Never Judge

"Good, good." Al's and Eric's instructor said as he watched them spar against some of the Laurence family bodyguards.

Al and Eric both smiled as they bowed to the instructor. The man was actually one of the most feared fighters in the underworld. He was one of Ray's men and had accepted the role of being the future king's teacher.

"You're improving quite well, Al." The man praised.

He was teaching them more than the traditional fighting styles. He was actually teaching them to survive on the streets in a real fight.

"Thank you." Al said with a nod as he was handed a bottle of water by the bodyguard.

"I thought he was going to beat me that time." The bodyguard chuckled, his anxiety clear on his face.

If his charge was a better fighter than he, then what use would he be around Al.

"He's actually progressing way faster than I expected." The instructor said with a nod as he looked at Al. "If he spent more hours training with his street fighting, I have no doubt that he would be a master by now."

"Runs in the blood." Emilio chuckled as he joined them.

"Young Master Reyes." The instructor said with a respectful bow.

The same man used to teach Emilio, Tristan, and Dominic. They hadn't trained as hard as Al, but they knew enough to protect themselves in an event of an attack.

"His father is a ferocious fighter, beat me a couple of times too." The instructor chuckled. "Your aunt, Miss Ayanna, fights just as well. I wouldn't want to stand against her if I were the enemy."

"Mom insisted that she learn to fight, she said they didn't want to be damsels in distress." Al added, joining in on the conversation. "Plus she was jealous of how confident dad and Uncle Cedric were when it came to bringing aunt Katerina on a mission."

"Your mom taught you the basics, didn't she?" The instructor asked Eric, who nodded in response. 𝑓𝘳ℯ𝒆w𝘦𝘣𝙣𝘰ѵ𝘦𝚕.c𝗼𝓶

"Mom's been teaching me since I was a kid." He confirmed. "She didn't want it to go beyond basic self defense since I always had a bodyguard with me anyway."

"And you, of course, want to learn more?" The instructor asked as he noticed the next teacher arriving.

"Yes, we are always in a foreign country, I want to be able to protect myself and my mother if needed." Eric told the man.

"Well, our time is up, I should get going." The instructor said as he bowed to the young men and left.

"What's next?" Eric asked Al as he noticed a serious looking man standing by the door.

"Guns." Al said as he smiled at his cousin.

He knew that this was something that his Aunt Katerina never let Eric learn. It was also the reason his father and Uncle Cedric were worried.

Eric's father died after he was shot by an enemy.

"I'll be joining you, Hendrick too, he's inside, kidnapped by Cara and Angelica." Emilio chuckled as they made their way back inside the house.

Their instructor was a former military man that owed his life to Cedric and Ray.

"So when are we driving out to the gun range?" Hendrick asked as he walked up to join them with Angelica and Cara in tow.

"We don't drive out, sir. It's in the basement." The instructor said as he opened a hidden panel.

The basement not only housed the shooting range, but a few other facilities as well including a bunker in case of attack.

"B- b- basement?" Cara asked, shocked at how big the mansion actually was.

"How rich are your families?" Hendrick asked. He was equally surprised that there was a shooting range at the basement.

"Do you really want to know?" Eric chuckled as he gestured for Cara and Angelica to enter as well. "You can always google it too, people have hundreds of theories on how rich our families are. It's amusing."

"Wait, the kid is coming too? Is she allowed to even see guns?" Hendrick paused as he saw Angelica stepping into the elevator.

"Hendrick is right, isn't Angelica too young to watch you guys shoot?" Cara asked as she gave Angelica a worried look.

Al and Emilio looked at each other and laughed, confusing Hendrick and Cara.

"What?" Cara asked, looking slightly annoyed by the cousins' expression.

"I've been shooting a gun for almost two years now." Angelica answered for her brother and cousin.

"We all start young, except Eric, he's never been allowed to shoot one." Emilio nonchalantly explained as he urged them to enter the elevator.

Cara and Hendrick both gave him a shocked look but got in as Angelica pulled Cara with her.

The elevator was quite large, it was meant to bring most members of the family down to the bunker in one go.

"I thought Al only started to train to be in the Underworld recently." Hendrick said as he tried to piece together a proper timeline.

"That doesn't mean I didn't know how to shoot a gun or fight." Al scoffed and shook his head. "My father would never allow us to be unable to defend ourselves."

Emilio nodded in agreement.

"Our families have suffered enough due to the fact that people couldn't protect themselves, so we have been armed from a young age." Emilio shrugged as the elevator door opened to a hall bustling with people.

As they stepped out they were greeted by the different employees of the Laurence family, many of whom neither Cara nor Hendrick had encountered in the past.

"It's like a whole different world down here." Cara gasped as she tried to process the underground facilities of the Laurence home.

"The gym, bowling alley, and cinema is that way." Al pointed to a hallway to their right.

"You have a bowling alley?" Hendrick gasped.

Al nodded as if it was no big deal, even if he knew that it really as.

"Mom loves to go to spas, so dad built her one here at home, it's right down the hall." Al explained as they turned to a smaller hallway to the right.

"You'd think the shooting range was down there." Hendrick said as he gave a nervous laugh.

"This way." Al said as he released a panel that led them down another flight of stairs.

It opened up to a much larger hall with metal doors on either side.

Al entered through one.

Cara and Hendrick looked at each other, clearly at a loss.

"It's the shooting range, don't worry." Angelica said with a smile as she dragged both Cara and Hendrick in.