Never Judge

Miguel leaned back and closed his eyes as he collapsed on the couch.

"Here!" Ray said as he tossed Miguel a bottle of water.

Miguel caught it and unscrewed the cap as he took deep breaths.

"He'll be fine." Miguel muttered right before taking a big gulp of water. He was exhausted, he had not only operated on Cedric, but on Cedric's bodyguard, Leon, as well.

Initially he thought Cedric's injury would be simple, but the bullet on Cedric's shoulder had ended up too close to a major artery, one wrong move and his friend's life would have ended.

Leon on the other hand just had too much injuries, it wasn't unexpected since Leon was the sole survivor from the exploded van.

"Of course Cedric will be fine." Ray said with a nod as he sat next to his friend on the couch.

"I haven't exactly had a good record as of late." Miguel said with a frown.

"There was nothing you could do about auntie Priscilla." Ray said, shaking his head. "You and Nicole said it yourselves, even if  auntie had survived her injuries, she didn't have long left because of the cancer."

"Jam and Auntie aren't exactly the first patients I've lost." Miguel said with a sigh. "There are some that have died a while after I operated on them, but Jam was the first that I had tried so desperately to save."

"You don't have to talk about this if you aren't ready Miguel." Ray said as he placed his hand on Miguel's shoulder.

Miguel shook his head.

"I wanted to save auntie too." Miguel said with a sigh. "If I had known sooner that those charts Nicole had been showing me for years were auntie Priscilla's I would have found a way to save her."

"You can't save everyone Miguel." Ray said with a frown. "It was Aiden's and Jen's fault, they were the ones that killed auntie and Mia. They also killed everyone in Leon's van, I question whether people like that are even people at all. They are heartless."

"Let's go check on Cedric." Miguel said, pushing the topic aside.

Miguel's office was on the top floor of the Saints Hospital main building while the VIP wards were on the floor below. He and Ray decided to take the stairs to get to Ceric's room.

Just as they were about to enter the VIP room, Ray's phone began to ring.

"It's Alexi." Ray said as he pointed out.

"Let's take the call in the other VIP room, Cedric is still recovering and I don't want to wake him before he is ready." Miguel said as he pointed towards the room directly across Cedrics.

Ray nodded as he picked up the call and walked over to the opposite room.

"Wait, I'm with Miguel." Ray said as he closed the door behind him. "I'll put you on speaker." He told Alexi as he placed the phone on the table.

"What is it?" Ray asked.

"How's Cedric and Leon?" Alexi asked.

"Cedric is recovering, he hasn't woken up yet but his injuries are healing nicely." Miguel said. "As for Leon, it will take him longer to recover, his injuries were worse than Cedric's."

"How are things on your end?" Ray asked.

"We just finished putting auntie to rest. They are closing the crypt as we speak." Alexi explained. "Everyone is shaken but holding on. I guess our main worry is Cedric."

"He'll pull through." Miguel said.

"Good, good." Alexi said as his voice slightly faded. "Look there is something you guys need to know. Let me just get away for a bit."

"Alright." Ray said as he and Miguel waited to Alexi to speak again.

"It was clear that the attack was a distraction." Alexi began.

"Yeah, it was obviously done so that Cedric would pull men out of the Reyes compound so that Aiden could save Jen." Ray shrugged, they already knew about this.

"That's the thing, it wasn't just the Reyes compound that was attacked." Alexi relayed. "Aiden's men mercilessly massacred people across all of Cedric's homes and safehouses. Including where Jen was placed."

"Shit." Miguel cursed in anger. "Does that man have no heart."

"It's normal in the underworld, lives are worthless to people, if you are too weak you die." Ray explained. It was no secret that he himself had ordered for people to be killed.

"So it's safe to assume that Jen has been taken?" Miguel asked.

"No." Alexi said with a sigh. "Jen is dead."

"What?!" Ray and Miguel exclaimed in surprise.

"How? Why? Do you think Cedric had her killed?" Miguel asked, desperate for answers.

"No, I was there, Cedric's instructions were to hand her over if the enemy was too great." Ray explained.

"Plus, there was no one that could have committed the murder, everyone in the safe house was dead. Each body accounted for." Alexi said in a grave tone.

"Do you think -?" Miguel began to ask.

"Yes." said Alexi over the phone. "I think Aiden never wanted her to survive. He probably wanted her dead as soon as he had no use for her."

"Do you think this is what they spoke about? Cedric and Aiden I mean." Ray asked.

"It's possible." Alexi said with a sigh. "I actually thought he might have cared about her, I guess she was just a tool in his plan."

"I suddenly feel bad for Jen." Miguel said with a frown.

"She made her own bed, she chose the people she wanted to side with, she just chose the wrong side." Ray said as he shook his head. "No one deserves to be betrayed by the ones they love like that, but she wasn't too far from Aiden. She too played the same game, it just so happened that she lost."

"I think we will be heading over there in a while, I'll keep you guys posted." Alexi promised.

"Same here." Miguel said. "We were about to check on Cedric right before you called. Although I don't expect him to wake up anytime soon, he still needs to recover."

"Nah, he'll wake up as soon as he hears Adrianna tell to wake up." Alexi said with a laugh.

"Yeah, Cedric is the definition of whipped." Ray teased.

"He'll do anything Adrianna tells him to." Miguel said, joining in the banter.

"Look in a mirror you two." Alexi teased. "You are both just as whipped as him!"

"No, of course not." Miguel said defensively.

"Yeah, you just look like a lost puppy when your wife isn't around." Ray teased.

"Don't even pretend you aren't afraid of your wife, Ray." Alexi said, reminding his other friend.

"I respect her and I am afraid of her brother and father. Cedric and uncle Emilio are no joke." Ray said as he tried to explain himself.

"Sure Ray, that's why you rush home every time Ayanna calls." Alexi teased.

"You guys are such children." Miguel grumbled. "You'll understand when you get married Alexi."

"I don't think I'll be as whipped as you guys." Alexi responded. "I'll be more like Eric than you three."

"Eric isn't even married." Ray complained. "Plus he's dating your sister, he'll have it much worse." Ray added.

"I'll be different." Alexi said.

"I can sense you rolling your eyes at us from there." Ray said as he burst out laughing.

"What use is talking about this anyway? I'm not getting married any time soon." Alexi complained.

"At the rate you and Selina are falling? I'd expect a wedding next year." Miguel teased.

"Whatever." Alexi said in an annoyed tone. "I need to look after everyone now, I'll talk to you guys later."

"Take care of everyone." Ray called out as Alexi dropped the call.

"I bet he'll be whipped." Miguel said with a grin as he stood up and walked out of the VIP room with Ray.

"For sure." Ray said with a grin.

The duo walked up to Cedric's room and entered to check on him. To their shock when they entered the bed was empty, and their friend was nowhere in sight.