Never Judge

Miguel smiled as he drove his car to Cedric's home, his wife was in the front seat, and his son sat at the back as he hummed a tune. The first time they heard Dominic hum and sing, the couple was quite surprised at how good their son's singing voice was.

Their home in the Mountain View community was not far from Cedric's mansion. As a matter of fact it only took them five minutes to drive between the two homes. 

As Miguel entered the gate, he noticed Dominic sit up and lean forward. The boy was very excited to see his cousin and his new friend, even if there was a significant age gap between them. The two other boys never treated him any differently, which he liked.

"Are you excited about dinner?" Miguel asked his son, who was practically bouncing in the back seat as Cedric's elegan home came into view.

"Yes!" Dominic said excitedly.

Next to Miguel, Veronica stifled a laugh as her husband gave her a glance.

"What?" Miguel asked as he looked at his wife suspiciously.

"He is hyper because you gave him ice cream before dinner." Veronica told Miguel in a playful tone. "How many times do I have to remind you, no sweets before dinner?"

"You were in the car with us, V." Miguel complained. "You could have said something."

"Why ruin the fun?" Veronica said with a laugh as they drove up in front of the house's entrance. Where a driver was waiting to park their car. "You are taking care of him tonight. Enjoy." Veronica said with a wink as she got out of the car and walked ahead.

Miguel rolled his eyes at his wife and turned to face their son in the backseat. 

"I guess, we're bonding some more today." Miguel told his son with a wink. The boy simply gave his father a curious look before stepping out of the car.

Miguel sighed and followed his family, stepping out of the car and handing the keys to Cedric's driver for him to park.

When Miguel entered the house, it seemed that all of his friends and siblings were already there, as a matter of fact they were probably the last in their group to arrive.

"What took you guys so long?" Cedric asked as he came out of his office. "You guys literally live next door."

"We needed some father-son time." Miguel said with a shrug.

"The boys are in Yoyo's room." Cedric told Dominic with a smile. "This is Gina, she'll take you to them, if you need anything just ask Gina." Cedric said as he introduced a young nanny to Dominic.

Dominic nodded and went with the nanny.

"He's quite trusting of us." Cedric commented as he led his friends to his office.

"He knows he is safe and that we would never hurt him, I'm actually surprised at how fast he ended up trusting us." Miguel told his friend as they entered the room.

"Different people heal at different paces." Eric said, joining in on their conversation. "Dominic seems to have emotionally healed faster, which is good. This means you can focus on his growth and his physical health."

"He is a smart kid, he wants to learn." Miguel told his older brother. "I'll look for tutors for him tomorrow. I also want to develop his talent, he sings quite well."

"I can send you a list of voice coaches." Ram volunteered. "It would be nice to have another person here in the industry."

"Aren't Eric and Francesca enough?" Miguel asked as he pointed at his older brother. 

"It would be nice to mentor a young talent." Eric said as he scratched his chin. "I accept! I shall mentor my nephew!" He said proudly.

"Oh, shut up." Katerian groaned at her boyfriend's enthusiasm. "You don't even know if the child really wants to pursue a career in music." 

"We're keeping his options open for him." Veronica said with a smile as she settled on a couch. Miguel sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. 

"My wife always knows the right thing to say." Miguel said as he kissed her on the cheek. 

"Did he do something wrong?" Adrianna asked with a laugh as they observed Miguel's affectionate actions.

"Aside from the fact that he is always head over heels over my sister?" Ram asked. "He probably messed something up."

Everyone laughed at Ram's comment. Miguel simply frowned and nodded, they weren't wrong.

"Sugar before dinner." Veronica said, rolling her eyes. "It'll be tough getting Dominic to sleep. He might be twelve years old, but almost everything about him is delayed." 

"Don't worry, he'll be exhausted after playing with Yoyo and Tristan." Cedric said with a laugh. "The two boys are way too excited to play, I'm surprised my son even has the energy, he had a long day at school."

"He took a nap, that's enough to recharge him." Adrianna said with a grin.

