"What the hell are you doing here? What happened to your face?" Sofia snapped, watching with furrowed brows her ex-therapist.

He had a big black eye. Someone has beaten him up.

"I came here to talk, and apologize" Felice replied. "Your brothers invited me since you're having trouble with adjusting to your new... home" he said.

"It's not my home. It's a prison and you can fuck off, I don't need your help" Sofia said with her fists clenched.

"So you're a ray of sunshine to everyone, that's sweet," Rosario said with amusement and patted her head. "Talk with Felice nicely, no need to bite his head off. We will do that for you if he won't be able to help you" he said his threat casually in a happy-go-lucky voice. Terrifying. And he didn't explain how Felice got hurt.

With that, he left. Alessio and Emilio followed him wordlessly.

***

Now that they were alone, Sofia looked questioningly at Felice.

"May I sit here?" He asked referring to the white armchair that was situated next to her bed. It was suppose to be used as a space for reading but she guessed it was perfect for home therapy.

Sofia nodded and she sat on her bed, right in front of Felice.

"Your brothers did a background check on you and found out about me. Before I agreed for our meeting I told them everything about our conversation"

"Everything? But why would you tell on yourself?" Sofia was confused. Did that mean Felice told them about Anastasio? Why would he do that?

"Because I wanted to make it easy on you. That way you don't need to tell them"

"And they're fine with us meeting each other?"

"Not quite. They said they're giving me a chance to apologize to you but if you will ask them they will find you another therapist. Besides" Felice continued, "I think your brother is waiting for me with a gun if I dare to say something wrong to you right now" He chuckled humorously and Sofia smiled gently.

"What happened to Anastasio?" Sofia was scared to ask but she had to.

"I found him and he wasn't happy because that asshole has to do everything alone but he lives with me, in a secure location. I'm keeping him safe so don't worry about him" Felice said smiling gently.

"He hates me, right?" Sofia asked quietly.

"No. He's a bit pissed off since he's forced to catch up with the school material but other than that I don't think he's really angry at you. He missed my company even if he doesn't want me to know this" Felice smirked and sent her a wink.

Sofia nodded slowly.

It was Felice's turn to ask questions and under his gaze, Sofia's felt like she was being under an X-ray while being under his intense gaze.

"You're not angry at me, I want to talk about that" he stated.

"Why? Would you prefer if I were angry?" Sofia asked, feeling uncomfortable with where this conversation is going.

"Yes," he stated simply.

"Why?" She asked furrowing her brows.

"Because that would be a healthy reaction, I've hurt you, you should respond with anger"

"I guess... I'm just used to being hurt. You're not trying to hurt me now so why should I be angry at you?" Sofia muttered, looking away.

She had priorities. There's a limited number of people she could fight with. Her fight with the Denaro brothers was taxing already, she didn't need to make it harder for herself. Not at all.

"You're right, I'm not trying to hurt you. It seems you're trying to hurt yourself right now by refusing to eat" Felice said gently.

Sofia shrugged her shoulders, yeah maybe she was trying to hurt herself. So what?

"I'm trying to convince my brother to let me go home. That's all" she replied coldly.

"Who do you think Rosario is?" Felice asked calmly.

"W-what? Um... an asshole?" She blurted out.

"Yes, what else," he said dismissively and Sofia snorted.

"I don't know... a boss of Denaro family? A Don or whatever his job is called? A guy who thinks can't get away with everything including kidnapping?"

Sofia shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't really sure who he really was because she met him yesterday and before that only briefly during the meeting with the headmaster. Her oldest brother looks like he takes everything as a joke with his mocking attitude but actually never lets people talk back to him without the consequences. That's what she gathered. "Why are you asking me about this?" Sofia questioned.

"Because I want you to think through what's the best strategy for you now. I'd like to convince you to choose a strategy that doesn't involve bodily harm"

"Right" she mocked "you're just saying that to gain my trust and then ruin my plan," Sofia said, ok now she was angry. Because now she had to protect herself, and her plan.

A pain crossed his face "I deserve it, I know. But I won't betray your trust again. I am indebted to you because you helped me find Anastasio" Felice said gently.

"I don't believe you!" Sofia yelled. She stood up and started pacing around the room. "I just want to go back home," she said, tears started streaming down her cheeks.

"I know. But until you're here you should cooperate for your own sake-"

"I will most definitely not cooperate" Sofia stressed.

"You know, Rosario wants me to administer a feeding tube if you won't start eating" Felice tried to approach the topic from another angle.

"What?!" She gasped, her eyes widened. "He can't... he can't make a decision like that, I have rights" she could barely speak. She was in shock.

"He doesn't really care about it but I do so that tube is not happening" Felice assured her.

She stopped moving and looked at him with teary eyes.

