Never Judge

"There, up front." Hendrick said as he pointed towards the table where the Reyes family were seated.

"It's just the usual." Aldrich scoffed, making it seem like he didn't care. "You got all excited because the Reyes family was here, but they aren't even complete."

"You little imp, of course they are complete, can't you see the Reyes heir and Vice President Ayanna Lawrence's son?" Herdick asked as he tried to defend the reason as to why he was so excited.

"They aren't there, Hendrick." Emilio told him as he pointed at the table.

True enough, the two seats that both Aldrich and Emilio had just left were now empty.

"Maybe they just went out for air, but Emilio, I'm telling you, they brought the Reyes Heir and his cousin out today. It's such a rare occasion." Hedrick told them as they made it to their table.

"Hey guys, I dragged my cousin along, I hope you don't mind." Emilio greeted them with a smile.

Aldrich noticed a couple of girls suddenly perked up when they realized that Aldrich was with his cousin.

"Here." Hendrick said as he gestured for Emilio to sit next to him and for Aldrich to sit next to one of the girls.

Emilio thanked the man before he nudged Aldrich to take a seat.

"Do you remember Ella?" Emilio asked his young cousin as he grinned, he knew that his would torture and annoy Aldrich.

"No, not really, nice to meet you. I'm Emilio's cousin, Aldrich." He stretched out his had for her to shake.

The older woman blushed as she took Aldrich's hand.

"So how's school, kid?" Hendrick asked as he passed Aldrich a non-alcoholic beverage and handed Emilio a glass of wine.

"Same old, same old. I can't wait to get to university." Aldrich told Hendrick.

"Aren't you too young to be in university? Don't you have at least three more years in high school?" Ella asked, confused by Aldrich's conversation with Hendrick.

"Aldrich is smart." Emilio said in a dark voice, one that resembled the tone he used where speaking as the Reyes Heir.

"Skipped a couple of years." Aldrich shrugged. "I can go to Uni next year if I wanted to."

"Yeah, if you stop getting caught." Emilio rolled his eyes at his cousin.

"Caught for what?" Ella asked as she leaned forward.

She was well aware that Aldrich was only fifteen, but something about him drew her in. Something about him just screamed, hot, dark, and dangerous.

"I'm part of the Dean Family Mafia." Aldrich confessed as he crossed his arms on his chest.

Of course, he was much more than just a member of the Dean Family Mafia. He was the little princeling of the Capital's underworld, the future leader of everything illegal that goes bump in the night.

"Last I heard, you aren't supposed to announce that in public." Hendrick said as he glared at Aldrich.

Herndick, like Aldrich, was part of the Dean Family Mafia.

As a matter of fact it was because of Aldrich that Emilio and he had become such good friends, because Hendrick was one of Aldrich's trainers.

"It's not like people will believe me." Aldrich chuckled.

"Yeah, you're too young to be part of any gang or mafia." Ella said, waving off the bit of information she thought to be a lie.

"Actually-" Hendrick was about to say something when he was cut mid sentence by the sound of a ringing phone.

Aldrich searched his pocket and pulled out a slightly overused and beaten up phone. He looked at it as if it had never rang before.

"Go answer it." Emilio told his cousin.

Aldrich excused himself and quickly left the main hall before answering the call. 𝘧𝔯e𝗲𝙬ℯ𝙗𝓷o𝘷e𝗹.𝐜𝑜𝒎

Whenever this phone rang, it wasn't good news.

"Paulo." Aldrich said in a serious tone and frowned. He couldn't help but wonder what the man wanted from him, he wasn't even an active member of the Dean Family Mafia.

"The boss has a mission for us and we think you are the best fit for it." Paulo said, not wanting to beat around the bush and getting straight to the point.

"And what is it?" Alrdich asked, curious as to what kind of mission would need a fifteen year old boy to complete.

"A business man's daughter, he needs you to date her." The man at the other end of the line told Aldrich.

"I thought kids weren't supposed to be involved in this?" Aldrich asked as he walked away from the lobby which still had a lot of reporters lingering around.

"They weren't but this is a special case." Paulo replied.

Aldrich frowned and bit his lip.

If his father knew that the Dean family was targeting a child, would he stop it?

"Are bosses aware?" Aldrich asked.

"Are you questioning our orders?" Paulo answered back, clearly feeling disrespected by Aldrich's question.

"No." Aldrich told him, frowning as he sat down on a couch.

"This is a special case like I told you before. The girl goes to the same school as you do and no one will get hurt. You just need to get close to her and when we ask, you tell us where she is and what she's doing." Paulo explained to Aldrich.

"Will she be hurt?" Aldrich asked.

"You should stop thinking with your heart, kid." A voice said from behind Aldrich. He turned to find Hendrick standing behind him. "You got into this side of the world with your eyes wide open. You knew that this was a possibility."

Aldrich frowned as he was reminded of what life was like with the gangs and mafia.

They would have long killed each other if it weren't for his father keeping the peace between all of them.

He needed to do this. He needed to earn their respect so that someday he could be king for the underworld too.

"Send me her details and tell me what you want me to do." Aldrich told Paulo before dropping the call and shoving his phone back in his pocket. f𝗿e𝙚𝘸e𝐛𝚗𝐨𝙫𝚎𝙡.c𝒐𝐦

"You wanted to climb the ranks, why worry now?" Hendrick asked as he turned and left Aldrich alone with his thoughts.