Never Judge

Cedric took a deep breath as he sat inside his trademark Rolce Royce Ghost.

It had been a few days since the attack on Mountain View and there had been no suspicious activities. And life had seemingly snapped back to normal as Cedric had buried himself in work the past few days.

He still owed his son that family day off, and he was planning on flying his whole family out to Ray's Kashmere Island. 

Just one more day, but today was different. Today he was going to watch as the Barons were sentenced to life in prison for the stunt they had pulled against him and the Sebastian family.

The court hearing today was front page news due to the parties involved and the speed at which a verdict was reached.

Cedric already knew how the day was going to pan out, it was already predetermined. 

His attendance was all for show. The Barons would pay ten times the damage they had done, and their family would lose everything.

That's how life worked. You make the wrong move and you could lose what generations had worked hard to achieve.

"What are we waiting for?" Cedric asked Ian who was seated next to him in the back seat of the car.

"Dave said he has urgent news, he is rushing down to meet us." Ian informed Cedric.

Due to the huge amount of workload, Cedric had opted to take only Ian with him. This event was all for the press and there was nothing important that would require Dave's or Mae's presence.

"He couldn't have told you on the phone?" Cedric asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ian simply shrugged as Cedric noticed the elevator doors open as Dave ran out, panting.

What news could be so urgent and so earth shattering that Dave had to go down to the basement himself?

Cedric rolled down the window and raised an eyebrow at Dave.

"This better be important." Cedric said in a stern tone.

"Trust me boss, it is." Dave said with a nod. "Brian Schnider is dead. He died in his cage this morning and when Seth's men came over to take Evan and Rodrigo Baron away, his corpse was already cold."

"And?" Cedric asked, not seeing the point as to why his assistant had to run down. It was something that could have been said over a phone call.

"Boss, I need to get in." Dave said as he looked around the parking lot.

Confused with what Dave meant, Cedric pointed towards the front passenger's seat as he rolled his window.

"Seth didn't call you?" Cedric asked Ian.

"No." Ian said as he shook his head. "Seth is busy with other things, he might not even know if this happened recently."

Cedric heard a thud as Dave closed the door.

"What is it?" It was Ian's turn to ask Dave in an irritated tone.

"The more important part is what the Barons were mumbling when they were found." Dave explained. "I didn't want to mention it out in the open, you never know what stray ears might pick up."

"What did they say?" Cedric asked Dave.

"They kept muttering about how the Rajas would get to them, how the Rajas would kill them for letting such a heinous death fall upon one of their sons." Dave told Cedric and Ian.

"They were probably deranged at that point, Dave." Ian said as he rolled his eyes at the young man.

He had witnessed enough tortures to know what it did to the human mind, it was not a pretty sight. 

People turned into animals or mere husks of their former selves. Some recovered, some remained damaged for the rest of their lives.

"I think even if they did lose their minds, what they were mumbling was still important." Dave told Ian.

"Look into Brian's involvement with the Rajas. Their relatives already warned us that Brian was somehow connected to them. Then report to me when I get back from court." Cedric told Dave who simply nodded and got out of the car.

"Let's get this whole media frenzy over with, John, drive." Cedric said as his driver nodded and drove them out of R Tower's basement parking lot.

As they exited the building, Cedric could clearly see the reporters and photographers that had now lined the streets, trying to catch a glimpse of him as he headed for the courthouse.

He was sure that his uncle Jose, Alexi, and Katerina were facing the same dilemma. 

The Barons on the other hand would be dressed and washed, then flown in from the Dean family base in a military chopper.

The official story was that they had been detained by the military when they attempted to attack Alex, Katerina, and Cedric.

"Wow, they are making a much bigger deal of this than we expected." Ian commented as he looked at the sheer amount of reporters that had lined the street.

"The Barons went against the m,ost powerful family and the richest family, of course people would be interested." Cedric said with a laugh as they left the reporters in the dust.

Due to the recent attack on Mountain View, Leon had insisted that Cedric increase the security around him. So his white luxury sedan was now surrounded by eight large black SUVs focused solely on his protection.

Normally, Cedric didn't go around the city this way. There was usually just a van in front and one in the back. But since today was a very public event, they had increased it further, not wanting to risk anything.

"Are our people stationed around R Tower and Island's Inc." Cedric asked as he thought of his wife and sister whom, he was sure, the Rajas were very keen on taking.

"Yes, there is also more security around Yoyo's school." Ian said with a nod as they continued to cruise through the city, unhindered by traffic.

It didn't take long for them to finally reach the court house. 

Cedric looked out as he saw that a small walkway had been made for him and other guests to pass, as reporters once more flocked the location.

He sighed and shook his head.. How he wished this trial didn't have to be a public one.