Never Judge

"Cedric you better have fucking good reason for calling!" Ray hissed as he closed the door behind him. 

"Woah, what's with the temper?" Cedric asked over the phone.

"Ayanna said that you told her she could continue to go to work despite being pregnant. Is this some joke to you?" Ray asked.

"Oh, so you know already." Cedric said with a chuckle. "Congratulations! I can't wait to be an uncle."

"Thank you, but don't think you are getting away with letting her go to the office. Don't you know how dangerous it will be for her now?" Ray asked Cedric. "Not only is she pregnant with the next generation Reyes, but also potentially the next king of the underworld."

"Do you really think you could keep Ayanna at home?" Cedric asked his brother-in-law. "It's as if you don't know your own wife."

"I know she doesn't like to be idle, but going to work, meeting people who could potentially pose a threat to her? That's something I refuse to gamble on." Ray said as he shook his head.

"Do you really think you'll be able to convince my sister to stay at home?" Cedric asked Ray. "If she wants to leave, Ayanna will always find a way."

Ray sighed, he knew Cedric was right. 

Ayanna would never let anyone dictate how she lived her life, not her father, not her brother, and most definitely not her husband.

"I'm sure we can find a compromise." Ray said with a nod. "Ayanna told me you wanted us to move into mountain view. Is this true?" 

"Yes, only temporarily, till we know that the threat against our families is finally gone." Cedric told Ray.

"Cedric, be realistic, there will always be a threat against our families." Ray said with a frown. "It comes with power, wealth, and fame. There will always be someone that will want to take us down."

"Then until we can improve the security around our community. I won't let another attack slip through." Cedric said in a deadly tone.

"Alright, I'll agree to moving to Mountain View, but we need to find a way to keep Ayanna safe." Ray finally said as he agreed to what Cedric asked. 

"Thank you." Cedric said in a relieved voice. He was glad that Ray had seen things from his perspective and agreed.

"So why did you call?" Ray asked.

"Oh, right." Cedric said as he suddenly recalled the reason behind the call. "Do you remember my wife's friend? Julia?"

"Yeah, the one that dated Ram, unfortunately they didn't break their relationship off on a good note." Ray said as he recalled when Ram dated Julia. "Wasn't she a complete bitch to Adrianna too when she decided to move away?"

"Yeah, that's my dilemma." Cedric sighed. "She called Adrianna today asking for help."

"And Adrianna agreed?" Ray asked as he walked over to his home office. 

"Yes, unfortunately." Cedric grumbled.

"That woman is too kind." Ray said over the phone as he powered up his laptop. He already had an inkling that he would need to do some research for what Cedric needed.

"I need your help." Cedric told Ray.

"When have you not?" Ray said with a grin as he placed his phone on his desk and switched it to speaker mode. "What do you need and what are the details?" 

"Apparently Julia left for Europe to find her long lost love, the one that abandoned her." Cedric began. "While there she used all her resources and had a run in with the wrong sort of people."

"Aka, my people." Ray chuckled.

"Yep." Cedric told him. "Right now Julia is being held by that group, they want her to pay up. Apparently the man she is looking for owes them money."

"They wouldn't hold her for no reason, especially if she's the guy's ex." Ray said as he thought thoroughly of the situation.

"That's exactly what I thought. So Adrianna is trying to contact Julia again." Cedric explained.

"Any luck?" Ray asked.

"None at the moment. But from what Adrianna told me these people are not suppressing Julia's freedom, as a matter of fact they are trying to get Julia to contact this man." Cedric told Ray.

"Any chance you would know who Julia's ex is?" Ray asked Cedric as he took out a pen and paper, ready to jot down notes.

"No, not even Adrianna knows this person's name." Cedric said as he let out his frustration.

"Then do you at least know which country she was taken in and who are the people that took her?" Ray asked Cedric, hoping that they knew a little bit more.

"That I know." Cedric said with a laugh. "She was taken in Spain, the people that have her are the Esteves group. Ring a bell?" Cedric asked.

"Interestingly, yes." Ray said as he checked the files he had on the Esteves Group. "I've  done deals with them and so have you." Ray explained.

"I've worked with them?" Cedric asked, clearly confused as to what Ray meant. He would have recalled if he had worked with someone in the European underworld.

"The Reyes Group has, Ace would probably know them by a different name though. Give me a second, I want to get the name right." Ray told Cedric as he quickly typed on his laptop.

"Okay, I'll wait. It's good to know that I can at least do something about these people on my end." Cedric said in a relieved tone.

"Ah, here. Their company name is Destilería de la Casa, you worked with them last year. Ace met their CEO who also happens to be the head of their crime group." Ray said with a grin as he tried to picture Cedric;s shock at his words.

"I guess my cousin needs some explaining to do." Cedric said with a menacing laugh. "He might have known about their illegal ties back then."

"I doubt it, they hide themselves well. I just know it because I'm better than them.." Ray boasted with a grin.