Never Judge



"Was that part of some plan?" Al asked as he leaned against a wall in the Dean Family Mafia Headquarters. 

He didn't like the fact that there were things happening in the mission that he didn't know about. 

"It was your Uncle Seth's idea." Hendrick nodded. "That's what you call him right, Uncle?" 

Al nodded and sighed. 

"So we are now making the plan even more complex by adding a layer of the Dean Family not agreeing completely with my father?" Al questioned.

He didn't like the plan, but he couldn't help but admit that it made sense. 

If Luke had reason to believe that the Dean Family Mafia had something to hide, he would tell Colin. 

He would also end up targeting the entire group, giving them a better chance of catching and manipulating him.

"I'll have a word with dad." Al sighed. "Are you coming along?"

"Yeah, I still have work to do with Emilio." Hendrick said as they walked out of the building together. 

"How is that going by the way?" Al asked as headed towards the closest bus stop.

"It's a lot more work than I expected and it's a lot more complicated than I thought." Hendrick confessed as they waited for the bus.

Al was careful as he looked around, making sure that no one was watching them. 

He knew it was possible that Luke had some friends in the Mafia that could stalk them. People that wkere possibly working with him.

"He probably won't make a move on the first day," Hendrick pointed out as the bus came to a stop before them. "He'll be careful and earn our trust first." 

Al nodded as they climbed up on the bus.

Despite Hendrick's words, Al was still cautious. He knew that it would do them no harm if he was wary. 

However, it seemed that Hendrick was right since Al did not spot any suspicious movements around them.

They sat in the bus silently.

"How are things between you and Cara?" Herndrick asked as he recalled the state of the two friends when he left the Lawrence Mansion the night before.

He had kept Al's little sister company while the security team made sure everything was truly safe.

"She's still pretty pissed." Al confessed. "I mean, she had the right to be, but at the same time I wish she understood the situation better. It's not like I wanted to do what I did."

"Ah, young love." Hendrick teased, laughing at Al.

"I don't see her that way." Al rolled his eyes and ignored the other man.

"Whatever you say, Al." Hendrick chuckled as he looked ahead, choosing not to antagonize the young man any further. 

As always, Al and Hendrick got off at the designated bus stop and walked a little bit further before stopping and waiting for the car. 

Within a few minutes, the entire area was blocked off and Al and Henrick rode the car. 

"Aren't you worried that Luke will check into your background and discover that you are the assistant to the Reyes Heir?" Al asked as soon as the door closed behind them.

"My position isn't public knowledge, to people I'm a management trainee who is being brought around to see where I fit in the Reyes Group." Hendrick told Al. "Plus I use different names in the Mafia and in the Reyes Group. You forget, I've been trying to hide from my family for years."

Henrick winked at Al, making the younger man laugh.

They first dropped Al off in his home before the driver took Hendrick to the Reyes Mansion. 

"You got back later than I did." Eric commented as soon as he saw his cousin entering the mansion. 

"I'm guessing it went smoothly on your end as well? The introduction I mean." Al asked his cousin as he walked towards the kitchen to ask for a snack. 

He was quite famished after the long day. 

"It did. The man questioned my presence, but otherwise I don't think he suspected a thing." Eric shrugged.

Al nodded as he considered their next moves. 

They all knew that the traitors needed to identify them as the most vulnerable ones in the group.

Different scenarios had been planned for them to be targeted, but after that they were more or less on their own. 

"You know that none of us would betray you, right?" Eric teased Al as he noticed the pensive look on his cousin's face. 

Al smiled and shook his head.

"I don't think Colin or the people he works with could offer you anything more than what you guys already have." Al pointed out as a maid served him a sandwich.

"Let's list it down shall we." Eric grinned while Al stuffed his mouth with food and nodded.

"There is Tristan, whose father is the right hand man of the King of the Underworld." Eric said as he picked at each of them. "I mean the only way they could get him on their side is if they made Tristan the King, which I doubt they would. Why go to all this effort just to hand the crown to a child?"

Al laughed and shook his head at the thought of Colin approaching Tristan with a pitiful offer.

"Then, of course, there is me." Eric said with a grin. "I honestly don't think there is anything they can offer me. I'm the nephew of the sitting king, my father was an internationally acclaimed actor, and my mother is the best lawyer in the country."

"They could offer you freedom from all of this." Al shrugged as he realized that none of them knew what Eric truly wanted.

"No." Eric shook his head. "There is no way you can escape something like this. Something we have been born into. Honestly I think I'd like to stick around, if you get what I mean."

"Be my right hand man in the future or something?" Al asked, surprised that a life in the underworld was something his cousin wanted.

"Behind the scenes, of course. I plan to be like my dad." Eric said with a mischievous grin. "I'll talk to Uncle Ram when I turn eighteen."

"I didn't think you wanted that." Al said as he shook his head. Surprised that Eric wanted to enter the very industry his mother had been protecting him from. 

"No one ever asked." Eric smiled.

"Then we have Arthur, who is also a member of the Reyes family. That speaks as much in itself." Al added. "It's not like he would want to be the head of the Reyes family, because that's the only higher he can actually go."

Eric nodded in agreement.

"Then of course there is yourself." Eric pointed out. "Future King of the Underworld, Nephew to Cedric Reyes and Alexander Sebastian."

Al gave his cousin a smile and simply nodded.

"I think I'll go visit Cara." Al announced as he left his cousin in the kitchen, sighing and shaking his head.