Never Judge

"You don't look. . ." Cedric couldn't gather the courage to say what was on his mind without offending Seth.

Even if he were more powerful, they were still in Seth's stronghold, he didn't dare offend him.

"I had him young." Seth chuckled and shook his head. He had seen a lot of people struggle to put together the fact that Seth had an eighteen year old son despite being quite young himself.

"Seth didn't even know Rollo existed until much later on." Ian sighed. It seemed that there was a much darker story behind Rollo's birth.

Seth nodded in agreement as he remained silent, so willing to open up to strangers about how he found out about his son.

"To cut the long story short, Rollo ended up spending a lot of time with his uncle Ian. But when you stepped out of the shadows, Ian got incredibly busy and couldn't spend as much time with him." Seth explained to Cedric.

Ian sighed and shook his head.

"It's not like I completely abandoned him, I just spent less time here." Ian told Cedric as he explained what had happened. "Then I met Nicole, and clearly we didn't exactly take the easy route to ending up together. So Rollo saw me less and less."

"He was a teenager." Cedric gave Ian an understanding look.

"Exactly, he was a teenager going through so much and he felt abandoned." Ian said as he raised his hand in the air in defeat.

Just as Cedric was about to say something, Rollo knocked on the door before opening it.

Cedric knew that this was his way of letting his father and his guests know that they would be entering. It would be quite awkward if they entered in the middle of a confidential conversation.

"Come in." Seth calmed himself as he leaned back against his seat.

Rollo entered the room with three men. Each of them didn't look like they could belong to the Mafia, then again, neither did Seth, Ian, or Rollo.

They looked more like ordinary office workers or small businessmen that you would run across in the street.

"Please, sit." Seth gestured towards the empty couch to his right.

Both Leon and John had stood up and each were standing to Cedric's and Ian's sides. Cedric knew that the two men were positioning themselves strategically in case the guests decided to hurt Cedric.

The three men that entered with Rollo observed Cedric and Ian carefully.

It was clear that they knew who Cedric was. He could see in their eyes as they tried to figure out why Cedric and Ian were both in Seth's office. It seemed that the head of the Dean Family had chosen not to disclose his close relations with the Reyeses.

The three men sat anxiously across Cedric and Ian, they would occasionally glance at Rollo, but not at his father, Seth.

Cedric could see how much fear and respect these men felt towards Seth, and it surprised him. Seth was not much older than Cedric and Ian, around five to six years older, and yet the men clearly respected and feared him.

He couldn't help but think if the people in the business world and those around it felt the same way. Or did they simply respect him because of the money and resources his family had access to?

"I see you are confused." Seth told the three men as he sat up behind his desk. "I'm sure you know both of these men, Ian Lim and Cedric Reyes, both from the Reyes Group."

The three men all nodded slowly as they wordlessly answered Seth's question.

"When I sent you to watch over Lucius Ting, it was because I was helping both Cedric and Ian." Seth calmly explained as he observed their body language.

The three men suddenly went tense, apparently they didn't expect their boss to be working with someone like Cedric. They were after all part of the underworld and Cedric was known for doing clean business.

Noticing how awkward the situation had become, Cedric cleared his throat and spoke.

"I understand that you didn't expect me to be working with Seth, but there is a threat out there larger than what we can anticipate. I don't like leaving holes on my boat." Cedric looked them in the eyes as he told them about his cooperation with Seth.

They remained stiff, but at least now they knew why Cedric and Seth were working together.

Cedric also felt that it would be too much if he told them that he and Seth had been working together for a long time at that point.

"Mr. Reyes and the king of the underworld also have the same goal, they both want Lucius Ting to be gone." Seth added, it was the first time Cedric heard him mention Ray, the way he referred to Ray made it seem like Ray was some god to them.

"Same as us." One man mumbled.

"Yes Martin." Seth nodded. "Your wife was kidnapped and killed by the men working for Lucius Ting, just because she refused to take the job he had offered. You have the same goal as Mr. Reyes."

Martin, the man that had spoked nodded.

Cedric and Ian were both surprised with the revelation Seth had just made. They never expected Lucius Ting to be this cruel.

"Each of these three men lost someone to Lucius Ting or his sister Louise." Seth explained as he gestured to his men. "I told them there was a chance they might not come out of this mission alive, but they gladly volunteered."

"My sister, she was tricked by Loiuse Ting. She used my sister, then blackmailed her with illegally taken photos and fabricated truths." One man said as his face was painted with anger and rage. "What Louise Ting did to my sister caused her death. I was happy to hear the Lousie was deported, but it's not enough. They need to pay."

Cedric nodded, he knew what Louise was capable of, both Selina and Francesca had both suffered in her hands.

"My daughter, she had to quit her job. Her entire career was ruined by those siblings, just because she refused to be with either Lucius Ting or Louise Ting." The third man said in a shaky voice, clearly broken by what his daughter had to suffer.

"We want the same thing as you." Ian suddenly said, speaking up for the first time. "We are on the same side in this."

"You'll need all the help you can get." Martin told Ian and Cedric. "From what we gathered, a group called the Rajas are backing Lucius Ting, and they are out for blood."

Cedric frowned and remained silent, Ian knew that he was already thinking of plans to get them out of their situation.

"The Rajas are old and powerful." Cedric nodded in response. "I need to know, will you stay on to be our eyes and ears in Lucius Ting's side while we find out more?"

"Whatever it takes to avenge my wife." Martin replied with conviction. "I lost the love of my life, we had no children, and to be honest I have nothing left to live for except to get revenge for her death."

The two other men looked at each other as a silent conversation went on.

"We too will stay, the Tings must pay and we will see to it.." The other said, promising their loyalty to Cedric and his cause.