Never Judge

Cedric was growing impatient as he waited for his friends to come back with definite information whether or not Lucius Ting was involved with the Rajas.

They all felt like it was unlikely, but Cedric didn't want to risk it. He wanted to be sure that the Rajas and Lucius Ting would not cooperate, because if they did, they would pose an even bigger threat than they already were.

He was sitting behind a desk, looking at his phone. He was already tempted to give his sister or father a call and tell them his concerns, but he hesitated. He didn't want them to worry unnecessarily. 

"Your dad called my dad." Ray grumbled as he entered the room.

"Well, it's not like we could have hid something like this from them." Cedric said with a shrug. "I'm sure dad has called every single one of his friends in an attempt to help us get at the bottom of this."

"I guess it's a good thing, cause my dad and the other uncles managed to mobilize their own connections as soon as he called." Ray told Cedric as he sat on the couch and looked at his phone.

"So do you have the confirmation we need?" Cedric asked Ray.

His friend shook his head, telling him he didn't.

"You do know that we can't confirm that Lucius Ting isn't involved with them completely, right?" Alexi Sebastian asked as he joined them in the room.

He was followed by his sister, and Cedric's other friends, and his assistants. 

"We can't, but I'd like to be as sure as we possibly could be." Cedric said with a shrug.

"Well this is the closest we can get." Ian added. "We need to decide our next steps." 

Cedric paused and considered their situation for a moment. Everyone's attention was on him. He was the one that wanted more proof and more intel on whether or not Lucius Ting could possibly be involved with the Rajas.

After a few minutes of deep thought Cedric sighed and shook his head.

"There really isn't much that we can do, is there?" He asked everyone else in the room.

"No, that's as far as we can get." Ian confirmed with him.

"I'll get all our dads on a call and my sister, should we involve Nicole?" Cedric asked as he looked at Ian and Miguel.

"It's best if we keep her in the dark on this matter." Ian said as he glanced at Miguel. It seemed that they had already discussed if Nicole should be involved.

"I trust you know what is best for her." Cedric said as he placed his phone on the table and called his dad.

"It isn't a business matter, she doesn't need to be involved." Miguel explained.

"Why does Ayanna have to be part of this?" Ray asked with a worried look on his face.

"It's as if you don't know your wife." Cedric said with a chuckle. "If I don't include her she will have both of our heads. I like mine on my shoulders, thank you very much." 

"Hello?" Emilio Reyes' voice was heard through the speaker as he picked up the call.

"Hey dad, is Ayanna with you?" Cedric asked.

"Yes. Do you need your sister for anything?" He asked his son.

"We have news. Give me a few minutes, I need to add my uncles to the call. They all helped get to the bottom of this and we want to involve them as much as possible." Cedric explained to his father.

"Alright, we'll be here." Emilio said as he waited patiently over the line for his son to call everyone.

It seemed that his friends had informed their fathers already since the other men quickly picked up their phones.

"Great, now that we are all here, we have news." Cedric informed everyone at the other end of the line.

"I know that you are all aware of the attack that happened at Mountain View earlier today." Cedric said as he paused, waiting for someone to ask a question.

When none came, he continued to speak.

"We have a vague idea of who might be behind the attack, but it will come as a huge shock to everyone." Cedric continued to tell them.

"It's an old enemy, people who we thought had retreated to the shadows and disappeared, the Rajas." Cedric said, catching everyone by surprise.

"That's impossible." Cedric heard his father utter. "The Rajas have long disbanded and what is left of them is not strong enough to raise an army like this."

"Before leaving to go there, Katerina mentioned something to me, I didn't pay attention to it because I didn't think it was true." Jose Sebastian said.

"Dad!" Katerina complained.

"Later." Alexi said as he reprimanded his sister.

Katerina frowned but she didn't say anything else.

"Cedric, are you sure about this?" Benedicto Laurence asked over the phone.

"Yes uncle. The company Katerina had mentioned to uncle Jose, Sapphire Mining, was owned by members of the Raja group." Cedric explained. "They have been using their knowledge of the law and how the government works to extort businessmen across the country."

"Do we have enough to convict them?" Jose asked in a question clearly directed to his daughter.

"Unfortunately, we don't have enough evidence, dad." Katerina said with a frown. "They covered up their trail quite well. At the moment the only people we can send to jail are the Barons, and they are nothing compared to the Rajas."

"So what do we do now?" James Abad asked.

"We wait and see, we need to know more and find more about them." Cedric told his uncle.

"Cedric, is Lucius Ting involved?" Raphael Chan asked.

"We couldn't find anything that links him to the Rajas, and based on their ideology, I doubt they would have involved him." Cedric told the dads.

"The Rajas are elitists, they look down at anyone that was not born into their society." Ayanna added.

"Let's just hope that they keep that elitist attitude of theirs and they don't realize how much of an asset Lucius Ting would be to them." Miguel said with a sigh.

"Is that all you have for now?" Ayanna asked her brother.

"Yes, for now." Cedric told everyone.

"And we are all just supposed to sit and wait? What if they attack us first?" Benedicto Laurence asked.

"Dad, we can't just attack! We don't even know who is involved, we need to gather information and find out more." Ray said, answering his father.

"Fine, but increase the security everywhere, we should not take chances. When are you guys coming home?" Benedicto Laurence said as he took into consideration his son's words.

"Tonight, uncle." Cedric said.

"Good, the sooner you get back to the capital the safer you will be." Emilio Reyes told his son. "We don't like the idea of any of you being in uncontrolled territory."

"We know that dad, we'll come home as soon as -" Cedric wasn't able to complete his statement when Dave interrupted.

"Sir, Lucius Ting just made a big move. Our major suppliers have all backed out." Dave announced. Catching everyone in the room by surprise.

"I guess we are flying home now." Cedric informed everyone as he dropped the call.