Sofia couldn't focus on watching Denaro brothers from afar because every now and then some random guy would start a meaningless small talk with her and she didn't want to be rude by cutting him off.
"So what are you doing tomorrow?" Marco asked, trying to play it cool. He was a tall and skinny boy, with thin brown hair combed with gel, it looked greasy in Sofia's opinion. The air around him screamed, "stuck up asshole".
"What do you mean?" She asked out of politeness.
"I mean... Would you like to hang out somewhere together?" He asked taking a step closer to her. Ew.
"I don't know? M-maybe not? I mean. I'm busy, so busy tomorrow" Sofia rambled. Geez, she needs to figure out how to say no.
"At least give me your number then" he insisted, without getting a hint that she wants this conversation to be over.
"Um... sure" she replied, defeated.
"You're 21 years old man and she's 17," a deep voice said. It belonged to Rosario who wrapped his arm around Marco's shoulder in what was supposed to look like a friendly gesture, but in Sofia's opinion, Rosario was trying to strangle the poor boy.
"Y-yes sir, of course" with shaky hands he followed his order.
"Good boy" Rosario released his from his grasp and patted his shoulder as if he was praising a dog for learning a new trick. "You can leave now" he dismissed him.
"O-of course, it was good to see you. Regards from my parents" Marco bowed quickly and left.
Now Sofia was desperately searching with her gaze for her brothers, well the ones that she was living with, naturally.
"Can I get your number too since you're giving it to any man that asks?" Rosario asked casually, with hands in his pockets. His confidence seemed natural just like his playful attitude. He didn't look like a person who takes life seriously and yet, there was something serious hidden in his green eyes.
"Clearly not. You're not getting my number" Sofia said drily surprised by the confidence in his voice.
"And why is that?" He didn't seem to mind her attitude.
"My brothers told me to stay away from you" she replied.
"I am your brother too, don't you care about what I have to say?" he asked, his eyes narrowed.
"Of course, I care!" Sofia said, traces of pain appearing on her face "But I care about their feelings more" After saying that she turned on her heel and ran into the crowd to hide from his gaze.
Suddenly the room became suffocating to her, so many people, loud people talking to the rhythm of classical music. Right now violinist was having a solo and it was a dynamic piece only adding to her anxiety.
Thankfully, she found a balcony. The sounds became dulled, she could take a breath of fresh air and enjoy the night sky.
"Nice evening, don't you think?" Felice made a casual observation while holding a glass of champagne in his hand.
"Are you even allowed to speak to your patients outside of the office?" Sofia asked, irritated. She was having orange juice in a fancy crystal glass.
11 months more and she will be able to drink alcohol. Soon.
"If you want to tell on me that old man right there. He works at medical ethics committee" Felice pointed with his head on an old man in a brown suit and checkered shirt. "But I must warn you that he's my uncle"
"Of course he is!" She responded shaking her head and Felice chuckled when he saw her defeated look. "Nepotism is raging here, isn't it? Everyone is related to someone" she said very frustrated by this fact.
"It's raging everywhere sometimes it's just less visible. But the 1% of this island is a small community. We all know each other in one way or another" Felice shrugged his shoulders. That really was the case. His family was involved in government business for a long time now thanks to it, it was easy for them to work at state-owned institutions. "Anyway, I'm hiding from him so indulge me with a small talk, please" Felice requested.
"Why are you hiding from him?" Sofia looked at him with suspicion and his.
For the first time, she saw Felice rolling his eyes. "He wants his nephew to have an internship on my ward"
Right. Felice had private practice but he also worked at a psychiatric ward in the local hospital. Sofia could imagine being admitted there one day. Her greatest fear.
"And you don't want to?" Sofia asked curiously.
"Who knows" Felice shrugged his shoulder. "That kid should show me that he wants it first, so far I have not been impressed by his efforts," Felice said clearly not giving a fuck about hiring someone just because he knows them. "So, why are you staring at Denaro brothers?" He asked bluntly, changing the topic.
Shit. Was she that obvious?
"I'm not staring" Sofia denied a little too quickly.
"Oh?" he said, with doubt in his voice.
"Okay, maybe I'm staring" she admitted. "You know them, right?" As Felice said, people belonging to the upper class knew each other.
"Maybe. Why?" he asked with curiosity.
"I am just curious... what are they like?" Sofia asked, hoping he won't force her to elaborate.
"You really shouldn't snoop around them. Your brothers are with Denaros like cats are with dogs. They don't love each other to put it gently."
