Never Judge

After he finally recovered Cedric returned into the living room, he was now a man with a mission. He needed to find the people responsible for hurting his family and he would make them pay.

Cedric was saddened by Mia's passing, but he knew that letting her death cripple them would only make her sacrifice worthless.

"Ayanna, did you know about Mia?" Cedric asked his sister.

"What about Mia?" Ayanna asked as she gave him a worried look. It was evident that she did not know.

"Ayanna, Mia is gone." Cedric said as he felt a pain in his chest. Mia was definitely more than just an employee to them, she was like family.

"Oh no, no, no, not Mia." Ayanna said as she cried. She was still holding Emilio whom she pulled closer to her chest. "Mia is the reason why Emilio and I managed to escape, I thought she was just injured. I didn't think. . ." Ayanna couldn't even complete her sentence.

"If it's any consolation, she died a swift death." Cedric said with a frown. Even to him it was not a consoling fact. Mia was gone, someone important to him and his family.

"How is that supposed to make me feel better for her Cedric?" Ayanna asked as the tears streamed from her eyes. "She's gone. She can't come back." Ayanna sobbed.

Cedric was at a loss for words, he didn't know what to say. 

"Ayanna, I think right now, the best that we can do is to find justice for Mia and avenge her." Cedric said as he placed a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Then fucking do something." Ayanna hissed.

Cedric sighed and shook his head, he knew there was nothing he could do. He turned and looked at his father, the older man seemed quite distressed.

"Dad, have you investigated the people behind the attack?" Cedric asked.

"There was barely any need." Emilio Reyes told his son. "The attackers were killed at Pris Mall."

"And their backers?" Cedric asked.

"Jen Pelaez and Aiden Ortiz." Emilio Reyes revealed to his son. "There were traces all over their phones and emails."

"Why haven't we taken them down?" Cedric asked his father.

"They aren't exactly easy to track." Jose Sebastian said as he joined in the conversation.

"We are currently following Jen, we hope that she can lead us to Aiden." Alexi explained. "If that doesn't work we will use her as bait." 

Cedric could see that Alexi was eager to get his revenge on Jen and Aiden, Alexi was not the nicest guy and he knew exactly how to bring the worst pain to people.

"I don't think you will be able to find Aiden." Calathea said. "By now he would have moved to a safe house, I know he has many of those. Even back when he was the CEO of Regis Inc. he had many hiding spots."

Cedric had forgotten that Calathea had arrived with Eric and Katerina, so much had happened since he kissed his wife goodbye that morning. It felt like a lifetime ago.

"So our best hope is to take Jen and make her tell us, or at least to use her as bait." Cedric said with a frown. Cedric wanted this issue solved as soon as possible, he was not interested in waiting for Jen to lead them to Adien, he wanted to draw the man out.

"Do you think Jen exposed Cedric's identity to Aiden?" Katerina asked Calathea. Cedric was quite surprised that the once rivals could now have a very professional discussion.

"I think it's possible." Calathea said with a nod. "But I'm afraid to assume. I thought I knew Aiden and now he is a completely different person. He could have gone after Emilio just for the fact that his godparents belonged to the Sebastian and Laurence families." Calathea said with a shrug.

"That's quite low for him." Cedric said, shaking his head. "I am curious though Calathea, why didn't you ever tell Aiden about who I was?"

"Because there is no need." Calathea said with a shrug. "Aiden was only my boyfriend, I did love him. I fell so hard, but I knew about the unspoken truce between our families. I'm not as stupid as you guys think."

"Thank you." Cedric said with a nod and a smile.

"What do you want to do now?" Alexi asked Cedric, Alexi was clearly seething with anger.

"Have Jen taken into custody, bring her here." Cedric ordered.

Alexi grinned and made the call. 

"For the meantime, I want to visit mom in the hospital." Cedric told his father and his sister. "I would also like to visit Mia's family, to pay our respects."

"Sir." Leon said, interrupting. "Mia had no family." He said with a frown.

"What do you mean Leon?" Cedric asked.

"Mia's family died in a plane crash ten years ago." Leon explained. "Every single member of her family died. She wasn't with them because she was in school, the closest thing she had to a sister was the mistress."

Cedric was saddened by the news that Mia was all alone in the world, he thought that she was working so hard to support her family, but it seemed that he didn't know her as well as he thought. 

"Then I want her to be treated like a member of the Reyes Clan, I also want her interned in the family mausoleum." Cedric said with a sigh. It was the least he could do for someone who had offered her life to save his family.

Cedric looked up and saw his bodyguard nod and leave. He couldn't help but think of Leon, did he have a family? There was little Cedric knew about the man who accompanied him, day in and day out. He made a promise to rectify that as soon as they got over the recent events.

"Let's visit mom then." Ayanna said with a nod.

"Dad, will you come?" Cedric asked. 

"Yes." His father stood and gathered his things. "I will stay with your mom. I trust you boys can handle this situation." Emilio said, looking at Cedric and the others.

"Don't worry uncle, Jen, Aiden, and everyone that helped them will pay for this." Ray hissed.