Never Judge

"Have we identified who it was?" Cedric asked, he was pretty sure it would be Aiden, who else would have the gall to attempt a break in at Cedric's Mountain View Mansion.

"You will find this quite interesting sir." Merrick said with a knowing grin. The man's easy going demeanour bothered Cedric.

"What?" Cedric asked impatiently, as Adrianna walked over and massaged her husband's tensed shoulders.

"Go easy on Merrick." Adrianna said in a loving but stern tone. "He was only following your orders and being considerate to our privacy. Don't pass the blame."

"Fine." Cedric said with a sigh as he nodded for Merrick to continue.

"Sir, the person didn't come to harm anyone." Merrick began, earning him a confused glance from Cedric."He came to surrender."

"Why would someone surrender to us?" Cedric asked Merrick.

"Sir, according to this man, he is related to Aiden Ortiz, and for the longest time, he lived and worked by Aiden's side." Merrick explained.

"I want to speak to him." Cedric told Merrick.

"We have him in one of the holding rooms in the security building, he hasn't done anything signifying an attempt to leave escape." Merrick said as Cedric got up fro his seat.

"Adri, will you be alright here alone?" Cedric asked his wife as he kissed her.

"Yes, go." Adrianna told Cedric as she playfully sent them out of the room.

As the door behind them closed, Cedric began to give Merrick instruction on what to do.

"Do a search outside of the property, I don't want to risk this being a trap." Cedric quickly ordered. "Return all the members of the security team to their original positions. I want every inch of this property covered. There is still a possibility that this is a trap."

Merrick nodded and quickly gave out orders to his subordinates through the comms system. Cedric on the other hand quickly called Alexi.

"That was fast." Alexi teased with a laugh.

"Come back, it's important." Cedric said in a much more serious tone.

"What happened?" Alexi couldn't help but wonder what had transpired after he left.

"You and Miguel were right to worry about the cameras being switched off, Merrick and his team caught a trespasser. Although, he wasn't trespassing for the reason we would think." Cedric explained to his friend over the phone. "Do you think you can call Miguel, Ian and Eric? I'll call Ram and Ray."

"Sure. I'll see you in a bit." Alexi said as he dropped the call.

Cedric proceeded to call his brother-in-law and Ram.

Ray became worried about his own security not being enough to keep Ayanna and Emilio safe, so he suggested bringing the two along to the Mountain View Mansion.

Cedric happily agreed for Ray to bring his sister and son over, he knew Adrianna was worried to an extent and having company over would help her.

It didn't take long for the men to arrive, it seemed they all had the same idea as Ray. Cedric laughed as the sisters, wives, and girlfriends all arrived ready to comfort his wife.

When Emilio saw that Nicole and Ian had brought Tristan along with them he got excited, Tristan was the only other child he knew growing up, so they were now more like brothers than just friends.

"Daddy, can Tristan and I play?" Emilio asked as he tugged on his father's pants.

"Of course, Emilio." Cedric said as he smiled at his little boy.

Emilio excitedly tried to drag a wobbling Tristan into the elevator with him. Cedric and his friends couldn't help but laugh at Emilio's antics.

"Please accompany them." Cedric asked two maids and two bodyguards, who quickly did as he asked, pickling Tristan up and helping Emilio press the buttons on the elevator.

After what had happened to Emilio at the Reyes compound, Cedric had no intention of leaving his son alone again. It might have been too much, but it was for his son's safety.

"We'll head out now." Cedric announced to the girls.

"I'm coming." Katerina insisted.

"No, you are staying here." Eric argued back. He didn't want her getting involved with this mess anymore.

"We all know that no matter how you try to keep me away, I will end up in that interrogation room with you guys." Katerina told her boyfriend as she glared at him. "Plus having a legal counsel will always help." She said with a shrug.

"Eric, she's always been part of these things, let her go." Alexi explained to Eric.

"Fine, but if something is wrong, tell me." Eric told Katerina in a stern voice before marching out of the house.

"What's happening between those two?" Cedric asked Ram.

"Rumors have been flying everywhere about them." Ram explained with a sigh. "I guess they are having an argument on going public with their relationship."

"Eric, doesn't want?" Cedric asked his friend as they walked out of the house.

"It's the other way around." Alexi said as he joined in the conversation. "Katerina wants Eric to keep it a secret. She doesn't want him throwing away his career just for her."

"He doesn't need it." Cedric said with a shrug. Eric had made a fortune both from acting as well as on his various investments. He would never have to worry about money in his life.