"Yeah, I know that they compete with each other, or something. I already met Rosario and Alessio but the third one I've never had an opportunity to encounter"
"Not surprising. He was a part of a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, he had to come back recently because I haven't seen him in public events for several months"
Sofia felt a pang of worry in her chest. She haven't even met that person yet and he was already worried about him.
"Wait, he's in the military? Why? They're rich?" Sofia couldn't understand it.
"Who knows what his reasons are? He's not a small talk guy, you can talk to him if you have a business with him. Why do you ask? It seems like they're important to you"
"They're not. They don't matter to me at all, I was just curious"
"Alright, keep your secrets then" Felice replied and sent her a smile.
"Did you just quote Lord of the Rings?" Sofia gasped.
"Oh look, my father is starting his speech" Felice replied, ignoring her question.
They entered the area of round tables covered with white tablecloths, some people were already sitting down.
This is when Felice and Sofia had to separate, Sofia sat at the table with her brothers in between Alessandro and Francesco. She watched as Errico Santini enters the stage. He was a man in his mid-forties. He had brown hair with visible strands of grey. Speaking of grey this was also his eye colour.
"Good evening, thank you for joining us tonight for this special occasion. Today is the first day when the proceeds of the annual auction will go to the National Center of Missing Children. As you know this choice is dictated by a personal tragedy that touched me and my family several months ago. On the election night when I learned that I will take over as a leader of this country I also learned that my youngest son, Anastasio, went missing" Errico paused. The picture of his son appeared on the big screen behind him.
It was a photo of a young boy wearing a tuxedo and standing right next to his father. It looked like they were standing in front of a theatre or opera house. He looked like a normal kid from a privileged background, and without a doubt he was handsome. He was smiling but his grey eyes weren't speaking of happiness. His father was standing on his right side, with an arm wrapped around his son's shoulder.
What the fuck. What. The. Fuck?!
Anastasio was a child of the prime minister of freaking Italy?
Just like that, her head started spinning and she started to feel nauseous. She couldn't listen any longer, she could feel Alessandro's gentle hand touching her shoulder to calm her. He knew! He fucking knew who Anastasio was and did nothing!
She didn't want to listen anymore but Errico was still speaking.
"The plight of a parent whose child went missing is hard to describe in words that's why instead of words I will take action. I will be donating 2 million dollars for our cause and I hope we can expect generous donations for you as well. With that being said let me introduce you our today's auction runner: Santos Filardi"
Sofia didn't care. She stood up abruptly. Sofia stormed out of the room.
The palace had a garden, it was a beautiful place Sofia sat on the bench made of stone with craved details. She was grateful for the silence in that silence she tried to make sense of it all.
So Anastasio was one of them. One of the spoiled rich hidden elite of this island. He has spent most of his life living in a luxurious mansion. He was worth millions of dollars, he was a trust fund baby hiding inside of empty buildings with other homeless kids. Sofia was still processing this but honestly, her head was spinning right now.
Then she realized she's not alone. Alessandro was standing right in front of her, waiting for her to process everything she learned today.
"You knew" Sofia whispered accusingly to Alessandro. "Why didn't you tell me?!" She whispered to him angrily.
"I assumed that you know. It's public knowledge, besides it was a loud cause" Alessandro replied quietly, he was calm as always.
"But we've met him. Aren't we obliged to tell the police?" She asked anxiously.
"We are, technically but it sounds like interfering with the case that is not our business and I would love to avoid that" Alessandro replied, uncaringly.
"But shouldn't you at least tell his father?" Sofia asked, she was frantically thinking about what to do next.
"His father might as well be a reason why he's running away" Alessandro shrugged his shoulders "I am not sitting in his head and I don't know his reasons"
Sofia went from angry to quiet because he was absolutely right.
"We should come back inside. It's not a place or time to talk about this" he said, with finality in his voice.
"Fine. But this conversation is not over" Sofia warned.
"We will continue at the house" Alessandro agreed.
When they entered the hall again the auction was already ongoing. She looked at the item that was being sold and stopped abruptly.
"Is that Salvador Dali painting?" She whispered her question to Alessandro.
"Yes, do you want it?" Alessandro asked quietly leading her to their table.
"Are you serious?" She asked as they sat down.
"Yes," he responded as if it was normal.
"Is everything okay?" Francesco asked concerned about the way she stormed out of the hall.
"Yes, everything is fine," Sofia said quickly "are you serious?" She directed her question to Alessandro"
Valentino and Francesco decided to mind their own business and let his oldest brother do what he always does play the mind game of his choice.
"I am" he replied. "Good luck" Alessandro responded and handed her a white paddle.
