Never Judge

"Ah there they are!" Ayanna said as she waved at Al and his group as they arrived in the mall.

"I thought we agreed not to close down the mall just to shop." Al groaned as he gave his mother a hug.

"Well, we couldn't let a young lady be stuck with you picking out clothes and furniture, you have no taste." Christina mocked, making Al roll his eyes at his cousins.

"This is too much." He grumbled as he stalked over to where Cara was standing.

She was chatting with Emilio, Andres, and Angelica while Christopher walked up and nudged Al.

"So what's the deal between the two of you?" He whispered to his cousin.

Their aunts were all too busy fawning over Eric, they hadn't seen him in over a year since Katerina Chan's last job took her far away.

"We are just friends." Al hissed.

"So she's the target you got too close to? She's cute." Christopher added as he ran up to his siblings, laughing.

He knew Al wouldn't dare do anything with Cara so near.

It was obvious to everyone that Al cared about Cara and that he was willing to do anything to keep her happy and safe. It was just the extent of that care that they questioned.

Al was quite young so the adults weren't sure if he was just being friendly with Cara or he had other feelings.

"Al!" Cara exclaimed as she gave him a genuine smile.

She seemed at ease with his sister and cousins as they waved at him to join them.

"I hope my aunts haven't overwhelmed you." Al chuckled as he stood next to Cara, worried that his family had gone overboard and scared her.

Cara smiled and shook her head, she seemed genuinely happy with her first interaction with his family and their friends.

"Everyone is quite kind." Cara told Al. "Your aunt Adrianna is much nicer and much prettier in person." She praised.

"Wait till you meet our dad." Christina laughed as she shook her head. "Everyone says he is much more in person." f𝚛e𝚎𝘄𝒆𝚋𝚗𝚘ѵ𝑒𝚕.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Much more what?" Cara asked as she gave Christina a confused look.

"More in every aspect." Emilio responded with a sigh.

Al knew that his cousin had always been worried if he would be able to live up to what the head of the Reyes family symbolized.

These years under poverty training was supposed to give him a reprieve and a way to build himself into the man he was expected to be, but it was cut short when someone betrayed them.

"You're doing fine." Al said as he gave his cousin a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"It's just-" Emilio began to say before realizing that they were in public.

As the future head of the Reyes family, Emilio had always been careful about how he was perceived in public and how much he let others know.

He was generally a private person, even among their family and friends.

"We can talk later." Al said with a nod as he returned his attention back to Cara.

"Shall we?" He asked Cara as he offered her his arm.

Cara smiled and nodded as she hooked her arm in his and they walked around the mall.

Most of the employees had been dismissed and only those that had a certain level of clearance were allowed to stay.

They had taken a careful inventory of everything before leaving and the family would simply jot down what they had taken.

No one ever questioned if they had lied, after all, there was no reason for them to steal when they were rich enough to buy everything they wanted.

"Isn't this too much?" Cara asked as she looked at the luxury bag that Christina had handed to her.

"No, not really. It doesn't even scream designer, there are no logos and only the truly rich can tell what brand it is." Christina explained.

Her choice had been practical, if it was too loud Cara's classmates would ridicule her and call her a fake.

"Based on what Al has told us about your school, no one is truly rich." Eric pointed out as he gave his cousin a smile.

"If there were, then someone would have figured out who I was by now." Al said as he grinned and nodded.

"So this really isn't too much." Christina insisted.

"Fine." Cara said as she gave in.

As they continued shopping, Cara became more and more at ease around the other kids her age, making Al happy that she wasn't awkward around his family.

"So, mom said I can enroll in your school." Eric said as he ran up next to Al.

"Won't you be recognized?" Al questioned his cousin.

Eric shook his head and grinned.

"I'll dye my hair, that should be enough to confuse people. I'll also wear contacts, my eyes apparently catch too much attention." Eric shrugged.

"You'll be taking the bus with me and Cara home every day. Are you sure you want to live like that?" Al warned Eric.

"There are worse ways to go to school." Eric chuckled. "I'm not as sheltered as everyone, I think you are forgetting that. I'm not like Christina and Christopher who need bodyguards just to get around. I've lived under the radar for years."

Al was silent for a few moments as he considered what Eric wanted.

"You'll be the new kid, you'll get bullied." Al pointed out. It was something both he and Cara had gone through.

"Nothing new. Plus I'll have you and Cara." Eric shrugged.

"Fine, if you think you can handle it. It's not like we can stop you." Al said as he gave up trying to discourage Eric.

"Perfect! I hope we are classmates. Oh and when do we go over the mission details? Did uncle Ray tell you I'll be living at your place for a while? Mom apparently needs to help Uncle Cedric settle some matters." Eric said as he dropped another bomb on Al.

Al rolled his eyes at the thought of more people living at their place.

Eric and his Aunt Katerina normally lived in a different community at the other end of the Capital.

"We'll talk about it after Cara gets settled. For now dad is having someone set up our HQ at home." Al explained to Eric.

"Perfect, this is so exciting, like one of the movies dad used to act in!" He explained catching Al off guard.

"I thought Aunt Katerina didn't let you near those." Al pointed out.

"I'm fifteen, not a child. I have my ways." Eric said with a wink, making Al laugh.