Never Judge



The sun was shining brightly when the plane landed in Capital city. 

The weather, a complete opposite of the mood of everyone. Even the crew on the plane were aware of who their passenger was.

How could they not be, their young master was about to fly out to pick her up. 

The plane that was meant to be a commercial flight was commandeered by Raymond Lawrence in order to bring the young lady home.

"We're here." Pandora's gentle voice said as she woke Cara up. 

Cara didn't talk, she hadn't spoken since she found out about Al's death. 

She didn't know what to say. Every time she tried to speak she ended up crying, her heart breaking at the thought of a world where Al was gone.

The world seemed sadder, it seemed less exciting, and there seemed to be less to look forward to. 

The crew all bowed their heads as Cara passed, she was now dressed in all white. Despite her pain she wanted to remember how Al was the light in her dreary life. 

"Cara!" She heard a voice call out as soon as she stepped on the tarmac. 

Cara looked up to see Angel running up to her, the young girl's eyes were red, clearly from crying. 

"Angel." Cara managed to say as a small sob escaped her lips.

The young girl quickly wrapped her arms around Cara and cried. 

"Cara don't believe what everyone is saying, Al loved you." Angel cried out as she hugged Cara. 

"Angel. . ." Cara sighed as she looked down at the little girl who had grown so much since she last saw her.

"Cara I've seen what the media has to say about my brother, I've heard what the rumors are." Angel sobbed. "They didn't know him like I did."

"Angel, I know." Cara said with a sigh as she knelt on the ground to be at the same height as Angel. "You brother and I were in denial about our feelings, and because of that-"

Cara couldn't continue what she was saying.

A lump began to form on her throat.

How different would things have been if she had not left?

When everyone thought she was sleeping she heard them talk about how Al had died.

It was a night meant to celebrate the success of the Reyes Family, the success of the Reyes Group.

Eric had also performed for the first time in front of his friends and family, but Al couldn't stay.

Al had to leave because he wanted to get to her, to Cara. 

She heard the crew gossiping about how Al was driving like a mad man just to make the flight. How he sped through the roads around Capital City so that he could get his bags from home.

'Why didn't he ask for a driver?' One member of the cabin crew asked as they stood behind Cara waiting for her to wake up and ask for anything. 

'There was only room for two, Eric Chan Jr. was his passenger, luckily he managed to jump out of the car in time.'

Cara's heart broke a second time when she heard that Eric had been injured too.

She heard from them that he was in a coma when they left, the doctors feared the worst. 

Cara took a deep breath and looked Angel in the eyes and hugged her.

"Angel, if you love someone, tell them." Cara told the little girl. "Tell them everyday how much they mean to you because you never know what will happen next."

Angel remained silent as she leaned into Cara.

"I love you, Cara." Angel said as she hugged Cara back. 

"I love you too, my little Angel." Cara said as she held each other, comforting one another. 

They stayed there for a while before Cara finally let go of Angel.

She had been so absorbed with her conversation with Angel that she didn't notice Al's parents and brother standing in front of them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, Andres." Cara said in a small voice.

She had no idea how to face these people. 

She was to blame, it was her fault that Al was rushing home.

"Welcome home, Cara." Raymond Lawrence said as he gave her a kind smile. 

Beside him, his wife didn't speak.

It was clear that like Cara, she couldn't speak without crying. The pain of Al's death was just too much.

"Thank you, sir." Cara said with a nod.

"Cara, didn't we tell you to stop with the formalities?" Raymond Lawrence told her, his eyes were sad but he still smiled. 

"I didn't know where I stood, I'm the reason-" 

"Don't ever say that dear." Ayanna Lawrence said as tears began to fall from her eyes. "It's not your fault. No one blames you, don't listen to those stupid gossip mongers." 

"Mom, Dad, I think we should talk somewhere more private." Andres said as he gestured for everyone to get into the waiting cars. 

Cara looked around and saw that reporters started to appear, some were already snapping photos of her.

By instinct Cara hid her face.

"Ride with us." Ayanna said as she took Cara's hand and guided the young woman towards the biggest and fanciest of the cars on the tarmac.

"I'll ride with Angel and Aunt Pandora." Andres told his parents.

He looked at Cara and gave her a smile, the same smile that Al always had on his face when he saw Cara.

"He would be happy to see you home." Andres suddenly said. "You belong here with us, not half way across the world. Welcome home sis." Andres said with a wink before rushing off to join Pandora and Angel.

Raymond glared at the media, making them shrink and go away. 

They feared him.

They knew that if they got too close or crossed a line, Raymond Lawrence could easily have them crushed.

He didn't need to use his identity as the King of the Underworld to do that, as the CEO of Lawrence Industries he was more than capable.

When he was satisfied, he opened the door for Cara and his wife, making sure that both women got into the car before walking over to the other side and getting in as well. 

Inside, Cara was silent as she looked down at her hands. 

She didn't know how to behave or to act around Al's parents. 

"Cara, please look at me." Ayanna said in a kind tone, making Cara look up into the woman's eyes.

There was pain, there was sadness, but there was no anger or hate as she looked at Cara. 

"You don't blame me?" Cara managed to ask as tears fell from her eyes and she began to shake. 

"Of course not Cara. We would never blame you." Ayanna said as she pulled the young woman into her arms. 

"How I wish Al could see you right now." Raymond Lawrence sighed next to her. "Even in your sadness you are still a very beautiful young woman."

Cara gave him a sad smile as she continued to cry. At this point she was no longer able to control her emotions. 

She was in a private space with people she had considered family despite living with them for only a short amount of time. 

After letting Cara release her emotions, Raymond handed both women handkerchiefs. 

Cara muttered her thanks as he gave her a bottle of water as well. 

"There is another reason why we needed to get you in private." Raymond said as the barrier between the passenger and driver went up.

The staff of the Lawrence family were well trained, they knew how to behave and what to do without their bosses saying anything.

Raymond waited for the barrier to go up full before speaking again. It seemed that whatever he had to say was very important.

"Al's death wasn't an accident." Ayanna Lawrence said as her eyes burned with a new anger. "It was a set up."

Someone had wanted Al dead? Cara didn't know what Al had been up to while she was gone, so in her mind he was simply studying and working, he couldn't have had any enemies.

"Those bastards will pay!" Raymond said as his aura turned cold, making Cara flinch and move closer to Ayanna.

"Don't worry, he will find them." Ayanna said in a kind tone as she hugged the young woman. "We will make the people who did this pay, they will regret crossing both the Lawrence and Reyes families."

Cara nodded, she was still trying to grasp who could be behind Al's death when she remembered what she heard about Eric being in the same car too.

"Aunt Ayanna is Eric. . ." Cara couldn't bring herself to ask if her other friend had survived or not. 

She cared about Eric too, but in a different way. She didn't want Al's parents to think that she had moved on from Al so quickly.

"They told you?!" Raymond Lawrence asked angrily. "I told them not to tell you just yet."

Noticing Cara flinch, Ayanna placed a comforting hand on Cara's shoulder.

"We just didn't want you to worry." Ayanna explained to Cara. 

"I heard the cabin crew talking about it when they thought I was asleep. No one told me, they were very careful around me." Cara explained to Ayanna and Raymond.

Raymond sighed and shook his head, clearly disappointed with how things had turned out.

"It's fine, Cara." Raymond said as he calmed down. 

He opened the divider between the driver and the passenger and gave out instructions.

"Take us to Saints Hospital first, there is someone we need to visit." Raymond said as Cara felt the car change directions.

She closed her eyes and hoped that Eric was well, she couldn't take losing someone else, it was just too much. 

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