Never Judge

"Dad." Al said as he looked his father in the eyes, determined to protect Hendrick as well.

Ray ignored his son and nephew as he nodded for Seth to bring Hendrick forward.

"Do you know who you are in front of?" Seth questioned Hendrick.

The young man shook his head, the fear was very evident in his eyes. He might not know who the people in the room were, but he could see they were important.

Herndrick had been so focused on Seth, Ray, and Ian that he completely missed the fact that his friends were in the same room.

"Do you know who I am?" Seth asked in a threatening tone, one Al had never heard him speak in.

"D- D- Don Seth." Hendrick answered, his voice shaking as he spoke.

As a lower member of the mafia, Hendrick never had the opportunity to interact with its leaders, but everyone was made aware of who the true boss was.

All the members of the Dean Family Mafia were made to recognize how each family member looked and their preferences. The bosses within the mafia didn\'t want their people accidentally offending someone important.

"It\'s your lucky day today, Henrdick." Ian said as he laughed, making the hair on Al\'s arms stand.

"The man that spoke to you, is Ian Lim, the right hand man of the king of the underworld." Seth whispered into Henrdrick\'s ear, making his eyes go wide with shock.

He never expected to be dragged in front of such an important person, he didn\'t even know his crime.

All he had done was to simply follow the orders he had been handed out.

"And the man before you is the King of the Underworld, does he look familiar?" Seth asked as he grabbed Hendrick by the jaw, making him look up and look directly at Ray.

Hendrick nodded as best he could.

Seth scoffed and released him, pushing him to the ground.

At that point, Emilio couldn\'t stay silent, he had to intervene.

"Uncle Ray, he was only following orders!" Emilio shouted as he tried to defend his friend. "You know what it\'s like, if he disobeyed he would be beaten or killed!"

Emilio\'s outburst snapped Hendrick from his trance, he looked in shock as he realized that Al stood next to the king of the Underworld.

He turned to look at the familiar voice that had cried out in his defense and he was shocked to find a very familiar face.

"E- E- E- Emilio? Al?" Hendrick managed to stutter out as he looked at his friend and friend\'s cousin in shock.

Al frowned as he looked at Emilio, expecting him to explain to his friend.

Minutes passed, but Emilio didn\'t say a word, he remained silent as he looked to his uncle for direction and guidance.

"You asked me to stop." Ray said as he glared at his nephew.

Emilio was at a loss with what to do. He looked between his uncle and his friend, unsure if he would be allowed to explain to Hendrick the situation.

"Can Al and I have a moment to explain to Hendrick the situation?" Emilio asked his uncle in a steady voice.

It wasn\'t demanding, but it had enough force in it to make Ray smile.

This was what he and Cedric wanted their sons to learn, the proper tone and demeanor when speaking.

He wanted them to understand that they didn\'t need to be forceful in order to be respected or followed.

"Ian, Seth, we have matters to discuss. Let\'s let Al and Emilio have the room." Ray said as he stood up.

Seth didn\'t even glance at Hendric, he simply nodded and bowed his head.

"We will be in your office." Ray told his son as he passed him and led the rest to the other office.

When they were gone, Al sat on his father\'s chair and Emilio sat next to him.

"Hendrick." Emilio said with a frown.

"Who are you?!" Herndick asked, shouting at them. "Why am I at the Laurence Mansion getting beaten up by the head of the Dean Family Mafia while the King of the Underworld and his second-in-command watches?"

"I knew you were slow, Hendrick, but don\'t tell me you couldn\'t figure even this one out?" Al chuckled.

When his father had allowed them to be alone with Hendrick, he knew that the man wouldn\'t be punished.

He had joined enough meetings to know that his father never let a man he wanted dead any leniency.

"Aldrich!" Emilio hissed as he glared at his cousin.

"What?" Al questioned. "With all the commotion from earlier Hendrick should have picked up who we really are. Plus we were hounded by the press this morning, I doubt he hasn\'t seen our faces plastered all over the news and social media."

Hendrick frowned at Al\'s words, confirming that he had indeed managed to connect the dots and knew exactly who they were.

"I\'d like to get confirmation from both of you." Herndrick said as he looked them in the eyes.

"You should fear us." Al said with a grin. "If you knew who we were you should fear offending us."

"Drop it Al, he\'s in this mess because of you too." Emilio scolded his cousin.

Al rolled his eyes in annoyance as he crossed his arms on his chest and leaned back on his father\'s throne-like seat.

"You explain then." Al said, pushing the responsibility to his cousin.

Emilio shook his head and sighed.

"As you can probably figure out, I am Emilio Reyes IV, son of Cedric Reyes and Adrianna Hernandez, I am also the heir to the Reyes Family fortune." Emilio explained to Hendrick who still seemed shock despite having figured out the truth.

"I haven\'t seen the news today." Hendrick confessed. "The people from the Dean family mafia picked me up quite early."

"Probably as soon as dad found out I was in the mafia." Al sighed.

Emilio nodded in agreement with Al\'s words, it was highly probable that as soon as his Uncle Ray found out they were quickly able to trace Hendrick.

"As you probably know Al is the son of Raymond Laurence and Ayanna Reyes, making us cousins. He is also the future king of the underworld if he takes the job." Al explained to his friend.

"I don\'t understand." Hendrick said as he gave Al a confused look.

"I\'m sure you\'re not that slow." Al rolled his eyes, annoyed that Hendrick couldn\'t fully grasp what Emilio was saying. "Sometimes I don\'t know if your are just playing dumb. I doubt you are truly stupid though, you got into the Reeys Group, they don\'t hire stupid people there."

Hendrick grinned and smiled.

"Of course I\'m not stupid."