Never Judge

"You're lucky we are friends." Cedric told Ian as they walked to his car together.

Aside from Ray's string of announcements there was nothing else eventful that night. The leaders of the gangs and mafia took the time to relax and simply be friends with one another.

Cedric was quite surprised at how nice the leaders of the underworld could be to one another when he knew what kind of crimes they were all capable of.

"Did you drive yourself?" Cedric asked Ian when his friend remained silent by his side.

"My driver dropped me off." Ian replied.

"You predicted this, didn't you?" He chucked, shaking his head as they reached the entrance of the venue.

"I knew you would want to talk." Ian grinned as a chauffeur opened the car door for them. "I've worked for you for years and I've been your friend for even longer. If I didn't know your behavior by now, what kind of a friend would that make me?" He asked.

Cedric simply shook his head as he slid into the backseat of the car while Ian jogged over to the other side.

"Take us home." Ian instructed John, his driver.

"Did you two fight?" John asked as he stepped on the gas, pulling away from the venue.

"See, even John knows you well enough." Ian teased, making Cedric shake his head.

"Yeah, but I know you even better, Ian." John pointed out.

This time it was Cedric's turn to laugh at his friend's stunned look.

"I know how you look and behave when you are nervous about something." John added. "And there are very few things that can get you this flustered, and one of them is the boss."

Ian rolled his eyes at John as he leaned back against the seat and kept his head high.

"What did you do this time, Ian?" John asked, egging Ian on further.

"I may have offered to be Ray's third in command." Ian quickly answered.

"On top of your company, on top of working for Cedric?" John asked, shaking his head.

"Exactly!" Cedric said as he crossed his arms on his chest.

"I wouldn't have taken it if there was any other option!" Ian tried his best to defend his decision in front of Cedric and John.

He knew that it didn't paint the best picture for his friends. He had decided to add more work to his already heavy workload.

"What do you mean?" Cedric asked Ian as he turned to face his friend. "What do you mean if there was any other option? Of course there are other options, you could have told him to give it to someone else. Ian I'm not mad cause you took on another job, I'm mad because you are clearly overworking yourself!"

"Cedric, there are very few people in the underworld that Ray can truly trust." Ian said, surprising Cedric.

"What?" Cedric asked as they sped through the city. It was late and there were barely any cars on the road.

"Don't worry, it's not that he is in danger of losing his power." Ian said with a smile. "He is respected and feared by the underworld and that's more than enough for him to rule it."

"I hear a but somewhere there." Cedric pointed out.

Ian frowned and nodded.

"Ray has not been among the gangs and mafia recently." Ian explained. "In his desire to keep the family name clean he has kept his hands out of our politics too much. There was talk once, but it was quickly silenced when they realized his importance as the king of the underworld."

Cedric frowned at the shaky position his friend was in. He knew that Ray wanted to pay more attention to the underworld, but with all the eyes on them there was little he could do.

"Even Alexi who used to be around a lot can't, and everyone knows why." Ian added. "They need someone that the Gangs and Mafia Families knows is active in the underworld. My years of being part of the Dean Family came into the conversation and the idea was floated."

"What about Francesca?" Cedric asked.

"She's already a family head and she's too well known." Ian pointed out.

"And you aren't?" Cedric asked.

"I'm not at the same level as you guys." Ian answered quite confidently. "Yes I have a reputation, but people don't follow me like some celebrity. I just work for the rich and famous. The right people know me."

"Their future children will need to be more involved." Cedric said with a frown as he thought of the pressure on his nephews and nieces that were all yet to be born.

"That's if they want to be part of that world. Being a member of the underworld isn't easy, Cedric." Ian pointed out. "They will need to prove themselves, and children born and raised in comfort rarely want that."

Cedric nodded as he considered the Laurence Family's position.

The underworld was their largest source of power while their largest source of wealth were their legitimate companies.

It all depended on the future generations to choose which they valued more, money or power. It seemed that they couldn't walk on both.

"Their children won't just be members of the Laurence Family." John, who had remained silent for most of the drive, said as he joined in on the conversation. "They will be cousins to the Reyes Heir, nephews and nieces to the CEO of the Reyes Group. There will be many eyes on them."

Cedric frowned at the realization, Ray's and Ayanna's children were less likely to continue becoming the rulers of the underworld. They were most likely to give up that power, the question was, to whom?

"Your phone is ringing." Ian handed Cedric his phone as he absentmindedly picked up the call.

"Yes?" Cedric asked.

"They have agreed, can you meet with them in three days?" It was Katerina, and she had just made the impossible happen. A meeting with the employees that the Rajas had kidnapped.