Never Judge

It seemed that a good night's rest was what they all needed, because as soon as the next day started everyone was already at work, doing what they could to take Lucius Ting down.

Cedric was surprised when over breakfast, Miguel and Ray gave them a call saying that they had an idea.

"Are you all there?" Ray asked as he tried to see through his laptop screen if all of his friends were at Cedric's place.

"Yeah. Everyone is here. So what's this plan you were talking about?" Cedric asked Ray knowing that if they didn't get to the point of their discussion he would probably end up off track.

"I know that we can always find a way for grandpa to escape justice, it will take time, but we will always find a way." Miguel said with a sigh as he looked at them through the laptop screen.

"Miguel, what grandpa did was wrong." Eric said with a frown.

It was clear to Cedric and everyone in the room that Eric wanted their grandfather to pay for his crimes.

"I'm sure you guys have broken the law tons of times." Guan Ming pointed out as he looked at the rich young men in the room. He was well aware that none of them were innocent.

To Guan Ming's surprise, the last person that he expected to answer his statement was the one that spoke out.

"There is a line we try not to cross." Ian said as he gave Guan Ming a dangerous smile. "I won't lie that we have done some very dangerous things, but we would never hurt people that had never wronged us."

Cedric closed his eyes and shook his head, he knew that to most people what Ian was saying wouldn't make sense. After all, they lived in a world where the law barely applied and where they could use the law against their enemies.

"The man your grandfather killed as a politician, I doubt he was innocent." Alexi said as he joined in on the conversation. "We all know how dirty it can get, no matter how clean they present themselves to be."

"Not everyone is dirty." Nicole mumbled as she kept her head bent and shook her head.

"Alexi, you need to remember when grandpa Chan committed these crimes. It was during the tail end of the reign of the Rajas." Katerina told her brother. It seemed that she knew more than what she was letting on.

"Who was it?" Miguel said in a demanding tone that boomed through the speakers. "Nicole, who did our grandfather kill?"

Nicole nevously clenched her fists and gripped her skirt, Ian knew she was anxious about something, he knew her grandfather must have done something that changed the course of history.

He placed a hand on one of her's and gently stroked it as he tried to get her to calm down.

"Are you forgetting that your sister is pregnant, Miguel?" Ian asked as he glared at the man on the screen. "She's already decided to take on this task with your wife, let her calm down and explain things on her own."

"Sorry about that." Miguel frowned as he realized that he was pushing his sister too far.

He was well aware that the conversation with their grandfather couldn't have been an easy one. Not only did Nicole and Veronica need to get the information from the old man, but they also had to stomach the story he told.

Hearing that your grandfather had made deals that put everyone's future in danger was definitely not easy, but one that changed the course of history for the worst, it must have been difficult.

"It was Mr. Chavez." Nicole said with a sigh as she forced everyone in their room to recall their history lesson.

"Who is Mr. Chavez?" Guan Ming asked, unaware of the local history.

Cedric sighed and smile as he recalled that his friend knew nothing about their history, both that which was publicly thought and the secret reality.

"Back in our grandparents' days there was a lot of civil unrest in the country, so much so that a group of rich and powerful people took control." Cedric said as he tried to make the history lesson as brief as possible and to make it seem interesting.

As a student he was bored by this part of their history, but when his father told him the truth behind what had happened it seemed a lot more interesting to the young man.

"They installed a man to act as their puppet dictator, but that man eventually turned on them." Cedric said as he told Guan Ming about the fall of the Rajas.

"So how does this Mr. Chavez fit in all of this?" Guan Ming asked.

"During the tail end of the Rajas' reign, that's what the rich group called themselves, Mr. Chavez started telling people that the Rajas were behind everything and that the dictator was just a puppet." Cedric explained.

"And people began to listen to him, so much so that it threatened both the Rajas and the dictator." Ian added as he found an opening to speak.

Cedric simply nodded, he didn't mind Ian cutting in.

"The tide had two ways to go, either the Rajas stayed in power or the Mr. Chavez convinced people that the dictator was a puppet for the rich." Cedric told Guan Ming. "That's when Mr. Chavez, who was already a sickly man, passed away."

"To this day our history says that he died of natural causes and that dictator and his people ousted the Rajas and continued to rule for several more years." Nicole added with a frown.

"And grandpa killed him, he changed history for the worse." Eric shook his head in disappointment. It was clear that he thought more of his grandfather.

An awkward silence enveloped the room, no one said a word because no one knew what to say.

"I want grandpa to face the public and announce his crimes against the people and the country." Miguel bravely said, shocking everyone. "Then I want him to leave the country.. I know for a fact that he will be safe if he goes home to China where his parents were originally from."