Never Judge

"I don't know." Jen said as she looked Cedric in the eyes.

"Is it possible that the serum has worn out?" Cedric asked Natalia and Nicole.

"I doubt it." Natalia said, shaking her head as she looked at the time. "But we can just give her another dose."

"Any side effects?" Cedric asked.

"Some." Natalia said with a shrug. "You'll have thirty minutes before she passes out, after that it will take a while for her to recover."

"We don't need that long." Cedric said with a nod as he allowed Natalia and Nicole to inject Jen once more with the serum. 

They eagerly waited for a few minutes before Cedric walked up to Jen once more.

"Which families is Aiden targeting?" Cedric asked.

"All of you, the Reyeses, the Chans, the Laurences, the Abads, the Sebastians, all you filthy high borns. Even others outside your circle, all of you are the cause of his pain." Jen told Cedric with a gasp, once again she had said something she didn't plan on.

"It's working." Natalia said with a nod as Jen glared at her.

"Where is Aiden hiding?" Cedric asked once more.

"I have no fucking clue. But he said that if I went missing he would hunt down those responsible." Jen said with an eerie smile.

"I guess she really doesn't know." Alexi said in a surprised tone. 

Cedric nodded. He expected Aiden to at least give Jen a location of where his hideout would be so that she could eventually join him.

"What is he planning to do next?" Cedric asked.

"I don't know. He doesn't share much." Jen said with a shrug. 

"Damit! You are useless!" Cedric shouted, he was getting frustrated, it was like they were back where they started.

"Calm down Cedric." Ian said as he tried to comfort his friend. 

Ian looked at Jen, he too was furious, this woman had tried to kill Nicole, she deserved to rot in hell.

"Does Aiden have safe houses?" Ian asked.

Jen hesitated, she was clearly trying to fight the effects of the serum, but it was too powerful. "Yes." Jen said.

"Write it down." Ian said as he extracted a pen and paper from his pocket.

"Wow, handy." Cedric teased.

"A habit I picked up from when I was working for you." Ian said with  a shrug as Jen wrote down the addresses of each home.

"Is this all?" Cedric asked as Jen finished writing.

"No." Jen confessed as she wrote more down.

Cedric asked her again. "Are these all of the places Aiden could have gone to to seek refuge?" 

"Yes." Jen said reluctantly.

"I will read each one and you will tell me if the address you have placed is correct." Ian said as he took the piece of paper from Jen.

He read each, some Jen apparently had changed the address while others were correct. When they had gone through every single location Ian handed it to one of Cedric's guards.

"Search all of these places." Cedric ordered. "Be careful, we know our enemy is capable, do not go in alone and if you feel that there is a risk to your safety, call for backup." Cedric instructed. 

The bodyguard nodded. 

"I will not allow any of you to risk your lives if it can be avoided." Cedric told the bodyguard.

"Sir, with all due respect, we knew what we were getting into the moment we signed up. We are ready." The guard said with a nod.

Cedric could do nothing but smile and let the guard leave and do as he had ordered.

"How did you meet Aiden?" Alexi suddenly asked. It was a question that had been nagging them for quite a while now, and since Jen seemed to know very little Alexi decided to finally get answers.

"We met in Madrid." Jen said. "It was right after Selina told me to leave. I ran, I ran through the streets in tears. People thought I was a mad woman, normally I would have been ashamed, but at that moment I didn't care. My heart was breaking into a thousand pieces. I was crying at a cafe when he approached and let me cry on his shoulder. He told me 'A pretty woman should not be seen crying in public.' He held me and made it seem like we were a couple in love. That's how I met Aiden."

"How could you trust a stranger?" Cedric asked.

"He was the only one that had shown me kindness." Jen said with a frown. "From then on I followed him everywhere he went,  I dedicated my life to him. He never touched me back then, and I was thankful, had he asked I would have given him my virtue."

"You are crazy." Alexi said, shaking his head. "First you follow Selina around then you move your obsession to Aiden, you need to see a doctor."

"Selina did not appreciate my loyalty, Aiden did! Aiden loved me, he let me help!" Selina shouted.

"How did you help exactly?" Cedric asked.

"I arranged for him to meet with the Carpios, I gave him a way into the Chans, and most importantly I snared Alexi Sebastian for him." Jen said with a grin. 

Alexi's hand came down heavily as he slapped her across the face.

They waited for Jen to sit back up but her head hung by the side.

"Shit." Alexi cursed as he walked over to check her pulse. "She's still breathing." Alexi informed them.

"The thirty minutes are up." Natalia announced. "This is just one of the side effects."

"We got what we could." Cedric said with a nod. "If she wakes up again, let's see if we can learn more from her."

"She'll be out cold for a while." Natalia informed them. "I'm honestly not sure how long her body has taken a beating."

"We'll let her recuperate and go at it again." Cedric said, he was insistent on not letting Jen rest.

Natalia did not argue and simply nodded.

"Take her away." Cedric instructed another set of guards who picked Jen up and dragged her to one of the cells.

"Do you think Aiden will be able to get to her here?" Nicole asked Cedric as they walked back in to the adjacent room. 

"He shouldn't." Cedric said, shaking his head. "The Reyes Compound is secure."

"Good." Nicole said with a nod. "I don't ever want her to get out, not after everything."

"Don't worry Nicole, you will be safe." Ian said as he wrapped his arms around Nicole's waist.

"If you guys don't mind, I'll go back to the main house to check on Adri and Emilio." Cedric told his friends.

"We'll come along." Veronica said as she jumped off the couch. "We have nothing else to do here anyway." 

Everyone nodded in agreement, it would be a while until Jen regained consciousness.

"Thank you." Cedric said with a smile, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he needed his friends now.

When they entered through the large double doors of the Reyes Mansion they were greeted by an eerie silence, and then a cry, a cry so familiar to Cedric that he ran straight to the living room.

He found Adrianna holding Emilio in her arms and sobbing.

The young boy seemed fine, but he too was crying.

"What's going on?" Cedric asked as he walked over to his wife.

"Cedric, your mom." Adrianna struggled to say.

"What is it Adri?" Cedric said as he tried to calm his wife.

"Cedric, your mom, she's gone." As Cedric heard Adrianna's words he felt his heart break as he fell to his knees on the ground. 

Everything around him disappeared and all he could hear was his wife's cries. His mom was gone.