Never Judge

"Dad did you really?" Alexi asked with a worried look on his face, it was clear that he didn\'t want to believe that his father would do something as vile as murdering a child.

"Dad didn\'t kill a child." Katerina glared at her brother as she walked over to them. "And I didn\'t run away." She said, as she explained her side.

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"Cedric, will you really believe Aiden over people we have known all our lives?" Ayanna asked as she looked at her brother with a pain filled expression.

Cedric frowned at how much he had let Aiden\'s words bother him, he shouldn\'t have, but he was probably under so much distress that it had affected his decision making. 

"Aiden wants to create a rift." Ram said with a shrug. "Cedric, don\'t tell me you didn\'t see that? You are too smart not to see that."

"I did." Cedric frowned at the thought of his friends and relatives doubting him. "I told myself and I told Aiden that what he was saying was impossible, it can\'t be the truth."

"Because it isn\'t." Katerina said in an angry tone. "Why would you believe that man? Why would you even consider listening to what he said?" 

"Katerina, calm down." Eric walked over to his girlfriend and placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

"I don\'t Katerina, but uncle Jose just said that there was another passenger in that car, a little girl." Cedric said in his defense.

"That doesn\'t make Aiden right." Katerina replied.

"Kids let\'s talk inside." Emilio Reyes said as he opened the door to Cedric\'s VIP room.

Everyone followed as Emilio Reyes had asked and they all piled up inside. Luckily the VIP rooms at Saints were quite large, the Chans had built them this way considering how many visitors people like Cedric or their other friends could have at a time. 

"Please tell us the truth uncle Jose." Cedric asked in a calm tone as he took a seat.

"What we told you before is true." Jose Sebastian said, standing by the story he had recounted days before. "We simply left out the fact about the little girl that got mixed into this whole mess. She was innocent, but her parents for some messed up reason brought her along."

"So Katerina was really kidnapped?" Cedric asked.

"I swear Cedric, if I hear another stupid -" Katerina began to say before her father cut her off.

"Cedric has every right to question what we told him, we all have not been completely honest with all of you." Benedicto Laurence said with a frown. "We have our own skeletons in the closet, things we are ashamed of. Then there are those that we have had to keep a secret to protect others."

"So which is this uncle?" Cedric asked in a respectful tone. Despite everything Aiden had said, he still believed that his elders couldn\'t have done what Aiden claimed, and he knew Katerina. Even as a young girl Katerina had been responsible, she would never run away at the risk of her father thinking it was a kidnapping.

"We did this to protect someone." Jose Sebastian said. "I cannot fathom why Aiden\'s parents brought their daughter along that day, but the girl didn\'t die Cedric."

"So what happened to her?" Cedric asked.

"Her parents left her when they left me." Katerina recalled. "I wanted to cry, but I couldn\'t. I was so scared that I would never see my parents or anyone else, but I had to be brave, because there was a little girl crying even harder than me."

"Aiden\'s sister?" Cedric asked.

Katerina nodded. "I remember how much she cried when her parents left her, it was as if they didn\'t love her at all. They even spanked her when she begged to go with them, I guess it\'s a blessing that they didn\'t care about her."

"What happened after?" Alexi asked, leaning forward to hear his sister better.

"Well, we waited, and waited, and eventually dad and uncle Benedicto arrived." Katerina smiled. "I was so happy but the little girl only cried harder, she thought they would hurt her. But dad and uncle would never, she was innocent."

"I remember how skinny and dirty she was. It seemed like her parents didn\'t care for her, they took better care of Katerina than that child." Benedicto Laurence said, shaking his head. "I don\'t understand how a parent could do that to a child."

"So when the car crashed it was just Aiden\'s parents?" Cedric asked.

"Yes." Jose Sebastian said with a nod. "We weren\'t trying to get them killed, but they chose their fate, they chose to drive off that cliff rather than to face the consequences of their actions."

"Sometimes I do think that death is a better option for those that cross us." Ray frowned, he knew that they weren\'t clean, they had done things to the people that went too far.

"The girl survived and is thriving." Emilio Reyes added. "Your uncles asked for my help to find her a proper home. I knew a couple that had tried to have a child for years but failed."

"We promised that we would give her a better future." Benedicto Laurence said. "And from what I can see, she is much happier and she got a better chance at life because her parents left her that night." 

"You still keep track of her?" Cedric asked, surprised that they were updated with the child\'s life.

"Of course, she was so smart and adorable, how could we not?" Jose Sebastian laughed.

"You saw how smart Aiden is, his sister is just as smart and just as capable." Emilio told his son. "As a matter of fact you actually know her." He said with a grin.

"I do?" Cedric asked as he gave his father a puzzled look. "Or we do?" 

"We all know her Cedric." Katerina said with a smile. It seemed her anger towards him had now dissipated.

"Who is it?" Cedric asked, curious as to what had happened to the girl.

"Cedric you\'ve also played a hand in giving her a better life, you did elevate her to the success she has achieved now." Emilio said with a grin, hoping his son would catch on.

"No way." Cedric said, shaking his head. "Isn\'t she around my age?"

"No, she\'s much younger, she just finished school early." Katerina laughed. "We were even classmates at one point, I think she was even classmates with Adrianna in University."

"Who is it?" Ray asked. "Why do you guys need to speak in riddles, just talk plainly!" 

Cedric laughed at his frustrated friend. He would be pissed too if people kept speaking that way around him.

"Camilla?" Cedric asked Katernia, he wasn\'t sure, but he just knew it was probably Camilla.

Katerina simply smiled and nodded back.