Never Judge

"Aiden said that our aligned interests were because of his sister that passed away." Lucius said as he settled into his seat. "How sure am I that you aren't a hoax?"

"We did a DNA test." Benedict said quite confidently. "I don't appreciate you questioning my sister."

"You have to pardon my suspicion." Lucius said with a sly smile. "She is, after all, the vice president of Mor Co. Everyone knows that she is a confidant or Mr. Reyes."

"Was a confidant." Camilla hissed, pretending to be disgusted by the association.

"My, my. It seems that I have hit a nerve." Lucius said with a grin. "Or you could be playing me."

"Let's go brother." Camilla said as she stood up, seemingly furious at Lucius' accusation.

Benedict wanted to laugh at how good Camilla's acting was, if he didn't know the truth he would have thought that Camilla was truly mad at Cedric and that Lucius had offended her.

"Calm down, Camilla." Benedict said as he grabbed her by the wrist. "Let's hear the man out. After all, our brother did see some potential in him."

"I'm sick of Aiden's games." Camilla hissed as she sat back down.

"I'm sorry, but I am just too intrigued." Lucius said as he took a sip from his glass. "What could Cedric Reyes have done to get one of his former assistants and personally appointed vice presidents so mad?"

"You don't know?" Camilla asked as a look of shock crossed her face.

"Camilla, we didn't tell anyone, it's only normal that he had no idea." Benedict said as he pretended to comfort his sister.

Lucius watched them closely as he observed their interaction. He was clearly curious as to what Camilla meant and was willing to wait for her to tell him.

"My brother is dead." Benedict said with a frown. "Cedric denies it, but we are sure that he met his end by one of Cedric's orders."

Lucius suddenly sat up, shocked with the news that Benedict had just dropped on him.

"That's impossible, I was speaking to Aiden just a month ago. He wasn't even in hiding or anything." Lucius said, shaking his head. "He seemed somewhat content over our call."

"Aiden partially got revenge for our parents' deaths." Camilla said with a frown.

"So he is really gone?" Lucius asked as he dropped his head. It was clear that the relationship between the two men was more than just business.

"How well did you know my brother?" Camilla suddenly asked. She was dying to know why Lucius seemed so affected by Aiden's passing.

"He was like an older brother to me." Lucius said with a frown. "He guided me when I first set up Arch Group, he was like a mentor who truly cared."

"My brother spoke about you a few times." Benedict said with a sigh. "He mentioned you in passing. I'm sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances."

"The entire reason why I invited you to dinner was because I couldn't contact him." Lucius said as a tear fell from his eyes.

"My brother has been gone for a few weeks now." Benedict said with a frown. "He went home to visit our grandfather, when he didn't come back I took Camilla with me to check up on him. That's when we got the news, our brother was dead."

Benedict and Camilla were quite confident when it came to claiming that they had no hand in their brother's death, Cedric had made sure that everyone in their ancestral province did not utter a word about Aiden.

"Cedric even went as far as erasing Aiden from existence." Camilla said as she forced herself to sob.

"Camilla, I'm sorry." Lucius said with a frown as he reached out and held Camilla's hand. "I didn't think -"

"Don't apologize." Camilla suddenly said as she withdrew her hand from his. "My brother is gone, what did you want with him?" Camilla asked in a cold voice as she glared at Lucius.

"Aiden owns a 30% stake in Arch Group." Lucius began to explain. "We normally meet every three months to discuss my next steps and for me to either give him dividends or for me to ask for more investment."

"And which was it this time?" Camilla asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Camilla, calm down." Benedict scolded. "He was Aiden's friend."

"How sure are we of that?" Camilla asked Benedict. "We don't even know how they met!"

"I can answer both of your concerns." Lucius said as he waved one of his bodyguards over.

The bodyguard handed Lucius an envelope and retreated back to his position. It seemed that Lucius had expected that Benedict would question his connection to Aiden.

"I met Aiden at University. He was an exchange student, while I was based there." Lucius explained as he placed the envelope on the table. "We became fast friends and kept in touch even after he returned home."

At that Lucius produced a photo of him and Aiden from over a decade ago. It was of them in front of the American university where Lucius had gone to study.

"Later on he contacted me." Lucius explained. "He told me about how he knew who my true family was and the true circumstances of my parents' deaths. He told me how the people behind my father and mother's deaths were the same people behind the deaths of yours."

"I'm assuming that's when he began investing in your company?" Benedict asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." Lucius said with a nod as he took out some documents from the envelope. "These are the articles of incorporation for Arch Group. You will see how Aiden's name is included. He has been with me from the very beginning."

"And do you know who your parents are?" Camilla asked as she tried to see how much Lucius knew.

"I only know my father's name." Lucius said with a shrug. "The nurse that left me at the orphanage said that my father was still alive and that he went by the name Miguel Chan."

"Does the name ring a bell?" Benedict asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lucius nodded. "At first I thought it was only coincidental, my father and the world's top neurosurgeon shared the same name."

"That's because Miguel Chan was named after your father." Camilla said with a nod.

"And it was the Chans and their backward traditions that drove your dad to death." Benedict added.

"You know how my dad died?" Lucius asked.

"Not completely." Camilla said, shaking her head. "I can ask, but from what I know, he died of heartbreak, thinking that he had lost you."