Never Judge

**Warning: Torture scenes ahead, will be very bloody and is not for the faint of heart**

"A pity, she fainted." Ray said, shaking his head as he looked at the unconscious woman who was now laid out on the ground.

"Tie her up, I don't want to risk it." Cedric instructed the bodyguard who simply nodded and did as he asked, bringing Jean's wrists and ankles together with corse rope that she couldn't struggle against.

"What shall we do next?" Ian asked as he looked at the bleeding man in front of him. "Do you want to give it a shot, Ced?" 

"You guys go ahead, I want to deal the last blow." Cedric told Ian.

His assistant dutifully nodded as Leon handed him back the knife.

Cedric could see how relieved Leon looked as he finished delivering a small amount of vengeance. He couldn't help but wonder if he would feel the same way once this man paid for his crimes.

"One cut for each man of mine that died because you chose to hide Aiden Ortiz." Ian declared. "Take his shirt off." Ian ordered.

Seth's men quickly did as he asked and stripped Brian. 

Ian quickly made sure that his knife was sharp enough before giving Brian a cut on the arm.

Cedric could hear as Brian screamed in pain, he was now not only dripping blood from his side, but from his arm as well.

"I bet that hurts." Alexi said as he leaned against the wall and watched as Ian gave Brian another cut.

"Please, just kill him." Cedric heard Rodrigo Baron beg for his friend. "Please, he's lived months like an animal, please just end his life."

Cedric couldn't help but laugh, this man dared beg for mercy now.

"When they had the upper hand Brian and Aiden didn't hesitate to kill innocent people. Even among those in the underworld that is frowned upon." Cedric informed the younger man as he walked over.

"Hasn't he been through enough?" Rodrigo said as he shouted desperately, his eyes darting between Cedric and the bloody Brian.

Cedric once more laughed at the man's stupidity.

"When you attacked me and chose to blackmail me, didn't you think it was too much? Didn't you think that I had gone through enough?" Cedric asked. "Brian Schnider deserves to exist in a living hell, but I will be kind and I will kill him. Just not yet."

Rodrigo was shocked at Cedric's words. Gone was the calm businessman that had an extreme tolerance for those that had wronged him. Cedric was now out for blood and Rodrigo could see it with his own eyes. 

"Don't die on me just yet." Ian told Brian in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear as he gave the man another slash on the arm.

The scene was now bloody as Ian continued to cut Brian's arm, covering it in lacerations. 

"If he hasn't lost his mind yet, he will surely lose it now." Ray told Cedric as he looked at Brian.

The man had continued to scream with every cut that Ian made, Cedric had expected him to pass out sooner, but he was still conscious and feeling all of the pain.

"I lost fifty men because of you and Aiden Ortiz, I plan to make you suffer for the lives you took." Ian hissed. "Fifty eighth families that have lost a father or a mother, a brother or a sister, a husband or a wife, a son or a daughter. You took from them their future and I will not make this easy for you."

"How many did you two lose?" Cedric asked Alexi and Ray as he glanced at them.

"Much less than Ian." Alexi said, shaking his head as he walked over and picked up a spiked whip.

"That should cut quite nicely." Ray said with an approving nod as he walked over to join Alexi at the table where all sorts of torture devices were lined up. 

Seth had come prepared for the torture, there were even items that Cedric didn't recognize.

When Ian was finally done making all the cuts, Brian's body was covered in blood. His arms were crimson as was the floor beneath him.

Miguel quickly rushed into the room to check on him, making sure that their prisoner did not die from the loss of blood or from the injuries they had inflicted.

"He better not die." Alexi told Migel as he inspected the other torture devices.

"He won't." Miguel confirmed as he patched up the broken man.

Suddenly Brian tried to move and attack Miguel, but the princes were steps ahead of him as a bodyguard quickly shoved Brian away.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Miguel asked as he laughed at how foolish Brian had been.

"He is getting desperate." Ian said as he shook his head. 

"You fools have no idea who you are messing with!" Evan Baron shouted at the younger men. "You are offending powers that you cannot imagine. They are more powerful and richer than any of you can ever dream of becoming!"

"Someone shut him up!" Ray complained as a bodyguard quickly taped Evan Baron's mouth.

"You'll have your chance to howl in pain, old man." Cedric said as he laughed and shook his head.

Turning his attention to other matters, Cedric noticed Ian walking up to him.

"I didn't know we lost that much." Cedric told Ian as the assistant took his place beside Cedric.

"They weren't all ours." Ian said with a frown. "I gave Brian to Seth for a reason, most of them were his. People he had sent as a favor to me and to the Reyes Group."

"What does Seth have to do with the Reyes Group?" Cedric asked Ian with a confused look. 

"You didn't know?" Ian asked.

"Were you supposed to explain something to me?" Cedric asked with a chuckle. 

"Seth was once an employee at the Reyes Group, he worked there to have a reputable background but was drawn back to the Mafia." Ian said with a laugh as he shook his head. "That's how I met Seth, we were friends in the Reyes Group."