Never Judge

"When did Ace tell you this?" Miguel asked as looked at Cedric suspiciously.

"Don't look at me like that Miguel, I would never lie to you." Cedric warned his friend. "I didn't tell you because I still doubted Ace's sources, he only told me a few days after mom's death."

"And you now believe this news because Aiden Ortiz, the man that killed Jam, Mia, and Auntie Priscilla, told your three year old son?" Miguel asked as he continued to give Cedric a doubtful look.

"Cedric, he could have planted that information for Ace to find." Alexi said as he took a more rational route.

"Ace's source could not have been tainted by Aiden's people." Cedric said quite confidently.

"Aiden was able to enter your parent's house." Ray argued with his brother-in-law. "As far as I knowl, the Reyes Compound is one of the most strictly guarded places in the country. Have you even figured out how he got in?"

"I haven't but I have increased security." Cedric explained. "And Ace's source is incorruptible."

"All spies can be corrupted." Alexi told Cedric. "We do it often enough to know that people have motivations, if you figure those motivations out you can bend them to your will."

"Not this person." Cedric said, shaking his head.

"Fine." Katerina said, raising her hands in the air in surrender. "If you are so confident in the source of Ace's then tell us what else Ace's spy told you." Katerina said with a shrug as she leaned against a wall.

"According to Ace's source Uncle Miguel's child is a son, not a daughter." Cedric began to explain. "He told everyone that the child was a girl in order to hide him. He didn't want the Chan's to take his son away."

"I kind of understand." Eric said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Miguel asked his older brother with a puzzled look.

"You know how those old ancient people are." Eric said with a shrug. "They value sons over daughters. If they had known that Uncle Miguel had a son, they would force the child home. They would take him away from his mother and father if needed be."

"Wouldn't they just welcome his mom as well?" Nicole asked Eric with a curious look. Her eyes darted between her older brother and her boyfriend, Ian.

"Your's and Ian's situation is different from that of Uncle Miguel's." Eric explained as he sensed what his sister wanted to ask. "Uncle Miguel's wife wasn't someone from a proper family as they would call it. The Lims on the other hand were once rich and influential, even now they still hold connections to the most powerful families. And Ian himself is quite promising in our family's eyes, so they have nothing against him."

"I guess it is different." Nicole said with a frown.

"Even with Ian's family background they aren't happy about him, what more Uncle Miiguel's wife." Miguel said as he shook his head in disappointment.

"So what does the source say happened to this boy?" Eric asked Cedric.

"He survived, it was only his mom that died on the boat. The little boy had been home with some of Uncle Miguel's friends and they had strict instructions, if anything were to happen to Uncle Miguel's wife they were to take him to a nurse." Cedric explained.

"And is this said nurse still alive?" Miguel asked.

"Yes." Cedric said with a nod. "Ace is trying to set up a meeting with this nurse. According to the source the nurse was the one that sent your Uncle Miguel's son to his adoptive family."

"Why didn't our uncle's friends just take the boy?" Nicole asked with a curious look. "Surely if Uncle Miguel could trust them with his son like that they could have adopted him."

"Because your grandparents knew them." Cedric explained. "The elder Chans would have known to look for the child from them. Sending him away was the best option for the little boy."

"Well, he isn't so little now." Ram said with a laugh earning him confused looks from his friend.

"What?" Ram asked. "Do the math guys, if this guy survived he would be our age. Heck he could have even been our classmate, our employee, our friend. We could have run into him already without knowing."

"Okay, so let's say this guy is out there somewhere, how do we find him?" Alexi asked.

"Simple, ask the dads." Veronica suggested with a shrug.

"We can't." Miguel told his wife, shaking his head. "They will only lie. I know I was worried that Aiden was trying to cause a rift but I think we have to find this out on our own."

Cedric nodded, agreeing with Miguel, he didn't think it was the smartest idea but it was probably their best option. The fathers had repeatedly given them half truths, this time he wanted to learn the whole truth.

"Ace should be able to set a meeting with the nurse soon, from what he told me the old man lives in Italy." Cedric explained as he tried to recall the information Ace had told him.

"Okay so we find this man then what?" Ram asked.

"What do you mean then what? We ask him about our cousin and find our cousin." Eric said in an annoyed tone.

"I mean, what if we do find your cousin, will you bring him back to the Chan family? A family that you know will look down at him because of who his mother was." Ram reminded them, it wasn't easy for him but he wanted them to think about how bad their families could get.

"We'll protect him from them." Miguel said with a nod.

"I don't think he would be willing to uproot his life just to join the people who cause his parents' death." Ram said too frankly.

"Why are you such a pessimist?" Nicole asked Ram in an angry tone.

"Ram is just stating facts." Alexi told Nicole. "Ram is right, this man will have had a life of his own already."

"Then we let him decide." Miguel said with a shrug. "It's not like there is much that we can do if he refuses, but we can maybe at least give him his inheritance from Uncle Miguel."

"Inheritance?" Ayanna asked.

"Yeah, Uncle Miguel had some shares in Saints Hospital as well as several businesses including the Reyes Group." Eric explained. "When he died, they were transferred to me since the elders thought I would be the next head of the family."

"Of course we all know what happened there, Nicole is gonna be the next head. The first family matriarch." Miguel said as he beamed with pride.

"Then we need to be careful with this." Cedric said as he scratched his chin. "People might claim to be your cousin just for the inheritance."

"Cedric, that part is easy." Miguel said with a laugh. "DNA test."

"Okay, so that's settled, but we have another worrying matter." Ian suddenly told the group.

"What?" Cedric asked as he tried to remember if he had forgotten anything.

"Aiden Ortiz." Ian said with a shrug. "First he finds a way to get into the Reyes Compound and secondly he somehow knows about this missing cousin, I feel like there is something more to this, I'm just worried that it's a trap."

"We will just need to be extra careful." Cedric said with a nod.