Never Judge

"You can talk to Cara in your room, it\'s fine. I trust you." Ray said as he nudged his son towards Cara.

Al couldn\'t figure out why his father insisted on him joining the meeting with Peter before speaking with Cara. But after sitting in on so many of his father\'s meetings and watching him act as king over a business empire and the underworld, Al chose to simply trust his decisions.

He was sure that his father would speak to him later on. Ray never failed to give Al an explanation for things that he noticed bothered his son.

"Cara, can we talk?" Al asked in a sad voice as he offered her his hand.

Cara didn\'t smile or frown, but she took his hand as he led her upstairs.

There was an awkward silence about them as they climbed the stairs. Al would steal a glance every so often as he tried to read what Cara was thinking, but her expression remained calm, not giving much away.

"What do you think of my sister and mom? I\'m sorry if they were too much." Al said as he broke the silence, hoping that Cara would be more at ease around him again.

"They were nice." Cara simply answered.

"My sister seems to like you." Al told her as they reached the top of the stairs and Al guided Cara towards the wing of the mansion where his room was.

"Angelica is a sweet girl, innocent. She wears her heart on her sleeves." Cara\'s answer seemed too diplomatic, too adultlike.

Al frowned, he couldn\'t help but wonder if this was how Cara was treating him because of his real identity.

He also found it slightly amusing that Cara thought Angelica was showing her true emotions. Out of them all, their sister was one that could hide them the best and fool people the most.

"I think my mom is worried about you." Al said as they stopped by the door of his room. "My mom doesn\'t like it when my dad\'s work involves the innocent."

Al gestured for Cara to enter his room.

She did so, and the moment Al closed the door behind him, Cara\'s hand came down, slapping him on the cheek.

Al raised his hand and touched where she had slapped him, he didn\'t know whether to be mad or amused.

Cara had always been the silent type, so her doing something like this caught Al off guard.

He was proud that she was learning to stand for herself, but it wasn\'t as fun when he was on the receiving end.

"Will you listen to my explanation?" Al asked her as he sighed and walked toward a couch and sat down.

He patted the space next to him, asking her to sit.

She hesitated for a moment, but later on gave in and sat next to Al.

"You know about my cousin, right?" Al asked as he looked Cara in the eyes. "The heir to the Reyes fortune and his poverty training?"

Cara nodded slowly as she listened to Al.

"My father believed it was a brilliant idea, plus it would give Emilio some company while he was flying under the radar." Al explained as he took a deep breath.

It was the first time that he had to truly explain to anyone that hiding his identity was a way to guide him and protect him.

He looked at Cara for a moment as he tried to get some idea into her thoughts, but Cara remained calm and unreadable, much to Al\'s disappointment.

"I didn\'t want to lie to you Cara, trust me, I hated that you could invite me to meet your family but I couldn\'t invite you to meet mine." Al sighed and shook his head.

Cara nodded silently as she took in what Al tried to tell her, but it still didn\'t seem to be enough.

"Ask me anything." Al said as he held her hands and urged her to speak. "I\'ll give you the truth." He promised.

"Did you know who my dad was when I invited you over? Did you know that he had betrayed your dad and your people?" Cara asked, the look in her eyes was desperate.

Al wanted to tell her the truth, he wanted to, he hated lying to his only friend, but if he told her the truth it would have worse consequences.

They needed Peter\'s cooperation, they needed Cara to remain calm to want to stay with the Laurence family.

Al needed to think about the bigger picture.

"I didn\'t know." Al lied. "I had an idea that your dad might belong to the underworld when I saw how things were set up at your home."

"So you didn\'t tell your dad about mine?" Cara asked as she held her breath.

"No." He said, lying again.

Cara smiled and hugged Al.

"I\'m sorry." She cried out. "Dad\'s always told me that people want to use me to get to him, and Colin, oh Colin, you\'ve met my brother, he didn\'t help when it came to trusting people."

Al didn\'t say a word he simply placed his hand on Cara\'s back and gently patted her. He tried to calm her down as she continued to cry in his arms.

"You\'re my first real friend." Cara declared as she continued to cry. "I know I didn\'t tell you the truth about my dad either, but I\'m sure you understand why."

"My dad is a very scary and dangerous person." Al chuckled as he tried to lighten the mood.

But it was still the truth.

Cara had to lie.

Cara had to keep her distance from people because the king of the underworld was a very dangerous man and her father and brother had betrayed him.

"Anything you want to ask, just ask. I\'ll do my best to be honest with you." Al said as he smiled at Cara. "And to be honest you\'re my only friend too."

​ Cara giggled, making Al smile.

All he could hope now was when the truth came out, Cara would forgive him, that she would understand that lying to her was not his choice.

But a part of Al knew, that he would lose Cara the moment the truth came out.