Never Judge

"So who is this mysterious person that you're calling over?" Ian asked Cedric as they waited for the helicopter to take off.

Cedric didn't like flying such short distances, but he really didn't have a choice. It was the quickest way home, and they didn't want to risk the chance of them getting ambushed on the road.

"He is. . ." Cedric began to say as he paused trying to think who Guan Ming was. There were many things that he would need to explain to people about Guan Ming. "He is a friend I met a while back." Cedric finally said.

"Won't you tell us who this person is?" Ray asked Cedric with a raised eyebrow.

"No, not yet." Cedric said, shaking his head. "He doesn't want to be known just yet."

"You keeping secrets from us, that's odd." Alexi pointed out. 

Cedric laughed.

"Yeah, you even kept secrets from Ian, but not from us." Miguel teased.

"It's not my secret to tell." Cedric said as they were informed that the helicopter was about to take off.

They were silent the whole ride back to the capital. It was a welcome peace for Cedric. In the past years he barely had a peaceful moment, so many things had happened that he missed his life back when he was under poverty training.

It wasn't a long ride to the Mountain View community. Cedric's helicopter landed in the helipad on his property, and as they arrived Cedric smiled as he spotted his wife and son at a distance.

As soon as Cedric got off he sprinted towards Adrianna and Yoyo. When Yoyo saw his father running towards them, he too ran and met his father halfway, jumping into Cedric's arms.

"Daddy! I missed you!" Yoyo said loudly as he hugged his father.

"I missed you too, Yoyo." Cedric said as he held his son tightly. He had been so worried about his son since he couldn't just increase the security around the boy without risking his secret.

"Daddy, daddy, Auntie Ayanna has a secret!" Yoyo excitedly told his father. 

Cedric smiled and nodded at his son.

"What is it?" He asked Yoyo.

"I can't tell you daddy, it's a secret!" Yoyo said with a giggle.

"Ayanna gave them candies and chocolates again." Adrianna said with a laugh as she joined her husband and son.

"Honey." Cedric said with a smile as he pulled his wife towards him and kissed her passionately.

"Ewwww daddy and mommy!" Yoyo squealed as she squirmed in Cedric's arms.

"I got him." Ayanna said as she took Yoyo from her brother's arms.

"I like seeing you with a child in your arms." Ray said as he wrapped an arm around Ayanna's waist and planted an innocent kiss on her head.

Compared to Cedric and Adrianna they didn't like to display affection too much so Yoyo didn't react. He simply laughed and hugged his uncle and aunt. 

"Uncle Ray, I got scared at school." Yoyo told Ray with a frown as they walked back to the house.

"Why Yoyo?" Ray asked. Both he and Ayanna looked at the boy with a concerned look. It was the first time today that Yoyo was telling them about being scared at school.

It seemed the little boy trusted his Uncle Ray to look out for him and protect him.

"A lot of my classmates went missing and the teacher was worried." Yoyo told Ray and Ayanna. "I got scared uncle, what if you and daddy went missing. What if someone takes you from me?"

"Your daddy and uncle are two big and strong men, no one will take them." Ayanna said as she hugged the little boy tightly. As much as she didn't want to admit it she was also afraid of her brother and husband not making it back.

The attack from earlier today made her re-evaluate their enemies, many people wanted to take down the Reyes Group and the Reyes Family. And as the CEO's sister she was a prime target.

"Auntie Ayanna, I was so scared." Yoyo said as he wrapped his tiny arms around her neck and cried. "I thought my classmates would never get to see their mommies and daddies. I don't want that to happen to me, auntie." 

Ayanna hugged Yoyo tightly, she too had been worried about her little nephew getting kidnapped. She had seen the reports around Yoyo's school, twenty children belonging to three different grade levels had been kidnapped.

In other schools there were more. It was initially believed that whoever was behind the kidnapping had ignored Yoyo's school, but it seemed that they changed their minds and rounded up the most probable candidates.

If they had taken Yoyo, Ayanna didn't know how she would have reacted. She loved her little nephew as if he were her own, and the thought of him being taken broke her.

"Don't worry Yoyo, your daddy made sure that no one can ever hurt you." Ray said as he patted the little boy.

He attempted to take Yoyo from his wife, but the child only held on tighter.

"He seems attached to you today." Ray pointed out as Yoyo continued to hold on tightly to Ayanna.

Ayanna smiled and nodded, she didn't have an explanation, and she was more than happy to carry the little boy.

"Uncle, I want to be able to protect myself and my mommy and daddy, will you teach me?" Yoyo asked as he looked up at his uncle.

"You're too young, Yoyo." Ayanna said with a frown as she recalled watching one of Ray's sparring sessions when he was younger.

As the heir to the Laurence family, he needed to know how to defend himself and how to fight. So Benedicto Laurence made sure that his young son could stand up for himself.

It was also the reason why people rarely dared to kidnap or offend Ray, he wasn't exactly an easy target.

"He isn't." Ray said with a frown as he recalled how young he started. "I'll talk to your dad."

"Ray, no." Ayanna said in a stern tone. "Let him be a child! Your childhood was taken from you, do you want his to be taken as well."

"We won't be taking away his childhood, Ayanna." Ray said, shaking his head. "He will still be a child, a child that can defend himself. Plus it's not like he's had an ordinary childhood either he has lived alone all his life. The only other children he knows are Tristan and Dominic, and Dominic is new."

"Ray, Ayanna , Camilla called, she has an update." Cedric told his brother-in-law with a concerned look on his face. It seemed Cedric had noticed the couple arguing.

"This discussion is not over." Ayanna said as she glared at Ray.

"Please auntie, I want to do it." Yoyo begged.

"Ayanna, put my son down and hand him to a nanny if you want to be part of this meeting." Cedric told Ayanna as they walked into Cedric's home.

"Fine." Ayanna said as she placed Yoyo down and held him tight. "Don't grow up too soon, little one." She said as she kissed him on the top of his head. 

"I have to grow up auntie, I need to protect my siblings and my cousin." Yoyo said with a smile as he turned around and ran up to his nanny."