"Really?" She asked, sniffling. She didn't want to believe him because he hurt her once. But at the end of the day did she have a choice? "Okay but... what if he threatens to shoot you if you won't do as he asks?" Sofia asked miserably. She could totally see Rosario being capable of something like that.

"Thankfully I have my father and brother reputations protecting me, I think that's the only reason why I'm still here"

"Lucky you," Sofia said.

"I agree, I am lucky. But so are you with two families protecting you. I know it may not feel like this right now"

"It feels like a curse. Like I'm cursed" Sofia whispered "No matter if I choose black or white at the end I will hurt someone. There's no good direction I can move at" Sofia said, tears welling up her eyes.

"Chess references?" Felice caught up quickly, sparks of curiosity dancing in his eyes just to disappear quickly as she said the next sentence.

"I want to die"

Sofia wasn't crying about it. She just felt... hollow, as she said that.

The initial surprise turned into an understanding as if he knew all along that she was going to say it one day.

"Do you think about it often?" Felice asked. He wasn't panicking, he was probably used to people saying things like this to him.

"Sometimes," she said sniffling.

"Have you ever tried to hurt yourself?" He continued his questioning.

Sofia started playing with the hem of her shirt.

He gave her time to talk. That forced her to look at him. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Something happened when you ran away to Taormina, am I correct?"

Sofia froze.

"How do you know that? Has Anastasio told you?" She asked quietly.

"No. You told me you were in Taormina after the situation with Cynthia happened. And then you told me you don't want to talk about what happened so I assumed nothing good"

"I wanted to... jump. Anastasio saved me"

"What thoughts were accompanying this decision?"

"I just... couldn't stand it. I was ashamed and miserable and I felt like I'm worthless. But it's not like I will jump off the bridge now or something so... you're going to tell them anyway, right?"

"I told you on our first session how it's going to go"

Sofia nodded.

"Whatever" she replied. "I just want to be left alone now" she said her quiet request.

"Are you sure? You just opened up. We can continue talking about this" Felice replied, concern shining in his eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it. I want to be alone right now" Sofia said without looking at him. Why would she tell him? She was so pissed at herself right now. It just slipped.

Felice, seeing that she's no longer cooperative finally accepted that he has t leave. The click of his pen was a signal that the session is over.

"Rosario will not let you off the hook with this meal. Will you eat if I will bring it here?"

"Yeah" Sofia answered in a hollow voice.

It was unreasonable to fight about it now. She didn't want to have a tube stuck in her nose.

"You're not going to throw it away in the toilet?" Felice asked.

"Who do you think I am?" She asked pretending to be insulted. He raised his eyebrows. Then she paused for a second before she continued speaking "Okay, I won't. But I don't think Rosario will let me eat here, everything has to be the way he wants, right?"

"Right, but right now he wants you to eat and I don't think he particularly cares about the place" Felice replied.

Sofia nodded. A few minutes later she had her food brought to her, and Felice went to talk with Rosario.

***

"Look at you," Alessio said, again this uncaring voice. "For some reason, you're getting off the hook and eating in your bedroom. I wonder what charm did you cast at Rosario for him to suddenly be so understanding"

"Hopefully you will never learn about my spells" Sofia replied dryly. "Can you get out?" a hint of irritation appeared in her voice.

"Or what, are you going to throw that plate at my face?" He asked casually with I-don't-give-a-fuck-attitude.

"Don't give me any ideas" Sofia warned but she wasn't serious.

"Don't break plates" he fired back.

"I will do what I want," she said petulantly and he sighed and rubbed his temple.

"I don't know why Rosario is insisting on keeping you here. No offense but having a sister sounds like a pain" he said, he didn't mean that but Sofia didn't know that.

"So you're here to insult me?"

"I'm here to... I don't know. Fuck it, I'm going to my room"

Sofia looked at her half-eaten meal with disgust the moment the doors closed but she decided to finish eating it.

***

Meanwhile, Emilio and Rosario just finished talking to Felice.

"It was a good idea to call him," Rosario said referring to their contact with Felice.

"He broke her trust, we shouldn't let her talk to him," Emilio said stubbornly.

"Apparently he found a way to retrieve it if she told him she wants to kill herself" Rosario replied.

"But did we really need someone to tell us that?" Emilio sighed "You saw what she did with the gun she brought. What are we planning to do now?" Emilio asked.

"We can make sure there's no sharp object or gun to her disposal. And Felice agreed to come with a visit once a week" Rosario explained.

"In that case is keeping her here a good idea?" Emilio asked skeptically.

"What do you mean?" Rosario asked, stiffening.

"Clearly, she's mentally unwell at least with Ianniellos she had a support system," Emilio said.

"And that support system worked exceptionally well since she almost killed herself on their watch" Rosario replied, now irritated.

Emilio did not reply to that.

So it was decided then. Sofia wants it or not she will stay with them for her own good. That's what Rosario decided and he knew that his brother will support him on this.