Never Judge



"Mr. Jao, I had no plans of letting Cara leave until we've made up." Al told Peter Jao. 

Peter Jao smiled and nodded at Al.

"It's good to hear that we are on the same page." Peter told Al. "I know that my daughter might not fully understand the situation at the moment, but she will eventually. I'll speak to her."

Al nodded and smiled, glad that Peter Jao hadn't insisted on letting Cara go. 

"Al, did we ever tell you the story of Mr. Jao's sister?" Ray Lawrence asked his son. 

"No dad. I was curious but I didn't want to press the topic. Uncle Andres mentioned her when we were in your office." Al confessed to the two men.

Peter smiled and sighed, as if recalling a good but sad memory.

"The Jao family has been in the service of the Dean Family Mafia for generations, I wasn't the first nor was I meant to be the last." Peter Jao explained to Al. "But it has always been our practice to keep the women as far away from the underworld as possible."

"And what if they wanted to join?" Al asked as his thoughts went to his younger sister, Angelica, who was much more interested in the underworld compared to their brother Andres.

"They could be allowed to, it depends on the head of the family to be honest." Peter explained to Al.

"Different families have different practices." Ray said, nodding in agreement. 

"What happened to your sister? What was her name? Where is she now?" Al aske, curious about the woman who seemed to be behind the reason why his Uncle Andres was single until now.

Peter and Ray both laughed at Al's curiosity. 

"Her name was Pandora, she was five years younger than me and she was beautiful." Peter said, smiling at the memory of his sister. "We may have tried our best to keep her out of the Underworld, but that didn't mean she wouldn't cross paths with people from it."

"She met Uncle Andres outside of the Mafia?" Al asked, shocked that his uncle had let someone outside the mafia close enough to him.

Peter smiled and nodded.

"People said it was love at first sight." Ray sighed. "I saw them, of course, when their relationship was just starting, it was truly love." 

"Eventually when their relationship started to get serious, Andres investigated her family background and discovered that we were involved with the Mafia." Peter explained. 

He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"Wanting to set things right, Andres told us that Pandora had every right to know about her family and their involvement in the Mafia. Our father refused." Peter told Al with a pained expression.

"How serious was their relationship?" Al couldn't help but ask out loud.

"Andres was already planning on proposing." Ray told his son, grinning from ear to ear.

"Andres asked my father for Pandora's hand in marriage, but my dad had a condition." Peter recounted with a frown. "He could marry my sister, if she wouldn't find out about our involvement in the Maifa."

"That would be impossible." Al said, shocked by the terms set by Peter's father. "Pandora would be the wife of a Mafia Don, she would know about your involvement especially since the Rocci and Dean families are allies."

"That's exactly what Andres said, and my father told him that if he couldn't meet those terms then he couldn't marry Pandora." Peter explained.

"I'm assuming Uncle Andres was not happy about that." Al commented.

"No, he was not happy. He believed that Pandora had a right to know whether or not they were getting married, so he told her the truth." Peter told Al with a shrug.

"How much of the truth?" Al questioned.

"All of it." Peter grinned as he shook his head. "Of course my little sister was furious with Andres for not telling her, but she was more pissed off with my father and I. We lied to her our entire life."

"Is that why you blamed Uncle Andres for her leaving?" Al asked as he realized that Peter had also been furious at Andres Rocci when they met.

"We were both to blame, but I didn't realize that until you had a fight with my daughter." Peter explained to Al. "I unknowingly stuck to our old traditions when it came to Cara to the point that she doesn't even understand that what you're doing is for her safety."

"I did go overboard a little though." Al confessed, scratching the back of his head.

"I don't want my daughter to become a repeat of my sister." Peter told Al. "Pandora never got over Andres, I think she still loves him. I haven't spoken to her in decades and I only reached out yesterday after what happened to Cara."

"Oh, I hope she's happy wherever she is now." Al said, thinking of how Cara could run over to her aunt if she really hated Al. Maybe Pandora would allow the Lawrence family to provide them with a security detail even.

"She misses the country, she's in Marina City now. But she told me that if I needed a place for Cara, her home would always be open for her niece." Peter said with a sad smile.

Al nodded, not exactly happy with that idea, even if he himself had thought of the same thing.

"I don't want Cara to become like my sister, losing everything because of lies and our inability to tell the truth." Peter confessed to Al and Ray.

"I promise to do everything to get Cara to understand, Peter. But I will need your help and possibly Pandora's as well." Al told the older man.

Peter nodded, promising to help.

"I suggest you speak to her before you leave for school." Ray told his son as he sipped his coffee. "She's still a young woman and they need to know that you are trying."

Al nodded as he began to plan his next moves.

He quickly finished his meal and went right up to speak to Cara before leaving for school.

To Al's surprise, he found Eric pacing outside of Cara's room.

"Did you want to speak to her?" Al asked his cousin as he leaned against the wall.

"I'd like to. I'm just not sure on what to say." Eric said with a shrug.

"Let's go in together, maybe that will help." Al said with a smile as he nodded for the guards to open the door so that they could speak with Cara.