Never Judge

"Please no, don't make me do it." Mien desperately begged as he clung on to Ian's leg like a child.

"Mien if you keep acting like this I will tell Katerina how bad you think of her driving and your career as a lawyer will be ruined!" Ian threatened, much to Cedric's amusement.

Upon hearing what Ian said, Mien quickly stood up and dusted off his clothes, straightening it out making it seem like nothing had happened.

"We will meet you at R Tower, yes?" Mien asked Cedric, just in time as Katerina stepped out of the restaurant and a valet handed her back her keys.

"Yes, we need to polish some things with the case. I've already asked Alexi to join us." Cedric responded with a nod as he noticed several employees holding back their laughter after witnessing what Mien had done. "Can you speak for Ray?"

Ian nodded in response as he didn't trust himself to open his mouth, he was worried that he would end up laughing at Mien.

They had allowed the three employees to leave ahead of them and they had left on better terms than they had arrived.

John soon pulled up in front of Cedric and Ian as the two men bid goodbye to Katerina and Mien.

"That went better than expected." Ian commented as he joined Cedric in the car.

"I still expect more retaliation from the Rajas. This isn't the end of it." Cedric was looking out the window as John drove them out of Bamboo Room's parking lot. "They are smarter than this, I just know it."

"Maybe this is just to keep you distracted. That seems to be a constant theme when it comes to the Rajas." Ian suggested.

Cedric simply nodded as he considered Ian's words.

They drove in silence as Cedric reviewed his plan over and over again in his head. He couldn't help but keep thinking about what they were going to do. He didn't want to leave the three employees vulnerable so he had to come up with a plan to save them.

Ian silently followed Cedric as he alighted at the lobby.

The crowd parted as he walked through, no one wanted to be in the way of the CEO and his right hand man. Even without the bodyguards the employees of the Reyes Group knew exactly what to do.

Cedric was still silent as he got in the elevator and went up to the top floor. He only spoke when Ian closed the door to Cedric's office behind him.

"Have we figured out where the three men are being held and where their families are?" Cedric sat down behind his desk and drummed his fingers on the table.

"We know where the men are being held." Ian said with a nod.

"I sense a but somewhere there." Cedric pointed out as he observed his friend and assistant.

"It just seems odd that the Rajas are so confident that the three men won't turn on them." Ian confessed as he shook his head and sat on Cedric's couch running all the possible scenarios in his head.

"We both know that they are banking on the fact that all three men would do anything for their loved ones." Cedric reminded Ian.

"I just feel like there is something else. Something we haven't noticed." Ian said with a sigh as someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." Cedric called out.

"You guys are back quite late." Alexi commented as he entered the room. "Please tell me my sister didn't drive herself to the meeting."

"As if that were possible, you know that woman, she won't let anyone drive her anywhere unless it was some formal event with your family." Cedric chuckled as he got up and greeted Alexi.

"Hey! I heard that!" Cedric and Alexi froze as they looked to the door to find Katerina standing by it with a clearly frightened Mien.

"Do you still need Mien for this discussion?" Cedric asked Katerina as he pretended not to be bothered by the fact that she had overheard what he had said.

"No." Katerina frowned.

"Go help your sister and Dave with some of the tasks I assigned them, I'm sure they could use the help." Cedric gave Mien a kind smile as a look of relief spread across the younger man's face.

He quickly bid everyone goodbye and left to help Mae and Dave outside.

Katerina might have been his idol, but he still feared her and was constantly worried that he would mess up. He was also afraid of how quickly Katerina could change personalities, she was kind to those that respected her, but the moment she was offended or underestimated she could be the most dangerous person in the room.

"I wonder how he will react the moment he actually sees you mad?" Alexi teased his sister as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

Before Katerina could even answer, Cedric spoke up.

"He'd probably run and hide behind his sister." Cedric teased making Katerina roll her eyes at him once more.

"Are you two just going to keep acting like children or are we going to work?" She asked the two older men. "Ian is the only one that looks like he is taking this problem seriously." She pointed out as she sat down across Ian and gave him a smile.

"Oh, Ian's just afraid of your temper too." Cedric grinned as he sat back down. "But yes, let's get back on track."

Ian responded by giving Katerina a weak smile and shrug, making her shake her head at the men in the room.

"You have a plan, yes?" Alexi asked Cedric as he sat next to his sister.

"We can secure the cooperation of the three employees if we get their families out. I have a plan on how to save all of them, but it will require such precision that everything needs to be timed properly and if something goes wrong we need to have the most creative minds on our side." Cedric announced.

"Great, so when do we start?" Alexi asked with a grin knowing that whatever Cedric had planned was something complicated to execute.