"It's not that." Ram said, shaking his head. "Eric fought the Chans for an opportunity to live outside the gilded cage of high society. He basically turned his back on family. Katerina doesn't want him wasting that."

"It's interesting how much insight you have on this." Alexi teased.

"Francesca is no different." Ram said with a shrug. "She too left her family to pursue her dreams, for her to be free to chase her desires. Sadly, it didn't end up the way she wanted it to."

"Are you guys really together or is this still an act?" Cedric couldn't help but ask, over the year that they had seen the couple together they never asked if Francesca and Ram were still keeping up the charade.

"A bit of both." Ram said with a frown. "I like her, I really do, and she likes me. But. . ." Ram said as he hesitated.

"But?" Alexi asked as he pushed his friend to speak.

"But we both still have baggage from our past relationships." Ram said with a sigh.

"Which past relationship?" Alexi asked with a curious look. "I thought you hated your ex, you said she was just after your money and your family name." Alexi said, looking extremely confused.

"Not her." Ram said, shaking his head as he hesitated once more.

"We're your closest friends, we are practically family. Tell us." Cedric insisted.

"Promise not to tell any of the girls." Ram requested.

"Do we look like gossips to you?" Alexi asked with a laugh.

"No, but this kinda involves Adrianna." Ram said as he refused to look Cedric in the eyes.

"Damn, did you have a thing for Cedric's wife?" Alexi asked in shock.

"What? No, no, no way." Ram quickly said in his defense.

"So how is my wife involved in all of this?" Cedric asked Ram with a serious expression.

"It's Julia." Ram confessed with a sigh.

"Julia as in Adrianna's best friend Julia?" Alexi asked in shock. "How did you guys even meet? And how did we not know about this?"

"Do you want the story or not?" Ram asked Alexi angrily.

"Okay, okay, chill." Alexi said as he backed off a little bit.

"Make it a bit quick, we still have someone to interrogate." Cedric reminded them.

The security building was a five minute walk from the mansion, normally they would have taken one of the golf carts to move faster, but Cedric felt the need to stretch his legs and to get some fresh air.

"Remember when I saved Adrianna and Julia when we were at the bar before?" Ram asked his friends. It was such a long time ago, but the memory lingered in his mind. "Well, she asked me out to thank me, and I guess that's where it started."

"So why didn't it continue?" Cedric asked, curious as to why things didn't work out.

"Well, her family frowns on the entertainment industry, which I am practically the king of."

"Nice humble brag." Alexi teased, cutting in.

Ram rolled his eyes at his friend and continued his story.

"So we planned to wait till she could talk her parents around it." Ram said with a shrug. "I guess they thought as an entertainment executive I did a lot of dirty deals."

"It's not exactly a clean industry." Cedric said.

"No industry is 100% clean." Alexi added. "So how did you guys go from waiting for each other to not being with each other?"

"One day she came to me, crying, her father had set up an arranged marriage for her." Ram said with a frown. "I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. So I went over to their house and professed my intentions to marry Julia."

"So you convinced them?" Alexi asked.

"No. That was the day Julia broke my heart." Ram said with a frown. "When her parents asked her about us she denied having any relationship with me. I was shocked, I thought we loved each other. Even if her family threw her out it wouldn't be a problem. The Abads are richer and more powerful than them."

"She hasn't been married yet though." Cedric said, realizing that Julia had remained single.

"Her parents now want her to marry me." Ram said with a shrug. "But after what happened, she just broke my heart. She couldn't even admit that we were together, now she wants me back?"

"That's tough." Alexi said with a sigh.

"So if you are still hung over Julia, in a way, who is Francesca hung over?" Cedric asked.

"An ex-fiance, she doesn't like to talk about him." Ram said, ending the discussion.

As they approached the security building, Cedric and his friends were led to one of the interrogation rooms on the second floor.

Cedric saw a young man cuffed to the table, and he didn't look scared at all, he looked more relieved.

"What do you think he wants?" Cedric asked his friends.

"He could be a distraction." Ray said as he observed the young man's demeanor.

"I've increased security at the house, their distraction will be useless if that's the case." Cedric said with a shrug.

"Did he say exactly who he was?" Cedric asked Merrick.

"No sir, he said he wanted to be the one to tell you." Merrick informed his boss.

Cedric simply nodded and transferred to the other room to join the cuffed man.

"You better come clean about who you are and what you want, I'm not a patient man." Cedric said in a cold and intimidating tone. "And if I find out that you are a distraction, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"My name is Benedict Ortiz, and I am Aiden's younger brother." The young man said clearly. "And I know my sister is alive."