Authors note: this chapter has only 900 words, sorry if it's too short. It's also random, I didn't plan on publishing it but I hope it will be enjoyable for you even if it's not much.

Thank you for everything Dear Readers ❤️

***

Sofia's new life with six brothers was not easy.

Why not easy? There were six of them. That's a lot of brothers to have. All of them combined seemed to be familiar with a whole town's worth of people. The house, despite its impressive size, got crowded at times but she wasn't complaining. She liked to hear the noise.

Everyone was nice to her in school. It turned out Alessio and Valentino made a really good team when they were not fighting. They developed an interesting relationship dynamic. Valentino was the loud one. Alessio was the quiet one and Alessio always had the last word.

Valentino was hot-headed and spoke before thinking but somehow their differences resulted in a good friendship. Not a friendship without arguments but a friendship at last.

As for Rosario and Alessandro, her two oldest brothers were hard to read.

It wasn't clear how they felt about each other. They were both masters of concealing their emotions but they both wore drastically different masks.

Rosario's mask was a mask of overconfidence and expressiveness. He was smiling and joking a lot, almost never showing up his serious face. That's why it was so impactful when he got serious.

Alessandro's mask was a mask of indifference. He never smiled, never looked like he cares. There was no emotion on his face for the most time.

Sofia however knew that they maintained the distance between each other. The companies were at the margining phase and it was still unclear who will be designated as the boss of their new, extended family. If only age was taken into account it would be Rosario as the oldest but Alessandro was leading the Ianniello family for many years and he wasn't keen on giving up the power to anyone.

However, he had to. There couldn't be two leaders.

"Ros and Sandro want us downstairs," Valentino said.

Sofia rolled her eyes "Hey, how do you feel about using that nickname in their presence?" She asked casually.

Valentino's arm wrapped around her shoulder, he left a long-suffering sigh and said "Look at that my sister wants me to get hurt"

"I just want to see Alessandro's face when someone calls him Sandro," she said with amusement. "Rosario probably wouldn't react other than saying some stupid joke or issuing a very ominous threat"

"Yeah, he shifts from clown to a joker really quickly" Valentino said dryly.

Yeah, he was right. Rosario had a fun side and a scary side and no one wanted to encounter the latter.

But just like with Alessandro's emotionless mask and Rosario's image of a capricious scary person there was something more. They genuinely cared about their families and would do anything to protect them. That was clear.

"Someone has to decide who will be the leader of our new... merged family" Alessandro announced.

The family was in the living room. Alessandro and Rosario were taking armchairs. Francesco, Emilio, Alessio, Valentino, and Sofia were occupying a couch.

"What do you mean? Can't you just do direct everything separately like you did before?"

"Nothing changed in that regard I control what Ianniello owned and Rosario is taking care of all kinds of Denaro's assets. But we recognize that there will be a time where someone will have to have the last word in our new family"

"So how do we choose a leader?"

"We got you here for that reason. You will be voting" Alessandro said dryly.

"Can I vote for myself?" Valentino asked.

Sofia let out a laugh. It was clear that Rosario and Alessandro were the only contenders here.

"Take it seriously Valentino" Francesco warned. For him, this wasn't amusing.

"Fine, fine"

The room went silent as everyone was writing down names on the piece of paper. A few minutes later finished, and handed out the results except for Sofia.

"Sofia"

"One moment. Okay... now"

***

Francesco started readings 3 votes for Alessandro and 3 votes for Rosario.

"Who-"

Before Francesco could finish his question Sofia admitted "I voted for both. I'm not choosing between you two"

"Are you for real?" Valentino asked incredulously.

"We would never force you to do this" Francesco replied calmly.

"It was a bad idea anyway. It needs to happen naturally, one of us will end up leading"' Alessandro cut off the discussion before anyone could start arguing more.

***

Sofia was in a piano room when Alessandro entered.

"Are you mad at me?" She asked.

"No, although I hope I understand that this will raise some tensions as neither I nor Rosario is willing to give up"

"Rosario seems bossy by nature and actually enjoys ordering everyone around. I still remember how Valentino told me that you wanted to be a pianist before you were forced to take over the business. It feels to me like you never actually wanted the burden of being the boss" Sofia analysed "This is why I wanted to vote for Rosario at first. But then I realised this decision should be made between you and him otherwise our family will fall apart"

"You're too perceptive for your own good, Sofia. I don't recall anyone, ever wondering what I want. It's a job and I do it. And I'm good at my job. You're also correct about the leadership issue. Control and power are what counts in our world so I will not simply give up my title because I like to play piano" he replied. "But I'm touched. Thank you for your care" He kissed her on the forehead. "You've brought so much to our family"

"So many troubles" She muttered looking away.

"Without troubles life gets boring" he said, slightly amused.