Never Judge

"My fellow leaders." Ray said as his authoritative voice echoed throughout the room. "I understand that you have all heard the rumors that there has been a traitor amongst our midst."

Cedric watched as some leaders of the gangs and mafia nodded. It seemed that not all had been aware of the rat among their ranks.

"For those that have not been made aware, as you will notice there is an empty table in this hall." Ray said as he pointed towards the far end.

Cedric had not noticed the table since the door they had entered through was in the middle rather than on the far end.

As the other leaders and their men noticed the table, they began to whisper amongst themselves.

"We have dealt with these traitors." Ray announced. "Unfortunately their gang was so rotten to it's core that we had to dispose of most of them. Their territory may be split up, unless there is someone that you believe can rebuild this gang."

The room was silent as Ray waited for someone to push forward a nominee. He knew that most gang leaders would want their second in command to start his own. It would give them better alliances and more opportunities to work together.

"I see that most of you don't want to make your recommendations public." Ray said as he looked around the room. "You can tell my third in command who your recommendation is."

Cedric could see the confused look on the faces of the gang and mafia leaders, even Cedric knew that Ray didn't have a third in command. It was just him and Alexi, it had always been that way.

"Right to the next news." Ray said as he glanced at Cedric.

It seemed this was what Ray was apologizing for. Cedric couldn't help but wonder who Ray had taken as his third in command. It was clearly one of Cedric's men.

He couldn't help but glance at Ian as it gave him a bad feeling. He knew that his friend was the perfect candidate.

Ian had been part of the Dean Family Mafia for years. From what Cedric had gathered, he still played a key role with them.

"No." Cedric told Ray as soon as he realized Ray's choice of a third in command.

"Sorry, bro." Ray said with a frown in a voice only Cedric and Ayanna would be able to hear.

He nodded at Ian's direction as he stood up and confidently made his way to the head table.

Ray knew that Cedric would not do anything to undermine his authority, he also knew that Cedric's anger would only be temporary.

Cedric never stopped his people from pursuing their own paths, if anything, he actually encouraged it.

He would probably be mad at them for not informing him beforehand, but Ian and Ray couldn't be too sure of what his reaction would be to their bit of news.

"As you are all aware, Ian Lim has not only been a key figure in the Dean Mafia Family. He is also my brother-in-law's right hand man." Ray said as Ian stood behind the empty seat next to Cedric. "I know that I will have to share him with Cedric, but I can think of no one else more capable or trustworthy as him."

"Why not just offer him the empty territory?" One of the gang leaders asked.

At first Cedric thought that the man was being sarcastic, but it seemed otherwise. As a matter of fact several gang members seemed to approve of the idea of making Ian a gang leader as well. It seemed that Cedric's former assistant had made quite a name for himself in the underworld.

"I would love to hand him the territory, unfortunately, he refused." Ray told them as he looked at Ian to explain why.

"I have obligations to the Reyes family as well as to my own." Ian admitted. "At first I even refused the role of third-in-command. As you must all be aware by now, being Mr. Reyes' right hand man is not an easy job."

Cedric gave his friend a smile and nodded.

"Ray simply managed to convince me to take on the role for the meantime." Ian said with a shrug.

"So, decide on your choices and inform Ian about them. I will decide who gets the new territory in a few days." Ray announced as Ian sat next to Cedric.

"We'll speak later." Cedric said as he kept his eyes in front, not showing a hint of how annoyed he was at the two men.

"The mole should join our ranks soon enough so this may be the last of our gatherings at this scale." Ray said as he continued to speak to the leaders and their most trusted men.

This was only the third time that the much bigger group was seeing the King of the Underworld in this setting.

"I have no intention of letting the moles find out more than we want them to." Ray told the leaders. "We will keep an eye on them while feeding them information we are open about giving out. I also want you all to ensure who their friends are among your people. Place trustworthy ones. Too much is at stake for us to go about this like any other plan."

The leaders all nodded at Ray's words.

He then glanced at Ayanna and offered her his hand to help her up.

Ayanna smiled and took it, standing up next to her husband.

"As I am sure you are all aware, Ayanna and I were married a few years back, and since then I've done my best to protect my wife from this world." Ray said as he looked at the audience.

Cedric knew that he was hiding the fact that he would burn the world for the woman next to him. That losing her was worse than losing life itself to Ray.

"I will take this time to make this announcement that should not leave this room." Ray said as he looked the leaders in the eyes. "My wife is pregnant."

As Ray said this, he could hear as whispers erupted across the room.