Never Judge

When Cedric arrived in a discreet location outside of the Capital, he was quickly greeted by Ian who seemed to have been waiting for him.

"How bad is it?" Cedric asked as he looked around, making sure no one overheard him.

"What do you mean?" Ian clearly had no idea what Cedric was talking about. He carried a puzzled expression when Cedric looked at him.

"Ayanna is here." Cedric said, knowing that Ian would be able to pick up on what he meant.

"That's odd." Ian told Cedric as he stopped in his tracks trying to figure out if he had heard anything in the past few days.

"Are you sure there has been nothing wrong with our plan or with the Mafia?" Cedric asked Ian as Rollo, Seth's son passed them.

Ian was quick to stop the young man and pull him aside.

"I thought your father told you to stay at home with the old man?" Ian asked Rollo who carried an annoyed look on his face.

"Uncle Ian, I have to be here." Rollo insisted. "Something big is going to happen, the rumors say enough."

"What rumors?" Ian asked as he glanced at Cedric.

"You don't know about them? Does dad?" Rolla asked with a shocked expression, he clearly expected that his father and Ian would know about what was happening.

"Talk." Cedric said sternly as Rollo slowly nodded.

For some reason the young man respected Cedric more than he respected his father or Uncle Ian.

"According to what I've heard, some of the gangs discovered a rat amongst them." Rollo whispered in a hushed tone. "Apparently the gang was so rotten from the inside that the King wants it destroyed and rebuilt with people he can trust."

"The gang leaders are on edge then?" Ian asked Rollo, who simply nodded. Confirming the conclusion that Ian had come to.

"Ray brought Ayanna to calm them down. To assure them of the future." Cedric said as he considered the situation. "She probably also offered to be a distraction, a light in dark times and to speak to the wives."

"With all due respect, Mr. Reyes, how will the King's wife distract them?" Rollo asked.

"Have you ever met the King's wife?" Cedric asked.

"Ray never brings her." Ian answered for Rollo.

"Their marriage was very public." Cedric pointed out.

"Still, there was still a chance that she did not want to be involved. It seems that Ayanna does want to be part of this." Ian said.

"Ayanna has always wanted to support Ray in every way. He has just been protecting her from the intricacies of this one." Cedric explained to his friend. "He's going to make the announcement."

"Are you sure?" Ian asked.

"What announcement?" Rollo looked at the two older men, eager to find out more.

"You'll hear it with the others." Ian told Rollo.

"Not fair uncle Ian. I told you what you wanted to know and now you are holding out information on me? What if you and dad miss out on more news again that I know. Are you sure you want to keep secrets from me?" Rollo threatened making Cedric laugh.

"My sister is pregnant." Cedric told the young man in front of him. "She doesn't know the gender yet, but her pregnancy is a symbol of the future of the Laurence family."

"Yeah, that will definitely distract them." Rollo said with a nod as they noticed Seth step out of the main hall where the diner would be held.

"What are you doing here?" Seth asked his son.

Not wanting to have a father and son confrontation in the hallway, Cedric decided to step in.

"He is here as my guest." He told Seth. "I see something special with your son. I think he can bring both my company and your group a bright future."

Seth was shocked to hear Cedric's answer.

From his knowledge they had only met on one occasion and that was with him around in his office.

"We should head in." Ian said as he led their group towards the main hall.

Inside, several round tables were laid out. On one side were the Mafia and on the other were the gangs.

At the head was a long table where Cedric saw Ray seated at the center. To his left was Ayanna while three seats to his right were empty.

Cedric knew that one seat was for Alexi while another was for him. He couldn't help but wonder who the third seat was reserved for.

"Come on, sit with our people." Seth said as he dragged his son over to the third table down from Ray's.

"I'll speak with you later." Ian said as he waved at Cedric and made his way to join Seth and the others.

As Cedric made his way to join Ray and Ayanna, several leaders of the gangs and mafia families came up to greet him.

Eventually when he finally joined his sister and brother-in-law, Ayanna was laughing at his struggle to get through the leaders.

"Ayanna." Cedric said with a smile as she stood up and gave her brother a hug.

"Ced." Ayanna greeted.

Cedric could sense that his sister was nervous about something. He couldn't tell if it was because of the announcement or the fact that they did not tell him.

"Relax, I know that the gangs are going through something." Cedric told Ayanna and Ray in a low voice. "What you two do is up to you. I will not interfere."

Ayanna gave Cedric a smile as she sat back down.

"Where is Alexi?" Cedric asked as he glanced at the empty seat to Ray's right.

"He normally does not attend these things." Ray explained. "But today, he has Selina problems."

Not wanting to delve any further Cedric took the empty seat as he wondered why there was one more unoccupied aside from Alexi's.

"I need to apologize to you in advance." Ray said. "I may have taken time from someone valuable to the Reyes Group."

Before Cedric could even respond to his friend, Ray stood up ready to make an announcement.