is not normal"

Alessandro laid his hand on his brother's shoulder in a supporting gesture.

"All we need to do is observe now. The time will come when we will be able to get her back" he promised.

***

Emilio didn't enter the house. It turns out he had a business to do. Alessio was nowhere to be found from the beginning. So she was completely alone with Rosario.

Sofia looked at the house. It was equally intimidating as Ianniello's with a big difference. While Ianniello's style was more traditional with historic meaning here what was winning was modernity and minimalism. A perfect mix of luxury and simplicity.

She couldn't enjoy the beautiful views because she was too overwhelmed by what went down just now. She got what she wanted and Valentino was going back home. But she was stuck here now. Or was she?

"What are you planning to do now?" Sofia asked. The house had an open-space design so the kitchen was connected to the living room and the hallway.

"I will make you a tea"

Huh? He will what? It was such a normal thing she didn't know how to react.

"Do you like a tea with raspberry syrup?" he asked.

"Seriously? Are you seriously asking me this question right now?" she asked incredulously leaning over the white-marble kitchen counter with her arms crossed over her chest.

He looked at her with eyebrows raised "I will take it as a no"

"Yes, I like the raspberry syrup," she said, her face completely red with embarrassment, then she decided to touch the most burning question right now. "How do you see this situation coming to an end?"

"What do you mean?" Rosario asked, his voice neutral and his face unreadable.

"I am 17. After a few months, I can leave. Both you and Ianniellos won't see me again if you plan to use me as an excuse to fight each other" she snarled.

"So you think you will be allowed just leave because what? A number on your ID changes? You think I give a shit when you're legally an adult? Oh Sofia is 18 I guess now she can do whatever she wants even if it means escaping her family?"' He asked ironically.

"For now you're not my family, you're my kidnappers," she said, not letting her fear overtake her. She was weak, yes. But it didn't mean she'd give up when the safety of her brothers was compromised.

"Really Sofia? Low blow. We just needed to get you back" Rosario said bitterly. "I left you a letter and yet still you had to be coerced to come here. Family is everything to us, learn to operate within that premise" he lectured.

"Do you not understand why I made that choice? Ianniellos took care of me when I was completely alone and scared and they saw you as a threat. Do you think I wanted to give them hard time after everything they did for me?" Sofia asked desperately needing him to understand.

"I am sorry I haven't been there for you, kid. I promise I will be from now on. But if one of our families can't have you it's going to be them not us. We have lost enough because of them" he said, handing her a cup with a steaming liquid.

"If I'm supposed to stay here you need to promise me not to hurt them," Sofia said looking in his green eyes.

"You're staying here whether you like it or not," Rosario said with unwavering confidence.

"I escaped them, I can escape you too" she promised not backing away.

Rosario said "For the record: I don't think you can leave this house without my permission but I don't want any stupid, dangerous ideas in your head. I promise not to hurt Ianniellos as long as you won't try to escape unless..." he paused "they attack first"

Sofia nodded. That was fair. She had to pick her battles.

"And what about school?" She asked quietly. She knew going back would open a perfect window for running away.

"You will be homeschooled for now. I don't trust you yet"

"I told you I'm not going to run away. Just let me go back to school" Sofia said quietly but without conviction. What was there for her in school? Bruno was no longer her friend, she had no one there. She wasn't looking forward to going there just to see Valentino trying to get her back home.

"You will eventually be allowed back," he said without stating when she would be allowed. "Now, before you will go to sleep I want to know when did you learn to drive a motorcycle"

Oh no. She was hoping they would skip this topic.

"Um... back in the US I was preparing for the driver's license exam. I've been driving a handful of times... so... And then one of my friends bought a motorcycle, we were neighbours so he would sometimes drive me back from school" Sofia explained quickly, she was completely aware that what she did was incredibly stupid and irresponsible.

"So let me get this straight you were driving several kilometres without a driver's license, any real experience with driving a motorcycle, and without a helmet on?" He deadpanned.

"Now that you put it that way it sounds horrible," Sofia said carefully.

"That's because it is horrible"

Sofia knew that at least grounding her isn't an option now.

But before her brother could come up with something his phone started ringing but he didn't pick it up immediately.

"C'mon let me take you to your room," he said. "What you have done was incredibly reckless and I am sure Emilio will have a word or two to say about it but we will leave it for later" Rosario said while they were climbing up the stairs.

The doors t her room was right next to the stairs, Rosario opened the door for her and invited her in with a simple hand gesture.

"Rule number 1: you're not allowed to leave your room after 10 pm until morning," he said as soon as she entered her room. She already entered the room, and now she was standing in front of Rosario.

"Why? You have a vampire problem here?" Sofia asked, not impressed by his request. Well, it wasn't really a request more like an order.

"Let's go with that" A sparks of amusement danced in Rosario's eyes.

Rule number 1 implies more rules Sofia thought unhappily.

"What if I'm thirsty?" She asked, she still had a cup of tea in her hands.

"You can keep a water bottle in your room, you will find them stored in the kitchen. Alessio is in the room next to you, ask him for a shirt or something" He said and then he just left while leaving the door open. Sofia could hear him walking the corridor and talking to someone over the phone.

Sofia felt like she was experiencing deja vu. She's been in the same spot before when she arrived at Ianniello household with nothing but a small backpack on her shoulders. She didn't have clothes back then too.

