Never Judge

When Ayanna and Ray finally decided to join the party, they found Cedric and Adrianna laughing at the top of the stairs as they watched the interaction on the floor below.

"The two of you are acting like children." Ray teased as he offered an arm out for Ayanna.

"They are just enjoying the show darling." Ayanna said as she placed a kiss on her husband's cheek.

"Good luck." Cedric said with a grin. "I've seen about five women try to curtsy at dad."

"What do they think he is? Some european royal?" Ayanna said, laughing at her brother's story.

"Well they'll be trying to curtsy to you too in a bit." Cedric teased as he pointed at the stairs. 

"Ugh, why is that old man late." Ayanna said, rolling her eyes. "I want to get this over with and go to bed."

"You don't want to go to bed." Cedric said with a cheeky smile. "You want to go off and make me a nephew or niece."

"Ewww, Cedric!" Ayanna said as she dragged Ray away.

Ray couldn't help but laugh at what Cedric had said because he was right, Ayanna had been nagging him for alone time since she arrived.

"Act serious." Ayanna scolded Ray, making him laugh even more. 

Ray pulled Ayanna to him and kissed her passionately on the lips.

"I can't do that down there." Ray said with a wink as his face turned stone cold and emotionless.

He had always been like this, fun and lovable to his family and friends, but intimidating in front of others. He refused to show a true weakness to outsiders.

Ray knew that the only people he could trust were those that couldn't use him. He believed everyone else had an ulterior motive, and he was correct most of the time.

Ray offered his arm to Ayanna, who hooked hers on his.

She too had turned straight faced, they were the same. They had met too many people that used them, it was because unlike Cedric, they had come up to the spotlight much earlier.

Ray was always the rich son of the Laurence family, while Ayanna was publicly introduced right after she graduated from university.

They had made some good friends and some bad.

"Mister Laurence! Mister Laurence!" A familiar man said as he walked up to the couple. "You probably don't remember me, but I used to work at your company." The man said as he took Ray's hand and shook it.

Ray glared at him, making the man take a step back.

"Sir, I'm now an official in this province." The man said in an attempt to boast about his success to Ray. "Please allow me to introduce you to people." The man asked.

"Ray!" Tony said as he suddenly appeared behind Ray. 

"Tony." Ray said with a nod. 

"Cedric said you would be joining us. I thought he meant later with him and Adri." Tony said with a friendly smile.

"Mr. Tamano, I know Mr. Laurence." The man continued to boast as Tony spoke to Ray.

"And you are?" Tony asked, his tone was not as cold as Ray's but it was still quite intimidating.

"My name is Jeremy Fan." The man said. "I'm the counselor for this district. I used to work for the Laurences."

"Fan, Fan, Fan. . ." Tony said as he tried to recall the man's name. "Ah, yes I know you now." Tony said with a nod and a sly smile.

"You know him?" Ayanna suddenly asked, surprising everyone that she had spoken. 

"Yes, the Fans are an old family here as well." Tony said with a shrug. "They've tried for years to win an election, but they often lose to the Lobos." 

Ayanna grinned as Tony explained who Jeremy and his family were.

"They decided to run at a lower position with Jeremy." Tony said as he placed a heavy hand on the man's shoulder. "It was Jeremy that decided that he wouldn't allow the Laurences to run a business in this province."

"I did no such thing." Jeremy said as he panicked, drawing the attention of the crowd. 

"Right, right, that wasn't the only thing you did." Tony said as he scratched the back of his head, pretending to seem innocent. "You were the one that connected Aiden Ortiz to the international terror group that supplied the men to kill Priscilla Reyes!" Tony accused loudly.

Ayanna looked at Tony in shock, she didn't know about this, Cedric had not said anything about Aiden hiring an international terror group to attack them that day in the mall.

"You helped him!" Emilio Reyes III said in an angry voice as he approached the group.

"No, I didn't!" Jeremy Fan said as he tried to deny Tony's accusation.

"I have proof." Tony declared. "As a matter I already gave it to Cedric Reyes." Tony said with a grin.

"Lies! That's a lie!" Jeremy Fan shouted frantically.

The people that had been trying to suck up to him earlier had now taken a step back, abandoning Jeremy at the center of the crowd. He not only had to face Tony and Ray, but Emilio Reyes as well.

The older man was clearly fuming at the news that Jeremy had a hand in his wife's death.

"Not only did you provide him with men, you also hid him in this province, making it harder for us to find a fugitive wanted by the government." Tony accused making sure everyone in the grand ballroom heard him.

"I didn't, you are lying!" Jeremy Fan desperately said as he tried to deny all of Tony's accusations.

"Jeremy Fan, you are just as guilty as Aiden Ortiz and you deserve to suffer the same fate as he did!" Tony said.

Jeremy was visibly shaking, he didn't know what to say or do. Tony now had the backing of the Reyes family, he could never win against them.

"How dare you accuse my grandson, Aiden, of any crime!" An old and wary voice said from the doorway.