Never Judge

"Perfect. You'll get to meet our backer soon enough. For you should go home and rest." Martin said as he escorted Cedric out of their headquarters.

As usual, Cedric spotted Leon outside waiting for him. He continued to walk until he finally reached the bus stop and hopped on the bus. Leon vigilantly followed his boss until he was sure that no one had followed Cedric.

While on the bus Cedric was thinking about how he would confront his parents about the death that Martin and Carissa had told him about. He didn't deny that there was blood in their hands, even he had sent his in-laws to a place where they couldn't survive. But they always covered their tracks. They never left loose ends, things like these would have a lot of negative impact on the family name and the company.

Cedric was so deep in thought that he almost missed his stop. It was a good thing that he noticed Leon passby him. He rushed off the bus as it began to move.

When Cedric got home to Mountain View it was already late and all the elders had gone to bed, he expected to have dinner alone but was quite surprised to see Miguel and Ray waiting for him in the dining room.

"Cedric! You're back!" Miguel happily greeted his friend.

"You're acting like a love sick housewife. Stay away." Cedric said as he threw Miguel a suspicious glance.

"He's trying to say sorry." Ray laughed at Miguel's suspicious action.

Cedric laughed at his friend and ate the food at the table. "What's with the sudden change of heart?" Cedric asked.

"Well it's not like I won't ever get revenge for Veronica. I just need to wait." Miguel said nonchalantly with a shrug.

"Ha, you just realized that getting this done doesn't mean Veronica will agree to be with you completely." Ray teased.

"Why? Have you been completely with Ayanna?" Miguel suddenly said.

"Why would you ask that? Her older brother is here! I don't have a deathwish like you!" Miguel said as he threw a piece of bread that he was eating at Miguel.

"You're so old fashioned Ray, a man and a woman can be together even if they aren't married." Miguel said as he shook his head. "Look at Alexi, he accepts his sister, Katerina, she doesn't hide it."

"And yet look at how the public and the media have gone after her. Ayanna will never suffer the same fate. I'll protect her." Ray said proudly.

"Such a suck up." Miguel teased.

"It's ok Miguel, don't worry, you'll get your chance soon." Cedric said in between bites. 

"So you're getting to the bottom of the issue?" Ray was quite intrigued with the syndicate within the Reyes Group, none of them ever expected for a group like this to show up within the company. The Reyeses always took care of their employees.

"Yeah, but things are getting worse. At first I thought it was just a group of greedy employees, but it looks like some members in the syndicate have a deeper strife with the group." Cedric explained.

"How so?" Ray could never resist a big mystery like this. Maybe in another life, if he were born to a different family he would have been a detective. 

"Martin, the one that recruited me, is apparently cousins with another member. They're mad at the Reyes Group because a relative of theirs died while working at the Reyes Group. We said it was a heart attack but they don't believe that it's the cause of death." Cedric explained. "Right now they were working on a plan that will alienate the Reyes Group."

"The only way you could alienate the Reyes Group if all our families fought." Miguel said.

"Since when did you become business savvy?" Ray teased his friend. "It's true though, as long as the Reyes Group has our support people won't just leave." 

"I need to find out the details soon, they are planning something big." Cedric said.

"If you need anything, just say the word." Ray said with a nod.

The next day Cedric went about work as usual, going through documents when Martin sent him a message inviting him over for lunch. Martin told him that they would be meeting with their backer. Cedric was eager to find out who was willing to fund the group to take down his family's company. 

In order to avoid suspicion he, Martin, and Carissa all arrived at the restaurant separately. They were lead to a private room and made to wait so that customers that were there when they arrived would have left by the time their backers arrived.

"Isn't it a risk that the staff could rat us out?" Cedric asked while they waited.

"Our backers own this restaurant and everyone in here is loyal to them. It's a front for their underground activities." Martin explained. It seemed to Cedric that Martin had come to learn a lot about their backers over the years. "Here are the tasks that need to be carried out. You are the only one that has managed to see this list aside from me and my cousin." Martin said as he handed Cedric a piece of paper.

"I can't memorize this. I'll copy it out and give it back to you." Cedric analyzed the list, they were all small actions but when you analyzed their overall effect it should be able to topple any business, unfortunately for Martin and his cousin the Reyes Group was not that simple. Martin, Carissa, and their backers did not take into consideration how deep the bond between the Reyes Family and the other families were. 

However, even if the plan would not topple the Reyes Group it was still enough to do a significant amount of damage, and Cedric was not about to let that happen. He would need to end things before the plan began to take place.

"Sure, just give it to me tomorrow. We'll start by giving everyone their assignments tomorrow, after that we'll know how long it takes to do everything. Then soon after we will see the Reyes Group crumble." Martin said with a grin.

Before Cedric could respond the door to the private room slowly opened as a secretary came in to check who was inside. Upon confirming that Martin, Carissa, and Cedric were the only ones there she left and led in her boss.

Cedric was quite surprised to see Chris Garin and an older man enter. He assumed that the older man was Carlos De Dios, Chris' biological father. When Chris noticed Cedric in the room his expression was difficult to read, he had bullied Cedric since high school and now they needed each other to complete their plans.