Sofia sighed and closed the door. Then she turned on her heels to look at the room in front of her and holy shit it was huge. The walls and bedsheets were white, whereas furniture was made in light brown colour. The room looked like from architecture digest magazine with an elaborate chandelier, white rug, fringed pillows on the bed. Several green flower plants were adding warmth to the space.

If she was a prisoner, it was a very fancy prison indeed.

She went out of the room and knocked on the bedroom right next to hers.

The doors opened and unhappy Alessio's face showed up.

"What?" He snapped and Sofia took a step away. Oh, he was in a bad mood. She's about to die out of embarrassment.

"Can you... borrow me your t-shirt? I don't have anything to sleep in"

"Oh, now you want something? Because if I recall correctly you straight out ignored me for several weeks knowing that I'm your brother"

Oh, he was pissed off. He was hovering over her with arms crossed over his chest. Damn.

Before she could blink he shut the door in front of her nose. Well. That didn't work out well.

She didn't want to ask Rosario for help so she just came back to her room. She took off Valentino's hoodie and hugged the crumbled piece of cloth as she rested her head on the pillow. That piece of material was the only source of comfort she had right now.

She was lying on the bed staring at the white ceiling as the tears were streaming down her cheeks.

She wished she could go to the piano room but then she realized there's no piano room here.

***

"Listen I- " Alessio abruptly entered her room. Without knocking.

Sofia just jumped out of the bed completely embarrassed. She sat on the floor on the side of the bed opposite the entrance, that way Alessio couldn't see how she furiously wipes tears from her cheeks.

"Sofia?" He asked with confusion. She wanted to tell him to go away but she couldn't. She couldn't because that would mean her speaking and if she speaks her voice will be a complete mess.

Unfortunately, he didn't leave. He came closer to her and kneeled next to her on the floor. She rested her forehead on her knees to hid her face and she pledged to not speak or burst out crying until he leaves.

"Sorry I acted like a dick for no reason. I know you must be having a hard time already and I shouldn't have made it worse" he said quietly and after he said that she could no longer take it, her eyes started tearing up again.

Sofia ended up crying on his shoulder and he let her cry as long as she wanted. She didn't expect that.

"I'm tired" that's all she said. She didn't say that she wants to back to her family, or that she can't live in a place without them despite her feeling that way. What she felt was an absolute defeat, the lack of opinions.

Alessio could feel how she went completely limp in his embrace. It was really bad.

"Do you know how to play chess?" He found himself asking.

"W-what?" She looked up just to show her confusion.

"Chess"

"I don't know how to play"

"Don't worry I will teach you" he said.

Why would he want to teach her to play chess now in the middle of the night?

Sofia with confusion looked at how he brought back to her room the chessboard on her bed and sits down.

"Come here," he said simply and Sofia obediently sat in front of him, the chessboard between them.

Sofia watched carefully as he points at each figure and explains its moves.

"So, which colour do you choose? Black or white?"

"Does it matter?" Sofia asked sceptically.

"If you're white you're making the first move" he explained.

"Which colour do you want to be?" Sofia asked. She didn't really care which colour she has, she was going to lose anyway because this game sounds complicated.

"Black," he said without hesitation.

They started playing and for a moment Sofia was so focused on making the right move that she forgot where she is for a moment. The game was the only thing on her mind.

"You're letting me win, don't you?" She asked after they played for several minutes already. Sofia had a feeling that Alessio could end this game any time but he chose not to.

"I'm not, just keep going," Alessio said simply.

Sofia shrugged her shoulders and just made another move.

"Wait. Isn't something supposed to happen now?" Her brows furrowed as she saw the placement of her pawn on the chessboard.

"When your pawn reaches the rank furthest from its starting position you can replace it with the queen or any other figure. Pawn promotion often decides the result in an endgame" Alessio explained.

She wanted to understand what he was trying to say to her but...

"Check," Alessio said when Sofia tried to move her king forward

She tried another position.

"Check" he repeated.

"Okay, so I've lost the game" Sofia sighed. She couldn't move in any direction. Her king was blocked from all sides.

"You didn't really lose. You can't lose if all the figures on the board belong to you" he replied.

"What does it mean?" Sofia's brows furrowed.

"Figure it out," he said leaving her room. "Goodnight"

Sofia looked at the chessboard for a long moment.

Oh. Now she understood.

In this metaphor Ianniellos were white pieces, Denaros were black, none of the pieces of the board was her enemy. She belonged to both. She picked the piece of the white king that to her symbolized Alessandro and the black king that symbolized Rosario. They would go against each other unless... unless they stopped to play against each other.

Sofia noted how carefully Alessio explained promotion to her. Wasn't she the pawn? She was with Ianniellos for all this time and tonight she found herself on the enemy field, she was the piece who went to the furthest position from its starting point that was Ianniello's house.

Now she not only had Iannniellos but also Denaros in her corner.

The game did not end for her. It just started. That's what Alessio tried to say to her. She was someone who belonged to not one but two wealthy mafia families.

It felt like in her position she has some control over what was going to be happening next but she had no idea what her next move is supposed to be. Moreover... she didn't want to play. What she told Alessio while crying was true. She was tired, so very tired. Mentally exhausted. She missed her brothers, and she had no fight with her left.

****

Thank you for your lovely comments they really motivate me to keep going