Never Judge

Cedric watched as most of the people in the room were frozen in anticipation. It was only Cedric and his friends that knew of Ray's plan to reveal his identity as the King of the Underworld tonight.

The leaders of the Mafia families and Gangs were now clearly worried, all of them except Seth and Andres who had been in on the plan.

Their people who had come to join them were clearly eager, they wanted to know who was leading them from the shadows.

Some looked to the door, expecting someone to enter, while others were looking at Cedric. He wanted to laugh at the thought that he could be the King of the Underworld.

As much as he benefited from their help, he also had some distaste for the way they did their business. Only Ray was truly comfortable with it and to some extent, Alexi who was his second in command although no one knew about it.

"He won't walk in through those doors." Cedric said as he struggled to stop himself from laughing.

He noticed Damien Park had flinched as if he wanted to speak up but stopped himself.

"Don't be afraid, you can ask and speak up Damien." Cedric knew that Damien would be more comfortable with him since they had met before Cedric's true identity was revealed.

At some level Damien felt that Cedric was still an ordinary person, he just hid an extraordinary life.

Damien nodded in response before speaking up.

"He's in here?" He asked as he scanned the room trying to pinpoint who it could be. "Don't tell me it's another one of your secret identities."

Cedric couldn't hold it back and ended up laughing at Damien's statement.

Everyone looked at him with unease, those that didn't know the truth were worried about laughing because if they laughed at the King of the Underworld it wouldn't end well for them. For the ones that knew who was the true king, they wouldn't dare laugh at Ray's brother-in-law and best friend.

"It's not me Damien, but yes, he is here." Cedric said with a nod.

"So, who is it?" Damien asked, eager to find out who the man who had been evading him for years actually was.

All of a sudden, Ray burst out laughing and Cedric shook his head.

The leaders of the Mafia Families and the Gangs all kept their heads down, afraid still to make eye contact with Ray.

"You've worked with him before, Damien." Ian told his friend as he casually sipped his drink and grinned.

"I have?" Damien asked, shocked by the revelation. "And I didn't realize it?"

"Nope." Ian said with a chuckle. "As a matter of fact you worked very closely with Ray during a lot of the investigations and you kind of work for his second-in-command." Ian said as he dropped Ray's name as the King of the Underworld.

Damien stared at Ian then looked to Ray who was next to him.

Cedric couldn't help but laugh again as the other people in the room slowly realized that Ian had just revealed that the King of the Underworld was in fact Ray.

"Right, I guess I need to actually say it out loud." Cedric told them as he walked up and stood next to Ray.

Ray grinned at Cedric as everyone had reacted as they had thought, most were stunned, others confused.

The Laurence family was one of the most powerful families in the business world. They not only ran companies that were vital to the country, but Ray himself was related to the Sebastians.

"Wait, if Mr. Laurence is the King of the Underworld. . ." Damien's voice trailed as he looked at how everyone was seated around the table.

On one side were those that were under Ray's command, the Mafia families and the Gang leaders. Seated on their side were the businessmen, the military officials, and some government officials.

When Ian said Ray was King of the Underworld and he was seated next to Ray, Damien thought Ian was his second-in-command, but the longer he stared at how they were positioned the more confused he got.

"Impossible." Damien gasped as he looked Alexi Sebastian in the eyes.

Alexi slowly nodded, much to Damien's surprise. It seemed that the rest of the room had not caught up and everyone, including the members of the Mafia and Gangs gave Damien a confused look.

"If there is anyone more mysterious than the King of the Underworld it has always been his second in command." Ian announced.

Ian was the perfect person to explain things, most of the members of the Mafia and Gangs knew he was Cedric's friend and former assistant, as well as an excellent businessman in his own right. Those from the Mafia knew he was one of them and had worked with them for years.

"Yeah, he does his job from his own office, which we have no idea about." Seth said as he joined in on the conversation.

"He is effective either way." Andres Rocci said as he gave his support to Ray's second in command.

"It's much harder to find him, he doesn't leave a trail at all, nor has he ever been seen." One of the gang leaders voiced out.

"We also tried to find him." A general added. "But just like Mr. Laurence, we couldn't get any information on him."

"That's because the person you keep looking for is the last person you would expect." Damien said with a sigh as he maintained eye contact with Alexi.

"What do you mean Colonel Park?" One of the generals in the room asked as he glanced at Damien.

"We've all been blind to the fact that the King of the Underworld would only trust a member of his family to be his second in command." Damien declared. "Blood is thicker than water." He said, reciting the popular line.

"Mr. Laurence has no siblings." A government official said.

"He doesn't." Cedric grinned as he decided to help things speed up a little. "But he does have a male cousin." With that he gestured towards Alexi who was grinning from ear to ear.

"It seems I'm better than both of you when it comes to this whole secret identity thing.." Alexi boasted, making Cedric shake his head.