"Are you kidding me? You want me to do the bidding? I don't even know how much can I spend" Sofia asked with nervousness in her voice.
"Don't worry about it" he replied.
"The action starts at 5,000"
"10,000," A random man said and lifted the paddle.
"15,000" It was Sofia this time. She couldn't believe she did that.
"20,000" It was Rosario who lifted the paddle. He winked at Sofia when he noted she's staring at him and she quickly looked away.
"30,000" Sofia lifted her plate with trembling hands. Did she really just do that?
"50,000" Rosario said
Sofia had no intention to lift the plate again but Alessandro whispered to her ear "Keep going" Sofia shook her head looking at him as if he lost his mind./
"Absolutely not," Sofia said, and corners of Alessandro's lips lifted as if he was proud of the confidence she used to reject his proposal.
"Going once, going twice, sold"
After the auction ended people had the opportunity to speak to each other. The band that was set on stage was playing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
"Alessandro thank you for coming" Sofia's brothers were approached by the prime minister.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it, Errico," Alessandro said formally, shaking his hand./
They were on a first-name basis? Woah.
"And who would that be?" The prime minister of Italy was now looking directly at Sofia and asking who she was. She was speechless.
"It's Sofia. We recently found out that we have a sister" Francesco said putting his hand on her shoulder.
"It's nice to meet you, Sofia" he shook his hand with her as well. Sofia still couldn't speak so she just nodded. Then he directed his next words to Alessandro again "I am in the city only until tomorrow but I would like to have your family over for a dinner if that's not an issue. Cesare will be there as well"
"We will be there of course," Alessandro said accepting his invitation.
"What is Cesare up to right now? I haven't heard from him for some time" Francesco kept the conversation going.
"He's busy with starting a new business in the US, he was supposed to be here today but his flight from Houston was delayed"
No. Please not him. Sofia's head started spinning. Sofia tuned out of the conversation. She was extremely tired and the news about Anastasio was too much to handle. She was exhausted and all she wanted was to go to sleep.
"...It's time for us to head home thank you for an invitation"
"Naturally. Take a good rest, thank you for your generous donations"
"It's always a pleasure to give for a good cause" Alessandro replied smoothly.
_________
When they arrived home Sofia wasn't heading to bed. She entered Alessandro office to finish the conversation about Anastasio.
Sofia watched as his brother is pouring himself a glass of whiskey as he started speaking. "Anastasio went missing twelve months ago but his body has never been found, no trace about his whereabouts either. No one contacted Errico with any demands. Really, to a person who doesn't know what's going on it's a bizarre case. The whole country was living this story for months, there are many conspiracy theories about his disappearance" Alessandro explained
"Do you know why did he decide to leave?" Sofia asked.
"I don't, I can only suspect what might have been the cause. After Errico won the election power dynamics within the Santini family shifted. Errico went to Rome which created a power vacuum. Felice is not capable of taking over as family head, he left that life, focused on his work as a doctor. He's considered to be outside of the business. Anastasio was too young to take over. Cesare as the oldest son stepped up but he knew very well that he wasn't his father's favourite. Cesare always saw Anastasio as a threat. That kid was brilliant, it was always known that Errico would give him all the power after retirement, that was the plan that everyone knew about"
"The power that usually goes to the oldest son?" Sofia asked. If Errico was vocal about his intention to let Anastasio take over, no wonder Cesare was jealous.
"Yes," Alessandro confirmed.
A moment of silence.
"And there's nothing you can do to help Anastasio?" Sofia wanted to make sure.
"I can ignore the fact that I know about his whereabouts. I have people to take care as well I'm not altruistic enough to start an open conflict. Ratting Anastasio out to his family would definitely be beneficial for our business relations but I am afraid that kid would be assassinated"
Sofia was still pissed of at Anastasio but she didn't wish anything bad to happen to him.
"He told me you taught him piano," Sofia said quietly. I
"He has a good ear and talent. Teaching him was an interesting experience" Alessandro replied. "That's how I know he's going to be fine out there. It's late, if you want to continue this conversation we can do it tomorrow"
Later. That was a good idea. Sofia nodded.
"Goodnight," she said gently and left to her room.
***
While in her room she didn't go to sleep. Instead, she started doing her research of course. She searched the web for everything about the prime minister and his family.
The Prime minister had three sons. Cesare, 34 years old, Felice, 30 years old doctor. Anastasio is 18 years old. Missing.
Before Errico took over his duties as Italian PM he transferred the responsibility for his private business to Cesare Santini.
She recognized him instantly.
Cesare.
Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.
That motherfucker was working with Paul