Never Judge

"My mom and dad both work at the Reyes Group." It wasn\'t exactly a lie.

Al\'s mother did indeed work at the Reyes Group, just that his real mother worked as the Vice President of the company.

"What do they do there?" Colin asked as he prodded deeper into Al\'s identity.

"I won\'t lie, sir. I don\'t know." Al said with a shrug.

Of course he knew what his parents did. At a young age he was told what their work required of them and he knew that someday it would be his turn.

"How many siblings do you have? And where do you live?" Colin asked as he looked Al in the eyes as if he was waiting for the younger man to slip up."

"That\'s enough, out Colin!" Cara\'s father shouted as he pointed at the door.

He was clearly angry at Colin for trying to push Cara\'s only friend away. It made Al wonder if the relationship between father and son was not as good as it looked on the surface.

"Give me a moment, Cara, Al, I need to speak with my son." Cara\'s father said as he stood up and left.

Cara frowned but didn\'t say a word until her father exited the room.

When they were alone, that\'s when Cara spoke.

"Colin and I never got along." Cara said with a frown. "Until now he blames me for my mother\'s death. He bullied me all my life and he can\'t stand it when I have friends. That\'s why I don\'t have any."

"Why does he blame you?" Al asked as he placed his hand on hers in an attempt to comfort Cara.

"Mom died after giving birth to me." Cara confessed as a tear fell down her cheek. "From what dad\'s men told me and what Colin has told me, my mom was given a choice, me or her life. She chose to save me."

Cara sobbed as Al pulled her into his arms.

"Cara, it\'s not your fault, your mom made her choice, you couldn\'t have known or done anything." He said as he tried to soothe her.

It reminded Al about the story of his grandmother Priscilla Reyes.

She died before he was born, his cousin, Emilio, his mother, Ayana, and his aunt, Adrianna were out shopping with his grandmother when they were attacked.

His grandmother Priscilla chose to save his cousin Emilio, giving up her own life for his.

Cara cried in Al\'s arms for a while before finally composing herself and sitting up. She wiped the tears away and fixed herself.

"Do you mind if I go to the toilet?" Al asked as he looked around, trying to find one in the office.

"It\'s down the hall." Cara said as she cleared her throat. "I\'m sorry you had to see that. I really didn\'t expect things to go south like that."

"It\'s fine, Cara." Al said as he smiled at her and walked out of the room.

Al ran through the hall, rushing to relieve himself.

He walked back slowly through the hall, looking around and taking in what he could.

There were photos of the family and multiple pieces of artwork. It was clear that Cara\'s dad did not leave his wealth when he went into hiding.

Al couldn\'t help but wonder what the position the man held under the Dean Family Mafia.

It wasn\'t high enough for him to know about Al, but people in the Mafia didn\'t make money like this without being in a high position.

"Why did you have to invite her friend over anyway?" Al herd Colin hiss. He was probably speaking to his father.

"Your sister barely has any friends! This is the last I will hear of this." Cara\'s dad said angrily. "Why are you even back, Colin? I thought that your bosses were satisfied with the information we gave."

Colin laughed at his father, confusing Al.

"Do you really think that was it, dad?" Colin asked in a mocking tone. "Just because you are worried that they will hurt Cara? You don\'t get out that easily."

"It was a mistake to get involved with them, I know that now." Cara\'s dad said.

"Then why don\'t you go over to Seth Dean or better yet, the King of the Underworld himself and tell him everything you know?" Colin challenged his father.

"Colin, not now." Cara\'s father groaned.

"No dad, tell me, why don\'t you go to them? Why are you so afraid of them? Do you think they will hurt Cara?" Colin continued to taunt his father.

"At least they have a rule about involving children." The older man shouted.

"We both know that you don\'t believe that, father." Colin hissed. "If that were true then you would marching up to their doorstep with every information you have about our people, but no, you are here in hiding."

"I\'m doing this for your sister\'s safety."

"Yes for Cara, only Cara." Colin mocked.

Al could tell that there were underlying issues between father and son. He couldn\'t help but wonder as well how true their words were.

"Will you drop it, Colin? I love you both equally." Cara\'s father hissed at his son.

"Do you really think this is just about your affection?" Colin asked, laughing at his father. "I have long gotten over my daddy issues."

"Then at least wait till Cara\'s friend has left. What if he hears something?" Cara\'s father asked his son in a low voice.

"There is nothing that boy can do, no one he could tell that would be of any consequence." Colin told his father. "We looked into his background, I confirmed it, he is a nobody."

"He is your sister\'s only friend! Do you really want her to lose the one person that speaks to her at that school?" Cara\'s father questioned his son.

At that point Al didn\'t want to hear more and get caught. He quickly made his way back to the office and closed the door behind him.

"I got lost." He said in an embarrassed tone to Cara.

Cara smiled and nodded, she didn\'t say a word as Al sat down next to her.

"Cara," Al said as he looked at his friend and frowned. "If there is anything you need, anything at all, I hope you know that you can come to me."

Cara nodded and smiled.

"I know Al, I know." She said as her father and brother entered the room once more to join them.