"Anyway, shouldn't we be discussing something?" Miguel said as he tried to shift the topic back to the reason why Cedric had called all of them over.

"Ah, yes, Camilla and Benedict have an update." Cedric said as he pressed the call button on the screen.

After a few rings the sibling's faces flashed as they smiled at the group.

"Camilla and Benedict called me earlier today to tell me that they have finally gained Lucius' trust." Cedric announced.

"Wow. How?" Miguel asked as he leaned forward.

"One played traitor." Camilla said with a grin. 

"Benedict pretended to betray you?" Eric asked Camilla, wanting to hear the details.

"No, I pretended to betray Benedict and Cedric." Camilla said with a confident smile.

Everyone was shocked at Camilla's words, it seemed completely unlikely that Camilla would be the one to betray Cedric and that Benedict would be the one on Cedric's side. 

Benedict had been with his older brother Adien since birth, it was ridiculous for Lucius to believe such a lie.

"Impossible." Ram finally said, breaking the silence.

"No, it was as simple as knowing your enemy." Benedict said with a smile, clearly the siblings knew something that they didn't.

"It would have been an obvious tactic if Benedict betrayed Cedric and our plan, we simply threw Lucius something that was so impossible that the only possible reason was that it was the truth." Camilla said with a shrug.

"Smart." Cedric said with a nod as he listened intently to their explanation. "So how did you pretend to betray us Camilla?" Cedric asked as he listened to his former assistant.

"I told Lucius that Benedict and you had come to an agreement, blood money, for Aiden's death." Camilla explained. "I said that I could prove it to him that you paid for Aiden's life in cash and it was that very cash that Benedict used to fund Lucius' enterprise."

"And how did you get the records?" Cedric asked as he leaned forward.

"Ian." Camilla said with a grin.

Cedric turned to look at Ian who was now laughing at what his friend had just said.

"You knew?" Cedric asked.

"No, of course not." Ian said as he shook his head. "Camilla told me that she needed records for her's and Benedict's accounting with Lucius, I didn't think twice and I simply sent it over to her, come to think of it, you wouldn't need that document."

Camilla grinned as Ian realized that she had tricked him.

"I showed it to Lucius and told him that I had even more proof." Camilla said as she beamed with pride at their plan.

"Camilla told Lucius that I would be going to R Tower and meeting up with you to discuss our plans." Benedict explained. "He didn't even question why I was going to R Tower when I could have just given you a call."

"The thought was just so crazy that he believed everything." Camilla said, laughing at Lucius' gullibility.

"So I did go to R Tower." Benedict said with a shrug. "I went two days ago, all I did was to go into the lobby, go up the the restaurant, stay there for an hour or so and leave." 

"Lucius never sent anyone inside to follow Benedict." Camilla said with a smile. "He couldn't, to dine at Nouveau you need a reservation, so his men weren't able to go up and check who Benedict was meeting."

"All they could do was to ask the receptionist where I was going, and before going up I told the receptionist that someone may ask where I was headed, so I asked her to tell them that I was meeting someone at Nouveau." Benedict said with a grin.

"And they bought it? They didn't find a way to go in or anything?" Cedric asked.

"They did, of course, but the security at R Tower is so tight that they can't just go up the building." Camilla explained.

"And what excuse did Benedict supposedly give you to meet with Cedric?" Ray asked as he grilled the siblings trying to find cracks in their story, cracks that maybe Lucius could have seen.

"I said that Benedict would tell me he was going to the grocery, something I questioned since it always took him way too long to get back." Camilla explained.

"This is good, this is good." Cedric said with a nod as he thought about the repercussions of their story. It was quite solid and Cedric knew it would be difficult to prove that Benedict was not meeting up with him. 

"So now, Lucius simply uses Benedict to get his funds, while he plots with me." Camilla said with a grin. 

"It's just quite difficult meeting him at different times, he keeps asking Camilla what excuse she used." Benedict added.

"He probably just didn't want you finding out that he was speaking separately with Camilla." Cedric said with a nod. "So what have you learned from him so far?" Cedric asked.

"A lot." Camilla told them as she smiled.

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