Never Judge

Katerina and her bodyguards waited for Mr. Nelle to finish his call with Ian. She didn't want him to think that she had overheard his discussion with him.

Unfortunately for Katerina, when she began to move, Mr. Nelle had already started another call, and it was one that she was glad to have overheard.

"Are they cooperating?" Mr. Nelle asked in a calm and confident tone. It was quite different from how he spoke with both Eric and Ian.

"Good, good, make sure their relatives are continuously watched." He ordered, making Katerina realize that he was speaking about the employees from the Reyes Group that they were blackmailing.

"Move them tonight. Mr. Reyes and his friends have been getting closer and closer to where we are hiding them. Take them to the city, make it seem like they are going on vacation. The best place to hide them is in plain sight, but make sure to have enough men watching them." Mr. Nelle said as he paused as if to listen to the person at the other end of the call.

"I don't care if you have to pose as their cousins or their boyfriends. I don't want them to be alone in a room. They are to be watched at every moment." Mr. Nelle hissed, angry at whoever was at the other end of the line.

"The matter with Mr. Lim is settled. I'm meeting him tomorrow." He was calmer now as his voice seemed to dwindle into a whisper.

"Mr. Lim is on our side, our men already confirmed that Mr. Reyes clearly had no idea that Bella escaped and isn't dead, and frankly we would never have gotten her out if it weren't for him. My fiance means the world to me and the fact that she was returned is worth meeting with him." Mr. Nelle said as Katerina stifled a gasp from leaving her lips.

"I have to go, the awarding will begin soon and I need to keep an eye on Eric Chan, for all we know he might have an even bigger role to play in all of this." He told the person.

Katerina signaled for her men to return to the washroom so that they could pretend that they had been out of earshot the entire time. She had not plans of risking her and their lives to hear more.

Also it would ruin Ian's and Cedric's plans if she was caught.

She quickly went to the sink, washed her hands and checked her make-up once more before stepping out.

It was also just in time as she noticed Mr. Nelle walking out of the hallway where he had taken the call.

It was too far for them to hear him, but far enough to spot her exiting the washroom.

Mr. Nelle seemed to know this fact as he waved at Katerina and walked towards her without an expression of worry.

"Ms. Sebastian, what are you doing out here?" He asked Katerina as he walked next to her, her bodyguards going on alert after what they had overheard.

"Oh, I had to use the washroom, I was just on my way back to the event hall." Katerina explained as she tried to look as naive as possible.

"Allow me to escort you, Mr. Chan will be furious if anything were to happen to you while you were here." Mr. Nelle said as he pointed towards  the entrance of the event hall in the other direction.

"Thank you, Eric was very excited to come here today." What Katerina said was the truth. This awards night was one that Eric actually looked forward to. It made her sad when she realized that his image of Mr. Nelle would be forever changed once he heard about him being part of the Rajas.

When Eric saw Katerina walking over accompanied by Mr. Nelle, he smiled at her not showing  his confusion.

He had  been worried since she was taking so long in the washroom. He had almost stormed out to go search for her.

"What took you so long?" Eric asked as he pulled out her seat for her.

Katerina smiled and thanked him.

"I had to check on my make-up, I didn't want to waste all the effort the make-up artists placed on it." Katerina informed Eric, earning her a confused look from her fiance. Katerina was never one to care about her make-up.

"We should leave early today." Eric informed her. He had  picked up from her cues that something was wrong and that she couldn't say it  out loud. Her taking too long in the washroom made him worry that it could have something to do with a baby.

The event went by quickly with Eric receiving  a special award for his contribution to the film industry. Having won the best actor and best supporting actor too many times, he was no longer eligible to win it.

Many had offered him a chance to direct, but he politely refused saying that it wasn't his thing.

"Mr. Nelle, thank you for having us." Eric shook the man's hand and smiled at him. "We have to leave early."

"My father invited us to the presidential palace tonight, we can't keep him waiting." Katerina added, hoping to discourage Mr. Nelle from asking them to stay longer.

"Oh, then the president must not be kept waiting. It  must be quite an immense pressure trying to impress the president, Mr. Chan."  Mr. Nelle chuckled.

"It helps that I've known Uncle Jose my entire life and that he has always known that I love his daughter." Eric calmly answered. He was hiding his distress since Katerina mentioned her father, he knew she wouldn't mention him unless necessary.

"Right, you're the son of the Chan Family, the owner of Saints Hospital, I watched the press conference. It's quite difficult to believe after knowing you for so  long, so you're the heir to the Chan family fortune, yes?" Mr. Nelle asked.

"No, that's my sister, she's already running it. I'm happy not to be involved with the family business seeing as my younger brother is the Miracle Doctor." Eric said as he tried to rush the conversation to end.

"Don't tell me you're secretly a doctor as well, Mr. Chan. I should call you Dr. Chan then." Mr, Nelle teased.

Eric simply smiled and laughed with the man, choosing not to correct him.

"We should go, thank you again Mr. Nelle, it's an honor to have been awarded tonight." Eric said as he shook hands with the man.

Katerina was glad when Mr. Nelle didn't walk them to their car, she wanted to get as far away from the man as possible. He made her uneasy and anxious.

When they were finally in the privacy of their car Eric kissed her on the cheek.

"Is there something wrong with the baby?" He asked in a worried tone. "You took quite a while in the washroom."

"No, our baby is fine." Katerina said as she placed a hand on her flat belly. "But I found something out about Mr. Nelle, you won't like it." She said as she bit her lower lip knowing that she was about to deliver devastating news to Eric.