Never Judge



"Ray, calm down, it would have been much worse if Al wasn't there!" Katerina shouted at her cousin as he paced the room. "Your pacing is starting to get on my nerves. It's no one's fault."

"I promised your husband that I'd make sure you and Eric never got hurt. Now he and my children were chased across the mall by his fans and several of my own." Al grumbled as he sat down.

Ayanna and Katerina looked at each other and frowned.

Ayanna walked up behind Ray and slowly massaged his shoulder.

"Darling, I understand you're under a lot of pressure now, especially with everything going on." Ayanna said and sighed. "But it was all coincidental."

"I shouldn't have let Al convince me into letting Cara hang out with others." Ray hissed. "Imagine if it was just Eric with Cara and her friends."

"But Al went with them, Andres and Angelica too. That's why they had enough security around them to get away." Ayanna told her husband.

"If I hadn't allowed it, they wouldn't even be in Elisia Mall in the first place. Even I forgot it was the public anniversary." Ray grumbled.

"Now don't go blaming poor Cara." Katerina scolded her cousin.

"Yeah, Ray, if I'm not mistaken it was you who decided that she should be allowed out of her room. Al didn't even have to ask you." Ayanna scolded her husband.

At the other side of the door Cara gasped as she glared at Al and Eric. 

They had opened the door to Ray's office slightly in order to listen in on their parents' discussion. 

"Cara I-" Al tried to explain what she just heard but Cara slapped him, shocking both Al and Eric. 

"You both lied to me!" She shouted.

Her voice carried into the office and across the hall, alerting the adults to the eavesdropping children outside.

"Shit." Ray cursed as he stood up and opened the door. 

"How dare you?!" Cara shouted at Al as she turned and ran away.

Al was quick to follow, while Eric looked at the parents. 

"I'm sorry, we just wanted to know what was happening." He said, before running after Cara and Al. 

"Oh my, the poor girl." Ayanna said with a sigh as she pulled her husband and Katerina to follow. "She's just a little girl and my son has broken her heart so many times." 

Meanwhile, Cara sprinted up the stairs, passing her father.

"Cara, why are you in such a rush?" He asked as he caught her arm, making her stop. 

"Let go of me!" She shouted at her father as she tried to break free. "You're just like the rest of them, you all lied to me!" 

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked his daughter, refusing to let go.

"You said Al wanted me to be released from my room!" She sobbed. "You said he was talking to his dad so that he could set me free!" 

"He did." Peter told his daughter, not knowing that she was already aware of the truth.

"Until now you lie! I thought you loved me dad? I thought you cared about me! But you've always been on their side!" Cara shouted as she bit down on her father's arm, making him let go.

Managing to break free, Cara ran once more as Al climbed up the stairs.

"Al, what's going on?" Peter asked the young man. 

"She knows, she heard my parents speaking." Al panted. "I need to talk to her." He said as he left Peter by the stairs only to be passed by Eric. 

Cara pushed open her door and was about to slam it shut, when Al stepped between the door stopping it from closing.

Having been too occupied with taking out clothes from her closet and dumping it into an open luggage, Cara didn't notice that Al had entered her room.

"Cara, please, I'm sorry." Al said as he approached her, shocked to see what she was doing. 

"How did you get in?!" Cara shouted in disbelief. "Get out!" 

"Cara, where would you go? Please let's talk about this." Al begged. 

"I said out!" She shouted, as she threw a pillow at Al.

"Cara, don't get mad at my cousin, he really did want to let you out of your room." Eric said, joining them.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" She shouted at both Al and Eric. "Ever since I met you my life has turned into shit!" She said, pointing at Al.

"Cara. . ." Peter groaned as he entered the room with Ray, Ayanna, and Katerina.

"Dad! You too! You took their side, helped in their lies!" Cara was furiously packing as Ayanna went up to both Al and Eric. 

"Let's let them have a moment." She told the two boys as she tried to guide them out of the room.

"But Aunt Ayanna-" Eric began to say as his aunt glared at him, shutting him up.

"Cara please, just stay." Al begged as he let his mom pull him out of the room.

Ray then entered and placed a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"She's Al's friend and it's clear to us that they care about each other." He sighed.

Even if Peter had betrayed them in the past few weeks they had become fast friends. 

"If Cara needs to go away, I know a place, but she will need to have a security detail on her at all times." Ray told Peter.

"She might not like that." Peter said with a frown.

"We both know that letting her leave would be a big mistake. I would have to lock her back up in here, but that would definitely ruin our relationships with our children." Ray shrugged. 

"Colin will come after her if he finds out." Peter sighed.

"Her safety has always been the priority, she's just too young to understand that." Ray told the man.

"I'll talk to her. Can we trust the person you would be sending her to?" Peter asked Ray.

"I don't know, you tell me, can we trust your sister?"