Never Judge

When the maid announced the Ace had arrived home, Cedric was in the living room chatting happily with his aunt and uncle.

"Have you hidden my gorgeous cousin-in-law already?" Ace asked as he walked over and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek. Ace had always been sweet to his elders and to his female cousins and their friends, he was the youngest so they often spoiled him. 

"My wife is exhausted from the flight here." Cedric explained. "But I do have good news for you, guess who is coming to stay." Cedric said with a grin.

"No, no, no, no way. You didn't bring the devil herself!" Ace said as he turned pale.

"Ace, that's no way to talk about your cousin's friend." His mother scolded. Everyone in the family knew that Ace was afraid of only one person, Katerina Sebastian. "She is honestly so nice and so charming, I don't understand why you're afraid of her."

"Mom, that's what she wants you to think." Ace said as he looked around.

"She hasn't arrived yet." Cedric said with a laugh. "And don't worry, she'll be too busy because her boyfriend decided to tag along." Cedric explained.

"So is it true? She finally managed to trick Eric?" Ace said with a laugh. It was no secret to the other members of their generation that Katerina Sebastian and Eric Chan lacked timing. They loved each other, but not at the same time. 

"How dare you say I tricked Eric!" An angry voice came from the doorway. 

Ace suddenly stood stiff, he knew exactly who was standing at the door.

"I have work to do, bye." Ace said as he quickly tried to run up the stairs and into his study. Unfortunately he was too slow and Katerina caught him by the collar.

"You are still the same slimy, immature kid." Katerina said as she dragged Ace back into the living room. "Apologize." Katerina said as she made him sit on the couch.

"No." Ace said stubbornly.

"Ace, stop acting like a child." Eric said as he walked over and pulled Kateirna into his arms. "Auntie, Uncle, I'm so happy to see you again." Eric said as he flashed one of his famous smiles.

"Your girlfriend is acting like a bully." Ace complained.

"I can't believe you have someone like him leading your European offices!" Katerina told Cedric as she pointed at Ace. 

"I'm not a child anymore. I graduated top of my class and Marie personally trained me." Ace answered back.

"Do you guys fight like this whenever I send you to talk to Kateirna for legal matters?" Cedic asked Ace as he rolled his eyes.

"No, of course not. Katerina behaves in front of others." Ace said quickly, taking the opportunity to throw the first insult.

"I won't respond to a child." Katerina said as she crossed her arms and walked over to sit next to Ace's mom. "Auntie, you don't look like you've aged at all!" Katerina said as she praised the older woman.

"Katerina, don't lie. I'm an old woman already!" Ace's mom said as she placed a hand on Katerina's lap.

"Where's your brother?" Cedric asked Eric who walked over to sit next to Katerina. 

"He said something about a romantic evening with my sister-in-law." Eric said with a shrug. "You know how those two are, ever since they came clean about their feelings they're just too sweet. I'm actually glad to take a break from them."

"You should have seen them on the plane!" Katerina complained. "I wanted to throw them off! I even told them to get a room. Imagine, I, Katerina Sebastian, found a couple overly physical? We weren't even in public."

Eric laughed at Katerina's reaction. "Katerina, you actually have a low tolerance for public displays of affection." 

"That's not true!" Katerina said in an attempt to defend herself.

"Not true! I remember when you and Ayanna visited one year you made us pass the long route because a couple was making out!" Ace accused.

"I didn't want to disturb them." Katerina said in an attempt to make an excuse. Everyone simply laughed at her.

"So what are your plans for this meeting, cousin?" Ace asked, changing the topic. 

"Jonathan Carpio asked for the meeting to be as low key as possible. He doesn't want anyone finding out about the meeting and I understand him completely. I've arranged to meet him tomorrow afternoon at a small restaurant. We agreed to meet in the backroom, I'll probably head over there from the office riding a cab." Cedric explained.

"What exactly do you want to achieve with this meeting?" Ace's father asked Cedric as he leaned forward.

"Honestly, I hope he can tell me who they sold MT Summit to and why that person seems to keep coming after us." Cedric said as he rested his chin on his hand. "I would at least like to know what we did to the person or people that would get them to come after us like this. They even killed an innocent person."

"I heard about the Lobo kid. I'm sorry cousin, he was Adrianna's relative, was he not?" Ace said in a sad tone. Cedric looked up at Ace, Jam was the same age as his cousin, if Jam didn't die the two of them could have become good friends.

"Jam was one of Adrianna's relatives that I really liked. He was good and genuine. You would have liked him." As Cedric told Ace he could feel his heart breaking again, he still blamed himself for Jam's death and he knew what happened to Jam also left a lasting impact on Miguel.

"I wish I could have met him, cousin, from your words it seems like he was a really good guy." Ace said with a frown. 

"He wasn't like most rich born kids. I was wrong to think he was like them. If I hadn't judged him too early I might have gotten to know the kid better earlier on in my relationship with Adrianna, and maybe I would have had a better relationship with her Lobo side of the family." Cedric said with a sigh.

"Now, now, no use crying over spilled milk." His uncle said. "What's important is what you do with his death, honor him and give him justice."

"Yes. Justice." Cedric said with a nod.