Never Judge

Slowly Cedric got calls from his friend that they had each gotten out of the police station.

Cedric was most relieved when Ray called him, telling Cedric that he was with Lucius Ting, Ian, and Seth.

They had gotten the perfect opening as the members of the media crowded to one side of the building, thinking that Lucius Ting was on his way out. Unfortunately for them, it was just a policeman taking out the trash.

Cedric assumed that this was all planned by his friends and that the timing was no coincidence.

"Ayanna." Cedric gently shook his sister awake as he knew that the others were almost at his home. "Ayanna, Ray is on his way, the others are quite near too. You might want to wake up."

Ayanna slowly stretched and sat up, she yawned as she seemed lost and confused. It took her a whole minute to recall that she was in her brothers office as he she turned to him for comfort while waiting for her husband.

"Do you think you can get me some tea and maybe a snack?" Ayanna asked her older brother. "Being pregnant makes me hungry." She said with an awkward chuckle.

Cedric smiled and said nothing as he pressed the buzzer and told the maid what they needed.

Soon enough the maid entered the room with Guan Ming and Camilla in tow.

"Camilla!" Ayanna said excitedly, forgetting about the tea and snacks she had just asked for. She quickly ran up to the other woman and hugged her tight.

"How was it?" Cedric asked with an apologetic look on his face. He knew that if he hadn't found out about Belle and her companion's plans things could have turned out worse.

"It was tiring, but nothing major. We survived and even made a few new friends in the process." Guan Ming teased as he seemed unbothered that they were attacked and stuck in the police station for hours.

"Rest for a bit, let's wait for everyone to get here first." Cedric told Guan Ming and Camilla as he walked out of the room followed by the maid from earlier.

"Are the guest houses at the back ready?" He asked the maid.

"Yes, sir." The maid said with a slight bow.

Cedric personally saw to it that Seth's men were led to their rooms, he had several maids bring them food and refreshments as well as a change of clothes.

He had everything arranged as soon as his men jumped into action, rescuing those stuck in the police station.

With each group that arrived, Cedric could see how exhausted they were, exhausted but relieved.

Cedric was coordinating his staff, when Ray and his group arrived.

It was the biggest so far since more security was needed for Lucius Ting.

"Where is he?" Cedric asked as he searched their group, none of them was Lucius Ting, making Cedric worry.

"Relax, he's in here." Ian said with a chuckle as he pointed at a metal trolly that he was pushing. It had a cabinet at the bottom whose doors were locked.

"It's the best we could do in such short notice." Dave said as he joined them. He had accompanied the food delivery truck that picked Ray's group up.

Cedric nodded as he looked at the box.

"You know where to take him." Cedric told Dave and Ian, both of whom nodded and pushed the cart back out followed by several members of both Seth's group as well as some of Cedric's guards.

When they were out of sight, Cedric placed a hand on Ray's shoulder and sighed.

"Someone was very worried about you, she's in my office." Cedric told his best friend and brother-in-law as he gestured towards the doors that led to his home office.

"She shouldn't be stressing herself too much, it's bad for the baby." Ray said with a worried look on his face.

"Go to her, I'll deal with things here." Cedric said as he urged Ray to go to his wife.

Ray simply thanked Cedric and went on ahead.

"Mr. Reyes." Seth greeted with a slight bow.

"You can just call me Cedric, Seth. No need to be too formal." Cedric told the man with a smile.

Seth simply nodded in response.

"I'm sorry I can't let you go to your headquarters, it's too dangerous with the men of the Rajas lurking around." Cedric informed Seth.

"I understand." Seth said in reply. Cedric tried to see if Seth had any indications of planning to go against Cedric's order, but Seth's body language seemed to show that he truly understood Cedric's reasoning.

"Your father and son are in a secure location, we found out that they had moved to a nearby building. They fortified it with enough men, but Uncle Jose sent several policemen and military personnel to protect them." Cedric informed Seth, shocking both him and his subordinates.

They all knew who the Uncle Jose that Cedric was, the man that held the highest position in the country and a person that should be out hunting them not protecting them.

"I had rooms prepared for all of you, please, rest for the night." cedric gestured as several maids appeared to lead Seth and his men to the guest house.

They had made the move to follow the maids when Seth suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at Cedric, confused.

"What about Lucius Ting?" He asked Cedric.

"Lucius is not going anywhere, he is secured and heavily guarded. We can continue what we started tomorrow." Cedric replied as he sent them off.

There was only one group due to arrive, Alexi's group.

Cedric couldn't help but worry as he paced across the living room, waiting for another vehicle to show up in this driveway.

It took longer than usual, but when Alexi arrived he look exhausted as he dragged himself into the house.

"What happened to you?" Cedric asked, concerned as to why this group was longer than the others.

"We were met by a mob, at first they tried to check if Lucius Ting was with us, so we had to hide. We just got lucky when they thought another vehicle had arrived." Alexi explained.

"Good." Cedric said with a nod. "Rest or work?"

"Today, work." Alexi declared as he made his way to Cedric's office as well.